Some investors might be getting wary of buying new stocks given the news they are seeing these days. The Trump administration's unpredictable tariffs, sticky inflation, and elevated interest rates have been rattling the markets over the past month or so. The S&P 500(SNPINDEX: ^GSPC), despite entering correction territory on Thursday, also still looks undeniably expensive at 28.8 times trailing earnings.
But if investors look beyond the market's hottest growth stocks, they can still spot a few bargains that look undervalued relative to their growth potential. If investors exploring this wobbly market have $3,000 in available cash that isn't needed for monthly bills, to pay down short-term debt, or to bolster an emergency fund, they might want to consider putting a portion (or all) of it toward buying shares of these three stocks: Uber Technologies(NYSE: UBER), Rivian Automotive(NASDAQ: RIVN), and Oracle(NYSE: ORCL). Here's why.
Image source: Getty Images.
1. Uber Technologies
Uber, one of the world's largest ride-hailing and food delivery services, has grown rapidly since its pandemic-induced slowdown in 2020. From 2020 to 2024, the trips logged by users over a year more than doubled from 5.03 billion to 11.27 billion, its monthly active platform customers (MAPCs) grew from 93 million to 171 million, and its revenue rose at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 41%.
On the bottom line, its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) turned positive in 2022 and rose at a CAGR of 95% over the following two years. It also turned profitable on a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) basis in 2023, and its net income rose more than fivefold in 2024.
Uber's growth was largely driven by its market share gains; the expansion of its ecosystem with new enterprise, healthcare, and teen-oriented services; and its Uber One subscriptions -- which grew 60% to 30 million subscribers in 2024. Its profits rose as it divested its noncore businesses, downsized its freight and recruitment divisions, and executed several rounds of layoffs.
From 2024 to 2027, analysts expect Uber's revenue and adjusted EBITDA to grow at a CAGR of 14% and 27%, respectively. Its business is maturing, but its enterprise value of $145 billion still looks like a bargain at 13 times next year's adjusted EBITDA.
2. Rivian Automotive
Rivian Automotive is an electric vehicle (EV) maker that sells three types of vehicles: the R1T pickup truck, the R1S SUV, and custom delivery vans for top investor Amazon (and recently other companies as well).
Rivian's deliveries more than doubled from 20,332 vehicles in 2022 to 50,122 vehicles in 2023, but that figure only rose 3% to 51,579 vehicles in 2024 as it temporarily shut down its main plant in Illinois for upgrades, grappled with supply chain challenges, faced tougher competition, and struggled to sell more vehicles as rising interest rates cooled the broader EV market.
For 2025, Rivian only expects to deliver 46,000 to 51,000 vehicles as it shuts down its Illinois plant again for additional upgrades; deals with its lost orders from the L.A. fires; and navigates a challenging demand environment and potential changes to federal incentives, regulations, and tariffs for EV makers.
On the bright side, it still expects to achieve a "modest" gross profit for the year as its material costs improve, it sells more of its regulatory credits to other automakers, and it expands its higher-margin software and services division. It also expects its deliveries to accelerate in 2026 after it launches its next vehicle, the R2 SUV.
From 2024 to 2027, analysts expect Rivian's revenue to grow at a CAGR of 34% as it gradually narrows its net losses. With an enterprise value of $12.4 billion, it looks undervalued compared to other EV makers at just 2 times next year's sales.
3. Oracle
Oracle, one of the world's top database software companies, was once a slow-growth tech stock. But over the past decade, it transformed its on-premises software into cloud-based services and expanded with bold acquisitions. Its Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) platform also continued to grow in the shadow of Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure.
For fiscal 2025 (which ends this May), Oracle expects to generate up to $27 billion in cloud revenue. That would represent nearly half of its projected revenue for the year.
From fiscal 2024 to fiscal 2027, analysts expect Oracle's revenue and EPS to rise at a CAGR of 12% and 20%, respectively. A lot of that growth should be driven by OCI, which is rolling out more tools for developing artificial intelligence (AI) applications and connecting its existing databases to large language models (LLMs).
Its AI customers already include Nvidia, Meta Platforms, and OpenAI, and that list should keep growing as the cloud and AI markets expand. It also plans to keep returning most of its free cash flow (FCF) to its investors through buybacks and dividends.
Oracle still looks reasonably valued at 21 times its forward adjusted earnings, it pays a forward yield of 1.4%, and it has lots of irons in the fire. It might not be as exciting as Uber or Rivian, but it's a solid play on the growing cloud and AI markets.
Should you invest $1,000 in Uber Technologies right now?
Before you buy stock in Uber Technologies, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Uber Technologies wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $708,400!*
Now, it’s worth notingStock Advisor’s total average return is803% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to160%for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you joinStock Advisor.
Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Leo Sun has positions in Amazon and Meta Platforms. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, Oracle, and Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
