Broadcom’s scale and diversification make it a safe long-term play.
Meta will dominate the social networking market for the foreseeable future.
CrowdStrike’s cloud-native platform will continue to disrupt older cybersecurity platforms.
Many investors shuffled away from high-growth tech stocks this year as the Trump administration's unpredictable tariffs curbed the market's appetite for riskier investments. But despite that pressure, investors who can tune out the near-term noise should focus on some promising, long-term buying opportunities instead of hastily heading for the exits.
Those stocks should have strong growth engines, wide moats, and a track record of withstanding rough economic downturns. Three of those winners -- Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO), Meta Platforms(NASDAQ: META), and CrowdStrike(NASDAQ: CRWD) -- still check off the right boxes and are still worth buying this month as the bulls run away.
Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue »
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1. Broadcom
Broadcom -- which was known as Avago until it acquired the original Broadcom in 2016 -- sells chips and infrastructure software. Its semiconductor segment sells a wide range of chips for the mobile, wireless, networking, data storage, and industrial markets, while its infrastructure business offers a mix of on-premise and cloud-based software.
Broadcom expanded rapidly through acquisitions over the past decade. However, most of its recent growth has been driven by rising sales of networking and optical chips for the booming AI market. In fiscal 2024 (which ended last October), its sales of artificial intelligence (AI)-oriented chips more than tripled and accounted for nearly a quarter of its top line.
From fiscal 2019 to fiscal 2024, Broadcom's revenue and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) -- which excludes the noise from its acquisitions -- grew at compound annual growth rates (CAGR) of 18% and 20%, respectively. It continued growing even as the pandemic, inflation, rising rates, and geopolitical conflicts rattled markets. So while tariffs might generate near-term headwinds for the company's chipmaking and software businesses, its scale and diversification should protect it from a protracted downturn.
From fiscal 2024 to fiscal 2027, analysts expect its revenue and adjusted EBITDA to grow at a CAGR of 17% and 21%, respectively. Its sales of AI chips should keep soaring as it expands its cloud and cybersecurity segments with even more acquisitions. With an enterprise value of $948 billion, it looks reasonably valued at 23 times this year's adjusted EBITDA -- and it's a great play on the growing AI, cloud, and cybersecurity markets.
2. Meta Platforms
Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp, is the world's largest social networking company with 3.43 billion daily active people (DAP) across all of its apps. That massive audience collects plenty of data for the targeted ads which generate most of its revenue. Its Reels short-video platform shores up its defenses against ByteDance's TikTok, and it's developing new virtual-reality (VR) and augmented-reality (AR) devices for the nascent mixed reality market.
Meta faced some formidable challenges over the past few years. Apple's iOS changes crippled its ability to craft targeted ads from third-party data; TikTok pulled away its younger users; and businesses bought fewer ads in the messy macro environment. However, Meta overcame those challenges by gathering more first-party data, expanding Reels, and attracting more ad purchases from Chinese gaming and e-commerce companies.
From 2019 to 2024, Meta's revenue and earnings per share (EPS) grew at a CAGR of 18% and 30%, respectively. During those five years, its total number of DAP more than doubled. Since it now reaches over 40% of the world's entire population on a daily basis, it will likely remain one of the world's top advertising platforms.
From 2024 to 2027, analysts expect its revenue and EPS to rise at a CAGR of 13% and 11%, respectively, even though tariffs and other headwinds might temporarily throttle the growth of the advertising market. But Meta's stock isn't expensive at 22 times forward earnings -- and it still has plenty of room to grow over the next decade.
3. CrowdStrike
CrowdStrike is one of the world's leading, cloud-native cybersecurity companies. Instead of installing its services through on-site appliances, which take up lots of space and are expensive to scale, CrowdStrike only offers cloud-based services.
CrowdStrike's core platform, Falcon, provides a diverse mix of cloud-based security modules. At the end of fiscal 2025 (which ended this January), 67% of its customers were using at least five of its modules, more than double the 33% of its customers at the end of fiscal 2020.
From fiscal 2020 to fiscal 2025, its revenue grew at a CAGR of 52%. It also turned profitable on an adjusted basis in fiscal 2021, and its adjusted EPS increased at a CAGR of 95% over the following five years.
From fiscal 2025 to fiscal 2028, analysts expect the company's revenue to rise at a CAGR of 23%. They also expect it to turn profitable on a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) basis in fiscal 2027 and more than triple its GAAP net income in fiscal 2028.
CrowdStrike is naturally insulated from tariffs and other macro headwinds because companies generally won't turn off their digital defenses just to save a few dollars. It might be tougher for the company to gain new customers during an economic downturn, but it should continue to grow and disrupt traditional on-site cybersecurity companies. With an enterprise value of $102 billion, the stock isn't cheap at 21 times this year's sales -- but CrowdStrike still has plenty of upside potential.
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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. Leo Sun has positions in Apple and Meta Platforms. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Apple, CrowdStrike, and Meta Platforms. The Motley Fool recommends Broadcom. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
