The Best Stocks to Invest $1,000 in Right Now

In general, tech stocks have been a disappointment so far this year. And when a sector like tech underperforms, investors have two options. One, they can bail out and look for other opportunities with value stocks, oil and gas companies, and consumer staples. All are solid options.

But moving that money means you're essentially forfeiting the ability to recover your gains when tech stocks begin battling back. And there's a lot to like about tech -- the sector is where the most innovative companies are creating products and programs that affect every sector in the market. Tech is a consistent winner in the stock market, with five- and 10-year returns that soundly beat the S&P 500.

^SP15IFTSTR data by YCharts.

That's why I'm in favor of the second option -- take advantage of the depressed price of some favored tech stocks and add to my positions. Because with a long-term view, I consider any dip in the tech sector as a chance to buy some stocks at a discount and ideally see some outsize profits in the months to come.

If you have $1,000 to invest, I recommend putting money in the following three names -- two of which are already bucking the tech-stock malaise and moving higher. Use fractional shares -- available at most brokerages -- to divide your investments into three equal baskets.

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Palantir Technologies

Not everyone likes Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ: PLTR), I admit. For some, the valuation is extreme, although the forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 107 is much more palatable than the beginning of the year when Palantir was trading at a forward P/E of more than 200. And there are other critics who have moral objections to Palantir's U.S. government contracts that include the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

But if you look at it strictly as an investment, Palantir stock is hard to ignore. In the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2025, its U.S. government revenue increased 66% from a year ago to $570 million, and its U.S. commercial revenue jumped 137% to $507 million.

Palantir is wildly successful because it has married its powerful data analytics platforms, such as Gotham and Foundry, with its Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP), which incorporates large language models (LLMs), enabling users to submit detailed queries and receive real-time analysis and insights into supply chains, inventory management, and competitive analysis. Military customers, meanwhile, get real-time battlefield data and intelligence.

Palantir stock is down 20% this year, making it a tempting purchase on the dip.

Nebius Group

There are plenty of companies that are working to build out data centers right now, but Nebius Group (NASDAQ: NBIS) is my pick from the lot of them. Nebius Group stock is up 96% so far this year as investors have recognized the value of adding computing capacity so tech companies can train and run AI-powered programs.

Nebius ended 2025 with seven data centers in North America, Europe, and Israel, with plans to increase that to 16 by the end of this year. Management said the company finished 2025 with annual run-rate revenue (ARR) of $1.25 billion and expects to finish this year with ARR between $7 billion and $9 billion.

"Capacity remains the enabler of our strategy, and the industry's most persistent constraint," CEO Arkady Volozh said.

The results of the investment are expected to be dynamic. Nebius's annual revenue for 2025 was $529.8 million, but that's expected to be $3.3 billion this year and then jump to close to $10 billion in 2027.

NBIS Revenue (Annual) data by YCharts.

Broadcom

While Nvidia gets a lot of attention for its graphics processing units (GPUs), it would be a mistake to overlook Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO). The company's application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) aren't as powerful as Nvidia's GPUs, but they can be tailor-made to Broadcom's customers. That means that clients get chips that do exactly what they need without paying the premium for Nvidia GPUs that are powerful but can perform functions that not every customer utilizes.

Broadcom signed a deal with Alphabet to provide custom AI hardware for Google's tensor processing units (TPUs), which it uses as an alternative to GPUs. And it has an agreement with privately held Anthropic to provide up to 3.5 gigawatts of TPU computing capacity.

Broadcom stock was down as much as 15% on the year before making a big move up on the news of Google's investment. Now up 14% on the year, Broadcom has a consensus price target from Yahoo! Finance of $474, indicating another 19% in potential gains could be at hand.

Patrick Sanders has positions in Nebius Group, Nvidia, and Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Broadcom, Nvidia, and Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.