3 Growth Stocks to Invest $1,000 in Right Now

Have some idle cash you're ready to put to work, but fear a potential popping of an artificial intelligence (AI) bubble? If so, you're not alone. Too many AI stocks have reached valuations that just don't make sense anymore. At least some sort of price-reckoning is on the horizon.

Not every AI-related name is in jeopardy, though. In many ways, such a jolt could take the spotlight off several of the market's current AI favorites and put it on some of the up-and-comers that may well lead the next stage of the AI revolution.

With that as the backdrop, if you're looking for some new growth investments, here are three great companies to consider. And it's no coincidence that all three are in the AI space, although each one operates in a different piece of the industry. As such, they should perform independently of one another.

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1. Nebius Group

The use of AI may be in most organization's foreseeable futures. However, there's a reason only about one-tenth of U.S. companies are actually using the technology right now: Getting started is complicated as well as expensive.

Nebius Group (NASDAQ: NBIS) is helping out with the complexity issues, and indirectly even a little bit with the costs.

Nebius provides full-stack AI cloud platforms. So any business that wants to use AI can come to this company for everything including remote access to an AI data center, software, and actively managed services. As Nebius describes itself, it's "the ultimate cloud for AI innovators," and is "built to democratize AI infrastructure and empower builders everywhere."

It's certainly not the only player in this space. But its ease of use and subsequent growth are prompting some observers to call it the Amazon Web Services of AI.

And the numbers suggest the same. This year's top line is on pace to be about 400% better than last year's, with roughly 200% revenue growth in the cards for next year (when the company is expected to swing back to profitability).

Some might question this relatively new and relatively small company's staying power and ability to compete in a crowded space -- and whether Nebius can continue delivering the service it says it can.

This might alleviate such worries: In September, Microsoft made a multibillion-dollar agreement to purchase AI infrastructure service from Nebius rather than build its own.

2. Tempus AI

Because the healthcare industry is so complicated, it's difficult for caregivers to provide the sort of treatment they would like. Tempus AI (NASDAQ: TEM) makes it possible by making it easier to access all the necessary information when doctors and nurses are treating patients.

In a loose analogy, Tempus is like an AI search engine built by and for the healthcare industry. Its technology offers caregivers access everything there is to know about a disease, drug, or even a particular patient -- and especially related clinical trials already underway. But it doesn't confuse or overwhelm its users with unrelated or irrelevant information.

Its search platform, specifically designed for oncologists, is one example. It steers doctors to a particular patient's genomic profile, and then suggests specific courses of treatments that might be appropriate for that particular case.

But instead of being a replacement for caregivers, it's a tool, helping healthcare professionals navigate the landscape of their specialty that's constantly changing faster than they could possibly keep up with unless they had technological help.

This is the kind of AI solution that caregivers have been waiting on since the advent of the technology promised to revolutionize the overly complex healthcare industry. The consultancy PwC predicts the healthcare-related AI market is set to double in size between now and 2030.

Tempus' numbers support this. This year's revenue is on pace to grow roughly 80%, followed by 24% growth next year that should push the company out of the red and into the black. Analysts say full-year profitability is in the cards for 2027, proving that the concept is not only marketable, but fiscally viable as well.

3. Vertiv Holdings

Add Vertiv Holdings (NYSE: VRT) to your list of growth stocks to think about if you have some extra cash you're struggling to find a way to invest.

It's yet another AI data center name, but it's different from most of the more familiar players in the business. Vertiv specializes in providing efficient, cost-effective power management as well as the cooling that most data centers require -- needs that weren't quite foreseen when AI was relatively new and small in scale.

And its solutions are cutting edge, combining several crucial components like uninterruptable power supplies, battery backups, and automated power distribution, all of which integrate with one another as well as with racks themselves.

Vertiv provides liquid cooling, outdoor chilling equipment, and high-efficiency conventional room cooling -- options far more advanced than the HVAC system you have in your home.

It's a specialization that's increasingly important, and not necessarily for the reason you might think. While all owners and operators of artificial intelligence data centers want to optimize their use of electricity and keep their equipment up and running as much as possible, the crux of Vertiv's long-term opportunity may ultimately be a regulatory one. AI data centers are not only directly contributing to global warming, but are also consuming huge amounts of electricity that indirectly -- one way or another -- pollutes the planet.

Things are changing, though, because they are increasingly being required to. For instance, the Environmental Protection Agency's new Significant New Alternatives Policy gives the agency a good deal of regulatory authority over hydrofluorocarbons and other ozone-depleting refrigerants that are now being restricted, if not outright prohibited.

It's not a major regulatory stumbling block yet. But it could be sooner than later, forcing the AI industry to embrace cleaner, more efficient power and cooling systems like the ones Vertiv brings to the table.

James Brumley has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Microsoft. 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.