3 Smart Stocks to Buy With $1,000 for 2026

If you have $1,000 ready to invest in 2026, I have a few stocks that look like excellent buys entering the new year. All three of these companies are household names, and they can deliver outsize returns that should beat the market in 2026.

At the top of my shopping list for 2026 are Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META). Each of these companies looks primed to shine in 2026, and buying now ensures that you can gain exposure to three stocks that should perform well this year.

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Nvidia

Nvidia is the world's largest company by market cap and has risen to the top by offering the best artificial intelligence (AI) computing products available. Its graphics processing units (GPUs) are in such high demand that Nvidia says it has sold out of cloud GPUs. Although there has been a lot of AI computing infrastructure put up over the past three years, we're nowhere near where we need to be to use AI for nearly every task we operate.

Management projects that global data-center capital expenditures (capex) will reach $3 trillion to $4 trillion by 2030, up from $600 billion in 2025. If we reach that level, the company will be one of the primary beneficiaries, and the stock price will respond accordingly.

Entering 2026, shares trade for 25 times projected fiscal 2027 earnings (for the year ending January 2027). That's not a high price to pay for a company growing as fast as Nvidia (Wall Street analysts project 50% growth in fiscal 2027). The stock remains a strong buy due to extreme demand for its products and the huge and expanding market opportunity.

Amazon

Amazon is coming off a poor 2025. The stock rose only 5% last year, underperforming the S&P 500, which rose more than 16%. However, if you look at how the business has done recently, the shares' underperformance is a bit shocking.

Amazon can be divided into two segments: commerce and cloud computing. The commerce side isn't growing as quickly as the cloud side, but it's still posting strong results, with online store and third-party seller services delivering 10% and 12% growth, respectively, in the third quarter.

Any time either of these segments extends into double-digit growth, the company is doing well. In cloud computing, Amazon Web Services (AWS) just posted its best growth in more than two years, rising 20%.

If Amazon can continue this pattern of delivering strong growth in these two areas, its stock will beat the market in 2026. I think strong tailwinds are blowing in its favor, and it should be an excellent pick for this year.

Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, the parent company of social media sites Facebook and Instagram, is being valued based on the amount of money the company is spending on AI, rather than actual business results. In the third quarter, revenue soared 26%, thanks to a strong ad market and the implementation of AI tools to drive increased ad conversion and time spent on the platform.

However, because Meta told investors that its data center capex is expected to total more in 2026 than in 2025, the market panicked and sold off the stock.

While Meta has recovered a tad since then, it's still down around 16% from its all-time high. I think this presents an excellent buying opportunity, since it is one of the largest companies that allows you to invest in the application of AI.

Meta is heavily integrating the technology into its ad platforms and in other form factors such as smart eyeglasses. We'll see what the reception is for these products, but if they become a hit, the stock could soar to become one of the largest.

Even if it doesn't, Meta still operates one of the most impressive ad businesses, and it looks ready to deliver strong growth in 2026.

Keithen Drury has positions in Amazon, Meta Platforms, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, Meta Platforms, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.