The Best Stocks to Invest $1,000 In Right Now -- and One of Them Is Nvidia
Key Points
Nvidia is a titan in the semiconductor sphere, broadening the scope of its offerings.
Broadcom has gotten a big boost from AI, and that's not likely to stop anytime soon.
Both companies are well worth considering for long-term investors.
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If I had $1,000 to invest right now -- or $100 or $100,000 -- two stocks that would be very high on my consideration list are Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) and Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO).
Both are specialists in semiconductors, and semiconductors have been on a tear in recent years, in large part because of the rapid proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) and the buildout of gobs of data centers to facilitate AI processing.
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Check out the average annual returns of these stocks:
|
Time period |
Nvidia |
Broadcom |
|---|---|---|
|
Past 1 year |
72.75% |
87.04% |
|
Past 3 years |
100.41% |
78.40% |
|
Past 5 years |
71.48% |
51.76% |
|
Past 10 years |
72.52% |
37.79% |
|
Past 15 years |
49.41% |
37.21% |
Data source: Morningstar. Data as of March 10, 2026.
Meet Nvidia
Nvidia has become a very popular stock for good reason. It has switched its main focus from gaming chips to chips used in data centers for AI. It's also broadening its offerings these days via software, networking, and related services -- such as its recent move into AI agents.
The company, a prodigious producer of cash, is also buying back shares at a rapid clip, deploying $41 billion in its last fiscal year and aiming to spend another $58 billion at least. This is another way to reward shareholders, as repurchased shares are essentially retired, leaving remaining shares with a bigger claim on earnings -- essentially a bigger piece of the pie.
Meet Broadcom
Broadcom is a semiconductor company and a software company -- and a leader in networking equipment. The boom in AI has been a great tailwind for the company, as AI requires chips and software.
Broadcom offers customizable AI accelerators for data centers, and its AI division has been growing more briskly than Nvidia's.
Both companies have quite promising futures, as the biggest tech companies are planning to spend hundreds of billions of dollars building out AI infrastructure -- in 2026 alone.
Should you invest in Nvidia and/or Broadcom?
Both stocks feature pretty eye-popping average annual gains -- which may have you suspecting that you missed the boat on these stocks and that they're overvalued by now. But not so fast -- consider that Nvidia's recent forward-looking price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 22.75 is well below its five-year average of 36.94, and its price-to-sales ratio of 20.74 is below the five-year average of 23.91. (Those are both steep price-to-sales ratios, though.)
Broadcom, meanwhile, looks more richly valued, with a forward P/E of 32.40 topping its five-year average of 19.97 and a price-to-sales ratio of 24.64, more than double its five-year average. Still, if you plan to hold on to the stock for many years, buying now could still work out well. Or, if you're not sure, perhaps buy in increments over time.
Do note, of course, that there are other compelling growth stocks out there, as well, should these companies not interest you enough.
Should you buy stock in Nvidia right now?
Before you buy stock in Nvidia, consider this:
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*Stock Advisor returns as of March 14, 2026.
Selena Maranjian has positions in Broadcom and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends Broadcom. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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