$1,000 and 1 Stock: This Is the Consumer Play for the Long Term

Investing even a little bit of money into the equity of businesses is better than putting no capital at risk. That's because the stock market has proven to be an excellent tool to build long-term wealth. The closely followed S&P 500 index has generated a total return of 328% in the past decade (as of June 3).

Some individual businesses might possess even greater potential. And $1,000 is a good place to start when searching for these opportunities. If you're ready to invest this much, take a look at this streaming stock. It's a consumer play for the long term.

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Well positioned in the streaming industry

In the world of streaming, Netflix, Walt Disney, or Alphabet's YouTube get a lot of the attention. Roku (NASDAQ: ROKU) might be overlooked. But it's very well positioned in the overall industry.

Investors might think of the business as a seller of media sticks or TVs, but Roku is primarily a platform these days. This platform segment, which makes money from advertising and subscriptions, posted 28% year-over-year revenue growth to over $1.1 billion in Q1 (ended March 31). The platform represents 91% of the company's top line, with hardware accounting for the rest.

Roku currently reaches more than 100 million households, with a whopping 38.7 billion hours of content being viewed on the platform in the last quarter. Both of these figures are up significantly over the past five years, demonstrating increasing adoption. Consumers find real value in being able to aggregate all of their streaming services in a single user interface.

Roku is riding the digital advertising wave as well, particularly in the connected-TV market. As ad dollars keep flowing from traditional cable TV to streaming, which is where more eyeballs and attention will be in the future, this company stands to benefit.

Profits are soaring

This streaming stock has performed extremely well, rising 68% in the past 12 months and 103% over the past three years. Investors have plenty of opportunity for upside, however. Expectations might still be under pressure, as shares trade 75% off their peak right now.

Profit growth will be the key driver of stock gains in the future. Roku generated $484 million in free cash flow in 2025. And the leadership team expects this metric to effectively double to $1 billion by 2028.

The company is also on pace to report positive generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) net income this year. Consensus analyst estimates call for diluted earnings per share to climb at a compound annual rate of 107% between 2025 and 2028.

This is a solid long-term consumer play. And with $1,000, investors can buy about eight shares of Roku.

Neil Patel has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Netflix, Roku, and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.