Here Are My Top "Magnificent Seven" Stocks to Buy Now

Source The Motley Fool

Key Points

  • Alphabet is growing Google Cloud and expanding Waymo's self-driving taxi service.

  • Meta Platforms is crushing ad rivals by leveraging the power of AI while delivering healthy growth across its family of apps.

  • Microsoft is locking in big business clients via Azure cloud migrations and upselling high-margin Copilot automation tools.

  • 10 stocks we like better than Alphabet ›

The "Magnificent Seven" continue to drive market momentum, but the landscape is shifting from a speculative infrastructure buildup to a rigorous execution phase. For long-term investors, the smart move is to target companies with platform lock-in, balance sheet flexibility, and highly scalable monetization models.

Three specific names stand out if you want to put cash to work in the Mag 7 right now.

Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »

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Image source: Getty Images.

1. Alphabet

Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) (NASDAQ: GOOG) has successfully turned its investments in artificial intelligence (AI) into meaningful financial gains. The company has integrated Gemini models into its core search and services segments, which drove a 19% year-over-year increase in search revenue in the recent quarter alone to $60.4 billion.

This digital ecosystem continues to generate predictable capital. Google Cloud is a key growth engine as businesses shift their workloads to AI. In the latest quarter, Google Cloud revenue increased by 63% year over year to $20 billion, while operating income just for that segment more than tripled to $6.6 billion.

Alphabet is also establishing its position as a leader in autonomous mobility through Waymo, which now provides over 500,000 paid robotaxi rides each week across 10 U.S. cities and is rapidly expanding. Supported by a roughly $460 billion cloud backlog, Alphabet remains a resilient choice for long-term tech investors looking for a profitable tech business at a reasonable valuation.

2. Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) is projecting capital expenditures in the range of $125 billion to $145 billion in 2026. Meta uses advanced AI and machine learning models across its family of apps to optimize ad targeting.

This optimization increased Q1 revenue by 33% year over year to $56.3 billion and resulted in a 61% increase in net income to $26.8 billion. Meta's open-source Llama AI framework commoditizes rival software and establishes its own architecture as a global developer standard. By offering its AI models for free, Meta encourages outside engineers to optimize its code at no cost to the company.

This crowdsourced engineering addresses vulnerabilities and reduces processing costs more quickly than any closed system. Meta can then redirect its large cash reserves into highly targeted ad tools. This makes it less likely for advertisers to switch platforms. While Meta is working on a range of other projects, including its Meta FAIR (Fundamental AI Research) division and wearables, the core ad engine is still driving the train for the business and the stock.

3. Microsoft

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has one of the most resilient enterprise software ecosystems on the planet. Once a business integrates its daily workflows into Windows, Office, and Azure, switching to a competitor becomes risky and expensive.

Microsoft uses this leverage to cross-sell its Copilot automation tools as a premium software tier. This compounding model was evident in its latest quarterly results. Total revenue grew by 18.3% year over year to a record $82.9 billion. Azure revenue growth accelerated to 40% as corporations sought AI compute and storage clusters.

Once an organization integrates its data and compliance protocols into Azure, Microsoft uses this lock-in to capture growing corporate IT budgets. Despite large data center construction costs, Microsoft maintained an efficient 46% operating margin and generated $32 billion in net income in the recent quarterly readout, up 23% from the prior year.

Should you buy stock in Alphabet right now?

Before you buy stock in Alphabet, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Alphabet wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $398,052!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,181,688!*

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*Stock Advisor returns as of June 29, 2026.

Rachel Warren has positions in Alphabet. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Meta Platforms, and Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Disclaimer: For information purposes only. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
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