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It might surprise you that the best-performing stock for the 30 years between 1994 and 2024 wasn’t a tech stock — despite the rise of the internet, the smartphone, cloud computing, and, of course, artificial intelligence.

No, the best-performing stock over that period was none other than Monster Beverage (MNST -0.58%). That’s right, an energy drink largely known for sponsorship at UFC, monster truck, and bull-riding competitions, appreciated 2,000 times over that period, trouncing the return of even the “Magnificent Seven.”

While Monster is still going strong at a $65 billion market cap, it would be hard-pressed to repeat its 2,000 times performance over the next 30 years. But there’s another up-and-coming beverage brand that has only been public for four years and sports a mere $2.4 billion market cap. Could this healthier-for-you drink brand emulate Monster’s massive long-term gains?

Vita Coco brought the tropics to the U.S. market

Vita Coco (COCO -0.26%) has been a public company only since 2021, but it’s a 20-year-old brand founded in 2004 by co-founders Michael Kirban and Ira Liran. While Kirban is currently the chairman of the board, the company’s current CEO since 2022 has been Martin Roper, a veteran of The Boston Beer Company.

Back in 2004, the coconut water category was basically nonexistent in the U.S., but Kirban and Liran saw the opportunity to bring this staple of Brazil and other tropical countries to U.S. consumers. Coconut water has a lot of benefits, including natural sugars, vitamins, and electrolytes, making it a versatile drink that can be used as a sports drink, sweet treat, general hydrator, or alcoholic mixer.

As coconut water caught on, Vita Coco’s founders shrewdly grew the company in an intelligent way, cementing the company’s first-mover advantage. Even after many competitors attempted to break into the category, Vita Coco still commands a near-42% market share of the U.S. coconut water market today, dwarfing that of any other brand.

How Vita Coco boxed out competitors

Over two decades, Vita Coco fended off competition even from the likes of beverage giants Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) and Pepsi (NASDAQ: PEP). In 2009, Coca-Cola purchased the Zico brand, and Pepsi purchased the O.N.E. brand. But by 2021, Coca-Cola wound up selling Zico back to its founder, and Pepsi ended up selling O.N.E., along with other juice brands, to a private equity firm.

Vita Coco’s management claims its success against bigger, better-funded rivals came down to Vita Coco having “out-hustled, out-innovated, and out-maneuvered the competition.”

But it wasn’t just about execution. The founders were quite strategic and intelligent in how they grew their supply. Coconut water is actually a byproduct of coconut processing that was already taking place in tropical supplier countries like Brazil, the Philippines, and Thailand. So, Vita Coco’s founders went to these suppliers and offered to invest in the equipment needed to extract and preserve coconut water in exchange for long-term supply agreements.

By engaging with these high-quality existing suppliers early and replicating these agreements across the globe, Vita Coco gained high-quality coconut water supply while investing very little capital. Moreover, these agreements somewhat boxed out the competition from accessing these existing and knowledgeable partners.

Vita Coco has nurtured these relationships by reinvesting and donating proceeds back into these communities, qualifying as a public benefit corporation and further boosting its brand halo.

The shrewd strategy and solid brand execution are how Vita Coco grew to $560 million in revenue and $64.4 million in earnings over the past 12 months, while only having invested about $130 million in overall capital. That means Vita Coco is earning just over a 50% return on invested capital (ROIC) today.

Image source: Getty Images.

Category growth and appeal to younger customers could be a winner

At 42% of the U.S. coconut water business, Vita Coco actually has a much higher market share than Monster’s share of the energy drink category, which sits just below 20%. However, the energy drink market is much, much bigger than the coconut water segment, which explains why Monster currently dwarfs Vita Coco’s size.

Still, the coconut water category is growing quickly. Off near-zero in 2004, the U.S. coconut water category has grown to about $908 million in 2024. According to Grand View Horizon research, the market is projected to grow to almost $2.3 billion by 2030, good for a 16.8% compound annual growth rate. This higher growth is due to coconut water’s popularity with younger generations and high-growth urban and minority demographics.

Globally, coconut water is more established at about $7.1 billion. However, the global market is also set to grow at an above-gross-domestic-product (GDP) pace, at 7.2% compounded over the next 10 years, set to reach $14.5 billion by 2035, according to research firm Future Market Insights.

Can Vita Coco capitalize?

While Coca-Cola and Pepsi have retreated for now, the question is, can Vita Coco maintain or grow its share? There is still a lot of incoming competition from new and private brands, especially if coconut water turns out to be the attractive growth category that’s projected.

One concern is that there isn’t as much differentiation among coconut water brands as, say, flavored energy drinks, which have a lot more involved in their recipes. Varied flavors and more intricate recipes can lead to more brand differentiation. That may not last with coconut water, which is more similar to milk or orange juice — categories that are harder to differentiate.

That’s evidenced in Vita Coco’s lower gross margin, which stands at 36% today. That compares with much higher gross margins for Monster, Coca-Cola, and Pepsi, whose gross margins range from the mid-50s to low-60s. While Vita Coco makes a high ROIC, that’s a function of having invested very little capital, not high margins.

Still, that lower gross margin may also fend off competition, which may not find it easy or worthwhile to compete at such low margins. And if Vita Coco can hold off serious competition for long enough, it may be able to raise prices and margins down the road as it becomes more dominant.

All in all, I’d say Vita Coco has a good shot of multibagger returns over the long term, even if its current price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of around 40 looks pricey at the moment. As such, it’s a name to watch, especially for younger investors, and a stock to pick up on any pullbacks.

You’ll make many decisions when preparing for retirement. Choosing when to file for Social Security benefits is one of the most important of those choices.

You have a long period when you could file for benefits, as you can claim as early as 62, but can also wait and increase the amount of your benefits until age 70. Picking the right moment within that eight-year timespan helps you maximize your income and build a more secure retirement.

For many people, an early claim seems like the obvious answer since you can start collecting right away and enjoying the benefits you’ve worked hard to earn all your life. In reality, though, claiming at a young age — and especially before your designated full retirement age — could be something you end up really regretting.

Here’s why.

Image source: Getty Images.

An early claim limits your ability to work

If you start receiving Social Security before your designated full retirement age (FRA), your decision could impact your ability to work because when you earn too much before FRA, your benefit checks are reduced or even eliminated.

For example, in 2025, if you won’t reach FRA during the entire year, then once you earn more than $23,400, you’ll lose $1 in benefits for every $2 earned above that limit. This could quickly lead to your Social Security checks disappearing entirely, since the Social Security Administration withholds full checks when you go above the limit.

This rule prevents double-dipping of benefits and a paycheck in the years before you reach FRA, and it can lead to a lot of hassle if you’re trying to track earnings to avoid losing benefits.

Eventually, you do get credit if checks are withheld, as your benefit is recalculated at your full retirement age to account for the missed money — but the process of slowly recovering the benefits you missed out on due to exceeding the work limits can be very frustrating.

You’ll take a big benefits cut that is permanent

Since you have an eight-year window to claim Social Security, there are rules in place to try to equalize out lifetime benefits so you get the same amount of money no matter when you claim.

One of those rules is that if you claim Social Security benefits before FRA, benefits are reduced by early filing penalties. But if you wait until after FRA, benefits are increased due to delayed retirement credits.

The penalties and credits apply monthly, as you’ll lose 5/9 of 1% of your standard benefit for each of the first 36 months you receive a check ahead of your FRA. If you claim even sooner, you lose an additional 5/12 of 1% for any of the prior months.

The monthly penalties add up to an annual 6.7% reduction from your standard benefit for years one, two, and three. For years four and five when you were collecting early Social Security benefits, the reduction in benefits is 5% annually. This means that a claim at 62 instead of at an FRA of 67 results in a 30% cut to benefits overall. That cut is permanent, and benefits will always be 30% smaller than they would have been had you waited to claim.

If you delayed beyond FRA until 70 instead, though, you’d have increased your benefits by 2/3 of 1% or 8% per year and received more benefits instead of smaller checks.

You’ll shrink your survivor benefits

You are not the only one who could regret your early Social Security claim. Your spouse could as well. When you die, your spouse either gets to keep receiving their own benefit or keep receiving yours. If you were the higher earner in your family and your Social Security benefit is a lot bigger, then keeping your benefit would be better for your surviving spouse.

The problem is, if you claimed Social Security ahead of schedule, you’d have shrunk your benefit — so your surviving spouse would be left with a smaller survivor benefit than they could have had. Since living on a single Social Security check instead of two is hard, your spouse could end up really wishing you hadn’t claimed early.

You stand a good chance of missing out on lifetime income

Finally, research has shown that around 7 in 10 retirees would find themselves with more lifetime income if they delay benefits until 70 instead of claiming at a younger age. If your goal is to maximize the lifetime income Social Security offers so you don’t have to rely as much on your 401(k) or other retirement plans, then you’ll want to avoid shrinking your lifetime income.

That’s especially true as Social Security is a reliable source of funds since there are cost-of-living adjustments built in that help you avoid losing buying power due to inflation.

Ultimately, an early claim is simply not the right option for many. When you are making your retirement plans, think seriously about whether you should prepare to try to put off your Social Security claim. If so, have a plan to do that, such as living on retirement savings until the day comes when you can claim a large benefit and set yourself and your spouse up for a more secure future.

Pfizer (PFE 1.03%) is one of the largest healthcare companies in the world. It was founded in 1849 and has since become an iconic name in healthcare.

It has developed many medicines over the years; most recently, it has been known for developing its highly successful COVID vaccine Comirnaty. Growth and innovation have enabled the company to become a household name and a leader in healthcare.

Investors, however, have been having doubts about the business and its ability to grow in the future. In the past three years, the stock has produced negative returns. Since 2022, It has lost more than half its value. Can the stock break its downward streak, and finish this year in positive territory?

Image source: Getty Images.

A recent deal with the White House gives investors hope

For a while, it looked like Pfizer’s stock was destined for another year in the red. The U.S. government has been targeting pharma companies with tariffs this year, and tougher vaccine policies have also been weighing on the company’s valuation.

But on Sept. 30, Pfizer reached a deal with President Donald Trump that will give it a grace period of three years before tariffs would be applied to its imported pharmaceutical products. The company is voluntarily lowering the price of drugs for Medicaid and will sell some drugs on TrumpRx, a new government-run direct-to-consumer website for pharmaceuticals. In addition, the company also pledged to invest $70 billion on research and manufacturing in the U.S. over the coming years.

This appeared to alleviate at least some concerns for investors because shares of Pfizer jumped on the recent news. On Oct. 1, it closed above $27 for the first time since January. The stock is now in positive territory for 2025, with year-to-date gains around 3%. It’s not a huge return, but it is an indication that investors are feeling a bit more bullish about the healthcare stock again and that it might be able to finish the year in the green.

Pfizer still faces a lot of questions

Although the stock has been rallying recently, it’s not out of the woods by any means. COVID sales are diminishing for Pfizer, and the company is facing patent cliffs on multiple key drugs.

CEO Albert Bourla has previously said the company could stand to lose between $16 billion and $18 billion in revenue between 2025 and 2030 as it loses patent protection on some of its drugs. However, he’s also planning to add $25 billion in new revenue by the end of the decade through acquisitions and research and development.

Its acquisition of oncology company Seagen could generate up to $10 billion in sales by 2030 alone. It was also expecting that its mRNA vaccine portfolio might bring in a similar amount, but that is questionable now that the U.S. government appears to be rethinking vaccine recommendations.

The business may end up looking a whole lot different over the next five-plus years. While its fundamentals still look good (it generated nearly $11 billion in profits over the trailing 12 months), investors are hesitant about whether or not they can trust this struggling stock, especially amid such uncertain times in the healthcare sector.

Why Pfizer may be worth taking a chance on

There’s definitely risk with investing in Pfizer as it’s taking on multiple acquisitions and facing patent cliffs, and there are plenty of question marks around its vaccine sales. However, with a beaten-down valuation, a price-to-earnings multiple of less than 13, and a price-to-earnings-growth ratio right around 1 (based on analyst projections), it’s a low-priced stock that comes with a good margin of safety.

Pfizer has been working on expanding its pipeline and giving itself more opportunities to grow in the long run. Although not all of its efforts might pay off, even if some do, there could be plenty of catalysts in the future to send the stock higher.

Whether it breaks its streak of declines this year is irrelevant because investing in a quality company at a cheap price could ensure your investment ends up in the green over the long haul, and that’s why Pfizer looks like a solid buy, regardless of what happens in the short term.

Real estate investing can be a great way to make some passive income. You have lots of options, including purchasing a rental property, investing in a real estate partnership, or buying a real estate investment trust (REIT). Each one has its benefits and drawbacks.

REITs can be a great choice because they enable you to build a diversified real estate portfolio that produces lots of steady passive income. For example, you could collect nearly $250 of dividend income each month by investing $50,000 into these three top monthly dividend-paying REITs:

Data source: Google Finance and author’s calculations. Note: Dividend yield as of Oct. 1, 2025.

Another great thing about REITs is their accessibility — you don’t have to invest much to get started and can easily buy and sell shares in your brokerage account. So, don’t fret if you don’t have $50,000 to invest in REITs right now. You can start by investing a small amount each month and gradually build your passive income portfolio. Here’s why these REITs are excellent choices for those seeking to build passive income from real estate.

Realty Income

Realty Income has a simple mission: It aims to provide its investors with dependable monthly dividend income that steadily rises. The REIT has certainly delivered on its mission over the years.

The landlord has raised its monthly dividend payment 132 times since its public market listing in 1994. It has delivered 112 consecutive quarterly increases and raised its payment at least once each year for more than three decades, growing it at a 4.2% compound annual rate during that period.

Realty Income backs its high-yielding monthly dividend with a high-quality real estate portfolio. It owns retail, industrial, gaming, and other properties secured by long-term net leases with many of the world’s leading companies. Those leases provide it with very stable rental income, 75% of which it pays out in dividends. Realty Income retains the rest to invest in additional income-producing properties that grow its income and dividend.

Healthpeak Properties

Healthpeak Properties is new to paying monthly dividends, having switched from a quarterly schedule earlier this year. The REIT owns a diversified portfolio of healthcare-related properties, including medical office buildings, laboratories, and senior housing. It leases these properties to healthcare systems, biopharma companies, and physicians’ groups under long-term leases that feature annual escalation clauses.

The healthcare REIT had maintained its dividend payment at a steady rate over the past few years, allowing its growing rental income to steadily reduce its dividend payout ratio, which is now down to 75%. With its financial profile now healthier, Healthpeak has begun increasing its dividend, providing its investors with a 2% raise earlier this year.

Healthpeak should be able to continue growing its dividend in the future. Rental escalation clauses should boost its income by around 3% per year. Meanwhile, the REIT has growing financial flexibility to invest in additional income-producing healthcare properties.

EPR Properties

EPR Properties invests in experiential real estate, including movie theaters, eat-and-play venues, wellness properties, and attractions. It leases these properties back to operating companies, primarily under long-term net leases.

The REIT pays out around 70% of its cash flow in dividends each year, retaining the rest to invest in additional income-producing experiential properties. It currently plans to invest between $200 million and $300 million each year. It acquires properties and invests in experiential build-to-suit development and redevelopment projects. EPR has already committed to investing $109 million into projects it expects to fund over the next 18 months.

This investment range can support a low- to mid-single-digit annual growth rate in its cash flow per share. That should support a similar growth rate in its dividend payment. EPR is on track to grow its cash flow per share by around 4.3% this year and has already increased its monthly dividend payment by 3.5% this year.

Ideal REITs to own for passive income

If you want to start building passive income, consider adding Realty Income, Healthpeak Properties, and EPR Properties to your portfolio. Their growing real estate assets and history of steadily rising monthly dividends make them compelling options for anyone seeking dependable and increasing passive income. Investing in these REITs can help you take the first step toward securing your financial future.

Even before Micron‘s (MU 2.28%) earnings report on Sept. 23, shares of the memory chip manufacturer had already logged an impressive month-to-date gain. Strong results and guidance ultimately led the stock even higher to close out September. Micron stock gained 40.6% last month, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence, largely thanks to booming demand for artificial intelligence data centers.

Image source: Getty Images.

Scrambling for AI computing capacity

Two things related to AI are happening within the memory chip market. First, demand for high-bandwidth memory, a special type of dynamic random-access memory critical for AI accelerators, is exploding. Mega-deals involving OpenAI, Oracle, Nvidia, and other tech giants to build massive AI data centers will require equally massive quantities of HBM chips.

Micron sold $2 billion worth of HBM chips in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, which ended on Aug. 28, and it’s working on bringing its next-generation HBM4 chips to market. Nearly all of its HBM3 chip supply for calendar 2026 is spoken for, and the company is talking to customers about HBM4 commitments. For the time being, Micron is easily selling every bit of HBM that it can make.

The second development is related to standard DRAM memory chips. While AI data centers also need commodity server DRAM chips, manufacturers including Micron are aggressively prioritizing HBM production. Even with somewhat weak demand for PCs and smartphones, which both require DRAM chips, overall supply is now tight. This situation has pushed up prices, boosting Micron’s bottom line further.

Together, these trends pushed up Micron’s revenue by 46% year over year in the fourth quarter to $11.3 billion. Non-GAAP gross margin expanded by more than 9 percentage points to 45.7%, and adjusted earnings per share more than doubled.

Micron expects both trends to continue into fiscal 2026. The company expects to generate around $12.5 billion in revenue during the first quarter, along with a non-GAAP gross margin of roughly 51.5%. That gross margin is historically high for Micron.

Micron stock looks cheap, but be careful

Based on the average analyst estimate for fiscal 2026 adjusted earnings per share, Micron trades at a price-to-earnings ratio of just above 11. That may look incredibly inexpensive for a company growing so quickly and benefiting so greatly from the AI boom, but investors need to be careful.

The memory chip market is cyclical, and pricing is largely determined by supply and demand. Every single boom, marked by demand outpacing supply, has been followed by a bust. Micron makes a lot of money during booms, but the bottom line can plunge deep into negative territory during severe downturns.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos called AI a bubble on Friday, joining a chorus of high-profile voices warning of overexuberance. If AI infrastructure is overbuilt, which looks likely given the massive investments being made, demand for memory chips could fall off a cliff once the reckoning arrives. That’s the big risk with Micron stock. Despite how amazing things look right now, a downturn is always coming.

Tesla (TSLA -1.42%) investors should prepare for a rocky 2026. At least that’s what certain experts think. “Next year could be a pretty dreadful year for EVs in this country,” warns Adam Jonas, an analyst for Morgan Stanley. Tesla is already struggling with sluggish sales growth. But as we’ll see, meager sales growth could get even worse starting this week.

Expect EV demand to drop sharply starting this week

Why is Adam Jonas so bearish on EVs in 2026? Last month, tax credits for EV buyers were eliminated. That essentially adds up to $7,500 to the price tag of most EV purchases. Don’t underestimate the upcoming impact. While more consumers are interested in an EV for their next vehicle purchase, these consumers are also increasingly cost conscious. According to Eric Bradlow, an expert on EV demand at The Wharton School, “consumers considering an EV or hybrid are more pragmatic and cost-conscious than current EV owners.”

Image source: Getty Images.

Due to social pushback against its mercurial CEO, Elon Musk, as well as a relatively stale product lineup, Tesla is already struggling to maintain positive sales growth. Revenue is expected to fall by nearly 5% this fiscal year. Next year, however, sales are expected to grow by nearly 20%. If experts like Eric Bradlow and Adam Jonas are correct, however, Tesla’s actual results in 2026 could disappoint.

Investors should be prepared for lumpy sales results. Prospective EV buyers may have accelerated their purchase plans in order to take advantage of tax incentives before they expired in September. This could make next quarter’s results look promising. But investors should expect a steep drop-off in sales in the quarters to follow.

UiPath (PATH 1.18%) finally gave the market something to get excited about. The stock popped after the company laid out a series of new collaborations with Nvidia, Alphabet, Snowflake, and OpenAI. For a business that has been slogging through a multiyear turnaround, this was great news, as it shows a company ready to play a central role in how enterprises actually use artificial intelligence (AI).

Going down a new path

UiPath is no longer trying to be just a robotic process automation (RPA) company that uses software bots to automate rule-based tasks such as data entry. Instead, it is shifting to agentic automation, where its AI agent orchestration platform can coordinate how humans, bots, and different AI agents all work together. These new partnerships are about pushing that vision into the real world.

Image source: Getty Images

The deal with Nvidia focuses on industries that have little room for error. UiPath will use Nvidia’s Nemotron models and NIM microservices to power agents that can run on-premises in regulated environments like healthcare and fraud detection, where data can’t leave secure systems. Meanwhile, it will bring Alphabet’s Gemini models into its platform, so people can use automation with voice commands.

In addition, by linking up with Snowflake, it will tie Snowflake’s Cortex AI to its orchestration platform to help customers act on data insights in real time. And finally, its OpenAI partnership adds a ChatGPT connector that lets customers weave advanced large language models (LLMs) right into their workflows without rebuilding everything from scratch.

When you look at these moves together, UiPath is trying to position itself as the Switzerland of enterprise AI agents: integrating with everyone and letting customers pick whichever models they want without locking themselves into a single vendor. That pitch resonates because companies are wary of vendor lock-in, and having one orchestration platform that can handle all these AI agents could become a valuable advantage. The collaboration with Snowflake looks particularly compelling because the combination should be able to offer an alternative approach to Palantir that can deliver similar data-driven automation and real-world insights using a customer’s data that is already warehoused inside Snowflake servers.

Meanwhile, even before announcing these partnerships, UiPath was already seeing early signs that its turnaround was starting to take hold.

In its most recent quarter, the company’s annual recurring revenue (ARR) climbed 11% to $1.72 billion, beating the high end of guidance. Cloud ARR jumped 25% to cross the $1 billion mark, proving that the migration to the cloud is moving along. Net revenue retention stabilized at 108% after several quarters of slippage, which is important because it suggests existing customers are still spending more. Its public sector business, which had been frozen earlier in the year, is starting to come back, and adjusted operating margins jumped to 17% as the company’s past cost cuts and restructuring efforts began to show up in its numbers.

Is the stock a buy?

While UiPath still has plenty to prove, there are other encouraging signs. The return of founder Daniel Dines as CEO has given the company a steadier hand and clearer focus on its agentic automation vision. More than 450 customers are already building AI agents on its platform, and 95% of new customers are adopting its core automation products too, suggesting the new AI tools are complementing rather than replacing its traditional offerings.

Trading at a forward price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of roughly 4.1 times expected 2026 revenue, the stock’s valuation is inexpensive for a business with improving fundamentals. If these partnerships can further help accelerate growth, UiPath’s stock could have plenty of upside ahead.

That said, this is not a low-risk story, and there will likely be bumps along the way. However, for investors willing to bet on a company that looks like it is getting its act together and has some powerful partners lined up, the stock looks like an interesting buy.

If you’re hesitant to put $1,000 into a new trade in any of the stock market’s most popular picks right now, you’re not crazy. The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) is now priced at a frothy 25 times its trailing earnings, while data from Yardeni Research indicates the “Magnificent Seven” stocks that have led the market higher since 2023 sport an average forward-looking price/earnings ratio of more than 30. That’s a lot, leaving them — along with the overall market — vulnerable to weakness. Factor in the tariff wars that don’t appear to be cooling off, and it’s easy to justify staying on the sidelines.

The situation doesn’t require you to sit out altogether, though. It just means you should make a point of investing that $1,000 in growth companies with few (if any) direct ties to the United States, and stocks with more reasonable valuations relative to their potential growth.

One name worth a $1,000 investment comes to mind above all the rest.

What’s MercadoLibre?

If you’ve ever heard of MercadoLibre (MELI -3.18%), then there’s a good chance you’ve heard it called the “Amazon (AMZN -1.34%) of Latin America.” And it’s not an unfitting description. It isn’t a perfectly accurate one, though. Yes, MercadoLibre helps companies sell goods online. Unlike Amazon, though, this company also operates a major digital payments business that looks more like PayPal‘s, yet also manages a logistics arm that supports its e-commerce, provides a range of banking and bank-like services to merchants, and even helps brick-and-mortar stores handle inventory and payments. It’s a proverbial soup-to-nuts business.

And it’s growing. Last quarter’s revenue growth of 34% carried its top line to nearly $6.8 billion, accelerating long-established bigger-picture uptrends, and pumping up profits by almost as much.

Data source: Simply Wall St. Chart by author.

All of it’s just happening in Latin America, with the bulk of its business taking shape in Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina.

The thing is, this is exactly where you’d want one of your holdings to focus right now in the way MercadoLibre is positioning itself for the future.

Plugging into the continent’s connectivity revolution

Getting straight to the point, where North America’s internet connectivity industry was 20 years ago is in many ways where South America’s is now. Although the internet has existed there since its infancy, it’s only now becoming commonplace. For perspective, whereas Pew Research says 96% of U.S. adults now have access to broadband internet, Standard & Poor’s reports that less than 60% of Latin American and Caribbean households are likely to even have the option of fixed broadband service before the end of this year.

There’s a geographically unique nuance worth noting, however. That is, a wide and growing swath of the region’s population uses their smartphones as their primary — and sometimes only — point of access to the World Wide Web. GSMA Intelligence suggests Latin America’s 2023 count of 418 million mobile internet users should reach 485 million by 2030. Even then, though, there’s room for continued growth. At 485 million, that would still only be a penetration rate of 72% of the region’s population.

And just like here, it’s not taking South America’s consumers very long to figure out that their handheld devices are great tools for shopping online, and even making digital payments. Industry research outfit Payments and Commerce Market Intelligence expects the continent’s e-commerce industry to grow 21% year over year in 2025, en route to nearly doubling in size between 2023 and 2027. Simultaneously, the research outfit reports 60% of consumer spending in Latin America is now facilitated by digital and electronic payments, led by Brazil — where MercadoLibre is a force.

The company is simply riding this growth trend. Analysts expect MercadoLibre’s top line to more than double between last year and 2027, more than doubling its bottom line with it.

Just focus on the bigger picture

There is some drama. Investors keeping tabs on this company may recall that shares tumbled in early August in response to the company’s disappointing Q2 profit. Despite the strong sales growth, per-share earnings of $10.39 fell short of analysts’ estimates of $11.93, falling 1.6% from the year-ago comparison. Blame free shipping, mostly. Taking a page out of Amazon’s playbook, MercadoLibre spent more on free shipping in Brazil than investors were anticipating.

Now, just take a step back and look at the bigger picture that most investors seem to be seeing again, nudging the stock higher as a result. The free shipping strategy worked out all right for Amazon. It might work out even better for MercadoLibre in the long run, given just how fragmented the region’s e-commerce market currently is. In this vein, eMarketer says MercadoLibre’s market-leading share of the region’s e-commerce business still only accounts for about one-third of the industry’s total sales, with no other player accounting for more than 5% of the regional market’s online shopping.

In other words, there’s an opportunity for an enterprise that’s willing and able to act on it. MercadoLibre seems to be that enterprise. Current and interested investors are just going to need to be patient, as the world was with Amazon.

This might help: Despite the added expense of free shipping that’s likely to linger for a while as a means of turning consumers into regular customers, the analyst community isn’t dissuaded. The vast majority of them still rate MercadoLibre stock as a strong buy, maintaining a consensus target of $2,920.91, which is 17% above the ticker’s present price. That’s not a bad tailwind to start out a new trade with if you have $1,000 available to invest.

My colleague, Adria Cimino, recently predicted that Nvidia (NVDA -0.77%) shares, recently trading near $189 per stub, will reach $400 by 2030, only five years from now. I’m bullish on the stock, myself, own a few shares, and expect them to do quite well over the coming decade.

Why do we expect Nvidia to soar over the coming decade? Well, in my view, there are many reasons. A chief one is the continuing growth of artificial intelligence (AI) technology — around the world. Nvidia, with a recent market cap of $4.6 trillion, is a leading semiconductor company, and the chips it designs are critical for AI because they help train AI.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

Nvidia seems likely to reap plenty of profits from its AI-enabling chips, but it will likely also profit from some significant investments in other companies, such as fellow chip specialist Intel and its customer OpenAI, owner of chatbot ChatGPT. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang foresees up to $4 trillion in annual AI infrastructure spending by 2030 and expects Nvidia to reap a lot of that. More currently, Nvidia is seeing around $600 billion in data center spending this year.

So — should you invest in Nvidia? It’s not a crazy idea. Yes, it has averaged annual gains of more than 77% over the past decade, but its stock still doesn’t seem wildly overvalued, considering its torrid growth. Its recent forward-looking price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 41.5 isn’t too far from its five-year average of 38.9.

If you invest in Nvidia, don’t assume that you’ll enjoy 77% gains each year. Remember that as companies grow huge, it can be hard for them to keep growing rapidly. Still, I suspect that long-term investors buying some shares of Nvidia today will do well over a decade or more.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM 1.50%), also known as TSMC, is one of the premier manufacturers of advanced processors, many of which are used for artificial intelligence. The company’s strong position in this space and its growth over the past few years have resulted in its stock price soaring nearly 200% over the past three years.

Recent research from The Motley Fool sheds some light on how TSMC’s manufacturing technology is a step ahead, how it makes the majority of its revenue, and where most of its customers are located. Importantly, all of these factors work together to set TSMC apart from the competition and make its stock a smart one to own for years to come.

1. The company is a leader in advanced chip manufacturing

TSMC manufactures some of the world’s most advanced processors, and the breakdown of the company’s revenue shows just how much comes from its different manufacturing capabilities. Chip companies use the term chip node to describe how many transistors will fit onto a semiconductor, with the unit of chip measurement being nanometers (nm). Generally speaking, the smaller, the more advanced the processor.

Here’s a snapshot of Taiwan Semiconductor’s top five revenue generators, by chip size:

Data source: Taiwan Semiconductor.

This revenue composition is important to highlight because it shows that a whopping 60% of the company’s semiconductor sales are from the smallest and most advanced processors (3nm and 5nm) on the market.

No other company compares to TSMC’s manufacturing prowess, and it’s likely to continue outpacing the competition. TSMC has already sign 15 deals with tech companies for 2nm semiconductor manufacturing, leaving rivals, including Samsung, far behind.

2. Its advanced processors are driving its growth

Just as important as the technology behind TSMC’s revenue is what technologies those processors power. If we go back five years, smartphones were the driving revenue force for TSMC. Now, it’s high-performance computing (think AI data centers).

The company has dominated the manufacturing of advanced processors so well, in fact, that TSMC makes an estimated 90% of the world’s most advanced processors.

Here is the company’s revenue distribution over the past four quarters:

Data source: Taiwan Semiconductor.

TSMC’s making the majority of its revenue from high-performance computing is important because it shows that the company successfully adapted with the times, moving from its previously dominant smartphone segment to sales from chips to AI data centers.

More growth could be on the way, too, considering that semiconductor leader Nvidia believes technology companies could spend up to $4 trillion on AI data center infrastructure over the next five years.

3. U.S. tech giants drive demand

Taiwan Semiconductor is based in, you guessed it, Taiwan, but the vast majority of its sales come from selling processors to North American companies. About five years ago, North America accounted for just over half of TSMC’s sales, but that’s jumped to 75% currently. China and the Asia-Pacific region tie for second place with just 9% each.

Why does this matter? Some of the most advanced artificial intelligence companies, including Nvidia, OpenAI, Microsoft, Meta, and Alphabet, are based in North America. Taiwan Semiconductor’s shift toward sales in this geographic area is a reflection of the company successfully attracting the world’s leading AI companies to have their chips made by TSMC.

Is Taiwan Semiconductor a buy?

With TSMC making an estimated 90% of the world’s most advanced processors, the company outpacing its manufacturing competition, and artificial intelligence companies poised to spend trillions of dollars to build out and upgrade data centers, TSMC is well positioned to be a great AI stock for years to come.

Just keep in mind that the stellar gains TSMC stock has experienced over the past several years have been a result of the early AI boom, which means future returns may not be quite as impressive.

There are a whirlwind of things happening around Tesla (TSLA -1.41%) right now, both good and bad. On the one hand, the company is dealing with a talent exodus with multiple executives leaving, consumer backlash at CEO Elon Musk’s political antics, declining global sales, and an aging vehicle lineup, just to name a few.

On the other hand, the company believes it can be the most valuable company in the world as it transitions from vehicle production to a company based on artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and driverless vehicles. The question remains: Where will Tesla’s stock trade during all of this madness?

Falling behind?

One of the biggest developments for Tesla investors over the summer happened in Austin, Texas, where the company launched its robotaxi pilot. However, three months into its robotaxi pilot with a small number of Model Ys operating, it still requires a safety driver just in case, and it still only operates with invite-only passengers.

Image source: Tesla.

Sure, it was a step forward after the company had long promised such a service, but Tesla is still behind its primary rival, Waymo, which is moving into new cities and doesn’t require a safety driver to supervise its driverless vehicle.

While the slower and smaller initial test may have made investors cautious, Musk remains ambitious. During Tesla’s July 23 earnings call, he noted that the autonomous ride-hailing service would reach across most of the country and “probably” address half the U.S. population by the end of 2025 — lofty targets, to be sure.

No small matter

Make no mistake, this is a huge development for investors and the stakes are high. Tesla’s slow rollout has some onlookers pumping the brakes.

“It’s an acknowledgment that their software isn’t as mature as they thought it was and they’re going to need more time with a safety driver,” said Carnegie Mellon professor Philip Koopman, an expert in autonomous vehicle safety, according to Automotive News. “That’s OK for everyone except the people who invested thinking there’d be a million of these cars on the road by the end of the year,” he said. 

Investors looking for a silver lining might have to squint to see it more clearly, but it’s there. One reason Tesla remains a serious threat to its rivals such as Waymo is because once the autonomous technology and robotaxi become fully autonomous, the automaker can easily produce tons of vehicles from its factories in California and Texas.

Long term, Tesla’s gigafactory production is an advantage. But the company also has a cost advantage over its rivals as it only uses cameras for its self-driving technology, rather than more expensive sensors such as radar and lidar.

Investors also have to keep in mind Tesla may be behind at the moment, but at the same time could make progress faster than its competitors. In fact, if Tesla can change to no safety driver in the next 12 months, that’ll be faster than any other robotaxi company that’s accomplished the feat. For context, Waymo tested for years with safety drivers before going fully autonomous, but that was back in 2020.

What it all means

Tesla’s progress with autonomous vehicles has been slower than desired, but investors should focus on if the company can do it without sensors, and do it effectively. At this point doing it right is much more valuable than doing it faster — that battle may already be over. That said, Tesla has seemingly gone all-in on its future transition from only producing vehicles to becoming an AI, robotics, and robotaxi service company, which could be lucrative if it’s all achieved.

Until then, investors are going to need plenty of patience, especially considering the third quarter is likely to be strong — remember the end of the $7,500 tax credit pulled demand into the third quarter. That should be followed by several rather bumpy quarters for not only Tesla but the broader electric vehicle industry.

Target (TGT -0.54%), one of the largest retailers in America, was once considered a dependable blue-chip stock for dividend investors. On November 26, 2021, its stock closed at a record high of $238.01 per share, marking a three-year gain of 234%.

Target impressed the bulls with its soaring digital sales throughout the pandemic, the expansion of its private-label brands, and its overall pricing power. The broader buying frenzy in stocks — which was sparked by stimulus checks, social media buzz, and the growing popularity of commission-free trading platforms — further inflated its valuations.

Image source: Getty Images.

After hitting its peak, Target’s stock shed more than two-thirds of its value and now trades at around $88 a share. The company lost its luster as it grappled with tough comparisons to the pandemic, rising inventory levels, inflationary headwinds, tariffs, and politically driven boycotts. As it dealt with those challenges, rising interest rates compressed its valuations.

Target’s stock now trades at just 12 times forward earnings and pays a high forward yield of 5.2%. It’s also still a Dividend King that has raised its payout annually for 54 consecutive years. It takes 50 straight years of dividend increases to qualify for that elite club. Target’s low valuation and high yield might limit its downside potential, but can it bounce back and outperform the S&P 500 over the next five years?

What happened to Target over the past few years?

From fiscal 2021 to fiscal 2024 (which ended this February), Target’s comparable-store sales cooled off significantly from its pandemic-era highs. The inflationary headwinds for consumer spending and the fluctuating tariffs on Chinese goods exacerbated that slowdown. Yet Target continued to open new stores, even as many other retailers shuttered their weaker brick-and-mortar stores, and its gross margins bounced back from a steep post-pandemic drop in 2022.

Data source: Target. FY = fiscal year.

Target is still much smaller than rch rival Walmart, which operates more than 10,750 stores worldwide. The company also only operates its stores within the U.S. and generally targets more affluent and style-conscious consumers than Walmart. That’s why it often prioritizes sales of clothing and home decor over essentials and groceries. However, those non-essential products were more exposed to the recent macro headwinds than essential goods.

As Target grappled with those challenges, it faced boycotts from both right-wing and left-leaning groups. Its sales of LGBTQ-themed merchandise sparked a conservative boycott in 2024, while the rollback of its diversity, equity, and inclusivity (DEI) initiatives in early 2025 caused liberal shoppers to boycott its stores. To make matters worse, its shrink rate (largely caused by theft) rose, as more shoplifters targeted its stores in certain cities.

In fiscal 2022, Target’s gross margin plummeted as it tried to clear out its excess inventories with markdowns. But over the following two years, its gross margins expanded as it negotiated better prices with its suppliers, diversified its supply chain, generated more revenue from its higher-margin advertising and marketplace segments, and improved its product mix while gaining more Target Circle 360 subscriptions. Those improvements offset the pressure from its markdowns, higher fulfillment costs, and unpredictable tariffs.

What will happen to Target over the next five years?

For fiscal 2025, Target expects its comps to drop by the low single digits as its adjusted earnings per share (EPS), which excludes its litigation-related gains in the first quarter, decline by a midpoint of 10%. It expects most of its prior challenges to persist throughout the rest of the year.

On the bright side, Target still expects to add $15 billion to its top line by 2030 — which implies its revenue could grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.7% from $105.1 billion in fiscal 2025 to $120.1 billion in fiscal 2030. To achieve that long-term goal, it plans to beef up its private label brands, draw more shoppers to its third-party Target Plus marketplace, upgrade its artificial intelligence (AI) and recommendation tools, streamline its supply chain, expand its in-house media and advertising units, and gain even more Circle 360 subscribers. It also plans to open new stores, leverage those locations to fulfill its online orders, and further improve its same-day delivery and curbside pickup services.

Assuming Target hits that modest target, its EPS grows at a similar CAGR of 3% from fiscal 2025 to fiscal 2030, and the stock trades at a more generous 15 times forward earnings by the final year, the company’s stock could rise nearly 60%, to $140 per share, over the next five years. That gain could keep it ahead of the S&P 500, which generates an average annual return of about 10%.

However, that’s based on a best-case scenario in which Target comfortably overcomes all of its macro, competitive, shrink-related, and politically driven challenges. If it doesn’t resolve those issues, Target’s valuation could remain depressed as the stock continues to underperform the broader market.

It has been a rollercoaster year for Lucid Group (LCID 2.68%), with shares of the electric vehicle (EV) maker gyrating between $16 and $35. But one Wall Street analyst remains unfazed. He has a price target of $70 for Lucid stock. If you’re tracking electric car stocks, you’ll want to understand his thinking.

3 Reasons this Wall Street analyst loves Lucid Group stock

Mickey Legg is an analyst at Benchmark Company who has covered the EV space for several years. One of his top picks right now is Lucid Group. His $70 price target implies nearly 200% in potential upside. There are three factors right now that get him excited.

First, he believes electric vehicle sales in the U.S. will accelerate in 2025 and 2026. There are a few problems with this prediction. EV sales growth decelerated heavily from 2023 to 2024. In 2023, 1.2 million EVs were sold nationwide, a 46% increase versus the year before. But last year, just 1.3 million EVs were sold, a growth rate of only 7%. Additionally, the elimination of EV tax credits may hamper demand in the back half of 2025 through 2026 and beyond. Predicting an acceleration in EV sales, therefore, is a very bullish take.

But Legg’s thesis rests on more than just higher industrywide sales. He notes Lucid’s “advanced technology” as well as its “highly integrated manufacturing capabilities.” For years, Lucid has been pushing back against its positioning as a car manufacturer, instead pitching its capabilities as a technology provider. “I’d love it to be 20-80. Twenty percent doing cars, 80% licensing,” Lucid’s former CEO said earlier this year.

Lucid’s deal with Uber Technologies to supply it with 20,000 vehicles that will power its robotaxi division lends credence to this vision. Uber required high-tech vehicles to enable autonomous driving, and out of all the global manufacturers, it chose Lucid, investing $300 million directly into the company as well. So, while I don’t agree with Legg’s bullishness on EV sales, there is something to say about Lucid’s differentiated technology moving forward.

Another factor that Legg is excited about is Saudi Arabia’s huge stake in Lucid. The country’s sovereign wealth fund has repeatedly provided financing to keep Lucid afloat. The country also intends to take delivery of 100,000 Lucid vehicles from 2022 to 2032. This is a double-edged sword, however. As a majority investor, Saudi Arabia’s influence on Lucid is huge, and the country’s goals may not always align with what investors wish to see.

So, while the country has been a valuable partner thus far, there is structural risk in investing alongside an influential entity that may not have your priorities in mind.

Image source: Getty Images.

Don’t invest in Lucid Group before understanding this challenge

There is one final challenge Lucid Group faces that every investor should understand. And that is a lack of clarity when it comes to the introduction of affordable electric models.

Nearly 70% of U.S. buyers are looking to spend less than $50,000 on their next vehicle purchase. With zero models priced under $50,000, Lucid is missing out on tens of millions of potential buyers. The company believes it can get an affordable model to market by the end of 2026, but numerous questions remain about its ability to finance and scale the required infrastructure to do so. Competitors like Rivian Automotive and Tesla, meanwhile, will both have several affordable models on the market by the end of next year.

This is the challenge with Lucid right now. Even if EV sales accelerate like Legg predicts, the company simply doesn’t have the right models to take advantage of such growth. While its technology is exciting, it won’t see mass adoption until costs come down. So while some analysts remain bullish on Lucid stock, I’m remaining on the sidelines for now.

The first big customer for The Trade Desk‘s (TTD 1.33%) TV operating system (OS) is finally here. The ad-buying platform announced on Wednesday that it will co-develop a custom version of its Ventura TV OS with DirecTV, pairing DirecTV’s consumer interface with Ventura’s ad-tech plumbing and app store. The announcement arrives nearly a year after Ventura was introduced, giving investors their first look at how the company plans to bring its TV platform to market.

For readers newer to the story, The Trade Desk operates a software platform that helps advertisers buy and measure digital ads across the internet. The company has been pushing deeper into connected TV (CTV) for years. Ventura is the boldest step yet — a TV operating system meant to give manufacturers and content companies an alternative to platforms that also own content or a streaming service.

Image source: Getty Images.

What Ventura is and why DirecTV matters

Ventura is pitched as a neutral operating system for smart TVs and other screens. The company said in its announcement of Ventura that it is designed to provide a “much cleaner supply chain streaming TV advertising, minimizing supply chain hops and costs — ensuring maximum ROI for every advertising dollar and optimized yield for publishers.” In other words, The Trade Desk believes it will support a supply chain that lets advertisers measure performance more precisely and ultimately optimize spending better.

Importantly, Ventura is not tied to a house streaming service, which the company argues reduces conflicts of interest and keeps it a more unbiased partner for publishers, TV makers, and retailers. This is a pointed contrast with incumbents like Roku or Amazon‘s Fire TV, which operate platforms while also owning major ad-supported channels and inventory.

DirecTV gives Ventura an on-ramp that consumers recognize. The partners plan to integrate DirecTV’s familiar interface — including access to MyFree DirecTV (its free ad-supported TV service), optional genre packs, and premium bundles — into a Ventura build that any third-party TV manufacturer, retailer, hotel, or venue could deploy.

In other words, an OEM (original equipment manufacturer) can ship a TV that boots into DirecTV’s experience, but the advertising marketplace and measurement behind the scenes will run on Ventura. As Matthew Henick, senior vice president of Ventura TV OS, put it, “TV manufacturers deserve more choice in how they build their businesses,” adding that the goal is a “more transparent and equitable ecosystem” for advertisers and publishers.

Financially, The Trade Desk enters this next phase during a time when investors are dubious about how sustainable its high growth rate is. Second-quarter revenue grew 19% year over year to $694 million, and customer retention stayed above 95% while adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) margin was an impressive 39%. But this growth rate was down from Q1, and management expects even lower growth in Q3. While tough comparisons to year-ago quarters (due primarily to political advertising spending last year) are weighing on results, some investors worry that increasing competition is also to blame.

A catalyst — and a potential distraction

A credible distribution partner could help The Trade Desk push Ventura into living rooms quickly. If OEMs adopt this DirecTV-skinned version, Ventura may improve ad transparency, streamline supply paths, and potentially lower take rates in CTV — outcomes that could make its core ad-buying platform more attractive as its marketers benefit from better economics when buying Ventura OS inventory.

But investors should be cautious about extrapolating too much from a single partnership. Building and supporting a TV OS is expensive and operationally messy. The business model relies on lining up multiple constituents (OEMs, publishers, retailers, and distribution partners) and then demonstrating that stakeholders can earn more money on Ventura than on incumbent platforms. That process takes time. It is also possible the effort will distract management from the day-to-day of strengthening Kokai, its artificial intelligence (AI)-forward ad-buying platform.

Additionally, The Trade Desk’s valuation arguably already prices in success with both its core business and in new ventures. Even after a tough stretch for the stock, shares trade at close to 10 times sales — a premium that implies steady execution and continued share gains across CTV and the open internet. If Ventura ramps slowly, or if macroeconomic headwinds suppress large brands’ ad budgets (as The Trade Desk management warned of in its last earnings call), that premium may be hard to defend. And competition isn’t standing still: Platform owners with their own channels can bundle distribution, data, and ad inventory in ways Ventura will need to match, with clear economic benefits for partners.

None of this diminishes the strategic logic. If Ventura delivers an OS that reduces friction for viewers and advertisers while improving monetization for content owners, this could lead to a cleaner and more efficient supply chain for CTV, ultimately benefiting The Trade Desk’s core platform and making it more valuable over time. The DirecTV tie-up is an important first step toward testing that thesis in the wild.

Retirement is an exciting chapter in life, but it requires years of careful planning. Even seemingly small mistakes or misunderstandings can throw a wrench in your plans, potentially costing you thousands of dollars.

If you’re nearing retirement age, there’s one particularly dangerous mistake that’s easy to overlook: having an inappropriate asset allocation.

Image source: Getty Images.

What is asset allocation in retirement?

Your retirement portfolio is likely made up of many different investments, and most people own a mix of stocks and bonds. How those investments are divided up within your portfolio is your asset allocation.

As you age, it’s important to adjust your asset allocation so that you have the appropriate balance of risk and reward.

When you’re younger and still have decades left of your career, you can afford to take on more risk with a higher proportion of stocks versus bonds. Stocks are more volatile in the short term, but as long as you have a few years to allow your investments to recover, they’ll generally go on to earn far higher returns than bonds.

Once you start nearing retirement, though, your portfolio should lean more heavily toward the conservative side. While bonds often earn lower returns than stocks, they’re also less affected by stock market volatility. If you’re heavily invested in stocks and the market takes a sudden turn for the worse, your retirement fund could plummet right as you’re ready to start withdrawing that money.

Why it’s still wise to invest some money in stocks

If you’re worried about a stock market crash or recession, it can be tempting to throw all of your money into bonds and avoid investing in stocks altogether. While that approach sounds safer on the surface, it can also be costly.

Investing at least a portion of your portfolio in stocks can help you earn significantly more than if you were to invest solely in bonds.

For example, say that by investing conservatively in investments like bonds, you could earn an average rate of return of 5% per year. On the other hand, say that by investing in a mix of stocks and bonds, you could earn average returns of 8% per year — slightly below the stock market’s historic average of 10% per year.

If you’re investing $100 per month, here’s approximately what you could accumulate in both scenarios:

Data source: Author’s calculations via investor.gov.

Investing too heavily in stocks can put your retirement fund at greater risk during a bear market or recession, but investing too heavily in bonds can seriously limit your earning potential.

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to what the ideal asset allocation should look like. However, a common guideline is to subtract your age from 110, and the result is the percentage of your portfolio to allocate to stocks. So if you’re 65 years old, you might allocate 45% of your retirement fund to stocks and the remaining 55% to bonds.

Again, this is only a guideline, not a rule. If you’re more risk-averse and comfortable with potentially lower average returns, you might push your portfolio more toward the conservative side. Or if you have other sources of income and can afford to take on more risk with your retirement investments, you might lean slightly more toward stocks to increase your long-term earning potential.

Your asset allocation will depend somewhat on your personal preference, but it’s still important to be intentional about it. By finding the right balance of stocks and bonds, you can better protect your financial future.

There are banking scams, Social Security scams, and scams aimed at retirees searching for a work-from-home job. The thieves behind these scams will do whatever they can to separate you from your personal identity and money.

Scammers are particularly interested in contacting seniors because they assume retirees have the most money to steal. They want your money, whether it’s your Social Security benefits, pension, or retirement plan.

Keep in mind: It’s not always easy to realize you’re being scammed. Scammers create fake company websites or clone real websites. They even create documents that look exactly like real tax, personal information, and banking deposit forms. They can come off as professional and sincere and lull you into believing they have a legitimate job to offer.

Here are some of the most common work-from-home scams and how to avoid them.

Image source: Getty Images.

The “you got the job” scam

Imagine you post your resume on an employment site, like Monster, Indeed, LinkedIn, or ZipRecruiter. Someone posing as a business owner or recruiter contacts you and initiates an online interview through video chat, email, or text message. Shortly after the interview, you’re told you’ve got the job and are provided with employment documents to fill out.

It can be challenging to tell a scam from the real thing because new employees at legitimate companies are also asked to fill out job-related documents. However, if asked to provide a picture of your driver’s license, bank account numbers (so the company can “pay“ you via direct deposit), your Social Security number, and your home address, don’t do it until you’ve vetted them and know it’s a legitimate job.” 

Once you’ve provided that personal information, the scammer has all they need to assume your identity, empty your savings account, open credit cards, and take loans out in your name. The scammer disappears, and you never hear another word about the job.

The “reshipping“ scam

The person behind this scam may offer you a job as a quality control manager or virtual personal assistant. Once “hired,” you’re told part of your job is to receive packages at home, get rid of the original packaging and receipts, repackage the products, and reship them to a specific address provided by your employer. The address may be in the U.S. or overseas.

The products you reship are often high-priced items, like name-brand electronics. Reshipping is never a legitimate job. Anything you’re repacking and sending to a third-party has likely been purchased using stolen credit cards.

Often, the company will promise you a paycheck after one month of work, but when the check doesn’t arrive and you attempt to contact them, they’re gone. In addition, depending on how much personal information you provided them, you may find yourself dealing with identity theft.

The “mystery shopper“ scam

To be clear, there are legitimate mystery shopper jobs, and they can be a perfect fit for a retiree. Thanks to scammers, though, you have to be careful. If asked to pay for anything upfront, including certifications, directories of jobs, or a job guarantee, it’s a scam. A real employer will never require you to pay for a job.

The “job placement service“ scam

Speaking of upfront payments, the job placement service scam involves someone pretending to be from a temporary agency, staffing firm, or headhunter. Typically, they’ll promote outdated or fake job listings and charge upfront fees for their “services.“

Again, if you’re asked to pay a fee, walk away. It’s a scam.

Red flags

The following signs should serve as red flags, warning you that you might be getting scammed:

• The job sounds too good to be true, and grand promises are made.
• The wage offered is notably higher or lower than the average wage for that job (you can check current wages online).
• You never applied to the company’s official career website.
• You can’t find the job posting on the real company’s job page (if there is a real company).
• The interview is conducted through Google Hangouts, Telegram app, TextFree app, TextNow app, or WhatsApp.
• Emails are sent from free accounts, such as Gmail, Yahoo, or Hotmail.
• The potential “employer“ requires you to provide personal information. For example, you may be asked for a copy of your driver’s license, passport, or Social Security number during your interview.
• You’re required to supply your bank account or credit card information. From this account, the scammer can steal your pension, annuity payments, or other retirement income.
• You’re required to pay something up front to get the job.
• You’re asked to purchase equipment and told the company will reimburse you. The scammer tells you whom to send the money to for the purchase.
• You must deposit money into your personal bank account and transfer it to someone you don’t know.

If you’re hoping to land a work-from-home job, they are available. As you search, pay special attention to any situation that feels “off“ because it just might be. No scammer has the right to reduce your net worth through fraud.

Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC) (TSM 1.50%) will release earnings for the third quarter of 2025 on Oct. 16. The company produces the majority of the world’s most advanced semiconductors. Since many of the advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) are not possible without its manufacturing capabilities, the stock is likely to remain a market beater over the long term.

Nonetheless, TSMC stock is at an all-time high, and anticipated growth is often not enough of a reason to buy a stock. With an earnings report looming, should investors buy shares of the stock now or stay on the sidelines and hold out for a lower price?

The bull case in TSMC stock

As previously mentioned, TSMC faces a few threats to its long-term bull case. It is the world’s largest semiconductor foundry company, and as of the second quarter of 2025, its market share now exceeds 70%, according to TrendForce. This is up from 67% in the previous quarter.

Additionally, Grand View Research forecasts a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for AI of 32% through 2033. These combined factors make it highly likely that TSMC’s rapid growth will continue.

For now, it has exceeded that growth rate, and that rapid growth is on track to continue. In the first half of 2025, revenue increased by 40% to $56 billion compared to the same period the previous year. It also stated on its Q2 earnings call that it expects between $31.8 billion and $33 billion in revenue during Q3, representing a 38% rise at the midpoint.

Investors should note that the company beat revenue estimates in each of the previous four reports. Thus, if it beats estimates like it has in previous quarters, the 40% revenue growth rate from the first two quarters of the year could continue into Q3.

Moreover, investors should watch for sales of the most advanced chips, namely those in the 2nm – 5nm size range that power the most advanced AI functions. This is the area where TSMC stands out above competing foundries, since Samsung is the only other chip producer that can manufacture these smaller chips.

Areas of danger

Additionally, even if it is likely to beat earnings estimates, TSMC faces significant challenges.

One is simply keeping up with demand. It allocated almost $20 billion to capital expenditures (CapEx) in the first half of the year, and much of that will go to foundries in Arizona, where it plans to allocate $165 billion to building six advanced manufacturing facilities. Even though that is a considerable sum, it will likely have to maintain or increase that spending to match demand.

Another factor is that the majority of production takes place in Taiwan, which faces considerable geopolitical tensions because of its proximity to China. Investors differ on the danger level, as China can probably not afford to have the supply of chips disrupted by geopolitical events.

Still, investors should also remember that Warren Buffett forced Berkshire Hathaway to sell its TSMC stake for this reason. Hence, investors must remain aware of this concern.

That issue may also be the reason for TSMC’s relatively low valuation. It has traded at an average P/E ratio of 25 over the last five years, far below its key clients such as Apple and Nvidia.

Also, while its current 33 P/E ratio is low for a company with 40% revenue growth, the earnings multiple has rarely exceeded 40 in recent years. That could increase the danger of paying a relative premium for TSMC.

Should investors buy TSMC stock before earnings?

Under current conditions, no obvious factor is pushing investors to either delay or accelerate purchase decisions before the earnings report.

Indeed, nobody knows how TSMC stock will react once the company releases Q3 earnings. Still, some risk-averse investors may feel apprehensive about the report amid the rising P/E ratio.

If that is the case, one strategy is to do both, allocate half of one’s funds to this stock now and wait for the report to spend the additional half. Shareholders who dollar-cost-average into this stock are likely already employing this strategy, and with this near-term outcome unknown, that approach could also work for other investors.

Ultimately, barring the aforementioned geopolitical risks, TSMC stock should remain on a bull trend as it struggles to meet the demand for AI chips. For this reason, time in TSMC is almost certainly more critical to winning with the stock than the timing of one’s purchase decisions.

Rivian Automotive (RIVN 0.85%) is expected to announce earnings in early November. If you’ve been eyeing this electric vehicle stock, now may be a key moment to buy it at a discount. That’s because Rivian is about to reach an important growth catalyst. This will perhaps be the biggest in its history. Let’s learn what that is and whether now it a good time to invest in the EV maker. 

Expect important updates to arrive in early November

What exactly should investors expect to be revealed next month? Most importantly, we should get our clearest update yet on Rivian’s upcoming affordable models: The R2, R3, and R3X.

I’ve written before how important it is for an electric car company to introduce affordable models. A big majority of car buyers are looking to spend less than $50,000 on their next vehicle purchase. And now that U.S. federal tax credits have been eliminated for EV purchases, offering low-cost models is more important than ever.

Right now, Rivian has just two models on the market, both of which can easily cost $100,000 or more with certain options. This high price point dramatically reduces the company’s total addressable market. But the upcoming models — the R2, R3, and R3X — are all expected to cost less than $50,000, making Rivians accessible to tens of millions of new buyers.

When Tesla introduced its affordable models — the Model 3 and Model Y — growth exploded. I expect the same to occur for Rivian. That’s great news for investors, since Rivian’s revenue growth rates have essentially flatlined over the last 18 months. This has caused the company’s price-to-sales ratio to fall to just 3.1. Tesla, for comparison, trades at nearly 17 times sales. If Rivian’s new models follow the growth trajectory of Tesla’s affordable models, this valuation gap could narrow quickly.

Earlier this year, Rivian management reaffirmed that the R2 would begin production in early 2026 as planned. That was an important update, since the EV manufacturing industry has historically been overly optimistic about production timelines. Last week, hundreds of Rivian R2 test vehicles were spotted on public roads, with the company noting that these vehicles were generating real-world data and validating charging capabilities ahead of launch.

It’s possible that the Rivian R2 will begin production before the first earnings announcement of 2026, which should occur sometime next February. If so, that means this upcoming announcement in November could generate clear guidance from management that adds momentum to the stock. But there’s one other reason to buy ahead of next month’s earnings call.

Image source: Getty Images.

Can Rivian stay profitable without key subsidies?

Unlike Tesla, Rivian has yet to achieve net profitability. But this year, the company did achieve positive gross margins for the first time. This signaled to the market that, long term, the company is capable of producing vehicles at a profit. There’s just one problem. A lot of this gross profit was realized through selling automotive regulatory credits — credits earned from the U.S. government for producing low-emissions vehicles that can essentially be sold at a 100% profit.

In May, for example, Rivian posted a $206 million gross profit. Roughly half of that gross profit, however, included regulatory credit sales. With those credits eliminated for 2026, it will be very interesting to track Rivian’s gross profit levels. In August, the company slipped back into negative gross profits.

It’s possible that good news on the R2 production front will be offset by a negative update regarding profitability. But if we get positive news on both factors, we could finally see Rivian shares move significantly higher following more than two years of share price stagnation.

QuantumScape (QS 11.29%) stock doesn’t look like much of a bargain at first glance. After all, it’s zoomed nearly 140% in price this year. That’s over 10 times the percentage rate increase of the benchmark S&P 500 index. Yikes!

But there are very good reasons for the rally, and I think QuantumScape remains a buy thanks to a future that could be — pardon the expression — very electric. Read on for more.

The people’s battery?

For the uninitiated, QuantumScape is a next-generation battery developer focused on the electric vehicle (EV) market. It specializes in solid state power packs, which have numerous advantages over the models currently packed into most EVs. Its batteries charge quickly, for one (in under 15 minutes, per the company’s literature), and are relatively safer and longer-lasting.

Image source: Getty Images.

There are plenty of businesses, both publicly traded and privately held, that are busy developing the next whiz-bang technology for the EV space. QuantumScape accelerated past many of these in 2024. Back then it struck a deal with joint-venture partner Volkswagen for the big global automaker’s PowerCo subsidiary to license its battery technology.

The deal stipulates that when and if PowerCo produces QuantumScape-designed batteries that find their way into Volkswagen vehicles, the latter company will collect — presumably many — milestone payments and royalties from the undertaking.

Setting the stage

Meanwhile, QuantumScape batteries aren’t just fancy ideas or impressive-looking renderings in a brochure. In early September, the first real-life demonstration of one of its products was held at an international auto show in Germany. A racing motorcycle from Ducati (a Volkswagen-owned brand) powered by a QuantumScape battery was driven across the event’s main stage.

All this indicates that Volkswagen has chosen QuantumScape to be at least one key battery supplier for its future. More will surely follow, as the company’s technology has proven in a series of tests — plus that live demonstration — to be robust. So even if the company’s stock looks expensive now, its business is only at the start of a journey that’s long and likely prosperous.