The Motley Fool

JANUARY 4, 2025

Palantir (NASDAQ: PLTR) was one of the best-performing stocks of 2024. The analytics and software management platform for government agencies, the military, and big business soared 340% for the year and sports a market cap of $167 billion as of this writing. Shareholders of Palantir no doubt appreciated the company's performance in 2024, but investors are likely looking at the new year and asking themselves: Can Palantir keep up this momentum?

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Financial Times M&A

JANUARY 4, 2025

Hedge funds founder and owner of the English club has had preliminary talks with at least one possible buyer

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The Motley Fool

JANUARY 4, 2025

Thanks to its soaring stock last year, quantum computing specialist IonQ (NYSE: IONQ) is a company that has people talking. Up more than 225% in 2024, the shares have clearly attracted a ton of interest from investors. But it's a new year, and the question is this: Is IonQ a long-term buy? Let's dig into that right now. Image source: Getty Images. Start Your Mornings Smarter!

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The Big Picture

JANUARY 4, 2025

The weekend is here! Pour yourself a mug of Colombia Tolima Los Brasiles Peaberry Organic coffee, grab a seat outside, and get ready for our longer-form weekend reads: AI Wants More Data. More Chips. More Real Estate. More Power. More Water. More Everything : Businesses, investors and society brace for a demand shock from artificial intelligence. ( Bloomberg ) Its the Most Indispensable Machine in the Worldand It Depends on This Woman : I got a rare look at the one tool responsible for all the

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The Motley Fool

JANUARY 4, 2025

Palantir (NASDAQ: PLTR) stock posted another month of strong gains in December's trading. The company closed out the period with its share price up 12.7%, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. Palantir was one of 2024's hottest stocks, and it ended the stretch with another month of double-digit gains. The company's share price rose in conjunction with new contract wins and reports of a potentially disruptive new partnership aimed at making waves in the defense industry.

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The Motley Fool

JANUARY 4, 2025

The end of (one) year and start of another can be an exciting time. For kids, it means Christmas, with presents under the tree. For adults, New Year's Eve parties and bottles of champagne. The end of the calendar year also, however, coincides with the end of another fiscal quarter for the government. And for investors in defense stocks , that means the end of every year brings an avalanche of new defense contracts the Pentagon awards in the last weeks of December.

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The Motley Fool

JANUARY 4, 2025

Archer Aviation (NYSE: ACHR) stock has been on an incredibly hot streak lately. Thanks to a combination of bullish coverage from analysts, news about its commercial flight plans, and eye-catching news that the company is entering the defense industry, Archer Aviation stock is now up 291% over the last three months. But while the company's market capitalization has risen to nearly $5 billion, the company still isn't posting any revenue.

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The Motley Fool

JANUARY 4, 2025

Artificial intelligence (AI) took the world, and the stock market, by storm in early 2023 and has not slowed since. Investors have flocked to the companies developing and producing the chips to power AI models, the cloud companies building massive AI data centers, and even the software companies deploying AI applications. However, the energy required to power all this innovation could become an increasingly hot topic in the coming years.

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The Motley Fool

JANUARY 4, 2025

Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO) and AstraZeneca (NASDAQ: AZN) are among the largest companies in the pharmaceutical industry. Both have generally produced strong financial results in 2024, but one wouldn't know it by looking at their stock market performances. AstraZeneca's shares are down by 2% over the trailing-12-month period, while Novo Nordisk's shares are in the red by 14%.

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The Motley Fool

JANUARY 4, 2025

Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) stock has made investors significantly richer in the past three years, turning an investment of $1,000 into more than $4,500 as of this writing. This is thanks to the 354% jump in the company's shares during this period, on account of its dominant position in the lucrative market for artificial intelligence (AI) chips. It is worth noting that shares of the chipmaker have handsomely outperformed the Nasdaq Composite 's (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) gains of 23% in the past three year

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The Motley Fool

JANUARY 4, 2025

Now that the confetti and champagne bottles have been cleared away, many people are looking to start the new year off by adding some new names to their portfolios. With so many stocks to consider, it's easy to feel overwhelmed with the choices. One smart place to start the search is with stocks that have suffered declines recently, since they can provide great buying opportunities.

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The Motley Fool

JANUARY 4, 2025

In January 2024, analysts at financial firm Baird named Toast (NYSE: TOST) as one of its top financial-technology stocks for the upcoming year. The team's pick proved prescient. Shares of Toast climbed 100% in 2024, handily outpacing the S&P 500 index. Toast wasn't the only stock that doubled in value in 2024. Shares of Revolve (NYSE: RVLV) and On Holding (NYSE: ONON) also doubled last year, climbing 102% and 103%, respectively.

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The Motley Fool

JANUARY 4, 2025

Apple had a market value of $3.7 trillion as of Dec. 31, making it the most valuable U.S. company , a title it has held for the better part of the last decade. But Apple has yet to demonstrate its ability to monetize artificial intelligence, at least not to the same degree as other big tech companies. Not surprisingly, Wall Street expects Apple stock to trade sideways during the next year.

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The Motley Fool

JANUARY 4, 2025

Investing in profitable companies when their stock prices offer high yields can be very rewarding over the long term. If you have a few hundred dollars that you don't need for reducing debt or covering other living expenses, there are solid companies offering tempting dividend yields right now. Realty Income (NYSE: O) , Target (NYSE: TGT) , and Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM) have dividend yields that are well above the S&P 500 average of 1.24%.

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The Motley Fool

JANUARY 4, 2025

For many older adults, Social Security can make or break retirement. According to a 2024 Gallup poll, a staggering 83% of workers expect to rely on their benefits to some degree in retirement, with more than one-third of that group saying Social Security will be a "major" source of income. It's wise, then, to make sure you're maximizing your monthly payments.

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The Motley Fool

JANUARY 4, 2025

When I was growing up, my grandfather told me that he only invests in things he actually understands. For him, it was primarily real estate. While I never followed in his footsteps and know very little about real estate, I did follow his broader advice of investing in subject matters that I know at a deep level. My own portfolio is primarily concentrated in software and pharmaceutical companies.

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The Motley Fool

JANUARY 4, 2025

Everyone wants a piece of the artificial intelligence (AI) market. Since ChatGPT's release, AI has grabbed countless headlines on Wall Street and helped many companies rise in prominence. There are many options for investors looking to cash in, and no doubt many already have. But which AI stock is the best of the bunch? The answer will depend on each investor's preferences and risk tolerance.

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The Motley Fool

JANUARY 4, 2025

If you've started your retirement planning , good for you! It's smart to do, even if retirement is a few decades away because part of the process is figuring out how much income you'll likely need in retirement and how you'll get it. One key retirement income component for most people is Social Security. How much can you expect to receive from Social Security?

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The Motley Fool

JANUARY 4, 2025

Over the last couple of years, technology stocks have captivated the investment world thanks in large part to breakthroughs in artificial intelligence (AI). Within the AI realm, semiconductor stocks in particular have benefited greatly. This is due to the fact that semiconductor companies such as Nvidia , Advanced Micro Devices , and Broadcom make important infrastructure such as graphics processing units (GPUs) and network equipment that are used in data centers, and without them, generative AI

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The Motley Fool

JANUARY 4, 2025

Warren Buffett is probably the most famous investor alive today, drawing followers who want to replicate his success. But, oddly enough, his investing portfolio is replete with what the market would label "boring" stocks, harboring a tiny subset of what could be called tech stocks. It has zero young, hyped-up tech or artificial intelligence (AI) stocks, and is chock-full of dividend-paying consumer goods stocks.

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The Motley Fool

JANUARY 4, 2025

Following last year's 70% gain, the idea of stepping into a stake in Dutch Bros (NYSE: BROS) stock now could be a bit intimidating. There are limits to how far a stock can climb in a fairly short period of time, after all. This is one of those cases, however, where investors may be better served by focusing on where this company is going rather than where its stock's been.

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The Motley Fool

JANUARY 4, 2025

What a difference a year can make. In 2022, shares of Sea Limited (NYSE: SE) dropped 77%. This was followed by an additional 22% decline in 2023. But in 2024, Sea Limited stock came roaring back with a 162% gain, making it one of the best performers on the stock market. With a market capitalization of $61 billion as of this writing, Sea is a large-cap stock.

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The Motley Fool

JANUARY 4, 2025

Sweetgreen (NYSE: SG) is a salad restaurant chain that went public in 2021. At the start of 2024, it was down nearly 80% from its price when it went public. It seemed that the investor community had zero appetite for this salad stock. But 2024 was a different story entirely. By November, the stock had more than tripled in 2024. Sweetgreen stock gave up some gains to end the year.

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The Motley Fool

JANUARY 4, 2025

There are no two ways about it. Amazon is one of the modern era's best-performing stocks, up roughly 300,000% since its 1997 public offering. The next 30 years aren't likely to be nearly as rewarding, but thanks to the company's foray into cloud computing, the e-commerce giant is still one of the market's most promising investment prospects at this time.

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The Motley Fool

JANUARY 4, 2025

The Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) has climbed consistently higher over the past couple of years as technology investors have sought to profit from the economic recovery, the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) , the slowing of inflation, and the ongoing campaign to lower interest rates. After notching gains of 43% in 2023, the index tacked on an additional 29% in 2024.

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The Motley Fool

JANUARY 4, 2025

SoFi (NASDAQ: SOFI) is one of my highest-conviction stock ideas as we head into 2025. Not only has the fintech company maintained fantastic growth momentum for several years, including during 2022's bear market, but its business seems to be at an inflection point in terms of profitability and mainstream adoption. To be fair, it was difficult to narrow my predictions down to just three.

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The Motley Fool

JANUARY 4, 2025

Artificial intelligence has been a hot market throughout 2024. AI fueled the surge in share price for companies such as Nvidia , which saw its stock rise nearly 180% over the past year through Dec. 31. The AI market's growth isn't slowing down any time soon. Forecasts estimate the industry will expand at a phenomenal rate, from $184 billion in 2024 to over $826 billion by 2030.

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The Motley Fool

JANUARY 4, 2025

The quantum computing landscape is rapidly evolving as major tech giants pour resources into this transformative technology. D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NYSE: QBTS) has emerged as a standout player in this space, with its share price reflecting tremendous investor optimism over the past year. The stock has surged an eye-catching 992% over the last 12 months, making it one of the best performing stocks of 2024.

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The Motley Fool

JANUARY 4, 2025

ON Semiconductor 's (NASDAQ: ON) 24.5% decline last year has left the long-term growth stock deep in value territory, as the market may have overreacted to the weakness in its key end markets during the previous 18 months. There's a strong case for buying the stock on a dip as the long-term case for the stock is compelling. Meet ON Semiconductor, a smart growth stock The semiconductor company makes intelligent power solutions and intelligent sensing technologies that are used across various indu

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The Motley Fool

JANUARY 4, 2025

The best dividend stocks can provide you with bountiful streams of passive income. With their lower risk and volatility profiles, these stalwart stocks should also help you protect your wealth while adding ballast to your diversified investment portfolio. To aid your search for these wealth builders, here are two top dividend stocks set to deliver strong returns to their investors in the year ahead.

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The Motley Fool

JANUARY 4, 2025

If you're worried about having enough passive income to maintain your lifestyle during retirement, you're not alone. Having to spend more just to maintain their current standard of living is a constant concern for most families. There isn't much that you can do to stop the march of inflation, but you can prepare. Filling your portfolio with dividend-paying stocks that raise their quarterly payouts faster than the underlying inflation rate could even lead to extra spending cash.

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The Motley Fool

JANUARY 4, 2025

As the new year begins, you're probably thinking about financial goals you want to tackle in 2025. While you're at it, why not think long-term and add retirement planning to the mix? If you can carve out room to contribute to an individual retirement account -- like the coveted Roth IRA -- your future self will thank you. Here's why: Roth IRAs are a favorite for many retirement savers.

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The Motley Fool

JANUARY 4, 2025

Equity analyst Dan Ives has made a quite a few prescient calls in his career. In the last year alone, he predicted the Nasdaq Composite would hit 20,000, and he remained bullish on Palantir despite widespread skepticism. Lo and behold, the Nasdaq hit 20,000 in 2024, and Palantir was the best-performing stock in the S&P 500 index. This year, Ives thinks Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) will become the first $4 trillion companies, as detailed below: Where to invest $1,000 righ

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The Motley Fool

JANUARY 4, 2025

Last year was a fantastic one for stocks and stock market investors. The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) roared into the new year, confirming a bull market, and finished 2024 with a double-digit gain. This is after already advancing 24% in the previous year. Though stocks across industries climbed, investors favored companies playing a role in the newish and hot growth area of artificial intelligence (AI).

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The Motley Fool

JANUARY 4, 2025

Last year was another challenging one for the commercial real estate sector. While the Federal Reserve started reducing interest rates, it didn't cut them as fast as the market expected due to stubbornly high inflation. Higher rates acted as a headwind for the sector, impacting property values and the ability of real estate investors to borrow money to fund new real estate deals.

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The Motley Fool

JANUARY 4, 2025

I love to see dividend income flow into my brokerage account. It gives me more cash to invest until I retire and can live off my passive income. I typically buy shares of many dividend stocks each year, focusing on high-yielding dividend stocks because they generate more income for every dollar I invest. However, if I could only buy shares of one dividend-paying company this year, it would be Brookfield Infrastructure (NYSE: BIPC) (NYSE: BIP).

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The Motley Fool

JANUARY 4, 2025

For decades, flying vehicles have been an idea out of science fiction. However, with recent developments in battery technology, flying taxis could soon become a reality, and Archer Aviation (NYSE: ACHR) is one company leading the way. Archer is developing electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL) that promise efficiency as well as a quieter and more eco-friendly alternative for urban travel.

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