The Best Stocks to Invest $1,000 In Right Now -- and One of Them Is Nvidia

By Selena Maranjian – Mar 14, 2026 at 8:15PM ESTKey PointsNvidia is a titan in the semiconductor sphere, broadening the scope of its offerings.Broadcom has gotten a big boost from AI, and that's not likely to stop anytime soon.Both companies are well worth considering for long-term investors.If I had $1,000 to invest right now -- or $100 or $100,000 -- two stocks that would be very high on my consideration list are Nvidia (NVDA 1.56%) and Broadcom (AVGO 4.11%). Both are specialists in semiconductors, and semiconductors have been on a tear in recent years, in large part because of the rapid proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) and the buildout of gobs of data centers to facilitate AI processing. Image source: The Motley Fool. Check out the average annual returns of these stocks: Time period Nvidia Broadcom Past 1 year 72.75% 87.04% Past 3 years 100.41% 78.40% Past 5 years 71.48% 51.76% Past 10 years 72.52% 37.79% Past 15 years 49.41% 37.21% Data source: Morningstar. Data as of March 10, 2026.

Meet Nvidia Nvidia has become a very popular stock for good reason. It has switched its main focus from gaming chips to chips used in data centers for AI. It's also broadening its offerings these days via software, networking, and related services -- such as its recent move into AI agents. ExpandNASDAQ: NVDANvidiaToday's Change(-1.56%) $-2.87Current Price$180.28Key Data PointsMarket Cap$4.4TDay's Range$179.94 - $186.1052wk Range$86.62 - $212.19Volume6MAvg Vol175MGross Margin71.07%Dividend Yield0.02% The company, a prodigious producer of cash, is also buying back shares at a rapid clip, deploying $41 billion in its last fiscal year and aiming to spend another $58 billion at least. This is another way to reward shareholders, as repurchased shares are essentially retired, leaving remaining shares with a bigger claim on earnings -- essentially a bigger piece of the pie.

Meet Broadcom Broadcom is a semiconductor company and a software company -- and a leader in networking equipment. The boom in AI has been a great tailwind for the company, as AI requires chips and software. ExpandNASDAQ: AVGOBroadcomToday's Change(-4.11%) $-13.81Current Price$322.16Key Data PointsMarket Cap$1.5TDay's Range$321.43 - $338.2852wk Range$138.10 - $414.61Volume1.5MAvg Vol30MGross Margin64.96%Dividend Yield0.75% Broadcom offers customizable AI accelerators for data centers, and its AI division has been growing more briskly than Nvidia's. Both companies have quite promising futures, as the biggest tech companies are planning to spend hundreds of billions of dollars building out AI infrastructure -- in 2026 alone. Should you invest in Nvidia and/or Broadcom? Both stocks feature pretty eye-popping average annual gains -- which may have you suspecting that you missed the boat on these stocks and that they're overvalued by now. But not so fast -- consider that Nvidia's recent forward-looking price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 22.75 is well below its five-year average of 36.94, and its price-to-sales ratio of 20.74 is below the five-year average of 23.91. (Those are both steep price-to-sales ratios, though.) Broadcom, meanwhile, looks more richly valued, with a forward P/E of 32.40 topping its five-year average of 19.97 and a price-to-sales ratio of 24.64, more than double its five-year average. Still, if you plan to hold on to the stock for many years, buying now could still work out well. Or, if you're not sure, perhaps buy in increments over time. Do note, of course, that there are other compelling growth stocks out there, as well, should these companies not interest you enough.Read NextMar 8, 2026 •By Daniel FoelberNvidia and Meta Platforms Are Now Cheaper Than the S&P 500. Which "Magnificent Seven" Stock Is the Best Buy in March?Mar 7, 2026 •By Daniel FoelberOil and Gas Stocks Are Surging, but Nvidia Is Still Worth Double the S&P 500 Energy Sector.

Are Energy Stocks Undervalued?Mar 2, 2026 •By Keith NoonanFrom AI Jitters to Middle East Conflict -- Markets Face a Tough Start to the MonthJan 31, 2026 •By Selena Maranjian2 Unstoppable Stocks to Buy in 2026 and Hold Forever -- Including, Of Course, Nvidia Stock (NVDA)Jan 28, 2026 •By Selena MaranjianIf You'd Invested $10,000 in Nvidia Stock (NVDA) 10 Years Ago, Here's How Much You'd Have Today. (Spoiler: Wow!)Jan 20, 2026 •By Daniel FoelberPrediction: Nvidia Will Overtake Alphabet, Apple, and Microsoft to Become the World's Most Profitable Company by the End of 2027. Here's Why the "Magnificent Seven" Stock Is a Buy in January.About the AuthorSelena Maranjian is a contributing personal finance and investing expert at The Motley Fool. Selena has produced The Motley Fool’s nationally syndicated newspaper feature since 1997. She is the author of The Motley Fool Money Guide and Investment Clubs: How to Start and Run One the Motley Fool Way, and the co-author of The Motley Fool Investment Guide for Teens and several editions of The Motley Fool Investment Tax Guide. Prior to The Motley Fool, she worked as a high school teacher and public opinion analyst. She holds a master’s degree in teaching from Brown University and a master’s degree in finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.TMFSelenaStocks MentionedNvidiaNASDAQ: NVDA$180.28(-1.56%)-$2.87BroadcomNASDAQ: AVGO$322.16(-4.11%)-$13.81*Average returns of all recommendations since inception. Cost basis and return based on previous market day close.