2 Elite Growth Stocks That Could Help Set You Up for Life
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By John Ballard – Jan 7, 2026 at 1:30AM ESTKey PointsNvidia remains the chip of choice for data centers.Palantir is another tech giant in the making.CEO says this is worth 18 Nvidias. Will this make the world's first trillionaire? ›NASDAQ: NVDANvidiaMarket Cap$4.5TToday's Changeangle-down(-0.35%) $0.66Current Price$187.47Price as of January 6, 2026 at 3:58 PM ETThese innovative companies are building the future.Investing in well-chosen growth stocks can help patient shareholders build lasting wealth for retirement. As the new year begins, companies that benefit from artificial intelligence (AI) are among the most attractive opportunities in the stock market. Adding the following growth stocks to your portfolio could be the best move you make to start the new year. Image source: Getty Images. 1. Nvidia Nvidia (NVDA 0.35%) has returned a mind-boggling 458,000% since its initial public offering in 1999. Even after climbing 40% in 2025, the stock is still trading at 25 times this year's consensus earnings estimate, indicating solid value supporting the current share price. Nvidia is playing a vital role in fueling innovation across the economy. Its chips are in every cloud company's data centers. Businesses are investing in cloud services to utilize AI in building applications and extracting insights from their data. Nvidia's data center revenue surged 66% year over year last quarter, driven by demand for the company's graphics processing units (GPUs) and networking components. There is increasing competition in the AI chip market, with Nvidia's top cloud customers like Alphabet building their own specialized chips for AI workloads. However, this is unlikely to impact Nvidia. One reason is that customers are still realizing value from older generations of Nvidia's chips. This allows customers to stretch the cost of these chips over multiple years, thereby lowering the total cost of ownership.Advertisement Nvidia's CUDA programming software enables customers to extract more efficiency from its chips, extending their useful life. Without CUDA, Nvidia's chips would have a significantly shorter lifespan, potentially opening the door for customers to consider alternative solutions from competitors. ExpandNASDAQ: NVDANvidiaToday's Change(-0.35%) $-0.66Current Price$187.47Key Data PointsMarket Cap$4.5TDay's Range$186.83 - $192.1752wk Range$86.62 - $212.19Volume4.2MAvg Vol186MGross Margin70.05%Dividend Yield0.02% Management noted last quarter that it has visibility into $500 billion of cumulative revenue from its current Blackwell and upcoming Rubin chips, which are expected to ramp up in the second half of 2026. Analysts expect Nvidia's revenue to grow 50% this year to $319 billion. Nvidia has substantial financial resources, currently generating $99 billion in annual net profit, to invest in innovative solutions and drive growth for shareholders. Analysts expect Nvidia's revenue to grow at an annualized rate of 31% through the end of the decade, reaching $227 billion. Nvidia's business remains on a sharp upward trajectory that could keep its stock climbing in value for many years. 2.
Palantir Technologies Businesses are increasingly exploring how AI can improve efficiency. Using AI is not a luxury; it's a matter of survival in a cutthroat economy. This is benefiting Palantir Technologies (PLTR +3.26%), which reported accelerating revenue growth for its AI platforms in 2025. Two years ago, Palantir posted a year-over-year growth rate of 20% for the fourth quarter of 2023. As of the third quarter of 2025, its quarterly revenue growth had accelerated to 63% year over year. Investors are pricing in a long runway of high growth, given the significant cost savings customers are realizing by using Palantir's software. ExpandNASDAQ: PLTRPalantir TechnologiesToday's Change(3.26%) $5.67Current Price$179.71Key Data PointsMarket Cap$428BDay's Range$174.77 - $180.1952wk Range$63.40 - $207.52Volume35MAvg Vol47MGross Margin80.81% Investors are also factoring in the potential for an expanding addressable market. Palantir has spent years building technology that understands how to draw relationships between different data sources, which helps companies build models, workflows, and applications. Palantir can leverage this technology to serve new use cases for its software, supporting strong growth for many years to come. For example, Palantir is well-positioned to meet the growing demand for AI running on edge devices, such as drones and robots. Once companies start using Palantir, it becomes deeply embedded in how they make decisions and manage operations. When organizations run AI on remotely connected devices, Palantir will be even more deeply embedded in its customers' logistics and manufacturing operations, thereby strengthening its competitive advantage. The company's massive growth potential has supported stellar returns for shareholders over the past few years, but Palantir is just getting started. Analysts project annual revenue to grow at a 39% annual rate to reach $16.5 billion by 2029, up from $3.9 billion on a trailing 12-month basis. This positions Palantir to scale into a leading tech giant over the long term.Read NextJan 7, 2026 •By Justin Pope3 Top Quantum Computing Stocks to Buy in 2026Jan 6, 2026 •By Geoffrey Seiler90% of Investors Plan to Own AI Stocks in 2026: Here Are 2 That Should Be in Your PortfolioJan 6, 2026 •By Adria CiminoIf I Could Buy Only 1 Stock to Bet on the AI Boom in 2026, It Would Be This OneJan 6, 2026 •By Geoffrey SeilerWhat Are the 3 Top Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks to Buy Right Now?Jan 6, 2026 •By Howard SmithSurvey: 9 in 10 AI Investors Plan to Hold or Buy More AI Stocks in 2026. Here's 1 That Should Be on Every Investor's Radar.Jan 6, 2026 •By John BallardWhere Will Nvidia Stock Be in 1 Year?About the AuthorJohn Ballard has been a contributing writer at The Motley Fool since 2016, covering consumer goods and technology stocks. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a focus in real estate finance from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.TMFRazorbackStocks MentionedNvidiaNASDAQ: NVDA$187.47 (0.00%) $0.66Palantir TechnologiesNASDAQ: PLTR$179.71 (+0.03%) $+5.67*Average returns of all recommendations since inception. Cost basis and return based on previous market day close.Advertisement