If you bought $10,000 of Palantir (PLTR -2.14%) stock in 2020 when shares first hit the public market, you’d have close to $187,000 as of this writing. That kind of money can create a solid foundation toward building a $1 million portfolio. Even if Palantir stock merely meets the average return of the S&P 500, keeping those shares for another 15 to 20 years could result in a shareholder reaching millionaire status.

But a lot of people missed the boat on Palantir. The company’s stock has zoomed higher since late 2022, as generative artificial intelligence (AI) has helped expand its capabilities and support profitable revenue growth. And if you’re just looking to invest in Palantir shares today, you may be wondering if you missed the chance to become a millionaire on the back of a relatively small $10,000 investment in one of the hottest tech companies in the world.

Looking into Palantir

Palantir’s software collects disparate data sets from an organization and external sources, cleans them, identifies connections, and provides valuable insights that aid decision-makers in their role. While cloud computing providers might offer their own analytics tools, Palantir’s machine learning algorithms have proven extremely valuable, especially for customers with data spread across various sources.

In 2023, Palantir launched its Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP), which allows an organization to use a large language model to interact with its software using natural language. That has significantly lowered the technical expertise required to get the most out of Palantir while expanding its use cases.

The financial results since that launch have been spectacular. Palantir just reported its eighth straight quarter of accelerating revenue growth, and management’s outlook for the third quarter suggests a ninth is in the making. In that time, Palantir has become profitable, enjoying very strong operating leverage. Its adjusted operating margin climbed to 46% last quarter, up from 37% last year and 25% two years ago.

CEO Alex Karp boasts that this kind of growth is unprecedented for a company with the scale of Palantir. The company surpassed $1 billion in revenue last quarter, and its so-called Rule of 40 score (revenue growth plus operating margin) came in at 94, blowing away the gold standard for investing in software companies.

While the profitable revenue growth is extremely impressive, there’s reason to doubt that Palantir’s stock can continue to produce the same level of returns as it has over the last three years. It’ll be hard for it to even come close.

Can $10,000 invested today turn into $1 million?

Turning $10,000 into $1 million requires an investment to increase 100-fold. To put that in perspective, Palantir currently has a market cap of $445 billion as of this writing. To increase 100-fold would put its market cap at $44.5 trillion. The largest company in the world right now has a market cap one-tenth that size. So, that’s a big hurdle in and of itself.

The more pressing issue, however, is the current valuation investors put on Palantir’s stock. Shares currently trade for more than 100 times revenue expectations over the next 12 months. That’s not just a high multiple, it’s stratospheric. Other AI stocks can be had for multiples below 20-times sales. That said, few are growing like Palantir with its profitability and at its scale. Still, such a premium price is hard to justify.

Even if Palantir grows revenue at an average rate of 50% through the end of 2030, its current price would still be about 14 times sales (five and a half years down the line). Only a handful of AI software stocks command a multiple like that for their 2026 revenue expectations.

Palantir should see its price-to-sales multiple shrink over the next five years. Revenue won’t accelerate forever, but many investors are acting like it should. Wall Street is decidedly bearish on the stock, but retail ownership (above 40%) continues to support the rising stock price. That makes Palantir extremely susceptible to an earnings miss or a shift in investor sentiment.

Investors looking at the stock today may want to wait for a significant pullback in price before adding shares to their portfolio. It’s unlikely that a $10,000 investment in Palantir today will make you a millionaire.

Adam Levy has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Rivian (RIVN -2.28%) posted its second-quarter earnings report on Aug. 5. The electric vehicle maker’s revenue rose 13% year over year to $1.3 billion, exceeding analysts’ expectations by $10 million. Its total deliveries declined 23% to 10,661 vehicles, but it offset that pressure with rising software and service revenues.

Unfortunately, its gross margin — which turned green in the first quarter of 2025 — turned red again in the second quarter. It only produced 5,979 vehicles during the quarter, which marked a 38% drop from a year ago. It narrowed its net loss from $1.5 billion to $1.1 billion, but its loss of $0.80 per share still missed the consensus forecast by $0.16.

Rivian’s mixed numbers didn’t impress the market, and the stock remains 30% below its 52-week high of $17.15 on May 20. Should you buy it before it bounces back?

Why isn’t Rivian impressing investors?

Rivian sells three types of EVs: the R1T pickup, the R1S full-size SUV, and electric delivery vans for its top investor Amazon and other customers. Before its IPO in November 2021, Rivian claimed it could produce 50,000 vehicles in 2022. But this is what actually happened over the the past three and half years:

Data source: Rivian.

Rivian grappled with supply chain constraints in 2022. Its production and deliveries accelerated in 2023 as it overcame those challenges, but its expansion stalled out again in 2024 as rising interest rates chilled the high-end EV market, more competitors carved up the market, and it temporarily shut down its main plant to upgrade its production lines.

For 2025, it expects to only deliver 40,000 to 46,000 vehicles. Analysts expect its revenue to rise 6% to $5.29 billion as it slightly narrows its net loss to $3.7 billion. It blames that slowdown on ongoing supply chain challenges, higher tariffs on raw materials and batteries, and another shutdown of its main plant as it gears up for the rollout of its smaller R2 SUV in 2026. That dim near-term outlook is weighing down Rivian’s stock.

Could Rivian be a deep value play?

Rivian is struggling to scale up its business, but it expects the R2’s launch to attract a much broader range of customers. It also plans to keep selling its regulatory credits to other automakers while expanding its software and services segment to boost its gross margin.

At the end of the second quarter, it still had $8.52 billion in total liquidity — including $7.51 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments. That cash should carry it through the launch of the R2 and help it ramp up production as the macro environment improves. If it can pull that off, analysts expect Rivian’s revenue to rise 34% to $7.1 billion in 2026 and grow another 52% to $10.8 billion in 2027. They also expect it to gradually narrow its net losses.

With an enterprise value of $13.2 billion, Rivian trades at just 2 times next year’s sales. That makes it look like a value play compared to Tesla, which trades at 9 times next year’s sales. Therefore, any positive news could cause Rivian’s stock to double or triple — and it would still be considered reasonably valued relative to its growth potential. That might be why insiders bought slightly more shares than they sold over the past 12 months. Amazon also hasn’t sold any of its shares in Rivian since its IPO, and Rivian is still supported by other big investors like Porsche and the Saudi Arabian conglomerate Abdul Latif Jameel.

Rivian is still a highly speculative stock, and there’s no guarantee it can overcome its growing pains and evolve into another EV giant like Tesla. But if it gets its act together, expands its addressable market with the R2, and ramps up production, it could eventually command a much higher valuation. So if you have faith in Rivian’s long-term growth plans, then it’s worth accumulating while it trades so far below its 52-week high.

Leo Sun has positions in Amazon. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon and Tesla. The Motley Fool recommends Porsche Automobil Se. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Dutch semiconductor equipment manufacturer ASML (ASML -8.55%) warned investors Wednesday its sales might not grow at all in 2026, sparking worries the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution might not be as inevitable as investors thought — and sparking a brief sell-off in shares of contract chip manufacturer Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM 0.23%).

Shares of TSMC tumbled more than 4% in early trading before making up most of their losses by noon ET. As of 12:10 p.m. ET, TSMC stock is down only 0.2%.

Semiconductor logic

Why is it down at all? The reasoning goes like this: The AI revolution is supposed to be great news for semiconductor stocks — for both sellers of chips like TSMC, and sellers of the machines that make the chips, like ASML. But if ASML’s sales are slowing (and they are — Q2 sales were up only 0.6% year over year), then that logically might mean that TSMC’s own sales growth could stall as well.

That’s the worry that fretted investors this morning.

Is TSMC stock a sell?

And yet, that’s not what most analysts think will happen — at all. According to analysts polled by S&P Global Market Intelligence, total sales growth for TSMC over the next five years should average nearly 20% annually. And between the stock’s 22.4-times earnings valuation and its 1.8% dividend yield, that means TSMC is almost perfectly priced for the long-term growth that almost everyone is certain will happen.

Granted, short term hiccups could arise. In ASML’s case, growth is probably slowing, at least in part because of sanctions placed on exports of chip-making machinery to China. But there are plenty of other countries in the world that need chips, and both ASML and TSMC can still sell to them.

Long term, I expect TSMC stock is going to do just fine.

Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends ASML and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and electrification are driving the world to need more energy. One form of electric power generation that is coming back into vogue is nuclear power. Large companies are making commitments to buy electricity from nuclear power plants, while utilities are extending the contracts for existing facilities and planning to bring new power sources to life in the next few years.

One stock that has benefited from this changing nuclear energy sentiment is NuScale Power Corporation (SMR 0.08%). The start-up is working on small modular reactor technology to license to third parties, hopefully to democratize the technology. Shares of the stock are up 250% in the last year, beating the broad market averages. But is it a buy right now?

Betting on new nuclear energy developments

Small modular reactors are almost self-explanatory. Unlike the traditional large nuclear power plants, these are smaller systems that can (theoretically) be made more efficiently by combining a bunch together or using one system for a small energy need. Using similar technology to traditional power plants, NuScale Power wants to help utilities improve on the capital intensity a nuclear power plant takes to build, which can be a daunting proposition.

So far, it has not built any actual reactors, but it is the first and only company to get approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a small modular design. This occurred in 2023, with a recent approval happening for the same design but just at a different electricity output. The company does not have any customer orders yet, but management believes one will arrive by the end of 2025, given that it is fully approved with its designs. It is also studying an old coal power plant in Romania to see about the feasibility of turning it into a nuclear power facility.

Canceled projects, delayed timelines

There’s a lot of excitement about NuScale Power right now. Spending on energy is well over $1 trillion every year just in the United States. If NuScale Power can commercialize a breakthrough technology in electricity generation with its small modular reactors, there could be enormous revenue potential.

The problem is, no major customers have committed to a project yet. It used to have a project planned with a Utah utility that started in 2015. However, due to major cost overruns and delayed timelines, the utility canceled the project in 2023. This is not a good sign for the viability of small modular reactors. Companies that design legacy nuclear power systems with proven viability still struggle to find utilities willing to invest in nuclear energy projects. A totally unproven technology is going to be a hard ask for utilities and their shareholders to risk.

SMR Revenue (TTM) data by YCharts.

Is NuScale Power stock a buy?

Today, after going up so much in the past year, NuScale Power stock trades at a market cap of $11 billion. Even though it generates a bit of revenue from the study in Romania, the company can generally be considered a pre-revenue start-up with no product ever sold to customers. It has revenue of $49 million and $98 million in negative free cash flow over the last 12 months.

The company is consistently raising money from capital markets, too. Its shares outstanding keep climbing as it has to raise money to stem its major cash burn. Rising shares outstanding dilutes shareholders, which will be a headwind to long-term returns. It is unclear whether the company will have a viable project contract signed anytime soon, and even if a project is signed, it takes many years for a nuclear power plant to get built, modular or not.

Even if a project gets planned, the stock is already pricing in this growth. At a market cap of $11 billion, the company needs to eventually be generating billions of dollars in revenue in order to make an adequate return for shareholders. Add it all up, and NuScale Power stock looks like a highly risky stock that investors should keep out of their portfolios right now.

Stocks experienced significant volatility this year, which can sometimes make it challenging to keep a positive outlook. In times like these, it’s worthwhile to remember that stock-market swings, even full-blown crashes, are par for the course; they don’t change the fact that over the long run, equities generate competitive returns.

So it still makes sense to buy shares of companies that can deliver strong performances over five years or more. It’s even better if they’re trading at a discount, like Target (TGT -3.95%) and Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY -1.95%). These two top dividend stocks have not performed well this year, but they remain attractive long-term investments.

1. Target

Retail giant Target has had a challenging year. The company’s financial results have been subpar, with revenue moving in the wrong direction and guidance weak; investors have responded in kind by selling off the stock. Also not helping matters are uncertainty about the economy, which could negatively impact consumer behavior, and the potential impact of tariffs. There was also a recent national short-term boycott of Target related to management pulling back on its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

Investors should monitor those issues, but there are still bright spots to focus on. Some of Target’s troubles are due to economic factors beyond its control. The company can weather the storm. Once it passes, things should improve, especially as it continues to implement critical initiatives that will help it turn the corner.

Target recently launched an Enterprise Acceleration Office, led by chief operating officer Michael Fiddelke. It hopes this will help boost productivity and efficiency across the business, notably by implementing tech-based changes.

Elsewhere, Target could continue to leverage digital business to drive growth. In the first quarter, Target’s net sales decreased to $23.8 billion, a 2.9% decline compared to the year-ago period. Comparable sales decreased 3.8%; however, digital comparable sales rose 4.7%.

Target Circle 360 is a paid subscription option launched just last year that is already helping boost the company’s digital business. It grants subscribers various perks, including free same-day and two-day shipping. And Target’s digital business includes Roundel, a personalized advertising unit.

With these initiatives, Target is adapting to the modern commerce landscape. In my view, there’s significant room for growth for the company in digital sales and ad revenue, given that Target remains a leading retail giant, even if it takes some time for the company to recover.

Meanwhile, Target’s recent forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 13.7 looks more than reasonable compared to the average for consumer staples stocks, which is 22.6.

The company also has a superior dividend profile. Target is a Dividend King that has raised its payouts for 53 consecutive years. Its forward yield of 4.6% (the average for the S&P 500 is 1.3%) and cash payout ratio of 45.7% also look attractive. The stock might still experience some struggles in the near term due to economic (and other) issues, but Target should reward patient investors down the line.

2. Bristol Myers Squibb

Bristol Myers Squibb, a leading pharmaceutical company, has encountered significant patent cliffs over the past few years, and it isn’t out of the woods just yet. There are still several cliffs on the horizon for the drugmaker, including one for Opdivo, a cancer drug that’s one of its top-selling therapies and should lose U.S. patent exclusivity in 2028.

However, BMS (as it is also known) has devised a plan to get around this issue. It developed a subcutaneous version of Opdivo that will extend the drug’s patent life while overlapping with the original’s indications. This version, dubbed Opdivo Qvantig, earned approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in December.

Meanwhile, the company has earned important brand-new approvals in recent years. One of the most important is Reblozyl, a therapy for anemia in patients with beta-thalassemia (a rare blood disease). In the first quarter, Reblozyl’s sales increased by 35% year over year to $478 million. Opdualag, another newer cancer medicine, generated $252 million in sales, a 23% increase compared to the same period last year.

Revenue declined by 6% year over year in the first quarter to $11.2 billion. But as newer products gain traction and the company earns approval for other new drugs, it should be able to reverse course.

Turning to BMS’ dividend record, the company’s relatively poor performance in recent years has pushed its forward yield to a juicy 5.2%. BMS has increased its payouts by 67.6% over the past decade, and currently boasts a modest cash payout ratio of around 35%.

Also, the stock’s forward P/E of 7 makes it dirt cheap at current levels; the healthcare sector‘s average tops 16. Despite the headwinds it’s encountered, Bristol Myers Squibb is still a buy for dividend seekers.

An analyst upgrade was the foot on Advance Auto Parts (AAP 4.50%) stock’s gas pedal on Tuesday. The company’s shares motored nearly 5% higher in price as a result, speeding well past the benchmark S&P 500 index’s 0.6% increase.

A new neutral

The pundit behind the change was Sam Hudson of U.K.-based Redburn Atlantic. He shifted his recommendation to neutral from his previous sell and lifted his Advance price target. This is now $45 per share, well up from Hudson’s previous fair value estimation of $28.

According to reports, while the analyst remains concerned about the sluggishness of management’s efforts to turn around the company’s fortunes, it should benefit from improving conditions in the auto parts market.

Late last month, an article in The Wall Street Journal indicated that demand was rising for used vehicles, largely because of the sweeping tariffs introduced by the Trump administration. In fact, the article stated, inventory at used car dealerships dropped to levels unseen since the pandemic earlier this decade.

All things being equal, higher sales of used cars result in brisker take-up of the components required to keep them running, hence a better environment for parts retailers like Advance.

Not currently an attractive stock

While that’s an encouraging development for Advance and its auto retail peers, I’m not sure that would sell me on the company’s stock. Retail is tough in any segment, let alone the auto industry, and I don’t feel we’re in front of a long-tail surge in car sales, used or otherwise. Personally, then, I’d let Advance stock drive on by without purchasing it.

Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.