5 Growth Stocks to Invest $1,000 in Right Now

Key Points

• Palantir and GitLab are two leading software platforms that are benefiting from AI.

• Amazon is using AI to help drive its e-commerce profitability.

• Dutch Bros and Toast are great growth opportunities in the restaurant space.

• 10 stocks we like better than Palantir Technologies ›

The market continues to reward growth stories, and there are plenty of them out there if you know where to look. Artificial intelligence (AI) remains the predominant theme when it comes to growth stocks, but it's not the only one.

If you have money to put to work right now, here are five stocks with big upside potential over the next several years.

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue »

Palantir Technologies

Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ: PLTR) has been on fire, with its revenue growth accelerating for eight straight quarters, including a 48% surge last quarter. Its Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) is at the center of this growth. Instead of working to build the next great large language model (LLM), it developed a platform where it can gather and organize customer data and link that data to their real-world counterparts so that customers can then securely deploy AI models without messy hallucination risks. In essence, it's developed an AI operating system, much like Microsoft developed one for computers.

Palantir's stock is not cheap, but great companies rarely are. The use cases for AIP are growing by the quarter and the opportunity if front of it is massive. If AI is in the early innings, Palantir has the chance to be one of the decade's biggest winners, much like other companies that developed leading operating systems, such as Microsoft, Apple, and Alphabet, all of which today are among the largest companies in the world.

GitLab

GitLab (NASDAQ: GTLB) may not have the name recognition of many other AI stocks, but it keeps delivering consistent results. Revenue has grown between 25% and 35% for eight straight quarters, including a 29% gain last quarter. Its DevSecOps platform now runs the entire software development lifecycle, with its AI-powered Duo Agent helping automate coding tasks. Developers spend only about 20% of their time writing code, so freeing up even a small percentage is a big productivity win.

The fear that AI would replace developers hasn't materialized. Instead, AI has just sped up software creation, which increases demand for GitLab's platform. Enterprise customers are leading the way, and more customers are moving to its higher-priced Ultimate tier, which now represents over half of its annual recurring revenue (ARR).

The company has also just started to introduce a new seat-plus-usage pricing model that could unlock more growth ahead. GitLab looks like a prime long-term AI winner, but I also wouldn't be surprised if it eventually gets acquired by a cloud computing company.

Image source: Getty Images.

Amazon

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) is no longer just about revenue growth like it was in its early days. While revenue growth is still a focus, the company is also working tirelessly to squeeze more profit out of its e-commerce operations. Its prior massive investments in logistics are paying off, and now it is deploying AI and robots to take those gains further.

Amazon now has over a million robots in its fulfillment centers, all of which are being coordinated by its Deepfleet AI model. Meanwhile, it's also using AI to track its inventory, which reduces shipping times and costs. This operating leverage showed up in Q2 when its North American operating income jumped 47% on only 11% revenue growth.

At the same time, its Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud business remains the market leader, with demand still running ahead of capacity. Amazon's AI service offerings like Bedrock and AgentCore are attracting customers, while its custom chips help give it a cost advantage.

Put it all together and Amazon remains a monster growth stock to own.

Dutch Bros

Dutch Bros (NYSE: BROS) is one of the most compelling growth stories in the restaurant industry. While competitors struggle to drive traffic, Dutch Bros keeps posting strong same-store sales growth, with transactions up nicely last quarter. However, its biggest opportunity to drive same-store sales may still be ahead. The company is testing hot breakfast items, which could be a big sales boost given that Starbucks gets nearly 20% of its revenue from food compared to under 2% at Dutch Bros.

That said, this is really an expansion story above all else. The chain recently crossed 1,000 stores, with a goal of 2,000 by 2029 and eventually 7,000. Its drive-thru-only format keeps costs low but generates impressive unit sales, averaging over $2 million annually. If it can successfully roll out food while doubling its store base, Dutch Bros has the potential to be a much bigger brand five years from now.

Toast

Toast (NYSE: TOST) has become an important partner for the restaurant industry. Its platform now powers about 148,000 locations, running everything from staffing to menu planning to marketing. The company is also leaning into AI with new tools like ToastIQ and Sous Chef, which give operators real-time insights and recommendations to improve sales and efficiency. Toast benefits as its customers process more transactions, creating a nice flywheel effect.

Toast continues to attract new customers, adding a record 8,500 net new locations last quarter. It is also starting to move into larger chains, food retailers, and even international markets, opening up entirely new avenues of growth.

Restaurants are under constant pressure to do more with less, and Toast's platform helps them do exactly that. Given the size of the restaurant industry, Toast is one of the most interesting growth stocks in the consumer tech space.

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Geoffrey Seiler has positions in Alphabet, GitLab, and Toast. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, GitLab, Microsoft, Palantir Technologies, Starbucks, and Toast. The Motley Fool recommends Dutch Bros and recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.