2 no-brainer stocks I’d buy right now without hesitation

When investing, the focus should always be on the long-term potential of a company. It’s easy to get caught up in the short-term events of a company (I’m guilty of it myself), but the long-term matters because that’s where real wealth is built.

The following two companies operate in industries that are early in what many expect to eventually become. Each has had hiccups, but when you zoom out and look at their operations and potential, they seem like a definite buy at current prices.

1. CrowdStrike

Cyber ​​security company CrowdStrike (CRWD 2.06%) has been in the news quite a bit lately, and not for good reason. After a botched software update triggered the biggest global IT outage in history, the company’s share price fell as investors fled in droves.

The outage was unfortunate for CrowdStrike and everyone affected, but the investor response may have been a bit over the top. The good news, however, is that CrowdStrike is now much more reasonably priced than it was before the incident.

There are still some near-term uncertainties surrounding CrowdStrike, including the financial impact of the outage and how many of its customers decide to switch to another vendor, but its latest quarter results show the business is still thriving.

CrowdStrike ended the second quarter of its fiscal year 2025 (ended July 31) with more than $3.8 billion in annual recurring revenue (ARR), up 32% year-over-year. This quarter alone, it added $218 million in new ARR, helping to boost revenue to $964 million, also up 32% year-over-year.

This continues its impressive growth, which has seen its revenue grow by nearly 2,000% over the past six years.

CRWD Revenue Data (Quarterly) by YCharts

It’s not just that CrowdStrike generates more revenue that’s impressive. It’s that the company is doing it more profitably than before. Operating income of $227 million (profit from its core business) in the second quarter was $71 million more than in 2023, and its margins on revenues went from 21% to 24 % during that period.

Even with IT disruption, one thing remains true: It’s not easy for companies — especially larger ones with more complex operations — to completely switch cybersecurity vendors. And given that CrowdStrike’s problem wasn’t the result of a cyber attack, I don’t think customers will lose faith in its product’s effectiveness.

It might not be the time to go all out on the stock, but the 30% drop from its early July peak makes it a compelling time to start (or increase) your stake in the company.

2. Amazon

It wasn’t the best of the last half year Amazon (AMZN 3.71%)with the stock down during that time, but remains one of the most compelling companies on the market.

First, let’s take a look at Amazon’s e-commerce business. It’s what made Amazon a household name and, in large part, why the company is only going after it Walmart when it comes to generating income. In the past four quarters, Amazon generated more than $600 billion in revenue. In its most recent quarter, it generated $148 billion (up 10% year-over-year), with e-commerce accounting for the vast majority.

Amazon’s e-commerce business speaks for itself. However, its growth — and where it makes the most profit — comes from its cloud service, Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS is the world’s leading cloud computing platform with a market-leading 31% market share of Microsoft Azure 25% and The alphabet Google Cloud 11%.

AWS generated $26.3 billion in revenue, more than most S&P 500 companies generate in a single quarter. Its operating income of $9.3 billion also accounted for more than 63% of Amazon’s total operating income.

AMZN Operating Income Data (Quarterly) by YCharts

The cloud industry has plenty of growth opportunities ahead, and Amazon has a lot to gain as the market leader. Microsoft’s Azure has gained ground and new developments in artificial intelligence (AI) have bolstered the platform’s offerings. However, AWS positions itself as the single platform that companies can use to build their own generative AI, machine learning, and other AI tools.

Being developer-friendly can help AWS attract and retain top global companies that need to develop AI tools efficiently without dedicating the resources (talent, time, and money) needed to do so in-house. This strategy should help AWS maintain its market leadership position for the foreseeable future.

With a bustling e-commerce business and a thriving cloud business with (probably) a lot of growth ahead, Amazon could be a cornerstone in many investors’ portfolios.