Key Points
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Not all software is necessarily meant for everyday consumer use.
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In a similar vein, many of the microchips you regularly (and unknowingly) rely on aren’t made by Nvidia or Intel.
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And yes, artificial intelligence is a big reason the future is bright for many of these under-the-radar names.
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10 stocks we like better than MercadoLibre ›
It’s not exactly a secret that big technology stocks like Microsoft, Nvidia, and Alphabet have led the market for several years now. And rightfully so. After all, these companies have also ushered in some of the world’s most revolutionary products and services.
However, not every technology name worth investing in has to be a high-profile mega-company. A bunch of smaller ones are packing a proverbial punch, too.
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To this end, here’s a closer look at 10 tech stocks with incredible growth potential for your portfolio, even if you’ve never heard of them.
Image source: Gety Images.
Specialty software
Most investors are likely familiar with Microsoft’s Windows operating system and its office productivity software, including Word or Excel. These tools are great, but they’re not all that major organizations need. Government offices, school systems, or law enforcement need their own specialized software solutions, allowing them to function more efficiently as a single enterprise.
That’s what Tyler Technologies (NYSE: TYL) brings to the table. From creating school bus routes to court case management to business licensing to payment processing (and more), Tyler solves specific software problems that are surprisingly tricky to fix.
This market isn’t going away anytime soon. If anything its growth is likely to accelerate, as populations grow and resources shrink, forcing the need for more operational efficiency. Indeed, the company’s top line is likely to continue growing at right around 10% per year for at least the next several years.
Putting digital data to good use
There’s a good chance you’ve heard of Snowflake (NYSE: SNOW) but don’t actually know what it does. Here’s the deal. In simplest terms, Snowflake helps large organizations do something constructive with the mountains of digital data most of them are sitting on. Its actual value and competitive edge, however, is the ease with which it can produce meaningful, actionable information. See, it leverages the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to make it happen without requiring its users — many of whom may be remotely accessing this information — to be AI experts themselves.
Whatever it is, the marketplace is clearly embracing what it offers. Snowflake’s top line has been growing and continues to grow in excess of 20% per year. This streak isn’t apt to end anytime soon, either, in light of Precedence Research’s prediction that the global data analytics market is set to grow at an annualized pace of nearly 30% through 2034.
Handling the new levels of data loads
This growing access to digital data and turning it into other kinds of information creates new challenges for major institutions. Existing digital communications networks are straining to handle a data load they were never expected to carry.
Enter Confluent (NASDAQ: CFLT), which helps organizations manage the massive amount of information they’re now consuming as well as creating.
It’s called data streaming, and in some ways it is akin to the video streaming from services like Netflix or Disney‘s Hulu. The key difference is just that those entertainment media companies’ data streaming is optimized for one-way delivery of video. Confluent’s data streaming solutions are meant for factories, massive retail chains, financial institutions, and the like that may need to constantly update ever-changing information about inventory levels, customers, assembly lines, and more. The $9 billion company did just under $1 billion worth of business last year, and is expected to grow its top line to the tune of 19% this year and another 18% next year, for perspective.
The hackers are still out there
More usage of computer networks of course means more opportunity for online thievery or digital extortion — you know it better as “hacking.” And industry titan Palo Alto Networks is still the go-to name for most organizations looking to shore up their cyber defense.
Smaller Fortinet (NASDAQ: FTNT), however, enjoys all of the advantages of being a nimbler player in the cybersecurity space. It offers all the usual solutions you’d expect from such a provider, like firewalls and cloud security. But its ability to build custom ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) security chips is a big deal. It’s the only company in the market to do so, which is one of the reasons it ranks even higher than bigger Palo Alto Networks in Gartner‘s 2024 ratings of the world’s SD-WAN (software-defined wide area network) solutions providers.
The cybersecurity market is set to grow at an average annual pace of nearly 13% through 2034, by the way, according to an outlook from Precedence Research.
Smaller means more specialized AI solutions
When most investors think of semiconductor stocks, names like Nvidia and Intel come to mind. And well they should. These two outfits supply the majority of the world’s processor chips. As time marches on, however, the need is growing for more specialized solutions like the ones provided by Marvell Technology (NASDAQ: MRVL).
No, it’s not a frequently mentioned chipmaker. Its $60 billion market cap just doesn’t turn many heads. Neither does its modest annual revenue in the ballpark of $6 billion.
Don’t be fooled by its small size, though. Marvell’s ability to create customized AI accelerator chips is a major competitive edge, driving what should be top-line growth of more than 40% this year to be followed by year-over-year growth of nearly 20% next year.
Helping advertisers navigate the new Wild West
Even if you’ve never heard of The Trade Desk (NASDAQ: TTD), there’s a good chance the company’s heard of you … or is at least familiar with your digital/online profile.
Simply put, The Trade Desk helps companies more effectively market themselves online. From basic web advertising to connected TV to mobile ads, The Trade Desk connects advertisers with inventory, offering first and third-party digital data to ensure they’re getting the most bang for their buck. The company also helps track outcomes, allowing marketers to adjust their campaigns in real time. And in today’s complex digital advertising market, such a simplification is a welcome tool.
The numbers say as much anyway. Last year’s sales of nearly $2.5 billion were up 26% year over year, following 2023’s growth of 23%. The analyst community is calling for comparable growth for at least the next few years, although this pace is likely to persist well into the future.
The cloud’s still at the heart of it all
It’s become an underappreciated reality in the midst of all the recent noise. But the advent of artificial intelligence, mobile apps and connectivity, remote work, and constant access to digital information are all ultimately rooted in cloud computing. The cloud will also feature prominently in the future of all these industries, plus many more.
And that’s what makes relatively boring DigitalOcean (NYSE: DOCN) a surprisingly hot prospect — it provides the cloud solutions that organizations desperately need.
Case(s) in point: DigitalOcean offers an easy means of using an open-source technology called Kubernetes that essentially allows multiple apps to be operated independently of one another within the same computer network. The end result is more efficiency, but also greater overall reliability. DigitalOcean also provides the tools needed by institutions to build and deploy their own AI and machine-learning tech, or help set up off-the-shelf database solutions like MongoDB‘s.
For what it’s worth, Goldman Sachs analysts believe the global cloud computing market is set to grow at an average pace of 22% per year through 2030. DigitalOcean is well positioned to plug into every bit of this growth.
AI has taken on the task of drug development
Given the demonstrated potential of AI to date, it should come as no surprise that the technology is now being used to test new pharmaceutical ideas. Give credit to Recursion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: RXRX), which created a digital testing platform that taps 36 petabytes (36 million gigabytes) worth of propriety scientific, chemical, and biological data to determine how a drug would likely perform in a real-world clinical setting.
And that’s an important distinction to make. Recursion’s software isn’t “thinking up” or “inventing” new drugs. It’s only testing ideas presented by drug developers who plug their parameters and hypotheses into the platform.
Still, clinical trials that can take years and billions of dollars to complete — often to only end in failure — can now be virtually completed in a matter of weeks at a fraction of the cost. This means pharmaceutical companies can limit their actual clinical testing to only the most promising of prospects, which makes digital failure an acceptable expense.
It’s still early days for the idea. But know that a handful of high-profile partners like Roche and Sanofi are test-driving Recursion’s tech.
The Amazon of Latin America
MercadoLibre (NASDAQ: MELI) is often called the Amazon of Latin America because it’s such a dominant e-commerce player in the region. That’s not the only noteworthy parallel, however. In many ways Latin America’s economy and technological landscape are where North America’s was 25 years ago, when Amazon found itself in the right place at the right time with the right idea. For instance, numbers from research outfit Canalys indicate that smartphone shipments to Latin America reached a record-breaking 137 million units last year, versus a population of almost 670 million.
This societal shift is, of course, empowering for consumers and merchants alike. An outlook from Payments and Commerce Market Intelligence suggests Latin America’s e-commerce market will grow to the tune of 21% this year, putting it on pace to double in size between 2023 and 2027. MercadoLibre is positioned to capture at least its fair share of this growth.
Cashing in on quantum mania
Finally, what list of promising-but-unknown technology stocks would be complete without a quantum computing name on it? In most cases the go-to company would be IonQ, which is the first pure play in the industry to meaningfully commercialize its quantum computing (doing $43 million worth of business last year). In this case, though, Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ: RGTI) is an equally good bet.
Rigetti is for almost all intents and purposes a pre-revenue company, reporting a top line of only $10.8 million last year versus operating expenses of more than $74 million; this stock is obviously still very much a speculative one rooted in its future far more than its present.
That future is compelling all the same, though. See, while IonQ’s aim is renting out brute quantum computing power at a premium price, Rigetti Computing’s mission is building and offering affordable access to such platforms that are — for the time being, anyway — more than adequate enough for most potential users of this new tech. Investors will just want to brace for plenty of continued volatility from this inconsistent and still-unprofitable company as it works its way toward fiscal viability.
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John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. James Brumley has positions in Alphabet. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, DigitalOcean, Fortinet, Goldman Sachs Group, Intel, MercadoLibre, Microsoft, MongoDB, Netflix, Nvidia, Snowflake, The Trade Desk, Tyler Technologies, and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool recommends Confluent, Gartner, Marvell Technology, Palo Alto Networks, and Roche Holding AG and recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft, short August 2025 $24 calls on Intel, and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
