Although the market is starting to trend up a bit from its recent lows, nothing is stopping another announcement from the White House or Federal Reserve that could crash the market again. You should keep a short list of stocks you’d scoop up during a market crash, so you’re ready to act when it happens.
Two stocks at the top of my shopping list are Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE: TSM). If we see another big drop, these will be among my first purchases.
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Nvidia
Nvidia makes graphics processing units (GPUs), the computing muscle behind most of the artificial intelligence (AI) models we use. Nvidia dominates this market, with many estimates putting its market share at more than 90%. Buying dominant companies in critical industries is a smart investing strategy, which is exactly why Nvidia is at the top of my shopping list.
Right now, we’re in a multi-year buildout cycle with massive demand for Nvidia GPUs. Third-party data used by Nvidia estimates that data center capital expenditures reached $400 billion in 2024 and could rise to $1 trillion by 2028. Part of the market is still a bit pessimistic and thinks this spending spree will slow down if trade wars ramp up.
But all of the language of Nvidia’s largest clients on their conference calls seems to indicate that it’s full speed ahead for data center spending.
I don’t think investors need to wait for a market crash to buy Nvidia’s shares, as they are currently down around 25% from their all-time high. The stock is also trading at the lowest forward price-to-earnings ratio it has seen in over the past year, which should excite investors even more. At its current level, it only trades for a slight premium over the S&P 500, which is valued at around 21.1 times forward earnings.
NVDA PE Ratio (Forward) data by YCharts
Nvidia is still a smart buy today, but if the market crashes, it’ll be one of my first purchases.
Taiwan Semiconductor
Similarly, Taiwan Semiconductor is in great shape to take advantage of the chip boom caused by AI. Taiwan Semi is the world’s largest chip manufacturer and holds contracts with several big tech companies (like Nvidia) that can’t fabricate chips themselves. Many of these companies place their chip orders years in advance, so investors should listen when TSMC’s management makes a projection about the chip market.
Over the next five years, management expects AI-related revenue to expand at a 45% compound annual growth rate (CAGR). Its projection for overall company revenue is a CAGR of nearly 20%, or an increase of nearly 148% over those five years. TSMC recently gave investors even more confidence when its CEO, C. C. Wei, made this comment during its Q1 earnings report:
We understand there are uncertainties and risks from the potential impact of tariff policies. However, we have not seen any change in our customers’ behavior so far. Therefore, we continue to expect our full-year 2025 revenue to increase by close to mid-20s percent in US dollar terms.
That’s great news for shareholders, but there’s still some fear that a future tariff announcement specifically targeting semiconductors could be coming. Regardless of whether one comes or not, TSMC’s chips are vital to nearly every high tech device out there, and it’s a cost that must be absorbed. As a result of this fear, the stock is still relatively cheap.
TSM PE Ratio data by YCharts
With the stock trading for under 19 times forward earnings, I think it’s still an excellent buy at these levels, and investors should scoop up shares while they’re still cheap.
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Keithen Drury has positions in Nvidia and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Nvidia and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
