The gains of NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) shares over the past few months and years have quickly become legendary. Not just on the US markets, but around the world.
That's what tends to happen when a company rockets 258% over the past 12 months, and a jaw-dropping 2,016% since March 2019. Oh, and Nvidia shares have also gained a cool 97.2% over 2024 to date. That leaves this growth monster and semiconductor and artificial intelligence (AI) stock with a market capitalisation of US$2.38 trillion today.
Obviously, finding other shares whether they be ASX or international shares, that can offer investors even the potential of these kinds of returns is rather difficult. After all, even a small investment in Nvidia shares at any time in the past five years would have probably led to life-changing gains to one's wealth.
So today, I'm going to discuss two stocks that I personally own that I have high hopes for emulating the Nvidia experience. I don't believe these stocks will truly rival Nvidia's recent returns in coming years, as I happen to think Nvidia's experience is a byproduct of exceptional circumstances. But they are the investments that have some of the best potential to come close in my opinion.
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2 stocks that I've bought that could match Nvidia shares
Duolingo Inc (NASDAQ: DUOL)
Duolingo is a language and learning company whose business rests on its eponymous app. Users can use Duolingo to learn additional languages within a simple, easy-to-follow framework. It offers both a free experience, but also a paid subscription model that users can employ if they want to learn faster and more comprehensively.
I bought Duolingo shares a few years ago, and have already seen some huge gains. But I think this company can continue to grow exponentially into the future. As an example, the company had 49.2 million monthly active users at the beginning of 2022. But by the end of 2023, this had grown to 88.4 million.
Duolongo's finances are growing even faster though. The company reported revenue of US$531.1 million for 2023, which was a rise of 43% from the previous year. I think the total addressable market for this company is almost limitless, given how many people want to learn or brush up on a second, or even third or fourth, language around the world. Duolingo is also expanding into other learning areas, such as mathematics and music with its app.
I'm very excited about Duolingo's future. Whilst I don't see this company with a market capitalisation of US$2.38 trillion anytime soon, I'm still expecting healthy growth for years to come.
Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: META)
Moving on, we have another stock that most readers would be familiar with. Mark Zuckerberg's social media titan Meta is something of a controversial stock. But no one can deny that this company has some of the hottest assets in the world. It owns Facebook of course, but also Instagram, Whatsapp and Messenger. These are all among the most popular apps on the planet.
I've owned Meta stock for many years now too. But this is another company that just doesn't seem to know how to slow down. It reported healthy (in most cases double-digit) rises in active monthly users across most of its apps last year – an impressive feat considering Facebook is celebrating its 20-year anniversary in 2024.
Meta also managed to increase its revenues from US$114 billion in 2022 to US$132 billion in 2024. Operating income also increased, rising from US$29 billion to US$47 billion. Meta is also in the habit of conducting massive share buybacks and has even recently announced a maiden dividend payment.
I think there are plenty of returns left in this growth beast in the coming years, and I think this company will continue to be a lucrative investment to own. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Meta had a market cap well north of US$2 trillion in just a few years.
