With the market performing relatively well and many companies posting first-quarter earnings, investors are getting a clearer picture of stocks destined to take off this year. By picking the hottest stocks to buy now, investors can realize serious returns as the surging momentum continues.
These three stocks are the hottest picks for this May and offer some of the best growth potential through recent short-term advancements and long-term stability. You can be confident that you are making a safe and intelligent buy this month.
Let’s learn more about the reasons behind these stocks’ recent performances. They are stirring up excitement and getting the ball rolling for a hot year.
Block (SQ)
Block (NYSE:SQ) is one of the most exciting fintech companies of recent years. Formerly known as Square, Block has some of the most popular payment processing technology and operates the payment-sharing platform CashApp. While Block is under federal investigation for compliance issues, many expect the company to prevail.
Block established its goal of higher profit margins and “the rule of 40, ” confirming its position as a profitable company by 2026. To ensure this, Block laid off employees in January until profits rise.
So far this year, Block is off to a great start. Q1 saw a record quarterly net income of $472 million and gross profit of $2.09 billion. That represents a 22% year-over-year (YOY) increase. Cash App’s gross profit grew by 25% YOY and Square’s by 19%.
Clearly, Block is hot, coming from such a promising first quarter. And, it has exciting plans to sustain this momentum. One of Block’s most promising future projects is its continued investments in Bitcoin. Block has incorporated ways for users to buy and convert cash into Bitcoin and saw a gross profit of $80 million from Bitcoin in Q1.
With the company’s promising performance and continued dedication to improving its profitability and worthiness as a stock, investors should buy and hold with confidence as Block continues to rise in prominence.
PepsiCo (PEP)
PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) is one of the largest beverage companies, and many think of it as the only true rival to Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO). However, Pepsi has a substantial edge over Coca-Cola because its products and market reach are much more diversified. Pepsi not only has extremely popular beverages but also has a solid foothold in food.
Pepsi’s two leading food sellers, Frito-Lay and Quaker Foods, are at the head of its food business. These two companies made up over half of Pepsi’s sales over the last year leading into this quarter. Despite a recall that damaged sales of Quaker products, Pepsi managed a 2.3% net revenue increase and a 6% increase in EPS under GAAP in Q1.
Also, this isn’t the first time Pepsi has proven its resilience and ability to overcome challenges while performing exceptionally. PEP maintained a healthy operating margin and has been a consistently growing stock for many years. It thrives with celebrity-endorsed campaigns and innovative product placement at unique events.
Therefore, investors can get PEP while it’s hot and then rest easy as it generates consistent profits for years to come.
Amazon (AMZN)
One of the largest companies and best-performing stocks ever, Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) is rarely a bad time to buy. However, this month is another time that investors should consider buying the e-commerce giant.
With the heavy competition surrounding AI and cloud computing, Amazon Web Services (AWS) reigns as the top player, owning over 30% of the market. After collaborating on the proclaimed “super chip” GB2000 with tech giant Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), AWS has announced an exciting partnership extension between these two behemoths to advance generative AI innovation.
A deal will likely extend and widen AWS’s lead over major competitors like Microsoft and Google. In addition, Amazon continues to make massive investments in AI players like Anthropic, the largest competitor to generative AI giant ChatGPT.
And, AMZN continues to dominate on the e-commerce side as well. Net sales increased 13% YOY in the first quarter, and net income increased to $10.4 billion. Operating cash flow jumped by 82% over the trailing twelve months, and Amazon has shown no signs of slowing down.
On the date of publication, Joel Lim did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.