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Globe and Mail
4 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
If You'd Invested $1,000 in Solana 5 Years Ago, Here's How Much You'd Have Today
Key Points Solana runs on a proof-of-stake network that is one of the fastest in the crypto world. The network is already processing thousands of transactions per second. The technical strength of the network has made it a home run for investors. 10 stocks we like better than Solana › Only launched about 5.5 years ago, Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) is now the sixth-largest cryptocurrency in the world with a market cap of over $96 billion as of July 30. Many investors see immense potential in Solana's network. It's one of the few cryptocurrencies to operate on a proof-of-stake (PoS) mechanism to govern the network. After realizing how energy-intensive the traditional crypto-mining, proof-of-work (PoW) system had become on Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, several crypto networks transitioned to PoS. Instead of using high computing power to solve a puzzle like with PoW, PoS has investors stake their tokens to the network, and then assigns them at random to validate transactions and mint new tokens. The more tokens one stakes, the higher the chance they have of being selected and also earning rewards. Even more unique, Solana's network also has a proof-of-history mechanism that essentially creates a sequential record of transactions, enabling even faster transactions on the network. As a result, Solana's network can process thousands of transactions per second (TPS), but it has the theoretical potential to process up to 65,000 TPS, if not more. This gives Solana and its network immense potential to disrupt the global payments system. Investors have done well While volatile like most cryptocurrencies, Solana has been a huge winner for investors that bought the token five years ago. The technical strength of its network has made Solana one of the few altcoins that investors see a strong use case for. Roughly five years ago, Solana traded for just $1.73. Today, it trades for over $179. That's a gain of roughly 10,264%. So, if you invested $1,000 in Solana five years ago, you now have $103,636! That's simply incredible. Investors aren't likely to find too many investments like that in their lifetime. Should you invest $1,000 in Solana right now? Before you buy stock in Solana, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Solana wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $624,823!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,064,820!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,019% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 178% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 29, 2025
Globe and Mail
4 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
3 Millionaire-Maker Technology Stocks
Key Points If quantum computing takes off in the next decade, IonQ could be a big winner. SoundHound is a company that has shown its ability to adapt, and it could become a big winner in agentic AI. Palantir has the potential to become one of the largest AI companies in the world. 10 stocks we like better than IonQ › If you're looking to invest in potential millionaire-making tech stocks, you're sometimes going to have to swing for the fences. The three stocks below are bold bets on companies chasing massive markets with long runways. You're not buying these stocks looking for modest returns; you're buying them because you see a shot at something transformational. That said, these are high-risk, high-potential-reward stocks. None of their valuations are cheap, and most are still just starting to scratch the surface of their potential. But if the technologies deliver and management teams execute, the upside could be enormous. IonQ Quantum computing company IonQ (NYSE: IONQ) isn't just an academic lab with a bunch of theoretical physics testing hypotheses, like the characters on the TV show "The Big Bang Theory." It's building real quantum computers that are already being tested in commercial, government, and academic settings. IonQ is working to build fault-tolerant systems that can operate at scale, which is the holy grail in quantum computing. Without that reliability, this emerging technology won't move beyond the lab. The company has made solid early progress. It's working with AstraZeneca, Amazon, and Nvidia on early use cases, and it has a strong balance sheet with around $700 million in cash and investments and zero debt. That gives it time and room to invest without constantly going to the market for funding. IonQ also opened a 65,000 square foot facility in Washington to manufacture systems in-house. That's another sign that this isn't just a science project anymore and that the company is gearing up to deliver working machines. The company has also been acquiring smaller quantum computing players to help bolster its capabilities. That's a smart move in a burgeoning field where technical talent and intellectual property are key. There's still a long road ahead, but if quantum computing takes off in the next decade, IonQ is positioned to be one of the companies that could be a huge winner. SoundHound AI While SoundHound AI (NASDAQ: SOUN) is still a relatively young company, it has consistently been able to adapt in an ever-evolving tech landscape. That's something great tech companies do. A leader in "speech-to-meaning" and "deep meaning understanding" technology, the company acquired Amelia last year to add its advanced conversational intelligence to its platform. It's now taking this combined technology and applying it to create voice-first artificial intelligence (AI) agents that can go out and complete tasks without the need for human intervention. By merging its voice technology with Amelia's enterprise software, SoundHound now has a complete voice automation platform. SoundHound has been strong in the automobile and restaurant industries, while Amelia brought with it expertise in the medical and financial verticals, which have their own nuances and specific industry jargon. It's also used Amelia's technology as part of the foundation for its AI agent ambitions. With the recent rollout of its Amelia 7.0 platform, it's now moved beyond being simply an AI voice company to being a voice-first agentic AI company. This is still a small company with something to prove, but the product roadmap and customer traction suggest it's heading in the right direction. And as I said at the beginning, it has been quick to adapt. The company actually started out as a platform for discovering music, where it would then direct customers to online music stores. It's come a long way since those early days, and the future looks bright. Palantir Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ: PLTR) is the largest company on this list and the one with the clearest momentum. Originally formed to help fight terrorism after 9/11, the data gathering and analytics company has been a key government vendor for years. However, it has successfully expanded into the commercial sector, where its AI platform (AIP) has become a central tool for helping organizations implement AI in the real world. Most businesses don't lack data -- they lack the tools to do anything meaningful with it. Palantir helps organizations gather data from a wide variety of sources and then structure it into an ontology that links the data to their real-world counterparts. The ontology provides clean, structured data that helps AI models operate more effectively. Customers can then apply whatever AI models they want with this ontology to identify real-world problems and then go out and solve them. AIP has been a hit with commercial customers. In Q1, its U.S. commercial revenue grew 71%, and commercial deal value more than doubled. Best of all, most of these deals are in their early stages, and Palantir has a big opportunity not just to add more customers, but to grow significantly within its existing customer base. The stock's valuation is steep, no question. However, given the breadth of use cases across industries for which AIP can be used, the company has the potential to become one of the largest AI companies in the world in the future. Should you invest $1,000 in IonQ right now? Before you buy stock in IonQ, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and IonQ wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $624,823!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,064,820!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,019% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 178% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 29, 2025
Globe and Mail
5 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
Got $1,000 to Invest in August? These High-Yielding Dividend Stocks Could Turn It Into Nearly $60 of Annual Passive Income.
Key Points EPR Properties pays a monthly dividend yielding over 6%. Vici Properties' payout yields more than 5%. The REITs expect to continue increasing their dividend payments. 10 stocks we like better than EPR Properties › Investing in high-yield dividend stocks is a great way to generate passive income. For example, investing $1,000 in the following companies could yield nearly $60 of annual dividend income: EPR Properties (NYSE: EPR) $500 6.42% $32.10 Vici Properties (NYSE: VICI) $500 5.29% $26.45 Total $1,000 5.85% $58.55 Data sources: Google Finance and author's calculations. Dividend yields are as of July 31. Here's a closer look at these high-quality, high-yielding dividend stocks. EPR Properties EPR Properties is a real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on experiential real estate. The company owns a diversified portfolio of movie theaters, eat-and-play venues, health and fitness properties, attractions, and other entertainment spaces. It leases these properties back to operating tenants, primarily under long-term, triple net leases (NNN s). Those leases provide it with very stable cash flow because tenants cover all property operating costs (including routine maintenance, real estate taxes, and building insurance). The REIT expects its stable portfolio to generate $5 to $5.16 per share of funds from operations (FFO) as adjusted this year. That easily covers its monthly dividend payment of $0.295 per share, or $3.54 annually. It also provides a cushion and surplus cash to invest in more experiential properties. EPR Properties invested $86.3 million into new properties in the first half of this year. Recent investments included acquiring land for $1.2 million and providing $5.9 million in mortgage financing secured by improvements at a health and wellness property in Georgia. It also acquired land for a new eat-and-play property development in Virginia for $1.6 million, which has an expected total cost of $19 million and an anticipated completion in 2026. The company plans to invest $200 million to $300 million in new properties this year. This includes $106 million for experiential development and redevelopment projects it plans to fund over the next 18 months. These investments should grow EPR's FFO and dividend. The REIT raised its payout by 3.5% earlier this year. Vici Properties Fellow REIT Vici Properties also invests in experiential real estate. However, its primary focus is on market-leading gaming, hospitality, wellness, entertainment, and leisure destinations. For example, it owns several iconic casinos along the Las Vegas Strip, including Caesars Palace Las Vegas, MGM Grand, and the Venetian Resort Las Vegas. The REIT also leases its properties under long-term NNN contracts with operating tenants. These leases currently have a weighted average remaining term of over 40 years. A growing subset of its leases -- 42% this year, rising to 90% by 2035 -- link rents to inflation. Its strategy of investing in large properties with long-term, inflation-linked leases provides it with stable and rising rental income. Vici Properties currently pays out $0.4325 per share each quarter in dividends, for a total of $1.73 annually. It produces plenty of cash to cover that payment level -- $2.35 to $2.37 per share of adjusted FFO is expected this year. The REIT uses the cash it retains to invest in additional experiential properties. The company has secured two notable new investments this year. It has agreed to provide a loan of up to $510 million to fund the development of the North Fork Mono Casino & Resort in California. Additionally, Vici has committed to investing $450 million into a mezzanine loan related to the development of One Beverly Hills, a landmark luxury mixed-use development in California. Vici's new investments help drive growth in both its FFO per share and its dividend. The REIT has raised its payment for seven straight years (each year since its formation). It has grown the payout at a 7.4% compound annual rate during that period, outpacing the 2.3% average of other REITs focused on properties secured by NNNs. Excellent ways to generate passive dividend income EPR Properties and Vici Properties own diversified and growing portfolios of experiential real estate. Those properties provide them with rising streams of rental income to pay dividends and invest in additional properties. That makes them great ways to turn $1,000 into a growing stream of passive dividend income this August. Should you invest $1,000 in EPR Properties right now? Before you buy stock in EPR Properties, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and EPR Properties wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $624,823!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,064,820!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,019% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 178% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 29, 2025
