The S&P 500 has been an incredible wealth-maker, delivering a total return of at least 17% in seven out of the last nine years. And in four of those years, it generated a 25% total return or above!
However, the index is flat over the past six months, and some fast-growing tech stocks now look attractive. Here are two that I think are worth considering.
Investing for long-term growth
The first is Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), whose share price has lagged the S&P 500 over the past five years (it’s up just 36%).
However, this isn’t due to a loss of relevance or disappointing revenue growth. Far from it, as the e-commerce and cloud computing juggernaut is on track to generate $1trn in annual sales by 2028!
So, what’s the issue? It’s the other end of the income statement. Amazon has been deprioritising near-term margins to drive long-term growth. This year alone the firm is planning about $200bn in capital expenditure, including on robots, AI, and internet satellites.
The risk is that these hefty investments might not eventually pay off, while a global economic slowdown could hurt growth in its e-commerce division. Its cloud computing unit (AWS) also faces intense AI competition from Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.
However, as CEO Andy Jassy pointed out last month: “We have deep experience understanding demand signals in the AWS business and then turning that capacity into strong return on invested capital. We’re confident this will be the case here as well.”
Taking a long-term view, I think patience will be rewarded. Ever-faster deliveries via order-picking robots and delivery drones should keep shoppers on the e-commerce app, while fending off rivals and boosting margins over time.
Meanwhile, Amazon continues to monetise its vast consumer data through high-margin digital ads (23% growth in 2025). It’s now only behind Google and Meta (Facebook and Instagram) in digital advertising.
Plus, while Amazon is prioritising growth over profits, it’s far from loss-making. And based on 2027 forecasts, the forward-looking price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio is 22. The stock has rarely ever been cheaper.
Finally, it’s worth noting that the average 12-month price target among Wall Street analysts is $280 — almost 36% above the current price. Amazon is on my buy list.
Hyper growth
The second S&P 500 share I think is worth looking at is Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA). I know, I know. This is already the world’s largest company, with a staggering $4.3trn market cap. How much further can Nvidia keep growing?
Well, Wall Street expects the chip firm’s revenue to grow another 71% to $369bn this fiscal year (FY27). That would actually be an acceleration from last year’s 65% top-line growth. Earnings are tipped to soar 73%.
Demand for the company’s AI infrastructure hardware and software products isn’t cooling down. And as computing demand grows exponentially with the rise of autonomous AI agents, future demand should stay strong too.
Arguably, the biggest risk is customer concentration, with a handful of firms accounting for almost half of revenue. If they lessen reliance on Nvidia, this could disproportionately hurt sales.
However, with the stock trading on a forward P/E multiple of 22, I like the risk-reward setup here. Physical AI (humanoid robots, self-driving cars, etc) is just taking off, promising to broaden Nvidia’s customer base significantly.
The $269 price target is 52% higher.
