Here’s a look at the two moonshots I own right now.

A play on self-driving vehicles and humanoid robotics

First up, we have Hesai (NASDAQ: HSAI). It’s a Chinese company that specialises in LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) technology and is listed on both the Nasdaq and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The reason I’ve invested in this company is that I expect demand for LiDAR solutions to soar over the next decade. Not only should demand come from automotive companies deploying advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and driverless vehicles, but it should also come from the humanoid robotic space (many robots use LiDAR for perception).

It’s worth noting that revenues here are growing at a spectacular rate. In the third quarter of 2025, for example, they were up 47% year on year to $112m.

Meanwhile, profits are starting to emerge as well. For Q3, non-GAAP net income was about $40m versus a net loss a year earlier.

Now, despite the impressive level of growth (and a valuation that looks very reasonable), this stock’s extremely risky. Some risks to consider include US/China relations, a delisting from the US, competition from rivals, and new technologies that could make LiDAR obsolete.

Given the risks, I’ve kept my position really small. That way, if the stock blows up, my retirement portfolio won’t be badly impacted.

I see a lot of potential though. I think this stock could be worth a closer look if an investor’s looking for high-growth opportunities.

A growth stock for the quantum computing boom

The other stock in my portfolio I consider to be a moonshot is SkyWater Technology (NASDAQ: SKYT). It’s a small US chip manufacturer that’s increasingly focusing on the quantum computing market.

Looking ahead, SkyWater plans to be the chip manufacturing ‘partner of choice’ for quantum computing businesses. So with this stock I get exposure to the quantum computing industry without having to make a bet on an individual company’s technology.

Of course, quantum computing’s an emerging technology and it may never take off – that’s a key risk here.

The good news however, is that this chip company also serves customers in the defence, aerospace, automotive, consumer, healthcare, and industrial markets. So it’s relatively diversified.

As for the valuation, this looks attractive. If we take the revenue forecast of $609m for next year and the current market-cap of $800m, we get a price-to-sales ratio of just 1.6.

I’ll be keeping my position small though. With this one, share price swings of 10%-20% a day are the norm so I don’t want to have a large position that might tank my portfolio if things go wrong.

Taking a five-year view however, I see a lot of potential. I think this growth stock’s worthy of further research.

The post Here are the 2 ‘moonshot’ growth stocks in my retirement portfolio as we start 2026 appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

I’ve been buying another quantum computing stock, however. Because unlike Rigetti and IonQ – which trade at sky-high price-to-sales multiples – this stock actually looks cheap.

An under-the-radar quantum computing stock

The stock I’ve been buying lately is SkyWater Technology (NASDAQ: SKYT). It’s a small US chip manufacturer that operates across a range of end markets including aerospace and defence and partners with small companies to help them develop and manufacture chips.

Recently, it has been moving into the quantum chip space. Last quarter, for example, it signed four new deals with quantum companies and achieved record revenues from this side of business.

Looking ahead, SkyWater plans to be the foundry (chip manufacturing) “partner of choice” for the quantum market. “We believe our exclusively US focus and trusted status as a pure-play foundry partner make us the ideal manufacturing partner for multiple quantum computing technologies, and we expect to announce continued momentum in the coming quarters,” said the company in its Q3 earnings.

So, to me, it looks to be a classic ‘picks-and-shovels’ play on the quantum computing market. As the quantum industry grows, this company could do well no matter who has the best technology.

Attractive valuation

Now, as I said above, this stock actually looks quite cheap. The company isn’t profitable so there’s no price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio (although it did generate non-GAAP net income of $11.5m last quarter).

But if we take the revenue forecast of $609m for next year and the current market cap of $980m, we get a price-to-sales ratio of just 1.6.

That compares to around 440 for Rigetti and 100 for IonQ. So, the stock is significantly cheaper than other players in the quantum computing industry.

It’s also quite cheap compared to other chip manufacturers. Taiwan Semiconductor, for example, has a price-to-sales ratio of about 10.

Other reasons I’m bullish

Looking beyond the quantum computing exposure and the low valuation, there are a few other things I like about this company from an investment perspective.

One is the fact that SkyWater recently acquired the Fab 25 manufacturing facility in Texas from Infineon. This has added significant production capacity.

Another is the fact that SkyWater operates in the defence and aerospace markets. Note that it has a Category 1A Trusted Supplier Accreditation granted by the US Defense Microelectronics Activity (DMEA), meaning that it’s Department of Defense (DoD) accredited.

Additionally, it’s the only publicly-traded chip manufacturing company that only produces chips in the US. If we see geopolitical tensions rise between US/China/Taiwan, I think we could see a sharp valuation re-rating here.

Finally, the CEO, Thomas Sonderman, has a really interesting background. Previously, he worked at GlobalFoundries and AMD.

High-risk, potentially high reward

I’ll point out that SkyWater is one of the riskiest stocks in my portfolio today. Not only is it not profitable (meaning its share price is very volatile) but it’s up against some much more powerful players.

I see a lot of potential in the long run though. If an investor has a high-risk tolerance, it could be worth a closer look.

The post Forget Rigetti and IonQ: here’s a quantum computing growth stock that actually looks cheap appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

So I asked ChatGPT whether I should buy it. And the answer was useless… so I just researched the stock myself.

A national leader

The company provides wafer services and advanced manufacturing support for customers in defence, aerospace, and emerging computing markets, including quantum technologies. Recent financial results and strategic developments have materially changed the scale and visibility of the business.

The most significant development has been the acquisition of the Fab 25 manufacturing facility in Austin, Texas. This transaction expanded SkyWater’s production capacity and increased its share of the US 200mm foundational semiconductor foundry market from around 4% to around 17%.

As a result, the company’s now the largest exclusively US-owned pureplay foundry, strengthening its role within domestic and government-aligned supply chains. That’s certainly a good position to hold when you’re serving industries like defence.

This expansion was clearly reflected in the company’s third-quarter results. Revenue reached $150.7m, up 61% year on year and 155% sequentially.

Nearly $87m of the quarter’s revenue came from wafer services at the Texas facility, which exceeded management expectations. Non-GAAP gross margin improved to 24.6%, while adjusted EBITDA rose to $25.8m.

For the quarter, SkyWater also reported non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.24. Sadly, we can’t extrapolate that to a yearly basis — otherwise it would be trading around 16 times forward earnings.

Where’s the quantum bit?

Beyond traditional wafer manufacturing, SkyWater operates an Advanced Technology Services (ATS) segment. This division follows a ‘technology-as-a-service’ model, partnering with customers on development programmes rather than simple volume production.

During the last quarter, ATS revenue exceeded $54m, benefiting from customer-funded research activities and milestone payments. Management’s indicated that this model provides improved revenue visibility and supports working capital during programme ramp-ups.

And that leads us to its quantum computing-related work. SkyWater signed four new quantum customer engagements since the second quarter, supporting multiple hardware modalities.

Management said quantum revenues represented the strongest quarter to date for this activity and expects similar growth rates next year. However, management also said that quantum computing represents a “modest component of overall revenue”.

Quantum computing is something of a buzzword in 2025, and that does make me wonder if management’s just leveraging this exuberance to breathe some life into the share.

What the numbers tell us

Looking ahead, it guided for fourth-quarter revenue of $155m–$165m. For 2026, the company reiterated its baseline expectation of at least $600m in annual revenue and adjusted EBITDA of at least $60m.

That means it’s trading around 1.5 times 2026 sales. That’s roughly a 50% discount to the information technology sector average.

But profitability is the company’s issue. For 2026, it’s trading with an enterprise value (this is market-cap plus net debt)-to-EBITDA ratio of 17. That’s a 20% premium to the market.

For me, SkyWater Technology represents a business worth monitoring closely as execution progresses over the next several years. More data on this quantum segment will be key to that.

The post I asked ChatGPT whether I should buy this US quantum growth stock. Here’s what it said… appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

Of course, like everyone else, I’d like to have more money stashed away – that would provide more financial security. So for a bit of fun, I asked ChatGPT how I could double the value of my portfolio.

ChatGPT’s strategies

The advice ChatGPT gave me was quite generic in nature. Its three main tips were:

• Increase my returns
• Increase my contributions
• Extend my timeline

Now, tip one makes sense. But the AI app didn’t give me any valuable insights on how to do this. For example, it said I should maximise my equity exposure. I’m already doing this however.

As for tips two and three, these are not very useful for me. Because I’m already contributing as much as possible into these accounts and I’m not looking to extend my timeline.

My take

So let’s forget about ChatGPT for a minute and talk about some other strategies I could employ to double the size of my account over time. Here’s a three-step strategy I think is more actionable:

• Remain invested for the long term as stocks have historically generated high returns
• Own a diversified portfolio to reduce company-specific risk and minimise the chances of big losses
• Allocate some capital to growth stocks with significant potential but size positions here carefully (keeping them small) so they don’t blow up my portfolio if things go wrong

With this kind of strategy I could potentially target returns of 10%-15% a year. How long would it take to double my money with this kind of return? Timeframes are shown in the table below (I did use ChatGPT for this).

I’ve been buying this growth stock

One growth stock I’ve been buying lately in an effort to turbo-charge my returns is SkyWater Technology (NASDAQ: SKYT). It’s a small-chip manufacturer in the US that supports customers from early development to volume manufacturing.

There are a few reasons I’m bullish on this stock. One is that the company recently acquired Infineon’s ‘Fab 25’ manufacturing plant in Austin, Texas. This has added around 400,000 wafer starts a year of capacity, increasing its scale significantly.

Another is that the company is positioning itself to be a key manufacturing partner for quantum computing companies. In its most recent earnings, it said it had signed four quantum companies since the second quarter.

I also like the valuation. Next year, sales are expected to be $610m. Yet the market-cap’s only $805m at the moment. So the price-to-sales ratio’s only around 1.3.

Now, I need to point out that this stock’s higher up on the risk spectrum. One reason for this is that the company isn’t profitable today.

Given the risk level, I’ve kept my position size very small at less than 1% of my portfolio. So if things go wrong, the max I can lose is 1%.

If things go right however, I think I could potentially triple or quadruple (or more) my money here in the years ahead, so I like the risk/reward skew. If an investor has a high tolerance for risk, I think this stock could be worth a look.

The post I asked ChatGPT how I can double the value of my ISA and SIPP. Here’s what it said… appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.