This article will look at the top 10 high-risk stocks to buy according to billionaires.
Investors often retreat into safer assets during volatility when the global markets move towards a chaotic storm. But for billionaire investors, market chaos could mean something else entirely: an opportunity. The new tariffs the current U.S. President announced on April 2, 2025, sent ripples across Wall Street. Multiple headlines have started forecasting a recession, and some of the wealthiest minds in the financial world are looking at high-risk stocks, not with fear but with an intent to utilize the opportunity. These minds work on the philosophy that market storms would wash away the timid but also drench the bargains for those willing to wade in.
READ ALSO: 10 Best Foreign Stocks to Buy According to Billionaires.
The perspective is more relevant today as the stock market is seeing its highest drop in value since the COVID-19 pandemic. CNBC reported that only a handful of companies finished April 4 in the green, escaping the impact of the U.S. tariffs, but only slightly.
Experts call the new commercial environment a full-blown trade war ignited by the U.S. President’s sweeping 10% tariffs on all U.S. trading partners. The countries targeted by the new tariffs have started retaliating by imposing additional tariffs on U.S. goods, thus worsening the situation. Notably, China, the largest trade partner of the U.S., retaliated by imposing a 34% tax on American goods and a crackdown on U.S. firms.
Amid this panic, a small group of elite investors doubles down on risk. At first glance, it may seem like the strategy is built on unquestioning optimism, grounded in decades of historical precedent. Many billionaires believe that the best opportunities often surface during the ugliest moments in the market. Between 1980 and 2023, the average intra-year decline in the market was around 14%. Despite this staggering decline, the market could still post positive annual returns in 32 out of 44 years. Experts call the strategy positioning ahead of the rebound.
In this regard, high-risk stocks have often been seen outperforming once the dust settles. These stocks, exposed to uncertain market forces, are the type that collapse in weeks and double in days. Billionaires incorporate such high-risk stocks into their portfolios after estimating their time for recovery, innovation, and long-term asymmetry. It is not just about surviving the downturn but also about owning the comeback.
Growth stocks are garnering renewed attention in recent times in the category of high-risk stocks. Though they are bearing the effects of the current market carnage, historically, they have outperformed the value stocks in multi-decade comparisons. While these outperformances are not without any swings, they indicate that investors can move ahead with conviction and patience.
Of course, choosing the right high-risk stocks requires a deeper understanding of market psychology and the macroeconomic undercurrents. In this regard, the billionaire portfolios offer a valuable window. Their public disclosures provide an insight into the stocks where capital is concentrated despite the crumbling sentiments.
These are not random gambles. They are signals that income-seeking investors could use to pepper their portfolio with a few high-risk stocks and benefit from the experts’ advocacy.
With that in mind, let’s explore the 10 Best High-Risk Stocks to Buy According to Billionaires.
Our Methodology
For this article, Insider Monkey’s billionaire database of Q4 2024 was reviewed to identify stocks with a beta value near 1.5, indicating they are expected to be about 50% more volatile than the broader market. Also, our list comprises stocks with positive earnings per share (EPS) over the past five years and a positive projected EPS growth over the next five years. The criterion was in place to consider only those stocks with historical profitability and future earnings potential. All the stocks have a consensus Strong Buy rating from Wall Street analysts, which suggests a positive market outlook.
Additionally, the stocks in the list are all large-cap firms, which reflects their market presence and liquidity. The stocks are ranked according to billionaire investors having stakes in them. We have sourced the required data from financial databases and analysts, with all information current as of April 4, 2025. Stocks’ presence in the number of hedge funds has also been considered to estimate the institutional interest.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
10. GLOBALFOUNDRIES Inc. (NASDAQ:GFS)
Number of Billionaire Investors: 6
Total Value of Billionaire Holdings: $0.98 Billion
Beta: 1.54
GLOBALFOUNDRIES Inc. (NASDAQ:GFS) is among the leading semiconductor manufacturers worldwide. The company is focused on producing essential chips for the communications, automotive, industrial, and IoT sectors. Headquartered in the U.S., it operates globally, with foundries in Germany and Singapore. The specialized process technologies tailored to reliability and performance enable the company to stand unique among its peers. GFS primarily targets long-term supply agreements for mission-critical chip applications.
With six billionaire investors and $0.98 billion in holdings, GLOBALFOUNDRIES Inc. (NASDAQ:GFS) surpassed its midpoint guidance across revenue and EPS for Q4 2024. The company gains market support, with the strong growth in the automotive sector contributing to a 15% increase in revenue in 2024. For 2025, the company expects a further increase in its value attributed to the on-track strategic initiatives in Malta. The initiative is expected to increase the manufacturing capabilities of GFS, thus earning it a position on our list of best high-risk stocks.
GLOBALFOUNDRIES Inc. (NASDAQ:GFS) stands out for its strong projected EPS growth of 26.38%, a sharp increase from its past five years’ growth of 18.83%. The beta of 1.54 signals a high sensitivity to the market conditions. In our list of best high-risk stocks, the company holds the least institutional interest, with Insider Monkey recording 24 hedge funds backing the stock in Q4 2024.
9. Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE:NET)
Number of Billionaire Investors: 8
Total Value of Billionaire Holdings: $3.78 Billion
Beta: 1.79
California-based company, Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE:NET) is a global cloud services provider. The company specializes in content delivery, cybersecurity, and internet infrastructure. The company offers a range of solutions, including DDoS protection, zero-trust security, and web performance optimization. Its client base comprises e-commerce, finance, and tech sectors. Its edge network architecture and rapid innovation cycle make the company a tough competitor for Akamai, Fastly, and similar players in the market. NET is one of the best high risk stocks according to billionaires.
Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE:NET) has garnered notable interest, with eight billionaire investors holding a combined $378 billion in the company. Accordingly, Cloudflare has achieved a 27% year-over-year increase in sales revenue by the end of Q4 2024. The Zero Trust platform of the company is expected to generate further revenue in 2025 since it has announced that companies using the platform can now protect sensitive corporate network traffic from quantum threats. Additionally, the AI capabilities of the company are gaining the attention of analysts and billionaire investors alike as one of the best high-risk stocks.
The high beta of 1.79 suggests that the stock is highly volatile to market conditions. In the past five years, the EPS of Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE:NET) grew by 8.13%. Strong future potential is realized from the company’s projected EPS growth of 23.79% over the next five years. Insider Monkey’s database noted 55 hedge funds invested in the stock in Q4 2024, reflecting high institutional confidence in the company’s long-term performance.
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