On September 12, Abby Joseph Cohen, Columbia Business School professor and former Goldman Sachs partner & chief US strategist, joined ‘Squawk Box’ on CNBC to discuss the latest market trends, state of the economy, impact of tariffs, and suggested that she’s a long-term bull on the US. Cohen believes that the US economy is by far the most impressive in the world, but always watches for risks. She explained that while the market typically trades in the center of a bell curve, the real opportunities and risks lie at the extreme ends. One long-term risk Cohen is currently monitoring is the relationship between the US and China. Specifically, she is worried about the apparent lack of US investment in science, tech, and education compared to China. Cohen also reiterated her view on whether stocks are overpriced and stated that they are fully priced, particularly the market-cap-weighted indices.
On September 17, Shashwat Chauhan and Johann M Cherian of Reuters reported that the US corporate sectors sensitive to interest rates are drawing focus as the Fed prepares for its first expected rate cut of 2025. The US stock markets are currently at record highs, with tech and bank stocks among the top performers this year. Small-cap companies benefit from lower rates. The outlook for banks is more complex as they typically profit more when rates rise, and competition for deposits can increase funding costs. Growth stocks, including major tech companies like MAG7, benefit from rate cuts as lower rates increase the present value of their future expected profits.
That being said, we’re here with a list of the 12 most promising long-term stocks to buy.
Methodology
We first sifted through the Finviz stock screener and financial media reports to compile a list of the top stocks with a 5-year revenue compound annual growth rate of over 20%. We then selected the 12 stocks that were the most popular among elite hedge funds and that analysts were bullish on. The stocks are ranked in ascending order of the number of hedge funds that have stakes in them, as of Q2 2025.
Note: All data was sourced on September 19.
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).
12 Most Promising Long-Term Stocks to Buy
12. Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS)
5-Year Revenue CAGR: 21.05%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 50
Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) is one of the most promising long-term stocks to buy. On September 17, Exact Sciences formed a partnership with Healthmine, which is a member engagement and rewards platform for health plans, to boost colorectal cancer/CRC screening completion rates. The collaboration focuses on integrating Exact Sciences’ Cologuard at-home testing with health plan incentives provided through Healthmine’s platform.
The initiative is designed to close critical preventive care gaps and promote the early detection of colorectal cancer, which is a key focus area for both the NCQA’s HEDIS measures and CMS’s renewed emphasis on prevention and wellness across Medicare and Medicaid.
Members of participating health plans will receive rewards for completing and returning the noninvasive Cologuard stool DNA screening test. This incentive-driven approach is supported by Healthmine’s behavioral science-driven communications and is already proven to be effective: Healthmine’s health plan partners typically see a 25% completion improvement over baseline in CRC screening measure programs, a 52% improvement in overall gap closure across all programs, and an average 93% increase in gap closure among members in rewards programs.
Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) provides cancer screening and diagnostic test products in the US and internationally.
11. Celsius Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:CELH)
5-Year Revenue CAGR: 74.58%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 52
Celsius Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:CELH) is one of the most promising long-term stocks to buy. On September 8, Celsius Holdings announced that it appointed Rishi Daing as its new Chief Marketing Officer, effective the same day. The appointment is part of a broader move to strengthen the company’s marketing capabilities and advance its portfolio growth strategy, which includes brands like CELSIUS, AlaniNu, and RockstarEnergy.
Daing brings over two decades of global marketing and commercial leadership experience to the role. His background includes senior positions at PepsiCo and Tata Consumer Products, and most recently, at Mark Anthony Brands, where he led the launch of Mas+ with Lionel Messi. As CMO, Daing will be overseeing the marketing strategy across the entire Celsius Holdings portfolio, working to unify brand development, go-to-market execution, and digital platforms under a performance-driven framework.
He will report to President and Chief Operating Officer Eric Hanson and be based at the company’s U.S. headquarters in Boca Raton, Florida. In addition to the CMO appointment, Celsius Holdings also announced the creation of a new Marketing Leadership Team and promotions to fill the new Chief Brand Officer and Chief Creative Officer roles.
Celsius Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:CELH) develops, processes, manufactures, markets, sells, and distributes functional energy drinks in North America, Europe, the Asia Pacific, and internationally.
10. Chord Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:CHRD)
5-Year Revenue CAGR: 28.10%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 52
Chord Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:CHRD) is one of the most promising long-term stocks to buy. On September 15, Chord Energy announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary entered into a definitive agreement to strategically acquire Williston Basin assets from XTO Energy Inc. and its affiliates, which are subsidiaries of Exxon Mobil Corporation.
The total cash consideration for the acquisition is $550 million, subject to customary purchase price adjustments. Chord Energy plans to fund the acquisition using a combination of cash on hand and borrowings. The acquired assets are high-quality core acreage in the Williston Basin, featuring 48,000 net acres that are 100% held by production.
The working interest is 86% operated, and the net revenue interest is 82% (8/8ths). This acquisition adds 90 net 10,000 foot equivalent locations (with 72 net operated) to Chord’s inventory, extending the company’s inventory life. The quality of the inventory is highlighted by low average NYMEX WTI breakeven economics, estimated to be in the $40s, which makes them immediately competitive within Chord’s existing program and helps lower the weighted-average breakeven of the entire portfolio.
Chord Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:CHRD) is an independent exploration and production company in the US. The company acquires, explores, develops, and produces crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids in the Williston Basin.
9. BridgeBio Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ:BBIO)
5-Year Revenue CAGR: 42.20%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 58
BridgeBio Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ:BBIO) is one of the most promising long-term stocks to buy. On September 6, BridgeBio Pharma announced that its investigational, orally-administered therapy, called encaleret, demonstrated parathyroid hormone/PTH-independent normalization of blood and urine calcium in patients with post-surgical hypoparathyroidism.
These positive findings from a Phase 2 proof-of-concept study were presented in an oral presentation at the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research/ASBMR Annual Meeting 2025. The Phase 2 study was designed to evaluate the PTH-independent effects of encaleret on renal calcium handling in 10 participants with post-surgical hypoparathyroidism.
Participants were administered encaleret at 162 mg twice daily for up to 5 days. Calcitriol, which is a conventional therapy component, was stopped one day before the first dose of encaleret. Key results showed that encaleret treatment led to a rapid and sustained reduction in fractional excretion of calcium in 9 participants
BridgeBio Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ:BBIO) is a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company that discovers, creates, tests, and delivers transformative medicines to treat patients who suffer from genetic diseases and cancers.
8. CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD)
5-Year Revenue CAGR: 46.01%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 66
CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD) is one of the most promising long-term stocks to buy. On September 17, CrowdStrike announced the launch of Threat AI during its Fal.Con 2025 conference. Threat AI is introduced as the industry’s first agentic threat intelligence system to automate the most complex and time-consuming intelligence workflows and accelerate security outcomes. The system is a core component of the company’s broader Agentic Security Workforce vision.
The system employs autonomous agents that reason across threat data, proactively hunt for adversaries, and take decisive action across the kill chain. Threat AI is built upon CrowdStrike’s established intelligence capabilities, which include tracking more than 265 sophisticated global groups, and is embedded within the company’s existing Threat Intelligence & Hunting modules.
It is informed by years of real-world operational decisions from the elite threat hunters and intelligence experts in CrowdStrike’s Counter Adversary Operations/CAO team. The initial agents released with Threat AI focus on automating critical analyst workflows. The Malware Analysis Agent automates the complex process of reversing, classifying, and comparing malware.
CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD) provides cybersecurity solutions in the US and internationally. Its unified platform provides cloud-delivered protection of endpoints, cloud workloads, identity, and data through a SaaS subscription-based model.
7. Affirm Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:AFRM)
5-Year Revenue CAGR: 44.63%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 70
Affirm Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:AFRM) is one of the most promising long-term stocks to buy. On September 16, Affirm announced a multi-year partnership with ServiceTitan (NASDAQ:TTAN). The collaboration marks Affirm as ServiceTitan’s first buy now, pay later/BNPL partner, with Affirm’s transparent pay-over-time options being directly integrated into ServiceTitan’s digital payments solution.
The partnership is set to bring flexible financing options to thousands of contractors and their clients within the trades industry. Through the integration, ServiceTitan customers will be able to offer approved consumers the ability to split home repair bills into budget-friendly biweekly or monthly payments. The motivation behind the partnership is the significant financial burden of home maintenance.
Affirm is committed to transparency: clients must pass an eligibility check every time they transact, and they will never pay any late or hidden fees. Payment options through Affirm are offered with Annual Percentage Rates/APR ranging from 0% to 36%.
Affirm Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:AFRM) operates a payment network in the US, Canada, and internationally. Its platform includes a point-of-sale payment solution for consumers, merchant commerce solutions, and a consumer-focused app.
6. MongoDB Inc. (NASDAQ:MDB)
5-Year Revenue CAGR: 34.63%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 75
MongoDB Inc. (NASDAQ:MDB) is one of the most promising long-term stocks to buy. On September 17, MongoDB announced that it is extending its search and vector search capabilities to its self-managed offerings, the MongoDB Community Edition and MongoDB Enterprise Server. These powerful features were previously exclusive to the fully managed MongoDB Atlas cloud platform.
Starting immediately, these capabilities are available in public preview for development and testing purposes for millions of developers to securely build AI applications on any infrastructure, from local machines to on-premises data centers.
With search and retrieval capabilities now integrated, developers can seamlessly prototype and build next-generation applications. Specifically, Vector Search enables semantic information retrieval based on meaning encoded in vector embeddings, allowing users to manage and build dynamic AI applications. Developers can also boost accuracy with Hybrid Search. Furthermore, the data in MongoDB can now serve as the long-term memory store for AI agents.
MongoDB Inc. (NASDAQ:MDB) provides general purpose database platform worldwide. The company’s core offerings include MongoDB Atlas, MongoDB Enterprise Advanced, and Community Server.
5. KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR)
5-Year Revenue CAGR: 74.93%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 84
KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR) is one of the most promising long-term stocks to buy. On September 16, KKR announced that its funds have acquired the Hoken Minaoshi Hompo Group Inc., which is a prominent Japanese insurance distributor. The acquisition was made from investment funds serviced by Advantage Partners/AP, a Japanese private equity sponsor.
KKR’s investment will primarily be funded through its Asian Fund IV and K-Series and is intended to accelerate the Group’s growth strategy through both organic and inorganic means, such as sales enablement and bolt-on acquisitions. Hoken Minaoshi Hompo Group operates a robust omnichannel presence in Japan, using in-store services, call centers, and online platforms.
Its flagship brand, Hoken Minaoshi Hompo, offers in-store services at ~350 strategic retail locations across the country and provides a wide array of insurance products from ~40 insurance companies. The company is deeply committed to being a Life Support Platform Provider, offering flexible consultation options including face-to-face meetings, online consultations, home visits, and telephone consultations.
KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR) is a private equity and real estate investment firm that specializes in direct and fund-of-fund investments.
4. Carvana Co. (NYSE:CVNA)
5-Year Revenue CAGR: 29.81%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 91
Carvana Co. (NYSE:CVNA) is one of the most promising long-term stocks to buy. On September 9, Carvana announced its plans to integrate Inspection and Reconditioning Center/IRC capabilities into the existing ADESA Golden Gate wholesale auction site. The strategic move brings IRC operations alongside ADESA’s ongoing wholesale auction services and is designed to boost Carvana’s national reconditioning capacity.
The integration will use the existing infrastructure of ADESA Golden Gate, located in Tracy, California, a site that spans over 150 acres and offers ~25,000 parking spaces, having served wholesale customers for over five decades. By establishing a new pool of retail inventory in the Bay Area, the integration will support faster delivery times for Carvana’s local customers.
Wholesale customers at ADESA Golden Gate will also benefit from enhanced on-site capabilities in addition to the full functionality of ADESA’s digital and in-lane auction platforms. The efficient transition of the site is supported by Carvana’s proprietary software platform, CARLI, which ensures operational consistency and scale across the national reconditioning network.
Carvana Co. (NYSE:CVNA) operates an e-commerce platform for buying and selling used cars in the US. The company has a range of offerings, such as vehicle acquisition, inspection & reconditioning, online search & shopping experience, financing, and complementary products.
3. Datadog Inc. (NASDAQ:DDOG)
5-Year Revenue CAGR: 44.38%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 103
Datadog Inc. (NASDAQ:DDOG) is one of the most promising long-term stocks to buy. On September 11, Datadog announced the appointment of Ami Vora to its Board of Directors. Vora is expected to provide invaluable guidance during Datadog’s next phase of growth due to her extensive experience in product leadership.
Ami Vora brings over 20 years of experience leading product and design teams for some of the world’s most widely used products. Her career highlights include serving as Chief Product Officer at Faire, which is a global wholesale marketplace. Before Faire, Vora led product and design for WhatsApp, one of the most-used global apps.
She also held multiple roles at Meta, including Vice President and Head of Product for Facebook Ads, leading the scaling of Instagram, and launching Facebook’s developer platform. She began her career at Microsoft, building tools for developers. Vora stated she is inspired by how Datadog makes it easy for builders to observe, secure, and refine their mission-critical products.
Datadog Inc. (NASDAQ:DDOG) operates an observability and security platform for cloud applications in the US and internationally.
2. ServiceNow Inc. (NYSE:NOW)
5-Year Revenue CAGR: 24.98%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 106
ServiceNow Inc. (NYSE:NOW) is one of the most promising long-term stocks to buy. On September 10, ServiceNow unveiled its new Zurich platform, which delivers breakthrough innovations focused on secure and scalable enterprise AI. The release features faster multi-agentic AI development, enterprise-wide AI platform security, and reimagined autonomous workflows.
The timing aligns with industry predictions, as Gartner projects that by 2029, over 60% of enterprises will adopt AI agent development platforms to automate complex workflows that previously required human coordination. The platform significantly lowers the barrier to app creation through new intelligent developer tools.
The ServiceNow Build Agent introduces vibe coding to the enterprise platform, which allows employees to turn an idea into a production-ready application in seconds by using natural language. Additionally, the Developer Sandbox provides isolated environments within a single instance, which empowers developers and citizen creators to collaborate, build, and test new features, resolve version control issues, and safely experiment with vibe coding before changes go live.
ServiceNow Inc. (NYSE:NOW) provides a cloud-based solution for digital workflows in North America, Europe, the Middle East & Africa, Asia Pacific, and internationally.
1. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD)
5-Year Revenue CAGR: 31.09%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 113
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) is one of the most promising long-term stocks to buy. On September 16, VDURA announced the launch of its first scalable AMD Instinct GPU reference architecture in collaboration with AMD. The new validated blueprint is designed to simplify deployment and eliminate performance bottlenecks in the most demanding AI and HPC environments.
The architecture defines how compute, storage, and networking should be configured for efficient and repeatable large-scale GPU implementations by combining the VDURA V5000 storage platform with AMD Instinct MI300 Series Accelerators. The reference architecture aims to keep the AMD Instinct GPUs fully utilized, delivering sustained performance to counteract the common issue of storage not being able to keep pace with growing data volumes.
AMD selected VDURA after a technical evaluation for its AMD Instinct GPU-optimized performance, proven ability to scale, and low client overhead. The solution has already been chosen for an AI supercluster for a US federal systems integrator. The design is modular, efficient, and expandable, providing compute, storage, and networking at scale.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) is a semiconductor company that operates in three segments: Data Center, Client and Gaming, and Embedded.
While we acknowledge the potential of AMD to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than AMD and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
READ NEXT: 30 Stocks That Should Double in 3 Years and 11 Hidden AI Stocks to Buy Right Now.
Disclosure: None.
