These Could Be 3 of the Best Stocks to Own in 2026

Motley Fool recommends three 2026 growth ideas: Alphabet (GOOG), Nu Holdings (NU) and Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM). Alphabet, trading at a P/E of ~32, leverages a dominant ~90% search share, its Gemini LLM and accelerating Google Cloud (No.3 globally) with diversified businesses and a new Berkshire Hathaway stake; Nu, also around a 32 P/E and up ~61% in 2025, is a high‑growth digital bank with >60% penetration in Brazil and expansion plans in Mexico, Colombia and the U.S.; TSMC, the cheapest of the three at a P/E of ~30, benefits from broad semiconductor demand and AI tailwinds, reporting a 50.6% operating margin and 39% EPS growth in Q3 2025. Together they offer exposure to AI/cloud platforms, Latin American fintech adoption and structural semiconductor growth at valuations the author views as reasonable, with standard Motley Fool disclosure of positions and recommendations.

Analysis

With the S&P 500 up nearly 17% year-to-date and fewer than three weeks remaining in the year, the Motley Fool highlights three 2026 growth candidates: Alphabet (GOOG), Nu Holdings (NU) and Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM). The author cites P/E multiples of about 32 for Alphabet and Nu and about 30 for TSM, framing those valuations as reasonable relative to their growth prospects and noting the broader call for portfolio diversification between growth and value.

Alphabet is presented as a diversified tech platform anchored by roughly 90% share of internet search, a proprietary Gemini large-language model and a Google Cloud business that ranks No. 3 globally while growing on par with Microsoft and faster than AWS on a percentage basis; Berkshire Hathaway added a stake in Q3. Nu is credited with a 61% total return in 2025, digital banking penetration of over 60% in Brazil and early-stage expansion into Mexico, Colombia and ambitions for the U.S., with management emphasizing cross-sell and monetization opportunities.

TSMC is described as the lowest-priced of the three with outsized profitability—a 50.6% operating margin in Q3 2025 and 39% EPS growth—and exposure to AI tailwinds while supplying chips across smartphones, autonomous vehicles and data center use cases. The note includes disclosures that the author and Motley Fool hold positions in some of these names; key risks implicit in the piece are execution on geographic expansion for Nu, continued cloud monetization and sustained semiconductor demand affecting TSMC's outlook.

Key Decisions for Investors

• Consider maintaining or modestly increasing exposure to TSMC for direct AI and structural semiconductor exposure given its 50.6% Q3 operating margin and 39% EPS growth, but size positions to reflect cyclicality in chip demand
• Allocate selective exposure to Alphabet for diversified AI/cloud upside—monitor Google Cloud revenue trajectory, Gemini monetization progress and the impact of Berkshire Hathaway's stake on sentiment before adding materially
• Treat Nu as a high-growth, execution-sensitive exposure: consider a smaller, conviction-weighted position to capture Latin America monetization upside while monitoring user monetization metrics and expansion execution in Mexico, Colombia and any U.S. rollout
• Preserve portfolio diversification between growth and value given strong YTD market gains, and set concrete monitoring triggers (Google Cloud growth rates, Nu monetization KPIs and TSM order book/capacity or guidance) to reassess positions as 2026 unfolds