The Best Tech Inventions to Invest in Right Now
Best Tech Inventions Around
Tech inventions are known for two things: changing the way we live and being great investments. Tech stocks that are tied to revolutionary tech gadgets are some of the greatest ways to see massive returns on investments. But it’s also easy to miss these gizmos when they first arrive, either dismissing them as gimmicks or niche products. At the same time, there are also tech toys that either never catch on or really are gimmicks. So what are the best tech inventions we have to look forward to?
We’ll break down the list of the best products worth investing in both for the short term and long term in the tech sector.
How to Invest in New Tech Inventions
The key to investing in new tech is figuring out which gizmo is on the cusp of achieving cultural ubiquity and then jumping in on the bandwagon before it hits critical mass.
Which is to say, you want to find out what’s going to be the next “iPhone” and then invest in it before it becomes just that.
Luckily, sometimes you can count on industry insiders themselves to help you find out with what to watch out for.
“I regard it as a big idea like the smartphone,” said Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) CEO Tim Cook to The Independent in an interview. “The smartphone is for everyone, we don’t have to think the iPhone is about a certain demographic, or country or vertical market: it’s for everyone. I think AR is that big, it’s huge.” (Source: “Apple CEO Tim Cook: As Brexit hangs over UK, ‘times are not really awful, there’s some great things happening’,” The Independent, February 10, 2017.)
Here’s a clear example of a new technology—augmented reality—that could be one of the biggest upcoming innovations to hit the markets.
We’ll explore in more detail several of these potential game changing technologies, but the point here is that by following the news and keeping up to date with tech giants, you can get a pretty good idea of which way the tech pendulum is swinging.
While Tim Cook in the above interview is likely angling to boost the sales of one Apple product or another that will include AR tech (like the new “iPhone 8”), what he says speaks to a larger trend: AR’s budding importance.
When CEOs of major companies push the latest inventions with the emphasis that Cook used, you can anticipate an industry ripe with opportunity, for both companies and investors.
Looking into market data, future trends, and talks from high-powered execs are all great ways to ascertain which market will be booming in the coming years, and which ones are all hype.
With that in mind, let’s get to the best technology advancements that investors may want to invest in.
The Best Tech Stocks to Invest in Right Now
Sometimes, it takes a tech invention a little while to catch on. In other cases, it’s pretty much an instant hit.
With the “Internet of Things,” you’re in the latter camp.
As our increasingly digital lives create more and more data, businesses that are able to master that information are uniquely suited to dominate the Internet age.
The Internet of Things is simply the inevitable future we’ve been progressing towards ever since the very first “on” switch was pushed on your PC: a future where everything is measurable and everything can be distilled into data.
The applications of the Internet of Things is limitless, from applications on the business analytics side of things to more grounded work like having real-time updates at a construction site concerning the materials you’re using or how they’re put together.
There’s no reason to doubt that the Internet of Things will be a force to be reckoned with in the near future. It’s simply the logical progression of the increasing connectivity our devices have with one another.
As referenced in an earlier article of ours, Bain Capital, LP has the top IoT companies earning $470.0 billion of revenue by 2020; General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) thinks the “Industrial” Internet of Things could make $60.0 trillion during the next 15 years; and IHS Markit Ltd (NASDAQ:INFO) projects as many as 30.7 billion active IoT devices by 2020. (Source: “Roundup Of Internet Of Things Forecasts And Market Estimates, 2016,” Forbes, November 27, 2016.)
The Internet of Things is a great place to invest in, and companies that are looking to make big inroads on the emerging tech—like Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), for instance—are poised to see huge gains as the latest inventions only add to the growing collection of connected devices.
Chart courtesy of StockCharts.com
Big Data
Closely linked with the best tech gadgets to invest in and the previously mentioned Internet of Things, “Big Data” has already opened tons of opportunities for data scientists everywhere. In fact, whole fields of employment have been elevated in order to deal with the increasing influx of data.
The industry is currently on pace to be worth about $203.0 billion in 2020, up from $130.1 billion in 2016, according to the IDC Research, Inc.. (Source: “Double-Digit Growth Forecast for the Worldwide Big Data and Business Analytics Market Through 2020 Led by Banking and Manufacturing Investments, According to IDC,” IDC Research, Inc., October 3, 2016.)
“The availability of data, a new generation of technology, and a cultural shift toward data-driven decision making continue to drive demand for big data and analytics technology and services,” said Dan Vesset, IDC Vice President, Analytics and Information Management, in a press release. “This market is forecast to grow 11.3% in 2016 after revenues reached $122 billion worldwide in 2015 and is expected to continue at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.7% through 2020.”
Banking, manufacturing, governmental, and professional services are all major drivers of the massive growth that Big Data is set to experience.
Now how do you turn that into a good investment?
Legacy companies like QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) have begun seeing returns on the back of Big Data-related products. If you want to find the best up-and-comer in Big Data, you have to be a little more creative in that the company has yet to hit the market.
Peter Thiel’s Palantir Technologies, Inc. has great potential to be one of the best Internet stocks for 2017.
The company has been shy when it comes to its IPO plans, but with Peter Thiel being part of the leadership and a path to profitability (which is quite rare for a budding Internet company), you have what could be one of the most valuable IPOs in recent years.
CEO and co-founder of Palantir, Alex Karp, has been reluctant to commit to an IPO date, or even to say that the company will IPO at all. Speaking at the 2016 The Wall Street Journal technology conference, said, “[p]hilosophically, I have always been opposed to going public. First of all, I have noticed, very empirically . . . I have never seen a company that is public compete effectively against us (for engineers).” (Source: “Will Palantir Launch an IPO?” The Wall Street Journal, October 26, 2016.)
The issue is that the company is already on the path to profitability, so it is doubtful that Palantir will be able to ward off an IPO for long before shareholders begin pushing for a move to the public market.
The company specializes in big data analysis, both for governments and business, and will be one of the hottest tickers when it does eventually hit the market.
Best Tech Investments for the Long Term
Looking forward, there are a great many tech stocks that could explode due to emerging tech inventions down the road. While these technology advancements may be a few years away from achieving the prominence they need to power up a company’s shares, they are still some of the best buys an investor can make. Getting in on the ground floor, as they say, is often the best way to see massive returns. You have to stay ahead of the trend, after all.
Which brings us to artificial intelligence, or AI.
The technology most likely to dramatically influence our lives more than anything else, AI will have serious repercussions in a number of fields and will have the ability to shape the world more so than any other tech gadget has ever done in the past.
That’s right; AI is potentially among the most impactful technological advancements humankind has ever made. It would have the ability to totally transform our workforce with tech inventions, like automated workers in a variety of fields, and mental enhancements, allowing us to achieve what would never have been thought possible.
Of course, the tech is a long way from reaching its peak, but not as long as you may think.
Companies like Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), parent of Google, are already well on their way to creating the robots of tomorrow.
Chart courtesy of StockCharts.com
Google’s “DeepMind” is considered one of the best AI development projects in the world.
Nick Bostrom of Oxford University’s Future of Humanity Institute, considers it the leading developer of human-level artificial intelligence. (Source: “Nick Bostrom: London’s DeepMind is winning the global race to develop human-level artificial intelligence,” Business Insider, October 5, 2016.)
The possibilities for AI are nearly endless, able to do everything from voice recognition to writing music in the near future.
Tech stocks like Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) are all on the cusp of making huge discoveries that could tip the balance in their favor in the AI race, making them some of the most valuable tech companies around, holding potentially world-changing tech inventions in their infancy.
