Cryptocurrencies might be worthwhile plays for investors who have a high tolerance for risk. However, they're also notoriously volatile and difficult to value since they often trade on market hype or murky future expectations regrading their scarcity or utility.
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So instead of chasing the market's hottest cryptocurrencies right now, it might be smarter to invest in three speculative tech stocks: CoreWeave(NASDAQ: CRWV), D-Wave Quantum (NYSE: QBTS), and QuantumScape(NYSE: QS). These stocks are also undeniably risky, but they're built on firmer businesses with clearer roadmaps for the future.
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CoreWeave
CoreWeave, which was once an Ethereum mining operation, abandoned the crypto market in 2018 and leveraged its big inventory of graphics processing units (GPUs) to build an artificial intelligence (AI)-oriented cloud-infrastructure business. After spending about $100 million on Nvidia's H100 data center GPUs in 2022, it carved out a niche with a dedicated AI platform which was about 35 times faster and 80% cheaper than bigger cloud-infrastructure platforms.
It used its own GPUs as collateral to secure more financing, and it attracted some investments from big investors like Nvidia, Cisco, and PureStorage. Its total number of data centers rose from just three in 2022 to 33 at the end of its latest quarter.
Its revenue soared from $16 million in 2022 to $1.92 billion in 2024, and it expects that figure to more than double to about $5 billion in 2025. It isn't cheap at 15 times that sales estimate, and its stock has already more than quadrupled since its initial public offering (IPO) just two months ago. But it could have plenty of room to grow as the AI market expands.
CoreWeave's lack of profits, high debt, and plans to accelerate its spending on Nvidia's latest Blackwell GPUs could compress its near-term valuations and cool off its stock, but it could head a lot higher over the next few years if it successfully scales up its business and narrows its losses.
D-Wave Computing
D-Wave Computing develops quantum annealing tools which can help companies optimize their schedules, workflows, and supply chains. Through quantum computing, which stores zeros and ones simultaneously in qubits, it operates more efficiently than traditional computers which store that data in separate binary bits.
D-Wave's core Leap platform, which can be integrated into bigger public cloud platforms, is essentially a quantum-powered efficiency expert. It runs an organization's processes through its systems in various ways, and it identifies the one which consumes the least power as the most efficient. As a quantum-powered platform, D-Wave can map out all of those potential outcomes at a much faster rate than traditional computers. More than 100 companies -- including Deloitte, Mastercard, Lockheed Martin, and Accenture -- already use its services. That makes it a more practical play on the nascent quantum-computing market than its other niche research-oriented peers.
From 2024 to 2027, analysts expect D-Wave's revenue to surge from $9 million to $74 million. It's not expected to turn profitable anytime soon, and it might seem absurdly overvalued at 70 times its projected sales for 2027. But it could grow a lot bigger as the quantum-computing market expands over the next few decades.
QuantumScape
QuantumScape is another speculative stock which could skyrocket over the long run. It develops solid-state lithium metal batteries which have better thermal resistance, faster charging times, and last longer than traditional lithium ion batteries. That makes them well suited for electric vehicles (EV), but it hasn't commercialized any of its batteries yet.
QuantumScape is backed by Volkswagen, and its first QSE-5 batteries will have a fast charging time of less than 15 minutes with an EV range of up to 500 miles. Most EVs currently have a range of roughly 300 miles with an average charging time of 30 minutes. It's only shipped a few low-volume samples so far, and it doesn't expect to mass produce any batteries or generate any revenue until 2026. But this year, the company is transitioning from its older Raptor separator process to its newer Cobra process. That long-awaited upgrade should boost its stability and yields to pave the way toward the mass production of its batteries.
QuantumScape is worth $2.4 billion right now, but it's tough to value because it's unprofitable, isn't generating any revenue yet, and still faces competition from other battery makers and automakers. But if it successfully scales up its business, it might just attract a stampede of bulls and outperform any of the market's top cryptocurrencies.
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Leo Sun has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Accenture Plc, Cisco Systems, Ethereum, Mastercard, Nvidia, and Pure Storage. The Motley Fool recommends Lockheed Martin and Volkswagen Ag. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
