2 Stocks Down 47% and 82% to Buy Right Now

The stock market has gotten off to a wild start early in 2025. Between a new presidential administration, disruptive new artificial intelligence models, and the outlook on interest rates, investors have had a lot to consider. As a result, volatility is running high.

But while big fluctuations could continue in the short term, investors who cut through the noise and focus on identifying promising long-term opportunities can put themselves in good position to score market-beating returns. If you're on the hunt for stocks that still trade at big discounts, read on to see why two Motley Fool contributors think that these two companies stand out as great buys right now.

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Archer Aviation is a speculative stock worth getting behind

Keith Noonan (Archer Aviation): While Tesla and other players have already made big strides in expanding adoption for electric cars, there are other kinds of vehicles that haven't seen meaningful shifts away from combustion-powered engines. Archer Aviation (NYSE: ACHR) is an early leader in the electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) space, and its Midnight flying taxis look poised to begin commercial operations this year.

As of this writing, Archer Aviation stock is still down roughly 47% from the lifetime high that it reached shortly after going public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in 2021. For investors who are willing to embrace the relatively high levels of risk that come with backing a pre-revenue business operating in a fledgling industry, I think the eVTOL specialist offers explosive upside potential at current prices.

With Archer Aviation being valued at roughly $3.9 billion despite never having recorded any sales during its time as a publicly traded company, it's clear that the company has a speculative and growth-dependent valuation. On the other hand, the aviation specialist has a clear runway to growing its sales and delivering strong performance for long-term shareholders.

Archer Aviation is in the early stages of ramping up production of its Midnight flying vehicles and says it has more than $6 billion in back orders for the craft. If certain key regulatory approvals go through, the company appears to be on track to launch commercial operations for its flying taxis in markets including the United Arab Emirates, Japan, and the U.S. this year. And as exciting as the growth outlook in the commercial eVTOL space is, it's not the company's only expansion opportunity.

In December, Archer Aviation announced that it had entered into a partnership with Anduril to develop hybrid power vertical takeoff and landing aircraft for the defense industry. Anduril is an innovation-focused defense technologies company that has already won contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), anti-drone technologies, and data services. Through this partnership, I think there's a good chance that Archer will be able to score substantial defense contract wins over the next five years.

With commercial flights for its flying taxis seemingly ready for takeoff and potentially massive opportunities in the defense industry starting to unfurl, I think Archer Aviation is a smart buy for risk-tolerant investors right now.

This stock is already on its way back up

Jennifer Saibil (Roku): Roku (NASDAQ: ROKU) is the top streaming operating system (OS) in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, and that's against tough competition from giants like Amazon. But the market hasn't been paying much attention to that over the past few years, focusing instead on a variety of negative factors like decelerating growth after a pandemic acceleration, a return to net losses, and new competition. Roku stock is still 82% off of its all-time highs, and down 9% over the past year, but it's starting to climb back up.

There are a lot of good things going on at Roku. Its top position is an important one, because it implies a good product, which is the basis of a strong business. Roku's device sales, which is how it gets new members onto its OS, increased 23% year over year in the 2024 third quarter.

That translates into more members and viewing hours, which are the Roku-specific metrics that investors need to pay attention to. Household accounts increased 13% year over year in the third quarter, and viewing hours increased 20%. That means viewing hour growth is coming from more than new members and indicates that viewers are overall increasing engagement with the platform.

More people on the platform means more eyeballs to catch for advertisements, which is how it generates revenue for its platform business, its much bigger segment. Platform revenue increased 15% year over year in the quarter and accounted for 85% of sales. Advertisers that had scaled back their budgets when inflation spiraled higher are starting to spend again, but it might take some catch-up time for the ad growth to match or surpass member growth. That's why investors want to consider buying stock now.

Even more, Roku is returning to profitability, and it's only a matter of time, barring another spectacular global catastrophe, before it should begin to report positive net income. The third quarter was the fifth straight of positive adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) and positive free cash flow, and scale should soon lead it into net profitable territory.

Don’t miss this second chance at a potentially lucrative opportunity

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On rare occasions, our expert team of analysts issues a “Double Down” stock recommendation for companies that they think are about to pop. If you’re worried you’ve already missed your chance to invest, now is the best time to buy before it’s too late. And the numbers speak for themselves:

• Nvidia: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2009, you’d have $346,349!*
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Right now, we’re issuing “Double Down” alerts for three incredible companies, and there may not be another chance like this anytime soon.

Learn more »

*Stock Advisor returns as of February 3, 2025

John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Jennifer Saibil has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Keith Noonan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, Roku, and Tesla. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.