Been watching the market closely these past few months, and I'm seeing some interesting setups for anyone sitting on around $1,000 looking to deploy capital. The S&P 500 has been crushing it since late 2022 — we're talking 94% gains so far. Major banks are still pretty bullish here too, with Deutsche Bank calling for 8,000 on the index by year-end and Goldman Sachs expecting another 12% push this year. So if you're trying to figure out what's the best stock to buy now, the broader market backdrop is definitely supportive.

That said, I'm not just talking about buying the index. There are some specific plays that could really outperform if you pick the right ones. Let me break down three that caught my attention.

First up is Micron Technology. This one's been an absolute beast — up 243% over the past year alone. But here's the thing: it doesn't feel like it's done yet. The company's sitting at less than 10x sales despite absolutely ridiculous growth numbers. We're talking nearly 4x earnings growth potential in the current fiscal year on the back of 100% revenue increases. The driver? Memory chip shortage in AI data centers. Demand is massively outpacing supply, and that's not changing through 2028 at minimum. New capacity takes time to come online, so memory prices should stay elevated. If you're looking for a best stock to buy right now that's also reasonably valued, Micron checks that box.

Then there's Celestica. This company designs and manufactures networking components for AI accelerator chips — we're talking Broadcom, AMD, Intel, Marvell. They also build the rack-scale solutions hyperscalers use for AI data centers. Revenue jumped about 27% in 2025 to $12.2 billion, and the forecasts suggest acceleration ahead. The valuation is almost comically cheap at 3.2x sales. Gartner's projecting a 41% jump in AI infrastructure spending to $1.4 trillion in 2026, so the tailwind here is real and probably just getting started. This feels like a no-brainer buy right now if you want exposure to the AI infrastructure theme.

Now, if you want to get a bit more speculative with part of your capital, IonQ is worth a look. Quantum computing is still early, but McKinsey thinks the market could balloon from $4 billion in 2024 to $72 billion by 2035. That's the kind of growth trajectory that could produce outsized returns. IonQ's revenue more than doubled year-over-year in the first nine months of 2025 to $68 million, with Q3 alone jumping 222%. They also hit a world record 99.99% two-qubit gate fidelity, which basically means their systems are nearly error-free. Cost per system is 30x lower than competitors too. Yeah, the stock's expensive at 158x sales and volatile, but if quantum computing even partially delivers on the hype, this could be a monster winner over the long haul.

The catch with all three? You need to size them according to your risk tolerance. But if you're trying to figure out what's the best stock to buy now and you've got $1,000 burning a hole in your pocket, these three cover different angles of the AI and tech upgrade cycle that's still unfolding. Micron for the near-term value play, Celestica for the infrastructure momentum, IonQ if you want a lottery ticket on quantum. Just my take based on what I'm seeing in the market right now.