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The best stocks to buy are often high-quality ones that have fallen and are therefore cheaper than they were. Recently, many tech shares have seen significant drawdowns due to uncertainty about the direction of interest rates and AI disruption.
Therefore, this area could be fertile waters for long-term investors to fish in. Here are two high-quality S&P 500 stocks to consider.
Nvidia
After skyrocketing in 2023 and 2024 following the release of ChatGPT, Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) stock has produced more muted returns lately. In fact, its flat since August 2025 and 11% off an all-time high.
That dip might not seem much. But the AI GPU and chip king continues to grow at a torrid pace, with Wall Street analysts expecting revenue to surge 71% to $369bn this year. This should see net profit top $200bn.
As such, the valuation now looks cheap. We have a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 23, which isn’t much more than the estimate for the S&P 500. It’s rare to find a world-class company trading at an average valuation while still growing tremendously.
Turning to next year, the forward-looking P/E multiple drops to 17. Then just 14.5 times the year after.
So, what’s the catch? Well, rising competition appears to be one key concern. Many of Nvidia’s giant tech customers are designing their own chips to reduce reliance and try to cut costs. This risk is worth monitoring.
However, Nvidia’s products remain best-in-class, with CEO Jensen Huang seeing $1trn worth of orders for its Blackwell and Vera Rubin chips through 2027. The Vera Rubin processor will offer a 10x reduction in cost per token compared to Blackwell, supercharging the AI agentic age.
Looking further out, Nvidia’s also perfectly placed to underpin the physical AI revolution (self-driving vehicles, humanoid robots, and more).
CrowdStrike
Former FBI Director Robert Mueller once said: “There are only two types of companies: those that have been hacked and those that will be hacked.” Unfortunately, I think he was right, especially as AI capabilities advance rapidly.
Enter CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD). The pureplay cybersecurity company’s Falcon platform uses AI and machine learning to detect, prevent, and respond to threats in real-time.
CrowdStrike estimates its total addressable market could surge to as much as $300bn by 2030, up from roughly $145bn this year. In fiscal 2026, which ended 31 January, the company’s annual recurring revenue (ARR) jumped 24% to $5.25bn.
Meanwhile, 50% of its customers are now using six or more of its cybersecurity modules, up from 39% three years ago. This shows how it’s successfully upselling products as cyber threats multiply.
So, why has the stock crashed 32% in five months?
One recent catalyst was the development of Claude Mythos by AI firm Anthropic. It claims this powerful model demonstrated an unprecedented ability to autonomously exploit software vulnerabilities. A cyber breach is always a risk for CrowdStrike.
Also, even after the pullback, the forward price-to-sales ratio is a lofty 16. While I wouldn’t load up on CrowdStrike due to the rich valuation, I still think it’s worth considering as a best-in-class cybersecurity stock for a diversified portfolio.
CEO George Kurtz is clear on the opportunity: “As enterprises rapidly adopt AI, CrowdStrike is mission-critical infrastructure — securing AI across every layer from GPU to agent to prompt. The AI revolution is creating a massive growth opportunity for CrowdStrike.”
This story originally appeared on Motley Fool
