Only 16% of Americans have saved more than $1 million for retirement, according to a recent CNBC survey. That's troubling, because most Americans now need at least $1 million to comfortably retire in 15 states, according to GOBankingRates.
So if you still have a decade before you retire, you might set aside some cash in higher-growth stocks that could generate some millionaire-making gains. If you have $90,000 to invest, you can split $30,000 across three high-growth stocks that might grow 11-12 times over the next 10 years. If each stock hits that threshold, you could end up with well over $1 million.
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That's definitely a hit-or-miss strategy, but three stocks might just deliver those life-changing gains over the next decade: MicroStrategy (MSTR -1.14%), Archer Aviation (ACHR -14.41%), and Lumen Technologies (LUMN -2.17%).
MicroStrategy
MicroStrategy was once a slow-growth data mining and analytics company that struggled to keep pace with nimbler cloud-based competitors like Microsoft and Salesforce over the years. But in 2020, it started to accumulate Bitcoin. By the end of 2024, its Bitcoin holdings had swelled to 446,400 Bitcoins -- which are worth a total of $41.8 billion as of this writing.
That equals nearly half of the company's enterprise value of $85.8 billion. Its software business is still growing at a snail's pace, but it's expanding its cloud-based subscription services and generative AI tools to offset its declining sales of on-site software.
MicroStrategy plans to take on more debt and issue more shares to fund its Bitcoin purchases for the foreseeable future, so it's becoming an all-in bet on the world's top cryptocurrency. Bitcoin currently trades at $94,000, but MicroStrategy's founder Michael Saylor believes it could soar approximately 13,730% to $13 million over the next two decades. If that actually happens, MicroStrategy could generate some massive multibagger gains over the next 10 years.
Archer Aviation
Archer Aviation is a producer of electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, which can carry a single pilot and four passengers. They can travel at a maximum speed of 150 miles per hour and up to 100 miles on a single charge.
They're also cheaper, greener, quieter, and easier to land in urban areas than helicopters -- which makes them an attractive option for short-range air taxi services. As an early mover in the eVTOL market, Archer has already secured air taxi contracts from big clients like United Airlines, Stellantis, and Soracle, a joint venture between Japan Airlines and Sumimoto. It's also producing eVTOL aircraft for the U.S. Air Force (USAF) and Future Flight Global.
Archer only delivered its first aircraft to the USAF last August, but it aims to produce 10 aircraft in 2025, 48 aircraft in 2026, 252 aircraft in 2027, and 650 aircraft in 2028. It could also launch its first air taxi services in the United Arab Emirates by the end of 2025. With an enterprise value of $4.8 billion, Archer seems expensive at 131 times its 2025 sales. But over the long term, it could justify that premium valuation as it delivers more aircraft and widens its lead against its closest competitors in its nascent market.
Lumen Technologies
Lumen, the telecom company formerly known as CenturyLink, was in serious trouble just a year ago. Its revenue was declining, it was racking up steep losses, and it suspended its dividend in 2022. Unlike other telecom companies, Lumen didn't expand into the higher-growth wireless market. Instead, it doubled down on expanding its residential and business wireline segments in hopes of leveraging its scale to generate slow but steady cash flows. That plan fell apart when its declining business wireline sales offset the expansion of its consumer-oriented fiber division.
Lumen's stock fell below $1 last June, but it now trades at about $5. Its stock bounced back after it secured billions of dollars in new AI infrastructure deals with Microsoft and other cloud software giants. Those big deals generated fresh tailwinds for its struggling business wireline division. Analysts still expect Lumen's annual revenue to decline for at least the next two years, but its growth should accelerate again once those long-term AI infrastructure contracts kick in.
With an enterprise value of $22 billion, Lumen trades at less than 2 times this year's sales. If its big bet on wireline services turns it into an essential infrastructure provider for the booming AI market, it could soar a lot higher over the next decade.
