The U.S. economy has evolved over the course of centuries. The industries that created the most value 100 years ago are not the same as the industries generating the most value today.
For example, United States Steelbecame the world's first $1 billion company in 1901. But the world's largest company today is technology giant Apple, which has amassed a $2.6 trillion valuation.
Which industries might drive the U.S. economy forward in the future, and how can investors benefit? Technologies like electric vehicles (EVs) and artificial intelligence (AI) are still in the very early stages of adoption, yet they hold significant potential as value creators.
With that in mind, I predict the following three stocks will be among the world's most valuable by 2050.
1. Tesla
Tesla (TSLA -2.32%) is the world's largest producer of electric vehicles (EVs), but its biggest opportunity might actually be elsewhere. Make no mistake, the EV market is set to be enormous with BloombergNEF projecting it could be worth $46 trillion by 2050, but Tesla is operating in other areas like artificial intelligence, which has the potential to dwarf that figure.
Cathie Wood's Ark Investment Management thinks the technology could generate $90 trillion in enterprise value as soon as 2030, adding $200 trillion to global economic output.
Tesla stock is the largest overall holding at Ark Investment Management for that reason. The firm thinks it could soar to $1,533 as soon as 2026 (from $185 as of this writing) which would value Tesla at $5.3 trillion. The basis for that prediction is the company's self-driving software, which could power a fleet of fully autonomous robotaxis in the future. Of course, AI is the force behind that technology.
The value from autonomous car sales might overlap somewhat with the projected value of the EV market, because it's not clear what portion of miles will be driven by self-driving ride-hailing services, for example. On that note, Ark believes autonomous ride-sharing on its own could generate $14 trillion in enterprise value by 2027, and Tesla is already the leader by a wide margin with 2.7 million vehicles on the road collecting data today.
But cars aren't the be-all and end-all of Tesla's business. It's applying AI in robotics, too, and its first mass-market product could be released by the end of this decade. It's called Optimus, a humanoid robot that could reshape the workforce by completing low-skilled jobs like manufacturing and manual labor.
Tesla is worth $586 billion right now, making it the world's eighth-largest company. Given the sheer value of its opportunities ahead, there's a clear case for it catapulting its way up the rankings between now and 2050.
2. Microsoft
Microsoft (MSFT -0.14%) might be the most conservative pick of this bunch, given it's the second-largest company in the world today with a valuation of $2.2 trillion. And that's nothing new -- it has been at the forefront of the technology sector for the last four decades, and it's setting itself up to lead the next few decades, too.
Innovation is the key to longevity, and that's true now more than ever given the sheer pace with which technology is advancing. Microsoft started in software development and its early products like the Windows operating system and Microsoft Word word processor are still used by billions of people today.
But the company has never stopped producing globally recognized brands, and it's now a leading force in other industries. Those include gaming thanks to its Xbox console and digital ecosystem, and cloud computing where its Azure platform helps businesses operate in an increasingly online world.
The future might be built with artificial intelligence, though, and Microsoft has latched itself to one of the leading companies in the space. It's called OpenAI, and it's responsible for developing the ChatGPT online chatbot, which is powered by generative AI. I mentioned earlier that Ark Invest predicts the industry could be worth $90 trillion in the future; well, the technological benchmarks at the foundation of that estimate were set by ChatGPT.
Microsoft has already integrated ChatGPT into its Bing search engine in an attempt to snatch traffic away from Alphabet's Google, which currently holds a 93% global market share. Microsoft thinks every percentage of share it wins could be worth $2 billion in annual revenue.
I happen to believe Microsoft could be the world's first-ever $5 trillion company by 2030 on the back of its investments in AI, and there's a great chance it'll continue creating enormous amounts of value through 2050.
3. Uber Technologies
This pick is definitely the long shot of this group, because Uber Technologies (UBER -0.57%) is worth just $63 billion today. To become one of the largest companies by 2050 it will likely have to amass a market capitalization well into the trillions of dollars -- but it does have a pathway to get there.
Most consumers know Uber for its ride-hailing (mobility) and food delivery services. In fact, customers booked $115 billion in services on Uber in 2022, and by the end of the year, 131 million people were using its platforms each month.
As I touched on in the Tesla section, ride hailing is set for a transformation thanks to autonomous vehicles. Uber was an early leader in this space before exiting due to a series of missteps, but that changed in 2022 when it inked a 10-year deal with Motional. That company is a joint venture between South Korean car giant Hyundai and a technology company called Aptiv, and together, they've developed a promising robotaxi program.
Uber was the missing ingredient to Motional's success -- by plugging its substantial customer base into Motional, the combined companies are set to operate the largest network of autonomous robotaxis in the world. Now, Uber sits front and center as this new industry potentially creates trillions of dollars in value in the coming years.
But that's not all. The company is also working on a commercial delivery platform called Uber Freight. It has already amassed over 200,000 users and manages $17 billion in freight, but it's eyeing a $4 trillion opportunity in the U.S. trucking logistics network alone. Uber has the expertise, the technology, and the scale to capture a sizable share of that value.
Even if I'm wrong about Uber becoming one of the largest companies in the world by 2050, there's still potential for significant upside to its stock price based on the value of its opportunities.
Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Anthony Di Pizio has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft, Tesla, and Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
