Beginner investors with $1,000 saved for investing should be building their list of top stocks to buy. Investors who avoid the pitfall of chasing high-return stocks should come out ahead. For example, ten company shares at $100 can often outperform 1,000 shares of a $1.00 stock.

Investors may diversify the $1,000 in a handful of stocks instead of buying one of three stocks. Trading costs are the downside of owning a few shares of several companies. Start with researching three companies, and then picking the investment that matches your risk tolerance and time horizon.

Investors may also consider index funds and exchange-traded funds that hold a basket of companies. Those investment types offer broad diversification. The downside for novice investors is that there is little motivation to learn about specific companies. Investors may increase their investment knowledge as they get better at picking the top stocks. Thus, such investors can accumulate returns, confidently adding more stocks to their portfolio.

With that said, here are three top options I think investors should consider right now.

Alphabet (GOOG)

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) is best known for its Google search and YouTube assets. On Apr. 25, the company released its earnings, posting $1.17 in earnings per share. While revenue grew only slightly, the company’s announced share buyback should benefit investors. Alphabet is among the top stocks to buy, as the company invests its cash flow from its search business into artificial intelligence and other high-growth areas.

In the company’s Q1 press release, Alphabet’s Board of Directors authorized an additional $70 billion in stock buyback. This move conveys confidence for Alphabet, as the company continues to generate very strong cash flow while reinvesting in its business. Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai said the company launched Bard, its AI product, to complement its search business. The measured rollout will allow the company to innovate Bard incrementally.

Capital expenditures will rise modestly this year compared to 2022. This will support its AI, advertisers, users, and cloud customers. Notably, Alphabet has already achieveed substantial savings of between $2.5 billion and $3.0 billion, after cutting 12,000 jobs, announced in January.

STMicroelectronics (STM)

STMicroelectronics (NYSE:STM) is a Dutch-based technology firm. Like Alphabet, STMicroelectronics recently posted net revenue of $4.25 billion. However, this did result in a pull back in STM stock, from around $50 per share to the $43 level today. This is despite the company’s strong reported gross margins, which came in around 49.7%.

Notably, STMicroelectronics expects to report revenue growth of 4% for the second-half of this year. This slow growth is a result of a change in consumer demand, and the company’s product mix. With an expected impact of $500 million from its personal electronics, the company could see further downside pressure. Fortunately, it’s expected that STMicroelectronics’ automotive and industrial market growth will accelerate.

Indeed, the company has a strong backlog for its automotive, industrial power energy-related, B2B automation, and robotics segments. Once STM fulfills the demand for the Power Energy and Automotive segments, it may provide investors with a more robust outlook. That’s because gross margins are expected to range between 47% to 48%, and prices are stabilizing, despite higher input costs.

In the second half of this year, STM will work through optimizing its 300-millimeter manufacturing processes. After discounting the cost of goods sold on the share price, value investors ought to consider this stock. Technology components for automotive are only increasing, and I think this is a great speculative buy here.

Visa (V)

Investors buying around five shares of Visa (NYSE:V) may expect steady gains. The credit card firm is innovating to stay ahead of other payments competitors and fintech banks.

CEO Ryan McInerney said that Visa+ is an example of how the team introduces innovative products to the market. Visa realized that people need a mobile app that consolidates money held in multiple apps. It created Payname in the Visa+ network to simplify money transferring and payments.

Visa+ is in its early phase of growth. As the company develops the Payname framework, it will add more partners. These are expected to include Venmo and PayPal (NYSE:PYPL).

Finally, Visa’s customer base appears to remain healthy. Consumers continue to spend on household items, like fuel and retail goods. Additionally, if deflationary forces impact the market, this should bode well for consumers’ pocketbooks. Thus, as travel and other discretionary spending picks up, boosting transaction volumes, I expect V stock to trend higher.

On the date of publication, Chris Lau did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.