After the S&P 500 rose by about 26% in 2023, many investors are starting to get over previous trepidation about interest rates or inflation and once again pursue “risk-on” investing.
Generally, there are two kinds of companies: value-oriented companies that are characterized by stability and low risk, and growth-oriented names that can be a bit more aggressive but potentially deliver bigger returns if they achieve their goals. And while many investors were leaning toward “risk-off” value stocks or even interest-bearing assets like bonds and certificates of deposit last year, a strong performance for riskier growth-oriented stocks left many of those portfolios in the dust — and underperforming investors are rethinking things as a result.
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The following seven stocks are good places to start if you’re looking for growth in the coming year. That’s not because they are riding short-term fads, but because these are companies riding much longer growth trends.
There are no sure things on Wall Street, of course. But even if things go south in 2024, these nine growth stocks will likely be putting up strong numbers anyway and eventually come out on top in the long run:
| Stock | Forward price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) |
| Apple Inc. (ticker: AAPL) | 25.5 |
| Booking Holdings Inc. (BKNG) | 19.9 |
| Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (CMG) | 43.0 |
| Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) | 40.0 |
| CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. (CRWD) | 73.8 |
| Enphase Energy Inc. (ENPH) | 25.3 |
| Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) | 30.0 |
| Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) | 26.6 |
| Tesla Inc. (TSLA) | 57.6 |
Apple Inc. (AAPL)
It’s hard to put together any list of growth stocks without Apple. The roughly $2.9 trillion company has averaged 15% earnings growth annually across the last five years, making it a prime example of how big and dominant companies can indeed keep growing and getting even bigger. Furthermore, it is a profit powerhouse committed to sharing the wealth. Beyond its dividend, Apple bought back about $77 billion in stock in fiscal 2023 — after snapping up $8 billion in fiscal 2022. With cash like that to throw around to reduce share count and naturally increase earnings per share, it seems all but a certainty that AAPL stock is going to remain dominant in the years to come.
Booking Holdings Inc. (BKNG)
It may be hard to believe, but Booking Holdings — the firm behind portals that include Booking.com, Kayak, OpenTable and other travel-oriented brands — has outperformed the S&P 500 comfortably over the last five years with a 105% return in that period vs. about 85% for this popular index. That includes a run of about a year where things were admittedly choppy during the pandemic. A huge rebound over the last few years has more than made up for that shortfall, however, and proves that BKNG has staying power. In fiscal 2024, Booking is tracking roughly 25% revenue growth this year to show it has more runway ahead of it, too. With a huge scale that allows for efficiencies as well as long-term growth, Booking has what it takes to weather any short-term disruptions but still deliver on its growth promise.
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (CMG)
With roughly than 350% growth over the last five years, CMG stock has lapped the S&P 500 more than four times over, thanks to significant and consistent growth in both the top and bottom lines. Consider that in fiscal 2018, the company recorded just under $4.8 billion in total revenue but will finish fiscal 2023 with more than twice that figure. The growth isn’t slowing at Chipotle either, with predictions of more than 13% revenue growth in fiscal year 2024 on top of that. Consumer trends can be fickle, but the fact that the brand continued to connect strongly with customers over the pandemic of 2020, the recovery of 2021, and more recently the inflationary pressures of 2022 and 2023 … well, it all proves that Chipotle’s growth story has staying power in the long haul regardless of short-term economic trends.
Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST)
Another consumer-facing name with staying power, Costco has an army of loyal customers who will defend its Kirkland products to the death, both thanks to the mix of value and the quality they provide. And with nearly 130 million card-carrying members, COST isn’t just hoping for the intangible benefits of loyalty. Starting at $60 a pop, that adds up to a cool $7.8 billion in recurring revenue — without a single rotisserie chicken or oversized bag of chips getting rung up. What’s more, the value-oriented approach of Costco ensures it is insulated from any economic downturns as consumers will cut back on other things, and perhaps even deploy more cash at this money-saving warehouse operator. Throw in consistent revenue and profit growth and it’s hard to see a future without Costco warehouses remaining on top.
CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. (CRWD)
CrowdStrike is a leading name in cybersecurity, valued at roughly $70 billion. The company continues to outperform its peers, including projecting more than 35% revenue growth when it finalizes fiscal 2023 numbers, and another 30% in fiscal year 2024. CrowdStrike debuted in a 2019 initial price offering at about $60 and now trades for nearly five times that figure, thanks to year after year of impressive growth. As cybersecurity remains a top concern for businesses and governments in this challenging time, CrowdStrike remains a vital partner for many organizations looking to safeguard their systems in a digital age.
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Enphase Energy Inc. (ENPH)
Solar energy is a volatile corner of the market, but in the long run it is riding the growth megatrend brought on by the transition away from fossil fuels toward green energy. Enphase has made a name for itself by specializing in semiconductor products known as “microinverters,” which convert energy captured in those cells into usable energy for homes and businesses. It also offers proprietary networking and software technologies to monitor and control solar services; energy storage solutions to help when the sun goes down; and even EV charging technology to add to this emerging industry. While shares are down from last year’s highs, ENPH stock is still up more than 1,800% since the beginning of 2019 — a simply amazing growth story that is likely to continue in the years to come due to the pressures of climate change.
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)
Another dominant tech stock that has seen amazing growth over the past few decades is Microsoft. The average person knows Microsoft for its iconic Windows software for personal computers, but it’s much more than that. Case in point: A nearly $70 billion deal was approved in 2023 for Microsoft to acquire game studio Activision Blizzard and add to its impressive Xbox video game hardware and software arm. Microsoft also is a major player in cloud computing with its Azure cloud services that command roughly 20% of the market — behind Amazon’s share of more than 30%, but still good for second place in this crowded and growing market. Throw in the fact that it recently hired key artificial intelligence staff who jumped ship from ChatGPT maker OpenAI, and Microsoft has a lot of impressive things going on that will ensure its relevance in the coming years.
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA)
One of the most recent tech stocks to join the $1 trillion club, chipmaker Nvidia is at the center of a host of high-growth trends from artificial intelligence to electric vehicles to cryptocurrency mining. As the leader in next-gen semiconductors, the sky has been the limit for this momentum stock, with shares jumping more than 1,200% over the last five years and more than 230% in the last 12 months. Some investors have been leery of buying NVDA stock at these levels, but it remains a classic case of a high-flying stock that continues to prove naysayers wrong with continued outperformance. Given the long-term growth of other trillion-dollar tech leaders on this list, it seems unwise to count NVDA out just because it has already grown so large. If anything, scale seems to help future growth prospects in the 21st century technology landscape.
Tesla Inc. (TSLA)
Most motorists are familiar with the iconic Tesla EV brand. But many fail to stop and think about just how impressive this company is, as it was producing just a handful of cars when it went public in 2010 — yet grew to 250,000 vehicles just five years ago in 2018, and finished 2023 with just shy of 1.8 million deliveries. Wunderkind CEO Elon Musk made a bold prediction in the past that the company will hit 20 million cars by 2030, and while that may have sounded insane in the early days, it is definitely within reach given the company’s exponential growth so far. With electric vehicles becoming more common and TSLA as the leader in the space, it’s hard to count this growth stock out.
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Update 01/17/24: This story was previously published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
