5 More Top Growth Stocks

Growth investors are, by nature, optimistic. But I defy you to find a growth guru who's smiling more than Michael Moe, CEO of ThinkEquity Partners and author of the recently released book Finding the Next Starbucks.

Moe, who recommended shares of the coffee king 15 years ago, recently told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that technology stocks, in particular, aren't fairly priced. That's a view shared by many all-star investors.

But Moe goes further in defining the growth stock rally that's under way. "You have a cycle that suggests the timing's good for growth and valuations are very attractive in an environment where interest rates and inflation seem to be in check."

That's good news. But don't buy growth stocks because they're in vogue. Buy them because they're timeless. After all:

1. Businesses that make investors billions always begin as growth stocks.
2. The best of them feature massive and identifiable competitive advantages.
3. Growth as a strategy has the capacity to deliver 20% or greater annual returns for decades at a time.

How we do it
But not all growth stocks will do. Our weekly hunt is for the next great multibagger. However, unlike David Gardner and his team at Motley Fool Rule Breakers -- who scour everything from financial statements to trade magazines to clinical reports in their research -- we're going to rely on the Motley Fool CAPS investor intelligence database.

Specifically, we're looking for stocks that are expected to grow earnings by an average of at least 20% annually over the next five years and which have earned a five-star rating in CAPS. Five-star stocks are those that the community, on the whole, believes will outperform the S&P 500.

Let's have the list
Now, with that preamble behind us, here are five more top growth stocks:

Bear in mind that this isn't a list of recommendations. Instead, I offer these stocks as candidates for further research. But it's OPNET -- which provides a suite of software for monitoring and managing corporate networks -- that interests me most.

Why? Trading for just 24.6 times next year's earnings, OPNET's shares are priced well below the firm's long-term projected growth rate. That's typically bargain territory. If that's not enough for you, Wall Street analyst firm Kaufman Brothers, which is tracked in CAPS and ranks in the top 1% of all CAPS investors, has picked the stock to outperform.

Intrigued? Do your own due diligence and then check in with thousands of other investors at CAPS. And, if you'd like, add your own commentary. You'll be helping your fellow Fools and testing your ideas at the same time. Click here to get started now; the service is 100% free.

See you back here next week for five more top growth stocks.

Fool contributor Tim Beyers, ranked 400 out of more than 21,000 in Motley Fool CAPS, is a sucker for growth stocks and a regular contributor to David's Motley Fool Rule Breakers service. Tim didn't own shares of any of the companies mentioned in this story at the time of publication. Get the skinny on all of the stocks in Tim's portfolio by checking his Fool profile. Starbucks is a Stock Advisor selection. The Motley Fool's disclosure policy is your portfolio's competitive advantage.