3 Stocks That Could Help You Retire a Millionaire

Becoming a millionaire, or a multimillionaire, may seem like a pipe dream to you, but it's probably more achievable than you think. You mainly need ample time, patience, diligence, and some good investments. A simple, low-fee index fund, such as an S&P 500 index fund, can be more than enough.

If you want to aim for faster growth, you might add some investments in individual stocks to your mix. Here are three worth considering.

1. Twilio

Twilio (TWLO -1.49%) has been whacked hard -- not only by the overall market downturn, but also by investors impatient for profitability. Shares were recently down a hefty 78% from their 52-week highs, presenting a terrific buying opportunity for those who believe in the company's long-term prospects.

So what does Twilio do? Well, it specializes in cloud computing, a rapidly growing field, and its particular niche is customer communications, as it helps companies manage and grow relationships with their customers. It helps businesses engage with customers in many ways -- such as voice, messaging, video, and email. Twilio has more than 260,000 businesses worldwide using its services.

Twilio's first quarter featured revenue up a solid 48% year over year, with a net loss of $1.23 per share, a penny less than a year earlier. The company's revenue has steadily grown over almost a decade, and it has yet to turn profitable. But many such young and rapidly growing companies -- even Amazon.com, years ago -- will have a string of unprofitable years while they invest every dollar they can into furthering their growth.

One thing to keep an eye on is the company's stock-based compensation, as it has been very generous paying employees with shares. That can be OK, if it results in boffo performance and growth, but it can be worrisome, too, as issuing more shares dilutes the value of existing shares.

2. NovoCure

NovoCure (NVCR 0.33%) has seen its shares plunge by more than 70% from their 52-week highs. The company's goal is very exciting: "We are striving to extend survival in some of the most aggressive forms of cancer" -- including glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer. It's addressing that goal with a technology that attacks tumor cells with alternating electrical fields.

NovoCure boasts three FDA-approved indications, has four ongoing late-stage phase 3 clinical trials, and has treated more than 24,000 patients worldwide. It has nearly tripled its revenue over the past four years, and its gross margin was recently a solid 80%. The company is targeting many other cancers, too, including lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, ovarian cancer, and more.

Biotechnology companies such as NovoCure can be very volatile, and while they can get investors excited about possible blockbuster drugs and/or treatments, many in their pipelines never end up proving effective enough and/or safe enough to win FDA approval. Still, it's promising that this company has a lot of irons in the fire and some very good initial results.

3. Alphabet

Google parent company Alphabet (GOOG -1.10%) (GOOGL -1.23%) is far more massive than the two previous companies, with a recent market value of about $1.5 trillion. And that's after its drop of 26% from its 52-week high. Alphabet at this point can be called a blue chip stock -- though it's still growing briskly. In its first quarter, the company posted year-over-year revenue gains of 23%, to $68 billion in the quarter alone, and though net income was down 8%, CFO Ruth Porat noted, "We continue to make considered investments in capex, R&D, and talent to support long-term value creation for all stakeholders."

While you might mainly or only associate Alphabet with its dominant search engine, Google, there's much more to it, such as the widely used Android mobile operating system; YouTube, which averages around 30 billion views per day; and a growing cloud computing service, along with the Google Play store, smart thermostat maker Nest, and Fitbit, among other things. It's also developing artificial-intelligence and augmented-reality technology, and much more.

There's a lot to like about Alphabet.

These are just three of many growth stocks that might be perfect additions to your portfolio. Many terrific companies' shares are on sale these days, too, in light of the recent market pullback. With any companies that intrigue you, dig deeper into them before committing any of your hard-earned dollars. If you spread your dollars across a bunch of great companies, you may reach a million dollars or more sooner than you might expect.