If you've paid any attention to the stock market over the past few years, you know that growth-stock investing can be wildly unpredictable. You probably remember the Nasdaq Composite index, which houses a lot of growth stocks, briefly tanked at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The same collection of stocks spiked in 2021 then collapsed again in 2022.
Wild market swings may lead you to believe growth-stock investing isn't for you, but this isn't the case. Now that discount brokerages have adopted commission-free trading, you can take advantage of a technique called dollar-cost averaging to mitigate risk just like the pros.
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Assuming your emergency fund is topped off and you have all your bills paid, just $200 is enough to buy one share of each of these top growth stocks. Here's why buying them now and holding them over the long run could lead to market-beating gains over the long run.
Amazon
Shares of Amazon (AMZN 0.75%) and demand for fulfillment services soared when pandemic-fueled lockdowns gave us too much time to sit around the house and shop online. Amazon invested heavily to meet demand. Then, a swifter-than-expected return to normalcy led to heaps of extra capacity and losses on the bottom line in 2022.
Now that the stock is down 45% from its lockdown-period peak, it's a great time to average down on a position that you have already or start a new position altogether. Amazon reported a small net loss in 2022, but most analysts expect a swift return to profitability. The company announced it would cut around 18,000 jobs in January, and it laid off another 9,000 employees in March.
One operating segment that never missed a beat is Amazon Web Services (AWS), its cloud-computing segment. Companies all over the world are tightening their belts to prepare for a potential recession, but that didn't stop fourth-quarter AWS revenue from climbing 20% year over year.
With over $80 billion in sales last year, AWS is the clear market leader, and it has plenty of room to keep growing. End-user spending on cloud services is forecast to grow 20.7% this year and reach $592 billion, according to Gartner.
Right now, you can buy shares of Amazon for the historically low price of 31.6 times 2021 earnings. With profits returning to e-commerce operations and a rapidly growing cloud business, this is a deal that you don't want to pass up.
Shopify
Shopify (SHOP 1.61%) is another e-commerce company that invested aggressively during the lockdown phase of the pandemic. A return to normalcy followed by soaring inflation that's pressuring consumer spending led to losses on the bottom line and sent its stock plunging.
Now you can scoop up shares of Shopify for around 71% less than they cost in late 2021. At this low price, the shares can be bought for just 21.5 times 2021 earnings.
Investors can reasonably expect a return to positive cash flows and strong earnings growth from Shopify this year. Higher pricing for its subscription plans went into effect this January.
This year, Shopify expects top-line revenue to rise at a percentage in the high teens. This is a slower pace than its long-term shareholders are used to, but it's more than fast enough to justify the company's relatively low valuation.
InMode
The availability of plastic surgery and liposuction procedures fell off a cliff during the pandemic. InMode (INMD 0.53%) was there to meet the surge in demand for less invasive procedures that provide similar results.
Growth has decelerated now that it's a lot easier to meet with plastic surgeons in person, but InMode's minimally invasive skin-sculpting devices are still flying off warehouse shelves. The company expects to report first-quarter sales that rose 23% year over year.
Right now, you can buy InMode shares for just 19.4 times last year's earnings. The company might not be growing as fast as it was, but this is still a terrific price for a business that expects sales to increase by around 16% this year.
