Growth stocks can help you compound your savings many times over. The important thing is to maintain a long-term perspective, because even the best companies will occasionally see their share prices fall. Three Fool.com contributors believe Shopify (SHOP 2.08%), e.l.f. Beauty (ELF 0.61%), and Coupang (CPNG 3.18%) are demonstrating the qualities of long-term winners.
Don't have much money to invest? No problem. You can buy one share of all three stocks for about $200 right now. Here's why these stocks are good buys today, even if you only have $500 to spend on investments this month. That's enough to make a significant difference in the long run.
A growth machine
John Ballard (Shopify): Over 875 million consumers bought something from a Shopify merchant in 2024. Shopify provides all the tools a business needs to open an online storefront. It has a 12% share of the U.S. e-commerce market, and it continues to expand rapidly in international markets.
NASDAQ: SHOP
Key Data Points
Shopify's strong growth in 2024 indicates it is still far away from reaching its potential. Revenue grew 26% for the year and 31% year over year in the quarter. It delivered robust top-line growth, while also converting 18% of revenue into free cash flow last year.
Shopify has used its growing scale and resources to roll out new artificial intelligence (AI) tools like Shopify Magic and Sidekick, which could attract new merchants.
Analysts expect Shopify to nearly double its revenue to $16 billion by 2027, implying a compound annual growth rate between 20% to 25%. Shopify will have to fend off competition from Amazon's Buy with Prime, which allows Prime members to buy directly from merchants' stores while benefiting from the fast shipping and customer service they get from Amazon.
But Shopify stock is worth buying in light of these possible pitfalls. Shopify's sticky ecosystem of commerce solutions has attracted millions of merchants in over 175 countries. The stock more than doubled over the last five years, and based on current revenue growth estimates, the shares could double again by 2030.
High growth, low brand awareness
Jennifer Saibil (e.l.f. Beauty): E.l.f. Beauty has been down in the dumps for a while, but it's a fast-growing company and has tons of future opportunity.
It targets a young consumer and crosses over between the mass and luxury buyer because it resonates with a broad swath of consumers who are looking for its value-driven approach to cosmetics. Since it's easy on the wallet, it can still generate growth when there's economic pressure, and it might draw new business from customers switching down.
NYSE: ELF
Key Data Points
Revenue increased 31% year over year in the fiscal 2025 third quarter (ended Dec. 31). Gross margin expanded by 0.4 percentage points to 71%, although net income decreased from $27 million to $17 million, due to a number of factors like increased marketing expense and currency fluctuations.
It's the top company in the U.S. for color cosmetics by unit share. That increased 23% in 2024 while most of the major mass brands lost market share, and it's the No. 2 company by dollar share. Management noted that it is the only cosmetics brand out of 988 that has gained market share for 24 consecutive quarters. According to Piper Sandler's Taking Stock with Teens survey, it's the favorite teen makeup brand. It's also the most-purchased brand for millennials, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha consumers.
There's still plenty of room to grow. Unaided brand awareness increased from 13% in 2020 to 33% in 2024, and that's still well below most of its legacy competitors. High growth and low brand presence is a powerful combination.
There are worries that e.l.f. will feel the pressure of new tariffs to China, which isn't an insignificant concern. But if you have long-term ambitions, you can buy on the dip and hold through this period. E.l.f. stock is down a brutal 67% over the past year, but it trades at a cheap 17 times forward one-year earnings. At this price, e.l.f. stock looks like a real bargain for the forward-thinking investor.
Going for international growth
Jeremy Bowman (Coupang): International stocks are looking more attractive these days as investors look to diversify away from President Donald Trump's trade war and weakening consumer sentiment. Lofty stock prices already sent U.S. stocks into a correction earlier this month, and those trends seem to be heading in the wrong direction.
NYSE: CPNG
Key Data Points
One attractive option for growth stock investors in the international market is Coupang, an e-commerce company focused on South Korea that is delivering solid growth and has adopted an Amazon-like business model. It's expanded from a first-party e-commerce business to a marketplace. It has a Prime-like membership program called Rocket Wow, and it's growing the business through ancillary services like food delivery and video streaming.
Revenue in 2024 rose 29% on a currency-neutral basis to $30.3 billion, or 23% excluding its acquisition of Farfetch, the luxury online fashion platform it bought about a year ago.
On a non-GAAP (adjusted) basis, Coupang is minimally profitable, but the company is still very much in its growth phase, and it's seeing skyrocketing growth from its "developing offerings" segment, which includes food delivery under Coupang Eats, mobile and online games, and a fintech business. Revenue from that segment jumped 153% on a currency-neutral basis last year.
Coupang has had mixed success outside of South Korea. It currently operates in Taiwan but pulled out of Japan as its costs were too high there. Still, South Korea is a large and growing market and Coupang's ability to expand its business beyond e-commerce also bodes well for future growth.
If you're looking for a growth stock to help you diversify outside the U.S., Coupang looks like a great choice.
