Growth stocks are more diverse than you might think. Consider, for example, that Cintas, a company supplying uniforms (and more) to other companies, has average annual gains of more than 25% over the past 15 years. And paint company Sherwin-Williams has averaged nearly 20% over the same period.
One of the drawbacks of growth stocks, and especially tech stocks, is that they're often overvalued. But if you look carefully, you'll likely still turn up some seemingly undervalued growth stocks. Here are some to consider.
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1. Fluor Corporation
Fluor Corporation (FLR 1.45%) may not be a household name, but it's a $7-billion diversified construction and engineering company, one whose stock has averaged annual gains of 35% over the past five years (though only 1% over the past decade). It's clearly volatile, but it is currently down 14% year-to-date, presenting a buying opportunity. Its recent forward-looking price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of nearly 18 is close to its five-year average.
Fluor offers its customers a full-service scope of work, as it will not only design projects -- such as copper mines, nuclear plants, pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facilities -- but it can also build and maintain them.
The stock is down in part due to a disappointing second quarter report, but its future and growth prospects remain promising. For one thing, it holds a majority stake in the nuclear startup NuScale Power -- which may serve it well, as nuclear power is being used to further artificial intelligence (AI) data centers. And Fluor also boasts a hefty backlog of orders, recently valued at $28.2 billion.
If you're intrigued, give Fluor a closer look.
2. Opendoor Technologies
Opendoor Technologies (OPEN -0.50%) went public in 2020, but it seems to qualify as a growth stock: Its average annual gain over the past three years is 42%, and over the past year, it's up 320%. You'd think it was sorely overvalued by now, but its price-to-sales ratio is just 1.1.
Opendoor has an intriguing business: It helps people buy and sell homes via its online platform, and it also buys homes from sellers to sell to buyers. One potential tailwind for Opendoor is a decline in interest rates, and that has already begun, with the Fed dropping rates by a quarter point and telegraphing further cuts. A headwind, though, is the fact that the real estate market may not boom in the near future, and if Opendoor is left holding lots of properties, that will hamper its profitability.
If you're intrigued by Opendoor, take a closer look, weighing its pros and cons.
3. Amazon
Here's a growth stock just about everyone knows -- Amazon (AMZN 0.82%) -- and many people may wish they'd invested in it long ago. But it's not too late to aim to profit alongside Amazon's growth, because its stock seems attractively priced, with a forward P/E ratio of 28 well below the five-year average of 46.
Be sure to not think of Amazon as merely the biggest online marketplace on earth, because it's also a major cloud computing player, thanks to its dominant Amazon Web Services platform.
You might reasonably wonder why Amazon's stock is not overvalued, and part of the reason is that many investors don't think it's growing as fast as it should, especially given its investments in AI. But Amazon isn't sitting still. It's growing well and aiming to grow in new directions, too, such as via its recent foray into grocery deliveries.
4. The Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF
Finally, I'll suggest the Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK 0.54%). It's an exchange-traded fund (ETF) and it has an amazing track record, averaging annual gains of nearly 20% over the past 15 years and 32% over the past three years. (We've been in a rather frothy market lately, so it won't be surprising it the market pulls back for a while. And when growth stocks pull back, they can do so more forcefully than the overall market.)
The Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF holds 68 stocks involved in businesses such as semiconductor equipment, internet software and services, IT consulting services, computers, and peripherals. Its top holdings are Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple, and Broadcom -- all of which have been standout performers.
The ETF features a fairly low expense ratio (annual fee) too, of just 0.08%, meaning that you'll only be charged $8 annually per $10,000 you have invested in the ETF.
So if you'd love to own a bunch of growth stocks but you don't want the work or responsibility of choosing which ones, consider this ETF for your long-term portfolio.
