Growth stocks have been getting most of the market's attention for more than a decade now, and signs point to that continuing well into the future. And while technology growth stocks get most of the press, there are growth stocks to be found across multiple sectors.
Here, I'll take a look at three solid growth stocks to buy now and hold for the long term.
Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms (META 0.82%) is not the same company it was several years ago, as it has used artificial intelligence (AI) to reinvigorate growth. While Facebook and Instagram were originally created as social media sites where users could easily connect with friends and family, today the sites are much more about consuming outside entertainment. Meta has recognized this and is now using AI to improve its content recommendation algorithm to feed users more of the content they want to see. This is keeping users more engaged and spending more time on its platforms, which leads to more ad inventory.
Image source: Getty Images.
At the same time, the company has built AI tools to let advertisers create more captivating campaigns and better target users. That is leading to strong ad demand and higher pricing. This all could be seen in the second quarter as its ad impression climbed 11%, while average price per ad jumped 9%.
Meta is also sitting on massive under-monetized assets. WhatsApp has roughly 3 billion users, yet the company is just starting to introduce ads there. Threads, its new text-based platform, is growing its user base fast, giving Meta another platform to expand its ad reach. Each of these can add incremental billions in revenue once scaled.
Meta is also looking to move beyond social media. The company is spending heavily on AI infrastructure and talent because it wants to power what CEO Mark Zuckerberg calls "personal superintelligence." That is a big, long-term swing, but the company has the balance sheet and free cash flow to take it, and it adds nice long-term optionality to an already solid growth story.
e.l.f. Beauty
E.l.f. Beauty (ELF 0.64%) has been one of the best growth stories in consumer goods, as it has taken huge share in the mass cosmetics space over the past several years. However, its recent acquisition of Rhode is the big story now.
Rhode, founded by celebrity Hailey Bieber, was built selling just a handful of skincare products online with little paid marketing. Despite that, it managed to cross $200 million in sales in under three years. That's impressive, and it shows the power of the brand that Bieber created.
E.l.f. now has the opportunity to take Rhode to the next level, as it has the manufacturing and retail relationships to bring Rhode to store shelves around the globe. The brand launched at Sephora in the U.S. and Canada this fall and immediately became one of the retailer's top-selling lines, capturing roughly a third of Sephora's total sales on its first day.
E.l.f. can now do what it does best: Drive distribution and expand assortment. Rhode only offers a small number of SKUs, so e.l.f. can help it broaden its product lineup. It will also likely look to push it into other stores in the coming years. It has strong relationships with Ulta Beauty and Target, so they are potential future distribution outlets. Rhode also comes with higher price points and stronger gross margins, which will help lift profitability across its business.
One of the best times to buy a consumer goods company is when it's about to gain distribution and shelf space, and e.l.f is very much in the early innings of doing just this with Rhode.
Toast
Toast (TOST 0.39%) has become an essential partner for restaurants, and its growth story is still in the early innings. The company's platform runs nearly every core function for restaurants, from staffing and payroll to marketing, menu design, and payment processing. The more modules a restaurant adopts, the more dependent it becomes on Toast's system, which drives higher revenue per location and very sticky retention. Toast also earns a small cut of every transaction that runs through its system, tying its growth directly to its customers' success.
The company has been seeing strong growth. Last quarter, it added a record 8,500 net new locations, bringing the total to about 148,000, up 24% from a year ago. Subscription revenue climbed 37%, and its annual recurring revenue (which, for it, is its annualized subscription revenue plus the gross profits of its payment processing business) jumped 31% to $1.9 billion.
What's exciting is how much white space still exists. There are more than 700,000 restaurants in the U.S., and many still use outdated legacy systems. Toast is also now pushing into coffee shops, bakeries, hotels, and even grocery stores, with each a new vertical expanding its addressable market. It's also beginning to expand internationally, with operations in Australia, the U.K., Ireland, and Canada.
The stock recently sank after an accidental price decrease showed up on its website, but that was quickly addressed, and prices were restored to prior levels. That dip gives investors a nice opportunity to buy this fast-growing software-as-a-service (SaaS) company at a discount.
