Investing in Growth Stocks

Despite increased volatility in the stock market in 2025, growth stocks continue to outperform. The S&P 500 Growth index climbed about 12% through the first seven months of the year. Its counterpart, the S&P 500 Value index, was up just 3% during the same period.

However, growth stocks don't always outperform during periods of volatility. In 2022, the S&P 500 Growth index fell 30% for the year, while the S&P 500 index dropped just 19%.

Picking the right growth stock can help you weather the downside while profiting in the long run from its potential. Here's a handy guide to help you get started investing in growth stocks. With these tools and strategies, you can position your portfolio for long-term success with growth stocks.

What is a growth stock?

Growth stocks are companies that increase their earnings faster than the average business in their industry or the market as a whole.

Often, a growth company has developed an innovative product or service that is gaining share in existing markets, entering new markets, or creating entirely new industries. The market tends to reward businesses that can grow faster than average for long periods, delivering handsome returns to shareholders in the process. The faster they grow, the bigger the potential returns.

Unlike value stocks, high-growth stocks tend to be more expensive than the average in terms of profitability ratios. Despite their premium price tags, the best growth stocks can still deliver fortune-creating returns to investors.

That said, growth stocks can be much more volatile. In 2022, they took a beating in the market. Despite strong performances in 2023 and 2024, the S&P 500 Growth index total returns still lagged the returns of the broader index over the three-year period.

High inflation puts pressure on growth stocks because it reduces the future value of their expected earnings. Supply chain constraints also affect the ability of some to expand, and other macroeconomic factors slow the entire economy. However, downturns can give long-term investors a buying opportunity when growth stock prices are low.

Top growth stocks in 2025

To provide you with some examples, here are 10 excellent growth stocks available in the stock market today.

As this list shows, growth stocks come in all shapes and sizes. They can be found in a variety of industries, both within the U.S. and international markets. Although all the stocks on this list are from larger businesses, smaller companies can also be fertile ground for growth investors.

A great way to invest in a wide variety of small-cap growth stocks is via an exchange-traded fund (ETF), such as Vanguard Small-Cap Growth Index Fund ETF (NYSEMKT:VBK). This fund tracks the performance of the CRSP U.S. Small Cap Growth Index, which gives investors an easy way to invest in roughly 560 small-cap growth companies all at once.

The Vanguard Small-Cap Growth Index Fund ETF has an ultra-low expense ratio of 0.07%. This means investors will receive almost all the fund's returns, with only a small amount in fees going to Vanguard. (An annual expense ratio of 0.07% works out to only $0.70 in fees per $1,000 invested annually.)

How to find growth stocks

To find great growth stocks, you'll need to:

1. Identify powerful long-term market trends and the companies best positioned to profit from them.
2. Narrow your list to businesses with strong competitive advantages.
3. Further narrow your list to companies with large addressable markets.

Identify trends and the companies driving them

Companies that capitalize on powerful long-term trends can increase their sales and profits for many years, generating wealth for their shareholders along the way. Here are some examples, along with the companies that can help you profit from those trends:

E-commerce

As more people shop online, Amazon, Shopify, and Etsy (NASDAQ:ETSY) are well positioned to profit within the U.S. (and many international markets). MercadoLibre holds a leading share of the online retail market in Latin America. Despite the consistent presence of brick-and-mortar retail, e-commerce still has tons of growth potential as an industry.

Digital advertising

Meta (formerly Facebook) and Alphabet (which owns Google) own the lion's share of the digital ad market and are poised to profit handsomely as marketing budgets shift from TV and print to online channels. Amazon has built a massive advertising business, which continues to expand into new formats. Even Netflix has come around to advertising to increase its subscriber base and boost its revenue.

Digital payments

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) and Block are helping accelerate the global shift from cash to digital payment forms by allowing businesses of all sizes to accept debit and credit card transactions and giving consumers easier access to cashless payments.

Cloud computing

Computing power is migrating from on-premise data centers to cloud-based servers. Amazon's and Google's cloud infrastructure services help make this possible, while Salesforce provides some of the best cloud-based enterprise software available. The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) will require vast amounts of computing power that cloud providers are ready, willing, and able to offer.

Prioritize companies with competitive advantages

It's also important to invest in growth companies that possess strong competitive advantages. Otherwise, their competitors may pass them, and their growth may not last long.

Competitive advantages become especially important during turbulent times, such as during a pandemic or periods of high inflation. A strong competitive advantage will help companies survive and thrive through market downturns, while those without one will struggle.

We saw a big sell-off in many tech-focused growth stocks in 2022. Many top growth stocks' share prices were slashed by more than 50%, but some of the biggest stock market losers of the year turned out to be the biggest winners in 2023 and 2024.

If you can identify stocks of companies with strong competitive advantages being sold off along with the rest of the market, it can be an opportunity to generate massive returns as they recover. Some competitive advantages are:

• Network effects: Meta's Facebook is a prime example here. Each person who joins its social media platform makes it more valuable to other members. Network effects can make it difficult for new entrants to displace the current market share leader. Meta's 3.5 billion users across its family of apps certainly make it unlikely that a new social media company will displace it.
• Scale advantages: Size can be another powerful advantage. Amazon is a great example in this category because smaller rivals will find it extremely difficult to replicate its massive global fulfillment network.
• High switching costs: Switching costs are the expenses and difficulties associated with switching to a rival's product or service. Shopify, an online retail system for more than 1 million businesses, is a perfect example of a business with high switching costs. Once a company begins using Shopify as the core of its online operations, it's unlikely to go through the hassle of switching to a competitor.

Why invest in growth stocks

Growth stocks offer some of the highest return potential of all the companies available in the stock market. As is the case with any individual stock pick, the reason to invest in a growth stock is that you expect it to outperform the overall market. Better yet, if you can find a growth stock trading at a price that mitigates the inherent risks involved in investing in growth stocks, you can do very well with your investment in the long run.

The appeal of growth stocks over value stocks and those paying high dividends is that the company's management is given more freedom and flexibility to invest in new opportunities. Without demands on its capital or as much pressure on quarterly profits, management may take a long-term view to grow the value of the business. That will ultimately benefit buy-and-hold investors who patiently stick with the company as it builds the business.

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Find companies with large addressable markets

Finally, you'll want to invest in businesses with large addressable markets and long runways for growth still ahead. Industry reports from research firms -- such as Gartner (NYSE:IT) and Insider Intelligence, which provide estimates of industry sizes, projections for growth, and market share figures -- can be very helpful.

The larger the opportunity, the larger a business can ultimately become. And the earlier in its growth cycle it is, the longer it can continue to grow at an impressive rate.

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