Do growth stocks pay dividends?

Most growth stocks don't pay dividends. Instead, they use excess capital to invest in continued growth of the business. However, as companies grow larger and generate substantial free cash flow, some can continue investing in growth while returning some capital to shareholders through dividends.

What are the best stocks for growth?

The best growth stocks are usually smaller companies with unique competitive advantages in large or potentially large addressable markets. They are typically more expensive than their peers, but the company's upside justifies the stock price.

What is the difference between a growth stock and a value stock?

Growth stocks tend to exhibit faster, less predictable revenue growth than value stocks, which are much more predictable from year to year. Over the long run, growth stocks are expected to grow revenue and earnings much faster than value stocks. Also, growth stocks may trade on momentum, as well as on how their financial results and management outlooks compare to expectations. Value stocks, on the other hand, typically trade based on their valuation.

Are growth stocks suitable for long-term or short-term investors?

Growth stocks are best suited for investors with a long time horizon. They're inherently more volatile than value stocks, which means investors need to be able to weather the ups and downs of growth stocks for their investment thesis to play out.

Are growth ETFs a good alternative to individual stocks?

If you don't have the time or inclination to research individual stocks, a growth ETF can provide greater exposure to growth stocks than a standard index fund. The potential returns of a growth ETF might not be as high as sifting through and finding the best opportunities among growth stocks for yourself, but the time saved maintaining your own portfolio can be worth it.

Are growth stocks a good investment during economic uncertainty?

Growth stocks can still be a good investment amid economic uncertainty. However, they can see their share prices dip significantly as investors tend to avoid the riskiest investments when they're uncertain about the immediate future. If you buy a growth stock of a company with a solid balance sheet and an excellent long-term outlook in the midst of economic uncertainty, it could pay off handsomely in the long run.

10 Best Growth Stocks for 2026

By Adam Levy – Updated Sep 8, 2026 at 6:17 PM EST | Fact-checked by Parker Hicks

Key Points

Growth stocks for 2026 include Meta, Shopify, and Nvidia, focusing on AI and e-commerce advancements.
NVIDIA is pivotal in AI development, investing $500 billion in data center builds using its GPUs.
Investing in growth stocks offers high returns but involves greater volatility and higher market expectations.

Investing in growth stocks can be a powerful way to build long-term wealth -- but it’s not always a smooth ride. Growth stocks tend to outperform when the market rewards future potential, but they can fall hard when investors grow more cautious.

The upside is real. So is the volatility. The goal is to invest in growth companies that can keep compounding through good and bad markets, and to build a strategy that helps you stick with them.

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Two traders looking at stocks on computer screens — Source: Getty Images.

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10 top growth stocks for 2026

The following companies all present excellent growth stocks with leading positions in their industry and the potential to grow revenue and earnings quickly for years to come. They range from e-commerce companies to semiconductor stocks to software companies and hyperscale cloud computing businesses.

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Ticker Information Table
Company name	Company ticker	Current price	Market capMarket cap calculated using publicly traded shares outstanding only. Does not include unlisted, private, or dual-class non-traded shares. Implied market cap may vary.	Industry
		$653.07	$1.6 trillion	Interactive Media and Services
		$129.27	$172.5 billion	IT Services
		$71.50	$149.4 billion	Road and Rail
		$78.95	$48.1 billion	Diversified Financial Services
MercadoLibre	NASDAQ:MELI	$1,872.74	$97.7 billion	Multiline Retail
Nvidia	NASDAQ:NVDA	$224.16	$5.4 trillion	Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment
Marvell Technology	NASDAQ:MRVL	$237.83	$197.7 billion	Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment
		$131.42	$138.8 billion	Software
Amazon	NASDAQ:AMZN	$252.22	$2.8 trillion	Multiline Retail
		$328.83	$4.1 trillion	Interactive Media and Services

Data as of Sep 9, 2026. Showing 10 of 10 total entries.

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Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms (META +6.31%), the company behind Facebook and Instagram, is a digital advertising giant. Its investments in artificial intelligence help improve engagement and ad efficacy on its platforms while providing new avenues for growth with its own large language models.

The company holds a dominant position in digital advertising, which continues to grow. Meanwhile, its AI developments could spawn several new business opportunities, and its virtual reality and augmented reality division remains a leader in the space, even if it commands less focus these days.

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NASDAQ: META

Meta Platforms

Premium Feature

Moneyball Superscore

79/100

Today's Change

(6.45%) $39.59

Current Price

$653.07

Key Data Points

Market Cap

$1.6T

Day's Range

$638.56 - $657.86

52wk Range

$520.26 - $790.80

Volume

22.6M

Avg Vol

17.8M

Gross Margin

81.75%

Dividend Yield

0.34%

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Shopify

Shopify (SHOP -3.60%) provides the backbone for e-commerce businesses of all sizes, ranging from solopreneurs to enterprise operations. Ancillary services provide growth levers as customer needs expand.

With a growing number of services attached to its main e-commerce platform, it's able to increase switching costs. The company has also developed its own payments platform, making it convenient for consumers to checkout on a Shopify-backed merchant if they've already used at least one other Shopify merchant in the past. That can prove extremely valuable for new merchants, fostering customer trust, and improving sales.

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NASDAQ: SHOP

Shopify

Premium Feature

Moneyball Superscore

88/100

Today's Change

(-3.60%) $-4.83

Current Price

$129.27

Key Data Points

Market Cap

$173B

Day's Range

$128.06 - $138.22

52wk Range

$94.00 - $182.19

Volume

6.7M

Avg Vol

Gross Margin

47.61%

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Uber

The ride-sharing and meal-delivery businesses are market leaders in their categories and the regions where they operate. Uber's (UBER -2.23%) network effect can drive strong margin expansion over time while protecting it from smaller competitors. Its massive two-sided network makes it a top partner for autonomous vehicle companies looking to enter the ride-sharing space.

While many believe autonomous vehicles will disrupt its business, Uber's value comes as a demand aggregator. Few companies can compete with the network effect it's built over the last 15 years as it's scaled globally.

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NYSE: UBER

Uber Technologies

Premium Feature

Moneyball Superscore

79/100

Today's Change

(-2.23%) $-1.63

Current Price

$71.50

Key Data Points

Market Cap

$149B

Day's Range

$71.20 - $73.10

52wk Range

$65.41 - $101.99

Volume

10.4M

Avg Vol

19.3M

Gross Margin

35.42%

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Block

Block (XYZ -1.41%) is the company behind Square, which enables merchants to accept debit and credit card payments, among other services, and Cash App, its consumer-facing finance app. Square is successfully moving upmarket to larger merchants and offering a suite of services that lock them into its ecosystem and generate recurring revenue. Cash App's popularity and expansion beyond peer-to-peer payments have also created a strong, growing revenue stream.

The network effect is at work here, giving Block a competitive advantage in both merchant services and peer-to-peer payments via Cash App. Merchants may also experience high switching costs as they take multiple services from Block and their business grows with Square at the center of its finances.

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NYSE: XYZ

Block

Today's Change

(-1.44%) $-1.15

Current Price

$78.95

Key Data Points

Market Cap

$48B

Day's Range

$77.75 - $79.93

52wk Range

$48.21 - $86.92

Volume

1.6M

Avg Vol

5.1M

Gross Margin

45.81%

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MercadoLibre

MercadoLibre (MELI -2.74%) is the dominant e-commerce platform in Latin America, and it uses its scale to its advantage. It's investing heavily in its logistics network and payments platform, establishing a significant competitive advantage over smaller companies competing for the growing market. It also has a growing advertising business.

MercadoLibre is following a similar playbook as Amazon in the U.S. and Europe, adding more vertical integration to keep costs low, margins relatively high, and price out competitors.

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NASDAQ: MELI

MercadoLibre

Premium Feature

Moneyball Superscore

86/100

Today's Change

(-2.78%) $-53.51

Current Price

$1,872.74

Key Data Points

Market Cap

$98B

Day's Range

$1853.03 - $1909.00

52wk Range

$1495.00 - $2548.50

Volume

210.6K

Avg Vol

434.9K

Gross Margin

42.68%

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Nvidia

The company's GPUs are essential infrastructure for large language model training and inference. Nvidia (NVDA -0.64%) is expanding into new opportunities with CPUs for data centers and personal devices. It's also making strategic investments in companies to create key partnerships and ensure its position at the center of the AI build-out.

Nvidia is using its capital to support the growth of artificial intelligence build-outs, recently introducing a $500 billion fund of third-party capital for new data center builds. The company has already partnered with multiple AI developers to use huge numbers of Nvidia GPUs for their future development.

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NASDAQ: NVDA

Nvidia

Premium Feature

Moneyball Superscore

94/100

Today's Change

(-0.69%) $-1.57

Current Price

$224.16

Key Data Points

Market Cap

$5.4T

Day's Range

$223.51 - $226.18

52wk Range

$164.27 - $236.54

Volume

46M

Avg Vol

135.3M

Gross Margin

74.67%

Dividend Yield

0.12%

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Marvell Technology

Marvell Technology (MRVL +5.43%) is a chipmaker specializing in networking and custom AI accelerator chips. Its technology is essential for both the raw compute power in AI data centers and the optical interconnects used to exchange data between servers. Its close relationships with hyperscalers and other chipmakers, such as Nvidia, ensure it maintains its position in data center build-outs.

Its custom XPUs -- auxiliary processing unit used in data centers -- for hyperscalers are gaining traction, as are the chips that support the efficiency and effectiveness of those main AI accelerators. It has several big contracts in place that should ensure its revenue accelerates for years to come.

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NASDAQ: MRVL

Marvell Technology

Premium Feature

Moneyball Superscore

88/100

Today's Change

(5.51%) $12.42

Current Price

$237.83

Key Data Points

Market Cap

$198B

Day's Range

$223.60 - $241.88

52wk Range

$66.14 - $329.88

Volume

14.3M

Avg Vol

33.8M

Gross Margin

51.42%

Dividend Yield

0.11%

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ServiceNow

ServiceNow (NOW -2.12%) offers a range of enterprise software solutions across IT and HR service and operations. Its early adoption of generative AI has put it in a good position to act as the center of its customers' AI implementations.

The company's robust portfolio of solutions can result in high switching costs for its customers. Importantly, it's showing increasing spending for each cohort year after year, as its customers growth along with it and expand the number of services they use. That should support strong revenue for years to come, as it continues to add more customers on top of a growing revenue base.

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NYSE: NOW

ServiceNow

Premium Feature

Moneyball Superscore

86/100

Today's Change

(-2.08%) $-2.79

Current Price

$131.42

Key Data Points

Market Cap

$139B

Day's Range

$130.85 - $134.60

52wk Range

$81.24 - $194.73

Volume

5.5M

Avg Vol

22.1M

Gross Margin

74.77%

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Amazon

Amazon (AMZN -1.85%) is both the e-commerce and cloud computing market leader. Its e-commerce lead is bolstered by its massive logistics network and Prime subscription, creating both customer and merchant loyalty. Its cloud computing business has been a major beneficiary of AI spending.

Amazon's logistics network is practically unparalleled, enabling it to deliver items within hours. That's a huge competitive advantage, especially as it looks to take more sales from brick-and-mortar. Its cloud-computing business benefits from being a first-mover in the space. Many business will want to consolidate cloud computing providers, and Amazon is already the largest in the market, making it a top choice.

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NASDAQ: AMZN

Amazon

Premium Feature

Moneyball Superscore

90/100

Today's Change

(-1.85%) $-4.75

Current Price

$252.22

Key Data Points

Market Cap

$2.8T

Day's Range

$250.65 - $254.69

52wk Range

$196.00 - $287.20

Volume

17.5M

Avg Vol

47.8M

Gross Margin

50.77%

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Alphabet

Alphabet (GOOG -2.05%) (GOOGL -2.22%) owns Google, which has seen a positive impact from AI on both its core advertising business and its rapidly growing cloud computing platform. It's also a leading developer of large language models with its Gemini family, driving demand for its cloud platform and providing a new revenue stream by offering direct access to third parties.

Alphabet's cloud computing business is growing extremely quickly thanks to its access to its own Gemini model and custom TPUs. Its custom AI accelerators have found a broad audience among companies developing AI, and its full-stack solution from AI hardware to large language models provides a key advantage in attracting new developers to its platform.

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NASDAQ: GOOGL

Alphabet

Premium Feature

Moneyball Superscore

93/100

Today's Change

(-2.19%) $-7.42

Current Price

$330.94

Key Data Points

Market Cap

$4.1T

Day's Range

$327.90 - $331.85

52wk Range

$235.84 - $408.61

Volume

18.7M

Avg Vol

30M

Gross Margin

60.94%

Dividend Yield

0.32%

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How to buy growth stocks

Open your brokerage account: Log in to your brokerage account where you handle your investments. If you don't have one yet, take a look at our favorite brokers and trading platforms to find the right one for you.
Search for the stock: Enter the ticker into the search bar to bring up the stock's trading page.
Decide how many shares to buy: Consider your investment goals and how much of your portfolio you want to allocate to this stock.
Select order type: Choose between a market order to buy at the current price or a limit order to specify the maximum price you're willing to pay.
Submit your order: Confirm the details and submit your buy order.
Review your purchase: Check your portfolio to ensure your order was filled as expected and adjust your investment strategy accordingly.

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An infographic listing criteria for how to find the best growth stocks and companies on the market. — Image source: The Motley Fool.

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Benefits and risks of investing in growth stocks

The benefits of investing in growth stocks include:

High potential returns.
Less demand for immediate capital returns allows management to invest in the future.
They can diversify your portfolio across market segments and sectors.
Participate in major economic trends.
One excellent growth stock investment can make up for a handful that don't work out.

The risks of investing in growth stocks include:

Greater price volatility could mean prices don't reflect the value you believe the company presents.
High expectations leave more room for disappointing earnings results.
Less predictable than value stocks.

Methodology

The above stocks were chosen because they exhibit very high growth potential in sectors benefitting from secular growth trends. They also present very strong competitive moats, stemming from the network effect, scale advantages, and/or high switching costs for their products and services. As such, they should produce strong earnings growth for years to come, producing excellent investment returns based on their current valuations.

Should you invest in growth stocks?

Growth stocks aren't for everyone. They can be much more volatile than other stocks. What's more, it requires paying close attention to the underlying trends driving results for a company, whether that company remains best positioned to execute on the potential growth, and assessing the market's expectations relative to your own expectations for the business.

Growth stocks can become too expensive even with their upside potential. If market expectations exceed reality, it's time to search for better opportunities.

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Growth stocks: FAQ

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Expert Q&A on growth stocks

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About the Author

Adam Levy is a contributing Motley Fool stock market analyst covering technology, consumer, and financial stocks and how policy, economic, and consumer trends shape personal finance, Social Security and retirement savings. Before The Motley Fool, Adam was a financial advisor at Edward Jones. He studied finance and electrical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University.

TMFnCaffeine

@admlvy

Adam Levy has positions in Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms, and Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Block, Marvell Technology, MercadoLibre, Meta Platforms, Nvidia, ServiceNow, and Shopify. The Motley Fool recommends Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

10 Best Growth Stocks for 2026

Key Points

10 top growth stocks for 2026

Meta Platforms

Key Data Points

Shopify

Key Data Points

Uber

Key Data Points

Block

Key Data Points

MercadoLibre

Key Data Points

Nvidia

Key Data Points

Marvell Technology

Key Data Points

ServiceNow

Key Data Points

Amazon

Key Data Points

Alphabet

Key Data Points

How to buy growth stocks

Benefits and risks of investing in growth stocks

Methodology

Should you invest in growth stocks?

Related investing topics

FAANG Stocks: What They Are and How to Invest

6 Best Growth ETFs to Buy in 2026: Are They Right for Your Portfolio?

Best Stocks to Buy Now: Our Buy-and-Hold Picks for September 2026

Most Volatile Stocks in 2026

Growth stocks: FAQ

Expert Q&A on growth stocks

Dr. Preston D. Cherry, PhD, CFPAssistant Professor of Finance & Personal Financial Planning at University of Wisconsin, Green Bay

Dr. Preston D. Cherry, PhD, CFP

Scott Stewart, PhDClinical Professor at Cornell University’s Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell SC Johnson College of Business

Scott Stewart, PhD

About the Author

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Motley Fool Stock Advisor’s Latest Pick

Premium Investing Services

Expert Q&A on growth stocks

Dr. Preston D. Cherry, PhD, CFPAssistant Professor of Finance & Personal Financial Planning at University of Wisconsin, Green Bay

Dr. Preston D. Cherry, PhD, CFP

Scott Stewart, PhDClinical Professor at Cornell University’s Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell SC Johnson College of Business

Scott Stewart, PhD

Benefits and risks of investing in growth stocks

Methodology

Should you invest in growth stocks?

FAANG Stocks: What They Are and How to Invest

6 Best Growth ETFs to Buy in 2026: Are They Right for Your Portfolio?

Best Stocks to Buy Now: Our Buy-and-Hold Picks for September 2026

Most Volatile Stocks in 2026

How to buy growth stocks

Related investing topics

10 top growth stocks for 2026

Key Data Points

Growth stocks: FAQ

Do growth stocks pay dividends?

What are the best stocks for growth?

What is the difference between a growth stock and a value stock?

Are growth stocks suitable for long-term or short-term investors?

Are growth ETFs a good alternative to individual stocks?

Are growth stocks a good investment during economic uncertainty?

Meta Platforms

Shopify

Uber

Block

MercadoLibre

Nvidia

Marvell Technology

ServiceNow

Amazon

Alphabet

Key Data Points

Key Data Points

Key Data Points

Key Data Points