Finding compelling growth stocks isn't a terribly difficult task in the modern market environment. They're often staring you right in the face.
Shopping for growth stocks you can buy and hold forever, however, is a different story. Their underlying companies should be industry leaders capable of adapting as needed. And the industries they're in should be ones that will always be in demand. Just ask Kodak, Blockbuster, and Tower Records.
Here's a rundown of three growth picks you can feel good about buying now and sitting on indefinitely.
1. Ulta Beauty
To be fair, Jefferies analyst Ashley Helgans made a valid observation when downgradingUlta Beauty(NASDAQ: ULTA) to a hold recently. The beauty retailer truly is facing a "lack of newness and increasing pressure from Sephora" at this time.
There are a couple of matters the downgrade looks right past, however.
The first of these is that while the beauty business (skincare, haircare, cosmetics, fragrance, etc.) may be highly competitive, it's also a business that perpetually lends itself to new brands and products. Although Ulta's recent additions of Charlotte Tilbury and Sol de Janeiro brands aren't making a significant impact -- at least not yet -- remixing its product lineup is nothing new to Ulta. Patience will pay.
And the other overlooked factor working in Ulta Beauty's favor? While its recent earnings reports have been ho-hum and revenue guidance for the remainder of the current fiscal year is lackluster, that isn't an indictment of the company. It's a symptom of the current economic environment. Spending on must-have consumer staples is up due to inflation, putting pressure on discretionary spending including on beauty goods. The recent Wall Street Journal headline (specifically regarding Ulta) "Beauty Slowdown Reflects Cracks in Consumer Spending" speaks volumes.
All economic headwinds are cyclical, though. The economy will work its way back to full health sooner or later, and likely sooner than later. Once that happens, look for discretionary spending on things like makeup and haircare to bounce back with it.
The kicker: Ulta Beauty's operation meets consumers increasingly where they want to be. That's not so much the mall anymore. Rather, it's their neighborhood, and online in particular. Younger, digitally native consumers care less about where they buy their goods. They care far more about value and convenience, allowing Ulta to leverage its surprisingly strong e-commerce operation and membership/rewards program. In this vein, member utilization of its shopping app was up 30% last quarter. The retailer's also making investments in tech that will better personalize the online shopping experience, which should ultimately drive more member purchases.
It's just going to take some time for all of this to come together.
2. Amazon
Amazon(NASDAQ: AMZN) has become such a frequently suggested stock pick that it's almost become cliché. Amazon is of course one of the planet's biggest e-commerce platforms (and certainly the biggest in the western half of the world). Yet, it still only controls a little more than one-third of the United States' e-commerce market, and even less outside of the U.S. It's also a huge cloud computing service provider. Synergy Research Group reports Amazon's share of the cloud computing leads the way at 31% of the industry's worldwide revenue.
Connect the dots. There's still plenty of room ahead for growth.
The reason Amazon is a true forever name, however, are the evolutions it's going through right now.
A rethinking of how to best monetize online shopping is one of these evolutions. In its infancy the company's core business was simply selling goods online. Then it got serious about third-party sellers. Now it's turning up the heat on its retail media business, charging sellers to prominently feature their goods at Amazon.com. This may be Amazon's most lucrative, highest-margin business yet, which was worth $47 billion last year alone.
Another bigger-picture evolution is an effort to improve the appeal of cloud computing arm Amazon Web Services.
While it may be the world's single busiest cloud services company, Amazon Web Services' lack of recent revenue growth is stark. Would-be cloud customers are finding providers like Microsoft and Alphabet are better equipped to meet their needs, particularly as it pertains to artificial intelligence.
Amazon is upping its game, though. Just this week the company unveiled several new features for its generative AI platform called Bedrock. And, earlier this year the company acquired a data center directly connected to a nuclear power plant, recognizing the amount of electricity needed to support artificial intelligence platforms is so enormous that it could prove restrictive.
Some of these initiatives will pay off sooner than others. All of them underscore the sort of long-term holistic thinking Amazon is doing.
3. Nike
Last but not least, add Nike(NYSE: NKE) to your list of growth stocks to buy and hold forever.
It's been a tough past couple of years for Nike. Although the company's decision to rely less on retail partners and focus more on home-grown revenue makes sense, the shift isn't proving easy. As it turns out, struggling athletic apparel and footwear store chains like Foot Locker are still go-to destinations for consumers.
At the same time, the powerhouse sports apparel brand is learning just how tough it is to scale up your own direct-selling operation with or without an online presence. Last quarter's overall revenue was flat year over year, while Nike's digital sales -- a frequent bright spot in the company's recent quarterly reports -- only improved a modest 4% during the three-month stretch ending in February.
Then there's the simple fact that younger consumers are more willing to try out new brands, like On Holdings.
End result? Revenue growth for Nike has been hit-and-miss. Ditto for earnings. That's the big reason Nike stock is down by nearly half of its late-2021 peak price.
There's a detail too many investors are forgetting here, though. Recent challenges aside, this is Nike. It remains the world's single-biggest and best-known athletic wear brand, and it downright dominates the athletic footwear arena with a market share of 62%, according to numbers from IBISWorld. Nike might be on the defensive now, but it's got plenty of tools and name recognition to work with.
There's plenty of reason to expect such a turnaround of sorts in the near future, too.
At the same time he acknowledged last month that the company pushed too aggressively to wean itself from retail partners, CEO John Donahoe added that Nike hasn't been innovating enough of late. Perhaps feeling a little added pressure from shareholders and during board meetings, Donahoe may be about to light a fresh fire under the company's business starting with this coming summer's Olympics. It's a high-profile catalyst to be sure.
Should you invest $1,000 in Amazon right now?
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Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. James Brumley has positions in Alphabet. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Jefferies Financial Group, Microsoft, Nike, and Ulta Beauty. The Motley Fool recommends Foot Locker and On Holding and recommends the following options: long January 2025 $47.50 calls on Nike, long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft, and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
