7 A-Rated Growth Stocks to Grab Now

One of the most important factors for investors to consider is growth. But how does one easily identify which companies are doing the best job growing? My solution is to look to the Portfolio Grader for A-rated growth stocks.

While it’s great that a stock is seeing gains over the last few weeks or months, growth is the name of the game, a fundamental aspect of success and sustainability. Companies that are seeing growth are more likely to remain strong and be long-term investments.

Companies need growth to scale and improve efficiency. If you’re a car manufacturer and selling 30 cars per month, you’re absorbing a lot of overhead to make those vehicles – and you’re likely not turning a profit. But if you’re making 3,000 vehicles, your per-unit costs go way down. That’s how companies become profitable.

Growth enables a company to expand its market share. By increasing sales and acquiring new customers, companies become stronger and eventually, with enough growth, becomes a leader in their industries.

I’ve selected several A-rated growth stocks to review, based on their outstanding overall grades in the Portfolio Grader. The Portfolio Grader considers a variety of factors, including growth, earnings performance, analyst sentiment and momentum. So, A-rated stocks are the strongest overall companies in the market.

But what makes these A-rated growth stocks stand out today is that all the companies we’re going to consider also get either an “A” or a “B” grade in the Portfolio Grader for growth.

You can expect each of these A-rated growth stocks to continue to perform, because the companies they represent are successfully expanding – and you can see it in the bottom line.

Nvidia (NVDA)

Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) may be the most compelling stock in the market. As the maker of powerful graphics processing units that are used to power top-line artificial intelligence programs, Nvidia stock soared to previously unimaginable heights. The stock is up 220% over the last 12 months and 170% so far this year.

But interestingly, Nvidia seems to be on a bit of a break. Since June 18, the stock is up only 3%, raising concerns from some nervous investors that we may finally be nearing a top.

Nonsense.

I think it’s more likely that this is just part of the Wall Street summer doldrums – when the market sees less activity from Memorial Day to Labor day. But remember that Nvidia’s next earnings release is scheduled for Aug. 21, so this hiatus will surely come to an end sooner rather than later.

Adjusted earnings for Nvidia were up 461% in the most recently reported quarter. And since earnings are far outpacing the stock’s growth, Nvidia stock is getting cheaper every day on a valuation basis, which makes it among the A-rated growth stocks you need in your portfolio.

NVDA stock gets “A” ratings for both growth and overall in the Portfolio Grader.

Alphabet (GOOG)

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG,NASDAQ:GOOGL), is the parent company of Google, YouTube, Waymo. It’s responsible for the Chome search engine and Android smartphones. Alphabet is a powerhouse that’s taken its rightful place, as has Nvidia, as a Magnificent 7 stock.

So then, why is the CEO selling shares?

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai reportedly sold 22,500 Alphabet shares on June 20, raising some investor eyebrows. I wrote about it recently for InvestorPlace, and as I said then, Pichai still has 227,000 shares of GOOG stock, so I’m not concerned at all. In fact, this is more of a position-trimming move than anything else.

There are plenty of reasons to be bullish about Alphabet, including its massive position in internet search and the dominance of the Chrome browser. Alphabet brought in $80.5 billion in revenue in the first quarter, up 15% from a year ago. Its operating income was up 32% to $25.4 billion.

GOOG stock is up 36% in 2024. It gets a “B” rating for growth and an “A” overall in the Portfolio Grader.

Meta Platforms (META)

This is the third and last Magnificent 7 stock we’ll talk about today. Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) is the operator of the powerful social media platforms Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Reels.

Famously founded by Mark Zuckerburg and friends at Harvard University, Meta is powerful because it encourages users to connect with friends and family and make new connections.

People who use Facebook and Instagram willingly share their likes and dislikes, where they’ve been and what they plan to do – and that’s all information that Meta can use to sell to advertisers.

Meta Platforms’ advertising platforms are powerful, there’s no doubt. With all the personal information in Meta’s databases, advertisers can make extremely targeted advertising campaigns.

That’s why Meta brought in $36.4 billion in advertising revenue in the first quarter, making up roughly 98% of its total revenue. Advertising dollars were up 23% from a year ago, making this one of the A-rated growth stocks to keep your eyes on.

I’m expecting that trend to continue and META stock to pop again when the company reports earnings on July 31. For now, Meta stock is up 51% in 2024, and its gets “A” ratings for growth and overall in the Portfolio Grader.

Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG)

It’s not too often you see a company with a 50-to-1 stock split, as Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) executed this summer. But I like it because it’s a sign of management that is very deliberate in its actions.

Chipotle stock topped $3,200 per share – an enormous number – before its June 25 split, making it one of the biggest in the history of the New York Stock Exchange.

The split makes the stock more accessible and attractive to retail investors as well as employees who want to participate in the company’s stock purchase plan – it was a good move all around.

I also see the move as part of the company’s culture. Remember, this is a restaurant stock with more than 3,400 locations, but no franchises. Chipotle maintains ownership of every location because it’s the only way it can ensure company quality and standards.

Chipotle also famously doesn’t have any freezers in its locations, which means that the ingredients for its burritos, salads and burrito bowls must always be made fresh.

Revenue in the first quarter was $2.7 billion, up 14.1% from a year ago. Comparable restaurant sales were up 7% and operating margins rose from 15.5% to 16.3%. The company is reporting second-quarter earnings on July 24.

CMG stock is up 27% in 2024. It gets a “B” rating for growth and an “A” overall in the Portfolio Grader.

Super Micro Computer (SMCI)

Super Micro Computer (NASDAQ:SMCI) isn’t part of the Magnificent 7. But if the list ever expands to eight or 10 stocks, it might be difficult to keep Supermicro off the list.

Supermicro makes the server infrastructure that is needed by companies that are buying up all the Nvidia GPUs to build large language models and other generative AI products. Supermicro can provide custom server architecture solutions to bundle those GPUs and allow them to work together.

Supermicro is reportedly providing and assembling half of the racks AI-supercomputer racks that xAI, the artificial intelligence startup operated by Elon Musk, is creating to develop an AI chatbot to rival ChatGPT.

The company is seeing massive growth, with sales of $3.85 billion in the second quarter of fiscal 2024, up from $1.28 billion a year ago. Net income of $402 million was up from $86 million a year ago.

And don’t be surprised if there’s another SMCI catalyst next week. Typically, Supermicro pre-announces between 18 and 24 days after the end of the quarter, so that could be as early as next week. Should the company provide evidence of another blowout quarter and/or dazzling guidance, SMCI stock will surely jump.

SMCI stock is up 216% in 2024. It gets “A” ratings for growth and overall in the Portfolio Grader.

CrowdStrike (CRWD)

CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD) is a computer security company that uses AI and machine learning to stop threats in real time. Its cloud-native platform that provides endpoint protection, cloud workloads, identity and data.

CrowdStrike’s Falcon platform is its primary product, but CrowdStrike also offers modules that companies can use to customize their products.

The modules, which include things like endpoint security, data security, IT operations, threat intelligence and more, serves as a successful business plan because customers can always start small and add on as they go.

CrowdStrike says 65% of its customers purchase and use at least five modules. Revenue for the company’s first quarter of fiscal 2025 was $921 million, up 33% from a year ago. Subscription revenue was $872.2 million, up 34% from the first quarter of fiscal 2024.

It also got a boost last month when CWRD stock was added to the S&P 500, which means that exchange-traded funds and other products that track the index are buying CRWD stock.

CrowdStrike stock is up 47% this year. It gets “A” rating for growth and overall in the Portfolio Grader.

Netflix (NFLX)

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) was famously one of the original FAANG stocks that were considered market darlings before the rise of AI and the Magnificent 7. But Netflix, which is the premiere streaming service, hasn’t really gone away.

In fact, the stock has only gotten better.

Netflix management made a huge decision when it ended its free password sharing program. Before, the company all but encouraged the practice and password sharing was common between friends, family and partners was common.

But the company finally acknowledged that it was leaving a lot of money on the table, so the program came to an end. Netflix instituted an $8 monthly charge to any account that was sharing a password with someone outside the physical household. And now paid memberships are up from 232.6 million a year ago to 269.6 million in the last quarter.

Revenue also grew – up 14.8% to $9.3 billion, and the stock returned to levels not seen since 2015.

NFLX stock is up 39% this year, and gets “A” ratings for growth and overall in the Portfolio Grader.

On the date of publication, Louis Navellier had LONG position(s) in NVDA, SMCI and CRWD. Louis Navellier did not have (either directly or indirectly) any other positions in the securities mentioned in this article.

The InvestorPlace Research Staff member primarily responsible for this article had LONG positions in NVDA, SMCI and CRWD. The InvestorPlace Research Staff member did not have (either directly or indirectly) any other positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.

On the date of publication, the responsible editor did not have (either directly or indirectly) and positions in the securities mentioned in this article.