Although growth stock picks can be highly volatile, they can make good long-term investments. They may be well-known stars or quiet gems, but they do share one common attribute—they are growing at a higher-than-average rate within their industry, or within the market as a whole, and could keep growing for years or decades.
And keep in mind that we focus on growth stocks, which have a good long-term history and favourable prospects. We downplay momentum stocks that tend to attract many investors simply because they are moving faster than the market averages, but are liable to fall sharply when their momentum fades.
There’s room for growth stock investing in your portfolio, but make sure you follow our TSI Network three-part Successful Investor strategy for your overall portfolio:
- Invest mainly in well-established companies;
- Spread your money out across most if not all of the five main economic sectors (Manufacturing & Industry; Resources & Commodities; Consumer; Finance; Utilities);
- Downplay or avoid stocks in the broker/media limelight.
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In 2008, the company started selling equipment featuring its ec-H20 technology, which uses electricity to turn tap water into a chemical-free cleaning solution. This helps cut the machine’s operating costs.
Strong demand for this equipment increased the company’s sales by 9.4% in the three months ended June 30, 2014, to a record $219.1 million from $200.2 million a year earlier. Sales of ec- H2O gear rose 7.6% and account for about 20% of Tennant’s overall revenue.
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Boeing will build three of its Crew Space Transportation (CST-100) crew capsules at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The contract is worth $4.2 billion, which is equal to 5% of the company’s annual revenue of $88.4 billion.
NASA, which retired its space shuttle fleet in 2011, plans to resume manned space flights in 2017.
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In the first quarter of its 2015 fiscal year, which ended August 31, 2014, FedEx’s revenue rose 6.0%, to $11.7 billion from $11.0 billion a year earlier. Earnings gained 23.9%, to $606 million from $489 million. FedEx is an aggressive buyer of its own stock. As a result, its earnings per share jumped 37.3%, to $2.10 from $1.53.
The company expects to earn $8.50 to $9.00 a share for all of fiscal 2015, and the stock trades at 18.2 times the midpoint of that range. That’s an attractive multiple, particularly as FedEx is raising its shipping rates in January 2015.
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Nordstrom recently paid $350 million in stock for Trunk Club, which sells men’s clothing over the Internet. Trunk Club sends its members a selection of clothes based on their sizes and preferences. Members keep only the items they want and ship the rest back.
The company will operate Trunk Club as a separate business. However, this firm’s expertise should help Nordstrom improve its existing online operations.
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L Brands is removing some clothing and slowerselling items like cosmetics from its Victoria’s Secret online store. However, to clear the discontinued goods, L Brands has cut their prices. That could squeeze its profit margins in the next few months.
Meanwhile, the company earned $188.4 million in its fiscal 2015 second quarter, which ended August 2, 2014. That’s up 5.3% from $178.9 million a year earlier. Per-share earnings rose 3.3%, to $0.63 from $0.61, on more shares outstanding.
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The company is benefiting from its strategy of tailoring its merchandise to local tastes. It’s also doing a good job of blending its online business with its stores.
For example, shoppers can now buy goods on the company’s website and pick them up at any Macy’s location. The company has also brought in new radio frequency identification tags that help it keep track of merchandise and avoid product shortages.
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The company continues to shift away from selling software as a one-time purchase and toward a subscription model. It now gets 63% of its revenue from recurring subscriptions.
Adobe ended the latest quarter with 2.8 million subscribers to its Creative Cloud package of photo editing and desktop publishing programs, up 21.8% from a year earlier. Adobe Marketing Cloud, a package of software aimed at improving online marketing efforts and website performance, saw its revenue rise 13.8%.
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Home Depot (New York symbol HD) recently hired Symantec and another firm to help investigate a major data breach. Online intruders secretly installed software on Home Depot’s systems that let them steal about 56 million credit card numbers and related data, but not personal identification numbers for debit cards.
Symantec has been trying to expand in the fast-growing cyber-security software/services market, and this contract will give it a lot of industry credibility.
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The combined firm will be based in Oakville, Ontario, which will let it take advantage of Canada’s 15% corporate tax rate, compared to 35% in U.S.
Under the new rules, it is now more difficult for the foreign parent firm to shift funds between subsidiaries.
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The company gets about 95% of its revenue by selling advertising on its websites. It mainly does this with its AdWords program.
Using AdWords, advertisers bid on certain search words or phrases. The company then charges advertisers when users click on their ads.
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