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3 Tech Stocks for Growth Investors to Buy Now

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By their very nature, growth investors are primarily focused on finding companies whose earnings and revenue are expected grow at a rate that outpaces the market. This investment strategy comes with its fair share of risks, but it also brings the exciting possibility of outsized returns—an end goal that every investor desires.

Over the past several years, Wall Street’s most exciting growth stocks have emerged from the technology sector. From industry innovators like Amazon (AMZN - Free Report) and Netflix (NFLX - Free Report) to exciting foreign stocks such as Alibaba (BABA - Free Report) , tech-focused growth investors have been rewarded with massive profits recently.

Strong earnings and impressive sales imply that the technology sector’s hot streak could continue throughout the remainder of 2018 and well into 2019. That means that growth investors searching for the next great market-beating stock might want to keep their focus on tech companies.

Luckily, we can pair the proven Zacks Rank with our innovative Style Scores system, which includes a “Growth” category, to find strong growth tech stocks. Investors should note that our Growth category values earnings and sales growth, as well as improvements to a company’s financial statements—including strong cash flows and great return on equity.

With all of this said, check out these three tech stocks for growth investors to consider now:

1. NetApp, Inc. (NTAP - Free Report)

NetApp specializes in hybrid cloud solutions; in other words, it provides data-based services which simplify the management of applications cloud and on-premises environments. NetApp’s products and solutions are in high demand as enterprises around the world continue modernizing and adapting to cloud technology. The stock sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and sports promising growth characteristics.

Notably, NetApp has a “B” grade for Growth in our Style Scores system. Earnings are projected to improve by more than 27% in 2018, and that growth is expected to continue to the tune of 14% on a long-term, annualized basis. NetApp is also notching cash flow growth of about 25% right now.

 

2. AppFolio, Inc. (APPF - Free Report)

AppFolio offers cloud-based software solutions for the property management and legal industries. The company’s AppFolio Property Manager is a leading solution for property management, while its MyCase application is ideal for practitioners and small law firms. Currently, the stock is a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

AppFolio recently surged into profitability, which is something that investors tend to reward. This fiscal year, current estimates are calling for earnings growth of 93% and net sales growth of 28%. Earnings and revenue are expected to improve by an additional 55% and 24%, respectively, next year.

The company is also improving its cash position, generating quadruple-digit-percentage cash flow growth and operating with a net margin of nearly 11%. AppFolio has also proven to be efficient, with Return on Equity of 20% crushing its industry average.

AppFolio should be able to use this, and its solid margins, to capitalize on its new business opportunities. APPF has also displayed the strength of small caps recently, adding about 30% over the past three months.

 

3. MobileIron, Inc.

MobileIron is a mobile software company. Its solutions provide management tools for mobile devices in enterprise environments and secure connections to enterprise data in mobile environments. Many people thinks of smartphones and tablets as consumer devices, but this is a key growth business moving forward as the enterprise world continues to expand its mobile capabilities.

MOBL is currently a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). It has an “A” grade for Growth in our Style Scores system and is expected to see earnings growth in excess of 64% this year. The company also has a five-year historical sales growth record of 13%. Meanwhile, MobileIron belongs to a group of business which falls in the Top 36% of the Zacks Industry Rank right now.

 

 

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