Every investor aims to build a portfolio that grows steadily and delivers meaningful returns. Growth investing remains a time-tested strategy for achieving just that.
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The secret to success starts with spotting companies that have solid fundamentals, innovative products, or a clever twist on a proven formula. These are the kinds of businesses that tend to capture attention – and fuel long-term gains.
Recent share price surges may draw attention, but they shouldn’t be viewed in isolation. While impressive growth over the past year can be encouraging, it’s not a guarantee of what lies ahead. The well-worn adage still applies: past performance doesn’t ensure future results.
However, when a stock has more than doubled over 12 months and is backed by a strong business case, it’s worth serious consideration, especially if it aligns with the traits that typically underpin lasting growth.
Against this backdrop, we’ve used the TipRanks database to zero in on two monster growth stocks that have recently caught the bullish attention of Oppenheimer analysts. Let’s take a closer look at what makes these picks worth watching.
Carvana Company (CVNA)
We’ll start with Carvana, a company that has been changing the face of the used car market. Carvana, based in Arizona, was founded and launched in 2012; the company makes available an online marketplace for used cars. Customers can browse the site, searching for the correct car using a variety of parameters – and then can compare prices. Carvana’s online shopping platform is available on PCs, but can also be accessed as a mobile app, allowing customers to take their search results with them when they go to look at vehicles.
In a unique feature, Carvana maintains a network of ‘car vending machines’ around the US, where customers can go to visually inspect the cars they find through the online platform – this is a sound insight from the company, recognizing that while anything can be found or bought online, some products need to be seen by the customer before the final purchase. Carvana’s vending machines are multi-story automated parking structures, with windowed parking slots, allowing customers to view prospective purchases and even to physically inspect the vehicles.
In addition to its vending machines, and serving areas that are both near the machines or far from them, Carvana also offers purchase delivery services. Once a customer has purchased a vehicle, the company will deliver it to the customer’s home – and in several areas, that service is available as same-day delivery. We should note that this past May, Carvana expanded its same-day delivery, adding Denver, Colorado to the list.
Carvana’s services have proven popular, as a platform for both buying and selling used vehicles. Over the past year, the company has seen its stock price increase by an impressive 163%. The company has impressed investors in several ways: with its successful business model; its plans for expansion; and its recent growth in both revenue and earnings.
For its last reported quarter, 1Q25, Carvana reported total revenues of $4.23 billion – a record figure that was up 38% year-over-year, and beat the forecast by $230 million. The company’s revenue was based on retail sales of 133,898 units, for a 46% year-over-year jump. At the bottom line, Carvana realized a record-level net income of $373 million. We’ll see Carvana’s Q2 results on July 30, after the markets close.
Oppenheimer analyst Brian Nagel is impressed by Carvana, particularly by the company’s proven ability to disrupt the used car market and to carve out a unique and profitable niche therein, with potential for expansion.
“CVNA represents a unique, digitally-driven disruptor, within the expansive and inefficient domestic used car marketplace. Following significant fundamental and financial repositioning, the CVNA business model is now ‘humming,’ generating meaningful cash, scaling, and capitalizing well upon improving, underlying demand trends, within the space. We have undertaken a refreshed deep-dive analysis of Carvana and conclude that while shares have rebounded to all-time highs that investors still under-appreciate near- and longer-term growth and profit potential, for the company. CVNA and the used car space are situated well to capitalize upon ongoing trade disruptions as tariffs likely drive prices for new autos higher,” Nagel explained.
These comments support Nagel’s recent upgrade from Perform (i.e., Neutral) to Outperform (i.e., Buy), with a $450 price target that suggests a one-year upside potential of 34%. (To watch Nagel’s track record, click here)
Carvana’s Moderate Buy consensus rating is based on 19 recent analyst recommendations, that include 13 to Buy against 6 to Hold. The shares are priced at $336.33 and their $359.06 average price target implies a gain for the coming year of 7%. (See CVNA stock forecast)
Spotify Technology (SPOT)
From cars, we’ll switch to music, and look at Spotify. This Swedish-based company was founded in 2006, and over the past two decades it has built itself into a leader in the online on-demand music streaming segment. Today, Spotify boasts a market cap of $141 billion, reflecting both its early entry into the profitable music subscription niche and the popularity of online music streaming.
Spotify offers its service through the subscription model, with paying users able to choose from an extensive library of audio files and sources, including more than 100 million songs, 7 million podcasts, and an expanding audiobook library that currently has 350,000 titles. The company boasts that it has over 670 million users worldwide, a total that includes some 268 million paying subscribers.
An audio library that size presents difficulties, however. Listeners can’t begin to hope to browse all of the titles, and fans may have difficulty finding their favorite songs or podcasts. Spotify uses AI technology to help meet this challenge, putting the tech to work building playlists or offering suggestions based on users’ previous selections. For the more old-school users, the site also offers the more traditional search options of a search bar and categorized audio files.
The company will report its 2Q25 results today (July 29) before the opening bell, against a backdrop of ample share gains. The stock is up by 116.5% in the last 12 months. According to Bloomberg consensus estimates, Wall Street is expecting revenue of €4.27 billion, up from €3.81 billion in 2Q24, and adj. EPS of €1.97, compared with €1.33 in the same period last year.
Oppenheimer analyst Jason Helfstein sees plenty of reasons to expect continued gains here. “We believe that SPOT will benefit from the secular tailwind of growing digital audio streaming adoption and that the company’s subscription economics are better than most believe,” Helfstein opined. “We model 1) the largest MAU runway in Internet, 2) free tier monetization (either ads or ad-supported monthly fee), 3) conversion benefits from App Store changes, 4) Superfan tier, 5) continued GM leverage, and 6) FCF generation/share repurchases. Forecasting 16% revenue CAGR 2024-2030 based on a 9% subscriber CAGR and 21% ARPU CAGR driven primarily by ad monetization. SPOT meaningfully undermonetizes ad tier, with visibility to ~3x ad ARPU over time on podcasts and ad tools; if this fails, SPOT could establish a very small monthly fee for its lowest tier.”
Quantifying his stance, the analyst recently upgraded SPOT shares from Perform (i.e., Neutral) to Outperform (i.e., Buy), pairing the new rating with an $800 price target – implying the stock could gain 14% over the coming year. (To watch Helfstein’s track record, click here)
Spotify shares have earned a Moderate Buy consensus rating from the Street’s experts, based on 26 recent reviews that feature a breakdown of 19 Buys, 6 Holds, and 1 Sell. The stock has a current trading price of $700.98 and its $776.48 average target price implies that it has an 11% upside on the way by this time next year. (See SPOT stock forecast)
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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.