Hot Stocks: 3 Strong Contenders for a 200% Leap
Indicating that growth stocks are in the initial stages of a hot comeback, the iShares Russell 2000 (NYSEARCA:IWM), whose movements are largely determined by growth stocks, is up nearly 5% year-to-date. Moreover, on March 20, the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Summary of Economic projections indicated that the central bank still intends to cut its benchmark rate by 0.75 percentage points this year.
That outlook is likely to make the Street, which tends to view rates as extremely important for growth stocks, much more positive about those equities. And, lower rates will indeed help many of these companies, since a high percentage of them have to borrow a great deal of money in order to expand. Given all of these points, I believe that this is an excellent time to buy these hot growth stocks.
Celsius Holdings (CELH)
Energy drink maker Celsius Holdings (NASDAQ:CELH) has jumped to around $90 from $50 at the end of January, making it one of the more electrifying hot stocks. The popularity of the company’s healthy carbonated drinks appears to be growing very rapidly.
Providing evidence that the latter trend is continuing, the company’s sales growth for the four-week period ending on March 9 came in at 67% versus the same period a year. Also noteworthy is that the firm’s Q1 revenue appears to be poised to come in above analysts’ average estimate.
Further, there is indeed some evidence that Celsius’ beverages can help adults burn fat.
Aurora Innovation (AUR)
The shares of Aurora (NASDAQ:AUR), which is developing self-driving technology, called the Aurora Driver, jumped from $2.17 on March 11 to $2.44 on March 20.
The company confirmed at its Investor Day, held on March 14, that it expects the commercial launch of its technology to occur later this year. The firm added that it anticipates that it will start to generate positive gross margins by the end of 2026 and become self-funding by the end of 2027.
Additionally, AUR reported that trucks powered by Aurora Driver will be safer and able to operate more hours than existing trucks, while also enabling companies to solve the driver shortage issues which has been plaguing the industry.
Among the firm’s partners are trucking heavyweights Uber (NYSE:UBER), FedEx (NYSE:FDX), Schneider (OTCMKTS:SBGSY) and Volvo (OTCMKTS:VLVLY).
Xpeng (XPEV)
Xpeng (NYSE:XPEV) has soared from $7.87 on Feb. 5 to over $9.40 on March 21. The Chinese electric-vehicle maker reported impressive fourth-quarter results on March 19 as its top line soared 154% versus the same period a year earlier while its Q4 gross margin jumped 8.9% year-over-year to 6.2%.
Also importantly, the firm intends to launch 10 brand new models over the next three years while starting to sell its EVs in additional countries.
And in an extremely promising development, the automaker reported that it plans to introduce affordable EVs that incorporate its state-of-the-art advanced driver assistance system. These EVs, which will be available in China and other countries, will cost only $14,000 to $21,000.
I’m unaware of any other vehicles on the market that cost so little and include a top-notch advanced driver assistance system. As a result, I think that these vehicles will become quite popular.
So if Xpeng can generate positive gross margins on these EVs, I believe that they will wind up greatly boosting the firm’s bottom line and XPEV stock.
On the date of publication, Larry Ramer held long positions in CELH,AUR,and XPEV. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
