The tech sector is on a roll once again. After a weak 2022, high-potential growth stocks are back in fashion.
After huge rallies, however, a lot of the best long-term growth stocks aren’t particularly cheap anymore.
The good news, though, is that there are still quite a few leading growth stocks to buy that are selling at reasonable prices.
In fact, several of these top growth stocks right now sold off significantly in July, setting up excellent entry points today.
It’s time to take a look at these seven best growth stocks to invest in.
Intel (INTC)
Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) is back. The company delighted investors with its Q2 earnings results where Intel earned a profit. Analysts had expected a small loss for the quarter.
Intel’s revenues were still down year-over-year, as the company deals with an historic slump in the personal computing market. However, Intel’s aggressive cost-cutting was enough to get the company’s profitability pointing back in the right direction.
Our Dana Blankenhorn recently made a great argument for why INTC stock is a long-term buy.
Many investors fail to appreciate the company’s burgeoning foundry operations. With the overall chip market set to boom throughout the 2020s, Intel should be able to grab a major part of the foundry business.
On top of that, semiconductors have become a national defense concern, with the U.S. government providing subsidies for producers that set up factories in America. Intel should be a huge beneficiary of this trend.
All this makes INTC stock a fantastic opportunity, with shares having the possibility to double from here.
Fortinet (FTNT)
Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) is a leading cybersecurity software company.
It offers an array of security solutions for applications such as firewalls, e-mail, anti-malware, network logging and so on.
FTNT stock plunged 25% recently following its latest earnings report. Fortinet actually beat expectations on the top and bottom line, but its forward guidance fell short of expectations.
Arguably, traders had gotten too excited about FTNT stock prior to the print, as shares had been up sharply on the year.
After the recent setback, however, Fortinet is now at a more attractive valuation.
Indeed, Fortinet is already strongly profitable, with shares going for 32 times estimated 2024 earnings. That’s not bad for a company that is growing both the top- and bottom lines by about 20% per year.
It’s true that the cybersecurity sector is seeing a bit of a slowdown now. But the long-term growth trajectory remains bright and investors now have a chance to buy the dip on this leading growth stock.
ZoomInfo Technologies (ZI)
ZoomInfo Technologies (NASDAQ:ZI), like Fortinet, is another tech firm that crashed following a recent earnings report.
ZI stock has fallen more than 25% over the past month with that drop coming in large part because it reduced its financial outlook for 2023.
ZoomInfo provides go-to-market intelligence and an engagement platform that helps marketers identify and reach influential key customers and influence leaders. The firm’s database and networking tools have proven highly valuable to clients.
Regardless, ZoomInfo is currently facing a slowdown, perhaps because of the broader dip in spending across much of the tech industry. With the crash, ZI stock is now going for less than 19 times forward earnings.
That’s a bargain for a firm with as strong of a track record as ZoomInfo. Back in 2018, ZoomInfo generated $144 million in revenues. This surged to $1.1 billion for full-year 2022. That’s a tremendous rate of increase.
Even with the current macroeconomic headwinds, analysts expect more than 10% revenue and earnings growth this year. Combined with the starting valuation, this makes ZI stock a great deal today.
Sprinklr (CXM)
Sprinklr (NYSE:CXM) is a software-as-a-service company focused on customer experience.
Its main offering is for applications that help firms manage their branding and online relationships. Specifically, it helps clients monitor their activity, brand, and marketing efforts across various social networks.
Instead of having a haphazard collection of marketing efforts across various sites and ad networks, Sprinklr helps clients have a centralized system for keeping tabs on different channels, keywords, campaigns and so on in one place.
A big piece of the bull case for Sprinklr now is that it is aggressively competing with key rival Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) for market share.
This campaign appears to be working, as judging by Sprout’s most recent earnings results. Sprout sold off sharply amid a deceleration in its revenue growth rate.
This speaks to Sprinklr’s ability to provide more value to clients in the customer relationship space.
Sprinklr is already profitable, giving it another advantage against many of its SaaS peers. On top of that, Sprinklr recently joined the Russell 2000 Index, which should attract more passive investment capital into the stock.
Ubiquiti (UI)
Ubiquiti (NYSE:UI) is a communications equipment company that has traditionally developed hardware for the networking space.
It offers routers, switching equipment, security gateways, video surveillance products, and so on, giving both consumers and enterprises the tools they need for reliable communications.
Ubiquiti was a winner early on in the 2020s. During the pandemic, the work- and study-from-home movement caused massive investment in improving networking infrastructure.
It appears Ubiquiti overestimated the duration of this tendency, however, as it went from having a shortage of goods to now having an excessive inventory of networking gear.
UI stock is down a stunning 35% year-to-date; that’s one of its biggest corrections of the past decade. This seems like an overreaction. For example, In the firm’s most recent quarter, for example, revenues grew 27.8% year over year and EPS nearly doubled versus the same period of 2022.
Meanwhile, Ubiquiti is buying back gobs of stock. UI’s outstanding share count is down from 90 million in 2014 to 60 million now, with the possibility of more repurchases into this recent share price decline.
Meanwhile, Ubiquiti shares sell for less than 20 times estimated fiscal year 2024 earnings.
Qualcomm (QCOM)
Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) is a leading semiconductor company focused on communications technologies.
The firm built its empire on key patents related to building blocks of mobile telephony such as 3G and 4G. Qualcomm continues to harvest billions of dollars from its patent portfolio.
However, in recent years, it has branched out into developing its own solutions as well, such as the Snapdragon ecosystem for smartphones and tablets.
QCOM stock recently sold off on a weak earnings report. That wasn’t too shocking, as the global smartphone market remains subdued.
However, that sell-off creates an opportunity. Qualcomm is a leader in developing artificial intelligence chips.
It is working to harness the power of AI for all sorts of mobile devices and internet of things applications, such as connected cars.
Avnet (AVT)
Avnet (NASDAQ:AVT) is a specialized distribution company focused on technology.
In particular, it distributes semiconductors and related items, such as interconnect and electro-mechanical devices. Avnet has an array of both suppliers and end clients.
The company also offers some consulting services, helping IT professionals plan and implement supply chain, product design, and technical education solutions.
While distribution may seem like a boring business, it can be lucrative thanks to the massive volumes involved. Prior to 2020, Avnet brought in about $18 billion per year in revenues and that figure topped $25 billion as semiconductor demand surged in recent years.
Investors are nervous about a potential slowdown for Avnet. Key parts of the chip industry such as memory and graphics processing units are in a major sales slump at the moment.
That said, this appears to be fully accounted for in the price of AVT stock at this point. Shares go for just six times forward earnings.
The company recently won a $268 million legal settlement in a suit that alleged price-fixing by some of Avnet’s suppliers. This cash influx should help Avnet repurchase for of its shares going forward, making it one of the best growth stocks to buy now.
On the date of publication, Ian Bezek held a long position in QCOM and INTC stock. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
