It is always a great feeling when your stock’s share price surges upwards.
There could be several reasons why this happens.
One possibility is that the business has reported strong financial results and enjoyed an increase in earnings and dividends.
The company may also have released a new product or service that excites investors, causing them to bid up the share price.
Yet another possibility is optimistic guidance provided by the company that signals that it could see a big jump in earnings in the future.
However, it is important to ensure that growth stays intact and can continue for the stock.
Otherwise, the company may turn out to be a value trap.
Here are four US growth stocks scaling a new all-time high that could give a strong boost to your investment portfolio.
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL)
Apple needs no introduction and is famous for its ubiquitous iPhone and iPad that spawned the smartphone industry.
The company’s share price hit an all-time high of close to US$187 and is now up almost 48% year-to-date.
Apple released a mixed set of earnings for its fiscal 2023’s (FY2023) second quarter ending April 1.
For the first six months of FY2023 (6M FY2023), total revenue dipped by 4.2% year on year to US$212 billion.
Net profit fell by 9.2% year on year to US$54.2 billion.
Despite the weak results, there were bright spots as services revenue hit an all-time high of US$41.7 billion for 6M FY2023.
The board also raised the company’s quarterly dividend from US$0.23 to US$0.24.
Apple has recently released its first major piece of hardware in almost a decade.
It is an augmented reality headset called Vision Pro and investors are expecting this product to do very well when it is released for sale next year.
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)
Microsoft is a technology company that is well-known for its Microsoft Office suite of word processing, presentation, and spreadsheet software.
The company also provides cloud computing services, video games, and hardware.
Microsoft’s share price recently hit an all-time high of US$351.47 and is up 41.1% year-to-date.
The technology company also released a mixed set of earnings for its fiscal 2023’s third quarter ending 31 March.
For the first nine months of FY2023 (9M FY2023), revenue rose 6.4% year on year to US$155.7 billion but net profit slipped by 6.6% year on year to US$52.3 billion.
However, the Redmond company generated US$39.6 billion of free cash flow for 9M FY2023, although this was 16.3% lower than the US$47.4 billion generated a year ago.
In particular, Microsoft’s cloud revenue shot up 22% year on year to US$28.5 billion while revenue from LinkedIn, its business networking site, grew 8% year on year with record engagement.
France’s Teleperformance group (EPA: TEP) has signed a US$185 million deal with Microsoft to launch its proprietary TP Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) model, claiming that it can boost efficiency, accuracy, and customer experience.
Oracle (NYSE: ORCL)
Oracle is the world’s largest database management company and offers a comprehensive and fully integrated stack of cloud applications and cloud platform services.
Because of the generative AI hype, the company’s share price has surged by nearly 46% year-to-date and recently touched a new all-time high of US$127.54.
Oracle reported an impressive set of earnings for FY2023 ending 31 May.
Its revenue rose 18% year on year to a record high of US$50 billion, driven by year-on-year rises in cloud services revenue.
Oracle’s net profit climbed 27% year on year to US$8.5 billion.
Free cash flow surged by 68.5% year on year from US$5 billion to US$8.5 billion.
In light of the strong numbers, Oracle has hiked its quarterly dividend by 25% from US$0.32 to US$0.40.
Darden Restaurants (NYSE: DRI)
Darden operates a portfolio of restaurants under brands such as Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse, and Seasons 52.
The restaurant operator’s share price recently hit an all-time high of US$168.98 and is up 18.5% year-to-date.
Sales for 9M FY2023 ending 26 February rose 9.8% year on year to US$7.7 billion.
Net profit, however, remained flat year on year at US$666.8 million because of higher restaurant expenses and labour costs.
Despite this, free cash flow for the business increased by 13.9% year on year to US$730 million.
Darden also paid out a quarterly dividend of US$1.21, up 10% from the US$1.10 it paid out in the prior year.
The company opened seven new restaurants in the third quarter of FY2023 and also enjoyed an 11.7% year-on-year rise in same-restaurant sales.
Are we really ready to live in a world with AI that could potentially take over our jobs? Check out our latest Special Free Report on this fascinating topic. We cover the latest developments in AI and how they could impact your life and investments. Click here to download a copy now.
Follow us on Facebook and Telegram for the latest investing news and analyses!
Disclosure: Royston Yang owns shares of Apple.
