Growth stocks are your best bet to help grow the value of your investment portfolio to better prepare yourself for retirement.
The key is to look for sustainable trends that will allow your investments to grow over years or even decades.
With the explosion in digitalisation, artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing, investors can sift through these sectors to find suitable growth companies to invest in.
These sectors have a long growth runway as more and more money is being poured into research and development to achieve better outcomes.
We throw the spotlight on four US technology stocks that are riding on these tailwinds and can lift your portfolio to new heights.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META)
Meta Platforms is the largest social media company in the world that owns brands such as Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
The company reported a stellar set of earnings for 2023 as ad spending recovered amid tight cost controls.
Revenue rose 16% year on year to US$134.9 billion while operating income surged 62% year on year to US$46.8 billion as expenses grew just 1% year on year.
Net profit climbed 69% year on year to US$39.1 billion and Meta’s board initiated its first-ever quarterly dividend of US$0.50 per share.
Meta’s free cash flow for 2023 also catapulted 130% year on year to US$43.8 billion from US$19 billion a year ago.
Facebook’s daily active user (DAU) and monthly active user (MAU) numbers have also been increasing.
For the fourth quarter of 2023, DAU rose 5.5% year on year to 2.1 billion while MAU increased by 3.4% year on year to 3.1 billion.
Just last week, Meta unveiled the latest version of its AI chip called MTIA.
This chip is built on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company TSMC’s (NYSE: TSM) technology and offers three times better performance along with improved energy efficiency.
Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA)
Nvidia has become the poster boy of the technology and AI boom with its graphics processing units (GPUs).
CEO Jensen Huang said that AI is creating a new computing era similar to how the internet revolutionised workflows and connected people.
He believes that we have reached a tipping point with AI enabling individuals to create programs simply by plugging in commands.
Nvidia reported a stunning set of earnings for its fiscal 2024 (FY2024) ending 28 January 2024.
Revenue soared 126% year on year to US$60.9 billion with gross profit leaping 187% year on year to US$44 billion.
Operating income shot up more than sevenfold year on year from US$4.2 billion to US$33 billion while net profit leapt sixfold year on year to US$29.8 billion.
Free cash flow generation also soared from just US$3.8 billion in FY2023 to US$27 billion for FY2024.
The company expects 1Q FY2025’s revenue to come in at around US$24 billion, which will represent a nearly 250% year-on-year increase from the prior year’s US$7.2 billion.
Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL)
Alphabet is the parent company of search engine Google and owns video-sharing website YouTube.
The company makes its money mainly through advertisements through its search engine and also runs a cloud service called Google Cloud.
Alphabet released a strong set of earnings for 2023.
Revenue rose 8.7% year on year to US$307.4 billion with operating profit increasing by 12.6% year on year to US$84.3 billion.
Net profit climbed 23% year on year to US$73.8 billion.
The technology giant also saw its free cash flow rise nearly 16% year on year to US$69.5 billion for 2023.
Alphabet is rumoured to be in talks with Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) to license its Gemini suite of AI tools to be included in future iPhone operating systems.
Its Gemini AI large language models (LLM) are already set to be integrated into OnePlus and Oppo phones to offer impressive and useful AI features.
These phones will also have features that can summarise news content and perform generative content creation.
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)
Microsoft is a software technology company that sells a suite of products and services while also offering cloud services through Microsoft Cloud.
The company also owns the business networking site LinkedIn.
Microsoft reported a robust set of earnings for the first half of fiscal 2024 (1H FY2024) ending 31 December 2023.
Revenue rose almost 7% year on year to US$34.5 billion while operating profit increased by 28.7% year on year to US$53.9 billion.
Net profit climbed 30% year on year to US$44.2 billion.
In particular, Microsoft’s cloud revenue saw 24% year on year growth to hit US$33.7 billion for the second quarter of FY2024.
LinkedIn’s revenue grew 9% year on year for the same period while the number of subscribers for Microsoft’s 365 Consumer product suite hit 78.4 million, up from 67.7 million in the same period last year.
Earlier this week, Microsoft announced a US$1.5 billion investment in G42, an AI firm based in the United Arab Emirates, as it seeks to strengthen its position in this technology.
The company also announced its first major price hike for its Dynamics 365 suite of business apps in over five years.
We have just revealed the top 7 US tech stocks poised for remarkable growth. In today’s fast-paced market, betting on these giants could mean more money in your pocket. With a focus on solid fundamentals and innovative prowess, these selections should earn a place in your portfolio. Click here to grab your FREE report now and start investing in the future, today.
Follow us on Facebook and Telegram for the latest investing news and analyses!
Disclosure: Royston Yang owns shares of Meta Platforms, Apple and Alphabet.