Growth stocks are an excellent way to help you grow your portfolio to better prepare for retirement.
Luckily, numerous growth stock candidates in the US stock market boast global businesses that demonstrate steady growth.
Many of these stocks also pay out consistently higher dividends over the years.
If you are just starting to build a growth stock portfolio, it’s useful to stick with names that you are familiar with.
Here are five familiar US stocks that you may wish to include in your growth stocks buy watchlist.
Kimberly-Clark (NYSE: KMB)
Kimberly-Clark is a consumer goods giant that sells a wide variety of baby care, family care, and feminine care products to more than 175 countries globally.
The company carries famous brands such as Scott, Kimberly-Clark, Cottonelle, and Huggies.
Kimberly-Clark reported a strong set of earnings for 2024, the first year of its multi-year Powering Care strategic transformation.
Sales dipped by 1.8% year on year to US$20.1 billion because of currency effects and divestments, but gross profit improved by 2.1% year on year to US$7.2 billion.
Operating profit climbed 37% year on year to US$3.2 billion while net profit shot up 44.3% year on year to US$2.5 billion.
The consumer goods giant also generated a positive free cash flow of US$2.5 billion for 2024, around 10% lower than the US$2.78 billion churned out in the previous year.
The company declared a quarterly dividend of US$1.26 per share, an increase of 3.3% over the previous year.
This increase represents Kimberly-Clark’s 53rd consecutive dividend increase, putting it in the league of dividend kings.
For 2025, the business expects to grow its revenue by around 2% year on year and will generate an adjusted free cash flow of around US$2 billion.
McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD)
McDonald’s is one of the largest fast-food chains in the world and is famous for its trademark “golden arches” logo.
The company has over 43,000 locations in more than 100 countries and around 95% of these restaurants operate on a franchise model.
For 2024, total revenue inched up 2% year on year to US$25.9 billion.
Operating profit increased by 1% year on year to US$11.7 billion, and net profit dipped by 3% year on year to US$8.2 billion because of higher taxes.
McDonald’s also churned out a healthy positive free cash flow of US$6.7 billion for 2024.
The board declared a quarterly dividend of US$1.77, a 6% year-on-year increase over the previous year’s dividend.
This increase makes it the 48th consecutive year that the fast-food chain has increased its dividends.
McDonald’s 90-day active loyalty users were over 175 million across 60 markets and grew around 15% year on year, a testament to the company’s brand strength.
Lululemon (NASDAQ: LULU)
Lululemon manufactures and sells sports apparel and footwear used by yoga enthusiasts and sports buffs.
The company sets a high bar for innovative fabrics and functional design and works with yogis and athletes in local communities for research and product feedback.
Lululemon reported a robust set of earnings for the first nine months of fiscal 2025 (9M FY2025) ending 27 October 2024.
Revenue increased 8.8% year on year to US$6.98 billion while operating profit jumped 20.1% year on year to US$1.46 billion.
Net profit stood at US$1.07 billion, up 21.1% year on year.
The sports apparel maker also generated a positive free cash flow of US$417.1 million.
Lululemon has upgraded its guidance for its fourth quarter of fiscal 2025 and expects revenue to be in the range of US$3.56 billion to US$3.58 billion.
This guidance was above the previous guidance of between US$3.475 billion to US$3.51 billion.
Back in 2022, the company announced its intention to double its revenue to US$12.5 billion by 2026 for its new Power of Three x2 strategic thrust.
This goal will be achieved through three pillars – product innovation, guest experience, and market expansion.
Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE)
Adobe should be a familiar name to most people who use a laptop or desktop computer to view files.
Its popular portable document format (PDF) is used for a myriad of documents on numerous websites.
The company also offers cloud services such as Document Cloud and Creative Cloud to help designers visualise and design graphics and provide digital signatures for authenticating documents.
Adobe reported a record set of results for its first quarter of fiscal 2025 (1Q FY2025) ending 28 February 2025.
Revenue rose 10.3% year on year to a new high of US$5.7 billion while operating profit increased by 13.4% year on year to US$2.2 billion.
Net profit stood at US$1.8 billion, up 11.8% year on year.
Free cash flow for the quarter more than doubled year on year to US$2.46 billion.
Earlier this month, Adobe expanded its GenStudio content supply chain offering for marketing and creative teams within organisations so that they can better handle artificial intelligence content demand.
Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX)
Netflix is a streaming television (TV) giant with a wide library of movies and TV series within its catalogue.
The market leader is a household name in many countries with a huge subscriber base of 301.6 million paying members.
Netflix reported a solid set of earnings for 2024.
Revenue increased 15.6% year on year to US$39 billion with operating profit surging 49.8% year on year to US$10.4 billion.
Net profit stood at US$8.7 billion, soaring 61.1% year on year.
The streaming behemoth generated a free cash flow of US$6.9 billion for 2024, roughly in line with what was generated a year ago.
Its member base continued to expand, rising by nearly 16% year on year to 301.6 million.
Netflix intends to continue to invest in making must-see films and TV series to deliver an amazing slate of content to its members.
The company is also building up its games franchise and will launch more immersive and narrative games based on its intellectual property.
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Disclosure: Royston Yang owns shares of Adobe and Lululemon.
