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Here Are My Top 3 Growth Stocks to Buy Now

The Motley FoolDec 27, 2025 3:20 PM

Key Points

  • MercadoLibre is the e-commerce and fintech leader in Latin America.

  • Eli Lilly is already looking ahead to its next generation of successes both in and outside of the GLP-1 industry.

  • Alphabet's AI infrastructure is driving gains for its own business and external customers.

Growth stocks are a great option for long-term investors due to their potential for high capital appreciation. These companies typically operate in innovative and dynamic industries and reinvest their earnings back into the business to fuel further expansion. This can lead to significant stock price increases through the years that can enrich your portfolio through the beauty of compounding returns.

If you're looking for top growth stocks to buy right now, here are three no-brainer names to consider.

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue »

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1. MercadoLibre

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ: MELI) is quickly becoming the digital backbone of Latin America, as its integrated e-commerce, logistics, and fintech ecosystem continues to thrive. By handling 95% of its own deliveries through its Mercado Envíos network, MercadoLibre achieves faster and more reliable shipping than its competitors, which remains a critical advantage amid the region's often-challenging infrastructure.

The company's Mercado Pago division provides essential financial services in an underbanked region. Its total credit portfolio has reached $11 billion as of the end of the third quarter of 2025, up 83% from a year ago, and a large portion of its payment volume is coming from outside the e-commerce platform.

MercadoLibre has been cash-flow positive every year since 2007 and has demonstrated an ability to fund its own expansion without excessive reliance on external capital. Newer ventures like digital advertising are high-margin businesses that can leverage the company's vast user data to drive growth and improve overall profitability in the years ahead.

In Q3 2025, MercadoLibre's net revenue popped 39% year over year to $7.4 billion, the 27th consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth greater than 30%. Brazil is immensely important to MercadoLibre as the company's single largest and most crucial market, which accounts for over half of its total revenues. Management has emphasized a focus on long-term value creation over short-term margin improvements, making significant investments in logistics and expanding free shipping in Brazil.

The lowered free shipping threshold in Brazil led to a surge in items sold in Q3 (up 42% year over year in Brazil) and the largest quarterly addition of unique buyers in the company's history. Unique buyers in Brazil were up 29% year over year in Q3. MercadoLibre delivered about $718 million in adjusted free cash flow in the first nine months of 2025 alone. If you want to invest in a top-notch e-commerce and fintech stock, MercadoLibre looks like a no-brainer buy.

2. Eli Lilly

Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) briefly reached a $1 trillion market cap earlier this year, becoming the first healthcare company to achieve that milestone thanks to the explosive growth and global adoption of its obesity and diabetes treatments. In Q3 2025, Lilly reported 54% year-over-year revenue growth to $17.6 billion. Combined sales of its GLP-1 products Mounjaro (diabetes) and Zepbound (obesity) totaled over $10 billion in a single quarter and now account for more than 50% of the company's total revenue.

Lilly has unseated its rival Novo Nordisk as the market leader in the GLP-1 space and now controls nearly 60% of total U.S. prescriptions for these medications. The company recently submitted a New Drug Application to the FDA for its once-daily GLP-1 pill, forglipron, for the treatment of obesity in adults, following positive results from its Phase 3 trial. In this trial, orforglipron significantly outperformed the placebo in maintaining weight loss over 52 weeks in patients previously on semaglutide (the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy) or tirzepatide (the active ingredient in Mounjaro and Zepbound).

This trial specifically tested weight maintenance after initial intensive treatment to demonstrate orforglipron's role in preventing weight regain. Patients switching from Wegovy regained approximately 2 pounds, and those switching from Zepbound regained approximately 11 pounds compared to the placebo. The pill was awarded a Commissioner's National Priority Voucher.

While standard reviews typically take around 10 months, this voucher could result in an FDA decision as early as the first quarter of 2026. Lilly's CEO previously estimated a target approval date around March 2026. A separate application for orforglipron to treat Type 2 diabetes is expected to follow in the new year too. If approved, orforglipron will be the first small-molecule, once-daily oral GLP-1 receptor agonist available for weight management. Analysts expect it to generate up to $40 billion in annual revenue at its peak.

Another key GLP-1 drug candidate is Eli Lilly's retatrutide, a first-in-class triple hormone receptor agonist, which means it mimics the effects of three naturally occurring hunger-regulating hormones simultaneously. The drug is currently in Phase 3 trials and has shown unprecedented weight loss results (averaging 28.2%) in clinical data released in late 2025. Beyond weight loss, Lilly is seeing strong demand for Kisunla, its Alzheimer's treatment, which is expected to launch in multiple European markets in 2026. This appears to be a fantastic healthcare stock to buy and hold for the long term. It also happens to be a long-standing dividend payer, with a yield just under 1% partly due to the stock's generous run-up of 40% over the last year.

3. Alphabet

In Q3 2025, Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) (NASDAQ: GOOG) reported its first-ever $100 billion quarter. Its total revenue reached $102.3 billion (up 16% from a year ago), and diluted earnings per share (EPS) jumped 35.4% to $2.87. The company maintains one of the world's strongest balance sheets, with $98.5 billion in cash and marketable securities as of the last count. Google Cloud revenue increased 34% year over year to $15.2 billion in Q3 2025. Operating margins for this segment also expanded significantly to 23.7%, up from 17.1% a year earlier.

The company has a massive $155 billion backlog of non-recognized sales contracts, which reflects the impressive future demand for its artificial intelligence (AI)-powered infrastructure. Alphabet's primary AI model, Gemini, now has over 650 million monthly active users and is driving a 3x increase in search queries through AI Overviews. Moreover, Alphabet's custom Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) are seeing high demand from external companies, which could potentially create a multibillion-dollar revenue stream.

Despite fears of AI disruption, Google Search revenue grew 14.5% year over year in Q3 to $56.6 billion as the company maintains its roughly 90% global share of the search engine market. Advertising revenue on YouTube grew 15% to $10.3 billion, bolstered by the monetization of Shorts, and paid subscriptions (YouTube Premium, Google One) crossed 300 million, underscoring the ability of this segment to provide a stable, high-margin recurring revenue stream.

Alphabet has been one of the best-performing stocks in the Magnificent Seven for 2025, with shares rising roughly 60% year to date. Despite the rally, it trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) around 28, which is quite reasonable given its more than 30% earnings growth rate. Investors should also pay attention to Alphabet's Waymo. The autonomous driving subsidiary is emerging as a leader in the U.S. robotaxi market, with fully autonomous, publicly available services currently operating in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Austin, Texas.

Waymo is rapidly expanding, processing over 450,000 paid rides per week, and is reportedly in talks to raise over $15 billion at a valuation approaching $100 billion. Alphabet remains a top tech stock that looks like a great buy now and for the long term if you're a growth-oriented investor seeking a profitable, powerhouse business.

Should you buy stock in MercadoLibre right now?

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*Stock Advisor returns as of December 27, 2025.

Rachel Warren has positions in Alphabet. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet and MercadoLibre. The Motley Fool recommends Novo Nordisk. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Disclaimer: The information provided on this website is for educational and informational purposes only and should not be considered financial or investment advice.
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