7 Growth Stocks That Are Actually Attractive Right Now

With macroeconomic trends becoming much more favorable and many growth stocks trading at depressed levels, there are several reasons to believe that growth stocks will soon rally. As a result, longer-term investors should look for growth stocks to buy at this point.

Among the favorable macro trends are China’s reopening, impending U.S. government stimulus in the form of the provisions of the bipartisan infrastructure law, the climate law, and a divided government in Washington. Moreover, most economists and prognosticators, from what I’ve heard on television and read online,  appear to believe that the highest Fed interest-rate hikes and inflation jumps are in the rear-view mirror, while the onshoring trend is likely to help many American growth stocks.

Here are seven growth stocks to buy that are very well-positioned to benefit from one or more of those positive trends.

Growth Stocks to Buy: Freeport McMoran (FCX)

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) has the world’s second-largest copper reserves and more copper reserves than any other U.S.-based company.

In recent days, copper prices surged on reports China is looking to reopen its economy by easing its anti-coronavirus measures. In my opinion, those reports are quite credible, so I expect copper prices to continue to climb in the coming days, weeks, and months, sparking similar gains by FCX stock.

Moreover, copper, as an essential component of electric vehicles, solar panels, and wind turbines, should get a big lift over the longer term from the world’s efforts to combat climate change.  Meanwhile, the supply of copper is expected to be inadequate to meet the world’s needs over the longer term, S&P Global has reported. Despite all of these strong, positive catalysts, FCX stock has a very low trailing price-earnings ratio of just 13.3.

Growth Stocks to Buy: General Electric (GE)

In recent days, General Electric’s (NYSE:GE) stock has been climbing as the Street appears to be finally realizing that GE is getting a big lift from pent-up demand for travel and further stability of the healthcare market.

Helping, the revenue of the company’s Aerospace unit climbed an impressive 25% year-over-year, excluding acquisitions, to $6.7 billion, as its sales to airlines soared 47% year over year. Moreover, the unit’s margins, excluding acquisitions, jumped 2.8 percentage points year over year to 19%.

In addition, investors appear to be pleased with the new, long-term plan unveiled by Boeing (NYSE:BA), one of GE Aerospace’s largest customers. Meanwhile, the outlook of GE’s Power unit has also become bright, as the unit’s orders soared 20% year over year, excluding acquisitions last quarter, and the business should benefit a great deal from the increased use of electricity as the electrification of transportation continues.

Growth Stocks to Buy: General Motors (GM)

GM (NYSE:GM) recently delivered very strong Q3 results and is becoming a leader in the EV sector. In addition, the automaker last quarter had the highest sales of “SUVs and full-size pickups” in the U.S., and provided full-year EPS guidance, excluding some items, of $6.50-$7.50. At the midpoint of the latter range, GM’s EPS would come in at $7, versus analysts’ previous average estimate of $6.79.

Meanwhile, in 2021, the automaker and its joint ventures delivered about 2.9 million vehicles in China. As a result, GM should be a prime beneficiary of the Asian nation’s reopening. On Oct. 26, JPMorgan increased its price target on GM stock to $59 from $58, citing the company’s favorable Q3 results and its “strong execution” despite macro pressures, The Fly reported. The bank kept an “overweight” rating on GM stock.

EVgo (EVGO)

EVgo (NASDAQ:EVGO) is a true growth stock, with the EV charging company growing at breakneck speed. In the third quarter, its revenue soared 70% year-over-year to $10.5 million, and it gained about 54,000 new customers, bringing its user base to nearly 500,000. Perhaps more importantly, its network throughput, or the amount of electricity that flowed through its chargers, jumped 51% YOY to 12.1 gigawatt-hours. The latter metric shows that the utilization of its chargers is also growing quickly.

According to the company, almost 140 million Americans live within ten miles of one of its fast chargers, showing that its footprint is significant enough to attract millions of more users now. As it deploys more chargers at its partners’ locations, they should become even more accessible to EV owners. (Among the company’s impressive partners are Kroger (NYSE:KR), Safeway, and JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM), all of which have installed EVgo’s chargers at their retail locations). As a result of provisions within the infrastructure law, the company is also likely to receive significant funds from the federal government to build many more chargers.

In addition, as I’ve noted in the past, EVgo is partnering closely with GM. Also, as GM’s EV sales increase, EVgo’s top and bottom lines should also climb, boosting EVGO stock in the process.

SunPower (SPWR)

SunPower’s (NASDAQ:SPWR) impressive third-quarter results, reported on Nov. 8, made me a believer in the company. SunPower specializes in selling solar panels to consumers. Its revenue soared 68% year-over-year to $476 million, while its EBITDA, excluding certain items, jumped over 100% YOY to $33 million. And the company’s customer base jumped 63% YOY to 23,100., while it has a total backlog of over 50,000 homes.

Further, for all of 2022, the company expects to generate adjusted EBITDA of $90 million to $110 million.

Since SunPower has a presence in Europe, it should benefit from the very strong demand for rooftop solar deployments there as the EU implements measures to encourage its citizens to power their homes with solar.

Additionally, SunPower, like EVgo, has a partnership with GM that should prove to be very beneficial. Under the deal, “SunPower will be the exclusive solar provider to all GM customers,” said SPWR CEO Peter Faricy on the company’s Q3 earnings call. “We view this as an important new sales channel that capitalizes on the growing interest in rooftop solar that naturally arises from EV ownership,” the CEO added.

InterContinental Hotel (IHG)

For the last two growth stocks to buy, I’ve chosen names that are benefiting from demand for travel, post-pandemic.

One of the firms is the multinational hotel owner InterContinental Hotel (NYSE:ICG).  Among the company’s better-known brands are Regent, Holiday Inn, Candlewood Suites, and Crowne Plaza. Last quarter, it generated impressive earnings per share of $11.74, while its top line soared 52% year-over-year to $1.70 billion. Meanwhile, its operating profit jumped more than 100% year over year to $377 million. That was just only 8% below Q3 of 2019. Finally, its RevPAR, or revenue per available room, jumped 28% versus the same period a year earlier and 2.7% compared with 2019, despite continued, tough coronavirus restrictions in China.

As those restrictions ease, IHG’s financial results should improve significantly more going forward. Also noteworthy is that IHG’s CFO, Paul Edgecliffe-Johnson, reported that, “Business travel [in the U.S.] has continued on its trajectory of recovery with revenue in June at a deficit of only 1% to 2019 levels.”Nevertheless, IHG expects its revenue from business travelers to rise further going forward.

Booking Holdings (BKNG)

Formerly known as Priceline, Booking Holdings (NASDAQ:BKNG) is an online travel agency that operates many well-known websites, including Priceline, OpenTable, and KAYAK. For the third quarter, the company reported that its top line soared 29% year-over-year to $6.1 billion, above analysts’ average estimate of $5.9 billion. And its earnings per share, excluding some items, soared 41% YOY to $3.03.

With the company benefiting from very strong travel trends, its room nights book rose 31% year over year. “We saw an improvement in room night trends as we moved through the [third] quarter,” Booking CEO Glenn Fogel stated, adding that BKNG is “encouraged” by the level of travel reservations for “early 2023.”

In a note to investors, trading firm Susquehanna wrote that BKNG reported favorable Q3 results, and the firm kept a “positive” rating on BKNG stock. The firm trimmed its price target on the name to $2,650 from $2,800. The stock closed at $1,859 yesterday.

On the date of publication, Larry Ramer held long positions in FCX, GE, and EVGO. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.