10 Best Growth Stocks to Buy and Hold: Morningstar

In 2023, the Morningstar US Growth Index outperformed the Morningstar US Value Index by some 26 percentage points, Morningstar's development editor Margaret Giles wrote in a recent blog post. Now, value stocks have the upper hand as the early gap in 2024 year-to-date returns has disappeared. Where does that leave growth stocks? "Between some pullback and a few modest increases in our fair values this year, stocks within the growth category continue to trade near fair value," Morningstar's senior U.S. market strategist Dave Sekera said in the post. "However, within the growth category, stocks trading at much of a discount to fair value have become harder to find. We prefer investing in higher-quality companies with wide economic moats." The best growth stocks to buy for the long term share a few qualities, according to Giles. For one, they reside in the growth portion of the Morningstar style box. The stocks are those of companies Morningstar includes on its list of the best companies to own for 2024. These have wide Morningstar economic moat ratings and predictable cash flows, and their management teams make smart capital allocation decisions. The best growth stocks are also reasonably priced, according to Morningstar analysts, meaning they are trading below or near the firm's fair value estimates. See the gallery for the 10 best growth stocks to buy for the long term, according to Morningstar.