Stocks to buy

This looks like a wonderful time for investors looking for hot growth stocks with very strong outlooks. I believe that the market is really starting to internalize the concept that Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is anything but super-hawkish on interest rates and that the economy is well-positioned for a “soft landing.”

There are two main reasons for my optimism. First, in the last month, the stock market in general and growth stocks, in particular, have performed very well. Secondly bullish statements made earlier this month by the very successful, veteran investor Ed Yardeni make me think hot growth stocks are about to get a lot more attractive.

On Aug. 1, Yardeni noted that there have been multiple signs that inflation is easing. And he added that the central bank may already have raised rates to a neutral level. Consequently, the Fed could hike rates one more time in September before taking its foot off the brake, causing the economy to have a soft landing, Yardeni said.

It appears that many large investors are realizing that this scenario is likely and that, as a result, growth stocks are starting to take off.  If Powell, in his speech on Friday, does suggest that we’re headed in the direction that Yardeni foreshadowed, these hot growth stocks are likely to soar for the foreseeable future.

BNGO Bionano  $2.74
PLUG Plug Power  $29.29
DAR Darling Ingredients $78.17
AUR Aurora $2.46
BBY Best Buy $78.09
AMZN Amazon  $136.36
RIVN Rivian $32.93

Bionano (BNGO)

Source: Dennis Diatel / Shutterstock.com

I’ve written many columns on why Bionano’s (NASDAQ:BNGO) technology is poised to be widely adopted and become a game-changer for genetic analysis.

I believe, however, that one recent development has caused the Street to finally believe in the huge potential of Bionano and its optical genome mapping technology.

Specifically, one of the country’s premier cancer research centers, the MD Anderson Cancer Center, has begun praising Bionano’s OGM.

I believe the Street’s realization of the importance of this development explains why BNGO stock has more than doubled since bottoming on May 11, and I think that the shares are poised to jump tremendously in the medium-term and the long-term, making it one of the hot growth stocks to watch.

Given all the lives that OGM can save and the embrace of Bionano’s OGM by MD Anderson, BNGO stock should easily triple by 2030.

Plug Power (PLUG)

Source: Halfpoint/ShutterStock.com

Plug Power (NASDAQ:PLUG) is rapidly becoming one of the global leaders when it comes to green hydrogen production.

The latest evidence that green hydrogen is proliferating around the world comes from Germany and Canada. Specifically, German companies Eon and Uniper recently agreed to import “hydrogen on a large scale” from a Canadian firm, Everwind,  starting in 2025.

The deal underscores the large extent to which Europe is turning to hydrogen as it looks to diversify its electricity sources.

Plug Power, which plans to launch a large green hydrogen plant in Belgium, is poised to capitalize on the latter trend.

Given the huge, developing demand for green hydrogen in many parts of the world, I believe that PLUG stock can easily triple by 2030.

Darling (DAR)

Source: Oleksiy Mark / Shutterstock.com

As I’ve written before Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR) stands to benefit from federal energy incentives.

It turns out that the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA),  provides tax breaks for companies that produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

On Darling’s second-quarter earnings conference call, the company’s executive vice president of renewables, Sandra Dudley, said that the legislation includes “significant support for biofuels” and  “makes significant inroads into enabling us to be able to produce SAF. ”

Moreover, the law will help Darling’s biofuels and renewable diesel business as well, Dudley reported.

Darling’s core ingredients business appears to be performing well, as its net sales climbed to $1.65 billion last quarter, up from $1.2 billion during the same period a year earlier. Its EBITDA, excluding certain items, climbed to $402.6 million, up from $353.7 million in Q2 of 2021.

DAR stock has jumped 25% over the last month.

Aurora Innovation (AUR)

Source: T. Schneider / Shutterstock

Aurora (NASDAQ:AUR), which enables trucks to be driven autonomously, continues to make progress on many fronts.

The company demonstrated its Fault Management System, which enables its autonomous software, the Aurora Driver, “to detect system issues and respond safely
without any human involvement.” The FMS allows vehicles to pull over to the side of the road when necessary, a feature that GM’s Cruise EVs appear to have lacked earlier this year.

In the final weeks of Q2, no interventions were required in trucks being operated by the Aurora Driver on their regular route between El Paso, Texas and Fort Worth, Texas. That achievement was enabled by a technical innovation that allowed the Aurora driver to know its precise location.

Institutions seem to love Aurora. As of the end of Q2, 105% of the float of AUR stock was owned by institutions (the percentage may be over 100% because of convertible shares). Among the large institutions that owned many tens of millions of dollars of Aurora’s shares as of the end of last quarter were T. Rowe Price, Vanguard, and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS).

Given the tremendous shortage of truck drivers in the U.S., this is one of the hot growth stocks that is very well-positioned in the next several years.

Best Buy (BBY)

Source: Ken Wolter / Shutterstock.com

With many Americans raising their spending on experiences and cutting their outlays on consumer electronics, Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) stock has sunk 23% so far this year, and it’s down 36% over the last 12 months.

But, sooner or later, consumers’ desire for experiences will be satiated and they’ll go back to spending more money on the latest and greatest computer hardware and large-screen TVs. Some will buy newer offerings, like autonomous drones, virtual-reality headsets and games,  3D printers, and other technologies that become popular in the next several years.

As I’ve pointed out in previous columns, Best Buy is very well-positioned to exploit the strong demand for new technologies. That’s because when it comes to having a national presence and a sole focus on consumer electronics, BBY has a monopoly.

With BBY stock trading at a small forward price-earnings ratio of 13 and a truly tiny, trailing price-sales ratio of 0.4, I believe that this is one of the hot growth stocks that will easily triple by 2030.

Amazon (AMZN)

Source: Jonathan Weiss / Shutterstock.com

Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) has a huge e-commerce unit that’s currently in a downturn largely due to consumers’ temporary embrace of experiences over goods.

Once the situation normalizes, the growth of Amazon’s e-commerce unit should quickly reaccelerate to its pre-pandemic levels.

Meanwhile, the conglomerate’s cloud business continues to expand rapidly. Sales grew 33% year over year last quarter to nearly $20 billion. Its ad business is also doing well, with the unit’s sales climbing 218% despite the tough macro challenges facing the digital-ad sector at this point.

AMZN is rapidly entering the healthcare sector, which was worth $808 billion in the U.S. alone last year, according to one estimate. I believe that, by 2030, Amazon could get 5%-10% of the total healthcare market by getting into the telehealth and prescription markets.

Add in some overseas healthcare revenue, and we’re talking about a business that could easily generate $100 billion of annual revenue for AMZN within five years, moving the needle a great deal for the company and its shares.

As I’ve noted in previous columns, I believe that Amazon’s new CEO, Andy Jassy, is much “hungrier” for success than his predecessor Jeff Bezos. Consequently, AMZN’s forays into businesses other than the cloud and e-commerce are far more likely to bear fruit in the coming years than in the past decade.

Given all of these points, I believe that AMZN stock is indeed poised to triple by 2030.

Rivian (RIVN)

Source: Miro Vrlik Photography / Shutterstock.com

Rivian (NASDAQ:RIVN) looks like it’s on the way to tremendous success. Its EVs have gotten uniformly, overwhelmingly positive reviews.

RIVN delivered higher-than-expected revenue in Q2 and maintained its full-year production guidance of 25,000.

The company’s largest customer also happens to be one of the world’s largest companies, Amazon. Further, improving Rivian’s outlook even better, Amazon also has a large amount of RIVN stock, making the e-commerce giant highly invested in Rivian’s future.

George Soros has also bought many of Rivian’s shares. Joining Soros last quarter as major RIVN shareholders were two other reputable, multibillionaire investors, Ray Dalio and David Einhorn.

Given Rivian’s tremendous progress and its backing from Amazon, I believe that the shares will much more than triple from their current levels by 2030.

On the date of publication, Larry Ramer held long positions in BNGO,PLUG,DAR,AUR,and RIVN. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.

Larry Ramer has conducted research and written articles on U.S. stocks for 15 years. He has been employed by The Fly and Israel’s largest business newspaper, Globes. Larry began writing columns for InvestorPlace in 2015. Among his highly successful, contrarian picks have been GE, solar stocks, and Snap. You can reach him on StockTwits at @larryramer.