Top Growth Equities Worth Buying: Three Best Stocks for Long-Term Portfolio Building

If you’re looking to deploy $500 in the market right now, you have compelling options across multiple sectors. The current investment landscape presents numerous opportunities for long-term wealth building, and even as market indices climb higher, there remain attractive entry points. In this analysis, we identify three best stocks to buy that demonstrate resilience against market volatility while offering significant growth potential over the coming years: Dutch Bros (NYSE: BROS), SoFi Technologies (NASDAQ: SOFI), and MercadoLibre (NASDAQ: MELI). These companies span different industries but share a common thread—substantial runway for expansion in their respective markets.

Dutch Bros: A Coffee Chain Positioned for Sevenfold Expansion

Dutch Bros presents an intriguing case study in retail expansion. The company currently operates just over 1,000 locations across the nation, which represents a doubling from its public market debut roughly four years prior. Management has set an ambitious target to double the store count again within the next four years, with internal projections suggesting the potential to reach 7,000 locations. This represents one of the most compelling best stocks to buy among growth-oriented chains.

Beyond store expansion, the company’s underlying unit economics remain robust. Same-store sales grew 5.7% year-over-year in the most recent third quarter, demonstrating strong customer demand at existing locations. The company has invested in modernizing its customer experience through chainwide mobile ordering integration, which feeds into its loyalty membership ecosystem. Concurrent innovations in both beverage offerings and complementary food menu development continue to enhance its competitive moat. For shareholders with a multi-year investment horizon, Dutch Bros offers meaningful appreciation potential.

SoFi Technologies: Digital Banking’s Rapid Customer Acquisition Story

SoFi Technologies exemplifies the new wave of fintech-driven financial services. The platform continues to achieve breakthrough milestones in customer acquisition, setting company records each quarter. In the third quarter alone, it added 905,000 new customers, demonstrating sustained momentum in an increasingly competitive digital banking space. This trajectory makes it among the best stocks to buy for those bullish on fintech disruption.

The financial metrics underscore this growth narrative. Adjusted net revenue accelerated 38% year-over-year during the period, while earnings per share climbed from $0.05 in the prior year to $0.11 currently. The company’s appeal derives from its frictionless digital-first platform combined with customer-friendly economics—low fees paired with competitive rate offerings. The product ecosystem spans lending, investing, cryptocurrency trading, and soon global remittances processed on blockchain infrastructure. As SoFi accumulates customer deposits and market share, it’s progressing up the rankings of America’s largest financial institutions, with stated aspirations to crack the top 10. This growth trajectory justifies inclusion in any best stocks to buy list for forward-thinking investors.

MercadoLibre: Latin America’s E-Commerce and Fintech Powerhouse

While MercadoLibre may lack household recognition in the U.S., it reigns as the dominant e-commerce and fintech platform across Latin America. The region represents an underserved market for both e-commerce penetration and financial technology adoption, providing the company with expansive runway for organic growth. Total revenue surged 49% year-over-year on a currency-neutral basis during the latest third quarter, accompanied by a 35% increase in gross merchandise volume and a striking 54% increase in total payment volume. These growth rates reflect the company’s standard operational cadence.

The company maintains healthy profitability despite its growth phase, posting a 9.8% operating margin. This combination of scale, efficiency, and market opportunity positions MercadoLibre as a compelling addition to any best stocks to buy portfolio seeking emerging market exposure. Even though $500 permits only fractional ownership in this higher-priced equity, accumulating shares in this market leader provides meaningful exposure to Latin America’s digital transformation.

Strategic Perspective on These Three Holdings

Each of these companies—Dutch Bros, SoFi Technologies, and MercadoLibre—shares common characteristics that merit investor attention: they operate in markets with substantial untapped potential, they demonstrate pricing power and unit economics supporting expansion, and they maintain management teams executing disciplined growth strategies. For investors positioned to weather potential market corrections while holding for the medium to long term, these represent among the best stocks to buy at current levels, offering the potential to compound wealth significantly over a multi-year horizon.

The historical performance of comparable companies reinforces this thesis. Consider that investors deploying $1,000 into Nvidia when the advisory team issued its “Double Down” recommendation in 2009 would have accumulated $483,029 in value. Similarly, early positions in Apple ($48,612 from a $1,000 investment in 2008) and Netflix ($474,578 from $1,000 in 2004) demonstrate the wealth-creation potential when backing high-conviction growth stories at the right inflection points.

Analysis current as of January 20, 2026. Individual holdings and analyst positions reflected within the Motley Fool ecosystem. The views expressed represent equity research perspective and do not reflect official positions of NASDAQ Inc.