Filed under: Earnings Review · Investment Strategy
They Grew 5 Years Ago, 3 Years Ago, Again This Year… and They Still Look Built to Grow
The “hidden challenge” in the stock market: consistent growth.
Let’s be real: as investors, we can’t see how hard a company is working day-to-day. What we can see is the scoreboard. And consistent growth is way harder than it sounds because it’s constantly being chased by:
New competitors entering the space.
Changing economic cycles.
The brutal “law of large numbers” (it gets exponentially harder to grow as you get bigger).
So for this post, I didn’t look for one-hit wonders. I looked for companies that didn't just have a one-year "glow up" but showed repeatable earnings power.
🔍 My Filter: EPS Momentum
I used Finviz to screen for stocks where EPS (Earnings Per Share) grew 25%+ across multiple timeframes:
Note: NVIDIA showed up at the top (not surprising), but I left it out today to focus on names that feel more “under the radar.”
Here are three stocks that fit the “kept growing, still growing” profile.
1. AppLovin (APP)
AppLovin is basically a company that helps mobile apps sell ads more effectively.
🔧 Business Model
APP makes money through two main engines:
Ad-tech platform: Helps app developers show ads to users and improve ad performance. AppLovin takes a cut.
App publishing: It also owns a portfolio of apps that generate revenue, but the market’s main focus is the ad platform side.
📈 How it grew over the last 5 years
AppLovin’s story is less “we sell ads” and more “we optimize outcomes.” Over time, it evolved into a performance-driven ad-tech business. Crucially, it managed to expand profitability even through tough environments like high interest rates and a choppy global ad market.
💸 What needs to go right from here
For APP to keep earning its “growth stock” label, three things matter:
The performance advertising market keeps expanding.
APP stays competitive in AI-driven optimization.
The platform avoids trust issues (ad-tech lives and dies by credibility).
If those hold, APP has a clear path to keep compounding.
2. Celestica (CLS)
Celestica is a behind-the-scenes powerhouse that helps build hardware at scale, especially in critical areas like servers and networking.
🔧 Business Model
CLS sits in the EMS (Electronics Manufacturing Services) world, but it’s not just a commodity factory. It provides end-to-end delivery: design → build → test → ship, customized to what big clients need. The key point: it’s “manufacturing + engineering + execution,” not just assembly.
📈 How it grew over the last 5 years
Celestica benefited from a massive infrastructure wave:
Cloud and data centers expanding.
Networking demand rising.
AI adding rocket fuel to the whole infrastructure stack.
CLS leaned into higher-value products and improved efficiency, which helped translate industry tailwinds into real earnings growth.
💸 Why the next few years can still work
AI data centers aren’t slowing down easily, and demand for complex, high-performance hardware is rising. CLS already has experience and positioning in exactly the areas that are being built out aggressively. That sets it up well as an “infrastructure picks-and-shovels” play.
3. Comfort Systems USA (FIX)
Comfort Systems USA is one of those companies that sounds boring… until you realize it sits under some of the biggest real-world investment cycles happening in the U.S. It installs and maintains the systems that control building environments.
🔧 Business Model
FIX specializes in:
HVAC and mechanical installation.
Electrical and plumbing systems.
Maintenance and service (this part matters a lot).
A big chunk of revenue comes from ongoing service, which tends to be steadier than pure new construction.
📈 How it grew over the last 5 years
Several waves overlapped to boost FIX:
Industrial buildouts (reshoring).
Semiconductor fabs and Data Center construction.
Ongoing upgrades to existing buildings.
Data centers, in particular, demand heavy-duty cooling and climate systems. Once installed, they require ongoing maintenance. FIX basically rode the “physical infrastructure of the digital economy” trend.
💸 Why it may still have runway
The same forces are still in play:
AI data centers continue expanding.
Industrial projects remain active.
Maintenance revenue provides a floor even when new builds slow.
FIX isn’t flashy, but it’s the kind of business that can quietly grind higher while the market fights over headlines.
💡 Key Takeaways
These three companies are in totally different lanes, but they share the same destination: Growth.
APP: Ad-tech platform (Software/AI).
CLS: AI infrastructure manufacturing (Hardware).
FIX: Data center + industrial building systems (Physical Backbone).
This mix can be useful for long-term investing because you’re not betting on one single trend or one single cycle. Importantly, these aren’t stories powered only by hype. They’re names that the market has rewarded because quarter after quarter, the numbers kept showing up.
Of course, past performance doesn’t guarantee future results. But companies that repeatedly prove earnings power often have a habit of staying in the game longer than people expect.
Disclaimer: This post is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Investing involves risk, and every decision is your own responsibility.
Next reads:
Related Analysis
Explore More
Read the full guide
Comments
Post a Comment