Top Growth Stocks To Watch Right Now

tags:MKL,ECOM ,COP,

Alphabet's (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) trend of strong growth continued in the company's first quarter, with revenue rising 26% year over year, faster than the online search company's 24% growth in its third�and fourth quarters of 2017.�"Our ongoing strong revenue growth reflects our momentum globally," said Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat about the results.

Unsurprisingly, Alphabet's 26% year-over-year increase in its first-quarter Google advertising properties revenue was the main growth driver for the period. But there were other important growth catalysts during the quarter, too.

Image source: Alphabet.

Where Alphabet's growth is coming from

To get a better idea of the drivers behind Alphabet's strong revenue growth, here's a breakdown of each segment's revenue compared to the year-ago period.

Top Growth Stocks To Watch Right Now: Markel Corporation(MKL)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Employers (NYSE: EIG) and Markel (NYSE:MKL) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, valuation and risk.

• [By Motley Fool Staff and Michael Douglass]

  Douglass: Right. I think that's one of the key things to keep in mind here as a difference between this and a Markel�(NYSE:MKL) or a Berkshire. This is a company that really isn't necessarily trying to find the next great investments that are going to beat the market. What they're mostly looking to do is invest in sectors through ETFs.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Media coverage about Markel (NYSE:MKL) has trended somewhat positive this week, according to Accern. Accern rates the sentiment of media coverage by monitoring more than twenty million news and blog sources in real-time. Accern ranks coverage of public companies on a scale of -1 to 1, with scores closest to one being the most favorable. Markel earned a media sentiment score of 0.12 on Accern’s scale. Accern also assigned news articles about the insurance provider an impact score of 45.7080067088456 out of 100, indicating that recent media coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an effect on the company’s share price in the immediate future.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Markel Co. (NYSE:MKL) Vice Chairman Steven A. Markel sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,136.06, for a total value of $227,212.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 104,850 shares in the company, valued at $119,115,891. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

• [By Brian Feroldi, Matthew Frankel, and Dan Caplinger]

  So which of Buffett's stocks do we Fools think are great buys right now? We asked a team of Motley Fool investors to weigh in and they�picked Markel (NYSE:MKL), Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), and Moody's (NYSE:MCO).�

Top Growth Stocks To Watch Right Now: ChannelAdvisor Corporation(ECOM )

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  B. Riley started coverage on shares of ChannelAdvisor (NYSE:ECOM) in a report published on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $17.50 price target on the software maker’s stock. B. Riley also issued estimates for ChannelAdvisor’s Q2 2018 earnings at ($0.21) EPS, Q3 2018 earnings at ($0.11) EPS, Q4 2018 earnings at $0.03 EPS, FY2018 earnings at ($0.41) EPS, Q1 2019 earnings at ($0.09) EPS, Q2 2019 earnings at ($0.11) EPS, Q3 2019 earnings at ($0.04) EPS, Q4 2019 earnings at $0.07 EPS and FY2019 earnings at ($0.16) EPS.

• [By Shane Hupp]

  ChannelAdvisor (NYSE: ECOM) and Tyler Technologies (NYSE:TYL) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk, dividends, institutional ownership and profitability.

Top Growth Stocks To Watch Right Now: ConocoPhillips(COP)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Matthew DiLallo]

  Oil prices have been on fire over the past year and recently topped $70 a barrel, which is the highest crude has been since late 2014. That rally in the oil market has helped fuel big-time gains in many oil stocks. Three that stand out are Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE:APC), Hess (NYSE:HES), and ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) because each has risen more than 20% this year. They might still have additional upside from here given that all three plan on spending billions of dollars to buy back more of their stock.

• [By Matthew DiLallo]

  ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) is one of these leaders. The U.S. oil giant announced a multi-billion-dollar buyback in late 2016, which has helped catapult its stock 55% higher since then, vastly outperforming the nearly 23% gain from the iShares U.S. Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (NYSEMKT:IEO), which holds more than 60 U.S.-focused oil and gas stocks. Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE:APC), meanwhile, has rallied almost 60% since unveiling a multi-billion-dollar buyback last fall, doubling the return of the iShares E&P ETF.

• [By Matthew DiLallo]

  ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) has been one of the best-performing oil stocks of 2018, up nearly 30% year to date, easily outpacing the less than 4% return of the S&P 500. Meanwhile, shares are up almost 64% in the past year, smashing the 14% gain by the broader market. And despite its impressive outperformance, we "still see upside potential for our shares," according to CEO Ryan Lance. The company is backing up that statement, too, by significantly expanding its share buyback program. Those buybacks could give the oil giant's stock the fuel it needs to continue its market-crushing run.