The benefit of fast-growing stocks is self-evident, but if inflation becomes something to start worrying about, fast-growing stocks have an importance tied to timing.

If inflation returns, growth will be more uneven than it has been in the past.

At that point, you’ll need to find firms with solid sales earnings growth as well as technical and fundamental strengths to keep the profits rolling.

These are five fast-growing stocks to buy today that will keep you in good stead for years to come, even if inflation returns.

Sherwin-Williams (SHW)
Sherwin-Williams Co (NYSE:SHW) has sold paint and coatings now for 152 years.

That’s a pretty impressive record. But it’s a bit unusual to see a paint company in a list of top growth stocks. Usually, it’s some cloud-storage firm or a breakout online retailer.

However, SHW, by its size and reputation, has not only endured but it has positioned itself on top of the coatings heap. It grew from annual sales of $400,000 in 1866 to annual sales topping $15 billion last year, coming from over 100 countries around the world.

Its size, scope and quality is one reason hardware giant Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) inked a deal to be the only nationwide home seller to offer SHW products. This is even more exciting given that housing demand is back on track and the interest in homeowners to fixing up their current houses. SHW is rated a “B” in my Portfolio Grader system.

Vertex (VRTX)
Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) is one of the leading pharmaceutical firms when it comes to treating cystic fibrosis (CF).

That may not seem like much of a franchise given all the other more compelling diseases out there, but VRTX has built a $47.7 billion market cap in the sector and most of its competitors are looking for other places to find an opening.

That is a big deal for pharma companies that usually are strong until patents run down or generics start eating into margins.

Not so with VRTX. As new approvals keep rolling in for next-generation CF drugs, it has plenty more in the pipeline to keep this growth going. Vertex is rated a “B” by Portfolio Grader.

Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A)
Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS.A, NYSE:RDS.B) is one of the biggest players in the global energy markets. With a $226 billion market cap, the only Big Oil that’s bigger is Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM). It’s what is called an integrated energy company because it has operations from the fields to the pipelines to the refineries to the distribution.

As with all energy firms, when times are bad, the more exposure you have to the entire production and distribution process, the tougher things get. But at the size the big oils are, they have the money to wait out the bad patches.

And that’s just what RDS.A has done. Now it’s time to cash in. RDS stock is rated a “C” by Portfolio Grader, but it is still delivering a mouth-watering 6.75% dividend. However, that may wane as the stock price starts rising. In the meanwhile, it’s easy to see why this is one of our picks for the best fast-growing stocks.

Lumentum (LITE)
Lumentum Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: LITE) is a specialty company that focuses on laser beams. It’s one of the biggest optical and photonics companies in the world that is working on the 3D sensing sector.

Essentially, 3D sensing is basically the gesture sensing that we all have become accustomed with in our mobile devices, screens in our cars, etc. It is one of the most ubiquitous aspects of our interactive age and one of the key parts of the Internet of Things (IoT) concept.

LITE stock rates as a “C” in Portfolio Grader, but the broader tailwinds make it worthwhile. That is to say, Lumentum is also a major player in the optical networking space that makes the infrastructure that makes our world “smarter,” operating in as close to real time as possible. It’s crucial for the next generation of cloud computing and network operations.

Its laser division helps build the next generation of equipment that makes all this possible.

Knight-Swift (KNX)
Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc (NYSE:KNX) had its humble beginnings in 1966, taking steel from the Port of Los Angeles to Arizona and bringing cotton from Arizona to LA. Today, KNX is a $5.9 billion business with 20,000 trucks on the road throughout the U.S. and Mexico. If you see a Swift logo on a truck while driving, it’s a KNX truck.

Charles Dow, the inspiration for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, also inspired a fundamental theory about the economy and the markets. It’s simply called Dow Theory.

One of the core tenants is that if you look at the transportation and the industrial sectors, you can predict how well the economy will be doing in the near future. If the transport business is rising, that’s a bullish sign that the economy is on an upswing and KNX stock with it.

It’s worth mentioning, however, that KNX stock sports an “F” rating in my Portfolio Grader system on a quantitative basis, but it has a “C” rating for fundamentals. Its inclusion in this list lies with its astronomical growth — KNX stock is up 31% from its January low, and its one-year price target of $42 represents 35% growth. On an earnings basis, Knight-Swift is predicted to grow earnings at a long-term (5-year) rate of 10%.

— Louis Navellier

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Source: Investor Place