3 Red-Hot Growth Stocks to Buy in 2025

Key Points

• Chipotle Mexican Grill has steadily grown its store count, profits, and free cash flow over the years and looks well positioned to continue doing so.

• MercadoLibre is the entrenched e-commerce market leader in Latin America and enjoys favorable tailwinds that can allow it to continue growing.

• CrowdStrike also boasts a long-term catalyst as more organizations digitalize and require threat and data protection services.

• 10 stocks we like better than Chipotle Mexican Grill ›

Stocks have always been the best way to build and grow your wealth to better prepare for retirement. Growth stocks, in particular, can compound your wealth through capital appreciation so that you can achieve your retirement goals sooner. But you cannot just scoop up any stock. You need to look for certain attributes that ensure your investment can do well over the long term. These characteristics include a solid growth track record, a pattern of effective execution by the management team, and catalysts that can propel the business forward.

With these attributes in mind, here are three promising growth stocks that you can accumulate in your portfolio.

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1. Chipotle Mexican Grill

Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) serves a variety of tasty Mexican food and has over 3,800 restaurants in the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East as of June 30, 2025. The business has seen its revenue, net income and free cash flow grow steadily over the years, as shown in the table below.

Data source: Chipotle Mexican Grill.

The Mexican restaurant operator continued to post a healthy set of earnings for the first half of 2025. Revenue rose 4.6% year over year to $5.9 billion, while operating income inched up 1.1% year over year to $1.04 billion. Net income stood at $822.7 million, posting a small 1% year-over-year improvement. Chipotle continued to churn out a healthy free cash flow of $813 million for the half-year. In the second quarter of 2025, the company opened another 61 new company-owned stores, and anticipates opening between 315 and 345 new restaurants for 2025.

Chipotle is working to boost its U.S. sales even as consumer sentiment stayed soft for the latest quarter. The company recently unveiled its U Rewards program and is the first major national restaurant chain to introduce a loyalty program catered to college students. Enrolling alone will award a student 1,000 bonus points, and they can then earn 20% more points with every purchase. Chipotle also continues to expand its international presence with the signing of a development agreement with Alsea, a leading restaurant operator in Europe and Latin America, to open its first restaurant in Mexico by early 2026. This move follows Chipotle's expansion into the Middle East back in 2023, and management is exploring additional expansion markets in the region. Meanwhile, management is also targeting to operate 7,000 locations in both the U.S. and Canada in the long term. These initiatives and goals should enable Chipotle to continue posting healthy growth in its top and bottom lines in the years to come.

2. MercadoLibre

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ: MELI) is the largest e-commerce player in Latin America, and offers not just e-commerce but also payment services and loans on its platform. The company reported impressive growth over the years, with revenue nearly doubling from 2022 to 2024 and net income nearly quadrupling, as shown in the table below. Free cash flow also nearly tripled over the same period.

Data source: MercadoLibre.

MercadoLibre continued to report healthy growth momentum in the first half of 2025, with net revenue climbing 35% year over year to $12.7 billion. Operating income jumped 26.6% year over year to $1.6 billion, while net income improved by 16% year over year to $1 billion. Free cash flow continued rising, increasing by 10.7% year over year to $3.4 billion for the half-year. The number of fintech monthly active users surged 30.8% year over year to 68 million. MercadoLibre also saw gross merchandise value through its platform increase by 19% year over year to $28.6 billion. Its payment platform, Mercado Pago, saw total payment volume leap 41.2% year over year to $122.9 billion, boosted by a 36.5% year-over-year growth in payment transactions to nearly $7 billion.

There could be more growth in store for the e-commerce giant. Marketing campaigns were launched in Brazil, Mexico, and Chile to expand Mercado Pago's reach, and the payment platform will apply for a banking license from the Central Bank of Argentina to expand its offerings with a fully digital business model. The company is also continuously improving its platform to attract more merchants and customers and increase stickiness. MercadoLibre introduced new features in Mexico, enabling merchants to accept bill payments, which will help drive more traffic to their stores. This steady expansion plan, along with higher user acceptance, should lead to further growth for MercadoLibre as it cements itself as Latin America's preferred e-commerce player.

3. CrowdStrike

CrowdStrike (NASDAQ: CRWD) is a cybersecurity company operating a cloud platform that protects enterprises against identity and data threats and breaches. The business has seen a steady increase in revenue and gross profit over the years, with gross profit margin hovering between 73% and 75%. CrowdStrike also generates consistent and increasing free cash flow, as shown in the table below.

Data source: CrowdStrike. Fiscal years end Jan. 31.

CrowdStrike saw revenue and gross profit head higher in the first quarter of fiscal 2026. Revenue increased 20% year over year to $1.1 billion, while gross profit climbed 17% year over year to $814.3 million. The cybersecurity company also churned out positive free cash flow of $281 million for the quarter. CrowdStrike also reported ending annual recurring revenue (ARR) of $4.4 billion, up 21.6% year over year.

The company continues to release new updates to its software. Earlier in August, CrowdStrike introduced CrowdStrike Signal, which uses artificial intelligence (AI)-powered detection tools to identify threats before they escalate. Signal filters out unusual activity by analyzing billions of daily events and provides insights that let security teams investigate and stop threats more quickly. In the same month, the company also launched its Falcon Next-Gen Identity Security, a unified platform that protects users across different devices and environments. The platform can manage complexity yet provide organizations with speed and precision to tackle modern cyberattacks. These innovations help to ensure that CrowdStrike stays at the forefront of cutting-edge technology and increase the company's effectiveness, thereby attracting a larger customer base and garnering high ARR over time.

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Royston Yang has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Chipotle Mexican Grill, CrowdStrike, and MercadoLibre. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: short September 2025 $60 calls on Chipotle Mexican Grill. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.