The Best Growth ETFs to Invest $1,000 in Right Now

One of the most successful themes over the past few years has unquestionably been growth investing. With the U.S. economy continuing to expand, inflation under control, and hundreds of billions of dollars still being poured into artificial intelligence (AI) development, it's entirely possible that the rally will continue.

The exchange-traded fund (ETF) marketplace makes it easy and cheap to invest in this space. With annual expense ratios often less than 0.10%, it can cost next to nothing to get broad, diversified exposure to growth stocks.

If you're looking to put $1,000 or more to work in your portfolio today, here are three of the best growth ETFs you can choose.

Source: Getty Images.

1. Vanguard Growth ETF

The Vanguard Growth ETF (NYSEMKT: VUG) checks all the boxes. It has a huge asset base. It's highly liquid and tradeable. It's diversified across roughly 150 different stocks. And with an expense ratio of just 0.04%, it allows you to keep more money in your pocket.

This ETF tracks the CRSP US Large Cap Growth index. Stocks are reviewed and scored on six fundamental factors:

• Expected long-term growth in earnings per share (EPS)
• Expected short-term growth in EPS
• Three-year historical growth in EPS
• Three-year historical growth in sales per share
• Investment-to-assets ratio
• Return on assets

Looking at both historical and anticipated earnings growth is a good policy, as it involves past and current trends. I like that this ETF looks at multiple factors and not just one or two. It should give the Vanguard Growth ETF better pure-play growth exposure.

2. Invesco QQQ ETF

The Invesco QQQ ETF (NASDAQ: QQQ) tracks the performance of the 100 largest nonfinancial companies listed on the Nasdaq. This ETF has approximately 63% of its assets in technology stocks and another 18% in consumer discretionary stocks, including every one of the "Magnificent Seven."

Building a portfolio of stocks from the Nasdaq alone may seem limiting, but there's little question that this has become a go-to growth/tech ETF for many. It's not designed to be a growth fund, but its large allocations to stocks including Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) make it one right now. In fact, one of the biggest overlaps the Invesco QQQ ETF currently has is with the Vanguard Growth ETF.

The Invesco QQQ ETF comes with a slightly higher expense ratio of 0.18%. If you're looking for something slightly cheaper, consider the Invesco Nasdaq 100 ETF (NASDAQ: QQQM). It tracks the same index but has a 0.15% expense ratio.

3. Vanguard Information Technology ETF

The Vanguard Information Technology ETF (NYSEMKT: VGT) certainly qualifies as a growth fund and has one of the best performance records within the growth fund category. Because it's a pure tech fund, however, it doesn't quite have the breadth of composition that the two ETFs listed above have.

I prefer the Vanguard Growth ETF over this one simply because it looks for growth in all areas of the market, not just the tech sector. But if you want to maintain that growth tilt, but focus more heavily on AI, for example, going with the Vanguard Information Technology ETF instead of a straight growth ETF makes sense.

David Dierking has positions in Apple and Invesco NASDAQ 100 ETF. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Vanguard Index Funds-Vanguard Growth ETF. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.