If you’re looking to diversify your investment portfolio with enticing stocks that offer the potential for high returns, you must look toward emerging markets, and once there, focus on high-growth stocks.
Before we explore our top options, let’s first understand why this route promises great returns for your portfolio.
Emerging Markets Offer High Return Potential
For starters, emerging markets are economies that are experiencing economic growth, transitioning from developing to developed status.
In contrast to these developing economies, “advanced” ones like the U.S., while wealthier and more stable, are slower-growing, hence the interest in the former. As these developing economies grow, they are becoming increasingly important and more integrated into the global economy.
Interestingly, emerging markets have shown resilience against global challenges, such as inflation and interest rate hikes, as well as other macroeconomic issues affecting advanced markets.
Now, emerging markets offer attractive investment potential due to several factors, including low entry points, strong growth, increased production and manufacturing, and foreign investment.
However, this strong growth potential comes with the risk of significant volatility due to various factors, including political instability, currency fluctuations, lower liquidity, and domestic infrastructure issues.
So, as an investor, it’s important that you carefully weigh the potential risks and rewards before making any investment in these fast-growing emerging markets.
Some of the most notable emerging economies include China, India, Brazil, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia.
High-Growth Stocks Promise
When it comes to high-growth stocks, they are shares of companies expected to grow at a rate significantly faster than the average stock.
Generally, these companies don’t pay any dividends. So, what are the profits used for? High-growth companies choose to reinvest their earnings for expansion, which leads to increased revenue and profits over time.
Due to investors’ expectations of higher future profits, you may find these stocks valued at a premium, which can translate to a high price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio.
While growth stocks offer an amazing investment opportunity, they make for pretty risky ventures. Not only are there very low or no dividends, which means investors profit from their investment in the long term, provided the company performs well, but these stocks also tend to be more volatile than average stocks.
But weathering this significant value fluctuation offers the benefit of investing in a company that has unique product lines, innovative technology, and a loyal customer base.
Investing in High-Growth Stocks in Emerging Markets
When it comes to investing in high-growth stocks in various emerging markets, one can do so through an ETF. Here, instead of investing in one stock or country, you invest in several emerging markets at once. For instance: Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (VWO).
Some of these emerging market stocks can even be found directly listed and traded on US exchanges. For instance, India’s largest bank, HDFC Bank (HDB +0.82%), trades on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker “HDB.”
Others are available on over-the-counter (OTC) markets, but make sure to check the volume first. For instance, the leading electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer BYD trades OTC (BYDDF:OTCPK).
Another way to invest in individual emerging market stocks is through a broker that allows you to trade directly on foreign stock exchanges. Only a few brokers offer this feature, and they may have special requirements. Now, here are our top picks for high-growth stocks in emerging markets:
1. Full Truck Alliance Co. Ltd. (YMM +0.26%)
FTA is a China-based digital freight platform that connects shippers with truckers to facilitate shipments. Its services include freight listing and brokerage, and transaction support, along with value-added services for financial institutions, highway authorities, and gas station operators.
The company aims to make logistics smarter with the help of cloud computing, big data, mobile Internet, and AI.
As of writing, FTA’s shares are trading at $11.32, up 3.6% year-to-date. This puts its market cap at $11.72 billion, with an EPS (TTM) of 0.40 and a P/E (TTM) of 27.86. FTA also pays a dividend yield of 0.86%.
China’s “Uber for trucks” is experiencing high growth in an already booming industry. Last year, the company fulfilled a total of 197.2 million orders, 24.1% more than in 2022. The average shipper MAUs, meanwhile, jumped over 30% to 2.64 million.
“By harnessing our robust network effects and unparalleled transaction efficiency, we sustained strong growth momentum, effectively accelerating our growth flywheel,” said founder and CEO Peter Hui Zhang while noting FTA’s commitment to “embracing AI-driven innovations that will increase truckers’ efficiency and earnings while reducing logistics costs for shippers.” Its nationwide AI-led system is actually expected to be deployed by this year-end to increase the order fulfillment rate.
While global trade and economic activity are driving demand for freight services, geopolitical instability and supply chain disruptions present some serious problems.
Backed by prominent investors like Tencent Holdings and SoftBank’s Vision Fund, FTA is reportedly considering revisiting plans for a second listing in Hong Kong “to hedge against U.S. risks,” with additional benefits, such as improved valuation and liquidity, being bonus points.
For now, the company maintains a dominant position in the logistics market and continues to expand it through continuous innovation. It is also seeing significant capital inflows with Fidelity, BlackRock, and Norway’s Norges Bank Investment Management increasing their positions in the company.
Full Truck Alliance Co. Ltd. (YMM +0.26%)
FTA’s robust financial performance already indicates strong profitability. For 2024, FTA reported total net revenue of RMB11,238.6 million (almost $1.54 bln) and net income of RMB3,123.4 million ($427.8 million), an increase of 33.2% and 40.2% from the previous year, respectively.
These “record financial results” were bolstered by FTA’s “growing user base, sophisticated commission strategies, and continued operational efficiency upgrades,” as per CFO Simon Cai.
2. Sea Limited (SE +2.79%)
A consumer Internet company, Sea Limited operates three core businesses: e-commerce through Shopee, fintech through Sea Money, and gaming through Garena. This diversified business model offers a delicious opportunity to invest in various high-growth sectors through a single stock.
Moreover, it operates in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, and the Philippines, where Sea Limited has established itself as a leading e-commerce platform. This offers a massive market for expansion and growth with lower regulation risk, though it also significantly increases competition.
The $75.6 billion market cap company’s shares are up 20.4% year-to-date (YTD) as SE trades at $128. With that, its EPS (TTM) is 0.72 and the P/E (TTM) is 176.61.
When it comes to profitability, Singapore-based Sea Limited has been positive for two years now. Things weren’t looking good for Sea Limited for a while after it stretched itself too much during the pandemic-era boom, resulting in some heavy losses. But last year, the company completely changed the dynamic and gained strong momentum.
In 2024, its total GAAP revenue was $16.8 billion, a 28.8% year-over-year increase, while gross profit was $7.2 billion and net income was $447.8 million.
Its E-commerce business (Shopee) in particular had 10.9 billion gross orders, while the total value of all merchandise sold through the marketplace last year increased by 28% to surpass $100 bln. Having achieved adjusted EBITDA profitability in both Asia and Brazil, CEO Forrest Li expects Shopee’s 2025 gross merchandise volume (GMV) growth to be around 20%, with improving profitability.
Its digital financial services also had a great year as the loan book exceeded $5 billion, making it one of the largest consumer lending businesses in the region. This year, the company expects the loan book size to grow meaningfully faster as it improves credit penetration both on and off Shopee.
In addition to that, bookings on Garena jumped 18.7% year-over-year to $2.1 billion. This growth in the digital entertainment segment was marked by the comeback of Free Fire, its flagship mobile battle royale game, whose annual bookings increased by 34%. This year, in addition to continuing to scale its user base, Sea Limited will also expand its content offerings.
With $10.4 billion in cash, equivalents, and investments, and reduced long-term financial risk, Sea Limited is looking forward to better things ahead.
3. Li Auto (LI -0.53%)
The $25.13 billion market cap Li Auto is a smart EV manufacturer whose main products include high-voltage battery EV Li MEGA, along with a lineup of family SUVs Li L9, Li L8, Li L7, and Li L6. Additionally, it provides services such as an unlimited high-speed data plan, charging stall installation, paid regular maintenance services, and vehicle internet connection services.
At Li Auto, over 30,000 employees are working together to achieve the company’s mission of ‘Create a Mobile Home, Create Happiness’ by successfully commercializing extended-range EVs in China, where strong government support and consumer demand are providing it with ample opportunities.
In 2024, the company actually delivered over 500,000 vehicles, 33.1% more than it did in the previous year. While vehicle deliveries increased, the average selling price decreased mainly due to changes in product mixes and pricing strategies. Vehicle margin last year was 19.8%, down from 21.5% in 2023.
In this high-growth EV market, Li Auto is investing in autonomous driving technologies and smart features to enhance its competitive edge.
Leveraging its full-stack, proprietary end-to-end (E2E) and vision-language model (VLM) technologies, Li Auto has recently delivered a one-click point-to-point autonomous driving feature to all Li AD Max users and upgraded its highway NOA to further enable seamless autonomous driving experiences across all driving scenarios.
Its most recent OTA update offered smoother performance when navigating complex road conditions, introduced features like Front Passenger Exit Alert and Sentry Mode High-Risk Video Remote Preview, and improved charging efficiency.
The company’s shares are currently trading at $23.83, down 2.13% year-to-date (YTD), with an EPS (trailing twelve months) of 1.04 and a P/E (trailing twelve months) of 22.63.
When it comes to company financials, its revenue reached $19.8 billion in 2024, with vehicle sales being $19 billion and $811.3 million in other services. The company has also surpassed 500 retail stores in China. Additionally, 1,727 supercharging stations are in operation, equipped with 9,100 charging stalls.
Li Auto’s cash position is also robust, at $15.5 billion, which will help it launch new BEV models, enhance intelligent features, and become the top pure EV brand. However, intensifying competition and decreasing cash generation pose major problems for it.
Click here for a list of top EV stocks.
4. Nubank/NU Holdings Ltd. (NU +2.22%)
Against the backdrop of rapid global digitization, Nubank is fast becoming one of the world’s largest digital banks by customer count, surpassing 114 million across Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia. In 2024 alone, it added 20.4 million new customers.
Expanding beyond credit cards to offer personal loans, insurance, and investment products and extending services across Latin America have helped Nubank capture more users and increase revenue streams. According to founder and CEO David Vélez:
“2024 was a transformational year for Nu as we advanced our mission to empower millions across Latin America with accessible, transparent, and low-cost financial services.”
The Berkshire Hathaway and Sequoia Capital-backed Nubank not only offers traditional banking services but also cryptocurrency transfer functionality. It enables users to send and receive crypto assets like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Solana (SOL) directly from their wallets.
In terms of market performance, the Brazil-based company with a $57.8 billion market cap has been enjoying nice growth over the last few years, with its shares now trading at $ 12.05, up 16% year-to-date. With that, its EPS (TTM) is 0.40 and the P/E (TTM) is 29.79.
Nu Holdings Ltd. (NU +2.22%)
Financially, the company is profitable with net income nearly doubling to nearly $2 billion, resulting in a 28% annualized return on equity.
Moreover, revenue increased by 58% year-over-year to $11.5 billion. This growth was driven by a 23% rise in average revenue per active client, which reached $10.70. Meanwhile, the monthly activity rate is above 83%, and the average cost to serve every active customer remains below $1.
Other key developments include: a secured lending portfolio in Brazil growing a massive 615% YoY to $1.4 billion, and deposits on Nubank surging 438% to $5.5 billion in Mexico. Just this month, Nubank’s subsidiary, Nu Mexico, received approval for its banking license from Mexico’s National Banking and Securities Commission, which will enable it to expand its product portfolio.
Last year, the digital bank also launched NuTravel and introduced NuCel to diversify its offerings further, strengthen the ecosystem, and expand the addressable market.
5. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM +0.66%)
Semiconductors are the foundation of modern technology, and being at the forefront of semiconductor manufacturing makes TSMC a promising, high-growth stock option. It counts Nvidia, Apple, Advanced Micro Devices, Qualcomm, Intel, Broadcom, MediaTek, and Marvell as its clients.
Recently, TSMC unveiled the A14 chip technology, based on the 1.4nm process, which offers 15% faster processing speed or 30% lower power consumption compared to its N2 chips. This manufacturing tech is expected to enter mass production in 2028. But before that, an A16 process will be released next year to serve as a buffer between this period.
TSMC’s shares have actually been having a rough time this year, losing 16.4% of their value so far in 2025. Having said that, the current downturn is just a small blip in its nearly three-decade-long journey on the NYSE. The biggest headwind for TSMC remains the geopolitical risk.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSM +0.66%)
For now, its EPS (TTM) is 7.59 and the P/E (TTM) is 21.66 while the dividend yield paid is 1.49%.
As for financials, the world’s largest contract chip manufacturer reported net revenue of $90.08 billion in 2023, a 30% increase from the previous year. Here, 3nm contributed 18% of the total wafer revenue, while its 5nm and 7nm process technologies contributed 34% and 17%, respectively.
In terms of platform, revenue from High-Performance Computing (HPC) increased the most, by 58%, followed by Smartphones at 23%. Automotive revenue rose by 4%, while both IoT and DCE saw a 2% increase in revenue from 2023. Region-wise, revenue from customers based in North America accounted for 70% of total net revenue, followed by China (11%), Asia Pacific (10%), Japan (5%), and EMEA (4%).
High demand for AI chips, which “exceeded expectations,” played a major part in these strong numbers and is expected to drive TSMC’s financials this year as well.
“Even after more than tripling in 2024, we forecast our revenue from AI accelerators to double in 2025 as a strong surge in AI-related demand continues as a key enabler of AI applications.”
– CEO C.C. Wei.
At the end of 2024, its cash position was NT$2,127.63 billion.
Click here to learn what makes TSMC the foundry of 21st-century gold.
Conclusion
So, these are the companies offering an attractive investment option that can generate substantial profits in the long term. They operate in sectors with strong growth trajectories and show strategic initiatives to capitalize on emerging market opportunities. While risky in nature, their focus on innovation, market expansion, and operational efficiency makes them compelling high-growth stocks in the current economic landscape.
Click here for a list of top stocks for global diversification.