Two Compelling Growth Stocks Worth Adding to Your Portfolio This February

Finding quality investment opportunities in February means looking beyond any single sector. While tech continues to dominate headlines, consumer discretionary stocks also present attractive growth dynamics for investors seeking diversified portfolios. Two growth stocks currently catching investor attention are companies with distinctly different expansion profiles but equally compelling narratives.

Why Chewy Stands Out as a Growth Stock with Defensive Qualities

Chewy (NYSE: CHWY) represents an interesting intersection of growth potential and business stability. Trading at a forward P/E multiple of 18.5 times fiscal 2026 estimates, the e-commerce pet retailer combines reliable revenue streams with margin expansion opportunities.

The foundation of Chewy’s appeal lies in its subscription-based model. More than 80% of its sales flow from auto-ship customers who receive regular deliveries of pet food and supplies. This recurring revenue structure creates predictable cash flows even during economic downturns, giving the growth stock a recession-resistant quality that appeals to conservative investors. Through the first nine months of its fiscal year, the company demonstrated revenue growth exceeding 8.5%, showing the model’s effectiveness.

The real catalyst for this growth stock, however, lies in margin expansion. Chewy has been aggressively diversifying into higher-margin revenue streams. Its sponsored advertising platform and new paid membership program are gaining traction. More significantly, the company’s push into private label pet brands—which can deliver up to 700 basis points higher margins than national brands—coupled with its pet pharmacy services offering 10 percentage points higher margins than traditional retail, positions the business for meaningful profit growth. These margin drivers suggest Chewy’s earnings could expand substantially in coming years.

Dutch Bros: A Growth Story With Significant Expansion Runway

Dutch Bros (NYSE: BROS) operates an entirely different growth narrative. The coffee chain combines popular brand appeal with operational discipline and substantial geographic whitespace.

The company’s current footprint tells only part of the story. With just under 1,100 locations at the end of its third fiscal quarter, Dutch Bros is in the early stages of a multi-year buildout. Management has outlined plans to expand to 2,029 locations by 2029—more than doubling current store count. Looking further ahead, the company believes the U.S. market can ultimately support approximately 7,000 locations, suggesting the growth stock remains in its infancy from an expansion perspective.

Recent operational metrics validate the expansion thesis. Same-store sales growth hit 5.7% in Q3, powered by menu innovation and improved mobile ordering capabilities. The real opportunity emerges from new food offerings currently in pilot phase. Early tests showed a 4% lift in comparable-store sales, and rolling out these items to roughly three-quarters of locations should sustain sales momentum. Notably, Dutch Bros is funding this expansion through free cash flow rather than dilutive equity raises, demonstrating management’s disciplined capital allocation and confidence in unit-level economics.

Comparing the Growth Potential: What Makes These Growth Stocks Attractive

Both companies represent compelling growth stocks, yet their expansion profiles differ meaningfully. Chewy offers profitable, predictable growth anchored by a loyal subscriber base and operating leverage from margin expansion. Dutch Bros presents a higher-growth-rate story driven by store-level unit economics and a massive addressable market still largely untapped.

For investors seeking exposure to growth stocks with different risk-return profiles, the comparison offers flexibility. Chewy appeals to those wanting growth combined with business stability, while Dutch Bros attracts investors with higher risk tolerance seeking substantial upside from geographic expansion. Each company’s capital efficiency—whether through margin optimization or free-cash-flow-funded growth—suggests both can deliver shareholder value without resorting to dilutive financing.

The broader lesson is that quality growth stocks exist across sectors. February presents an opportunity to evaluate both the e-commerce-enabled convenience story and the physical-expansion-driven regional growth story. Both deserve consideration for portfolios seeking exposure to compelling growth stocks with differentiated drivers and manageable valuations.

Current market data as of February 19, 2026

Geoffrey Seiler maintains positions in both Chewy and Dutch Bros.