My Top Growth Stock to Buy for 2026 (and It's Not Even Close)

Key Points

• Tesla has been one of the best growth stocks in history.

• This Tesla copycat is prepared to reach a critical growth milestone in early 2026.

• 10 stocks we like better than Rivian Automotive ›

Long-term Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) investors are very happy. In 2010, shares traded just above the $1 mark. Today, Tesla stock is priced above $420. An initial investment of a few thousand dollars would have turned into more than $1 million.

This success has caused many investors to look for the next big electric vehicle stock. But finding the next Tesla has proven extremely difficult. In the past 10 years, more than 30 EV companies have gone under. Tesla, it seems, has been the exception to the rule.

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There's a trick to finding the next Tesla, however. Using that trick, it's become possible to identify one EV stock about to reach a critical growth catalyst in 2026.

This one trick can help you find the next Tesla

To understand how Tesla became the giant it is, it's important to first understand why so many EV companies have gone under in the past decades. Put simply, this is a capital-intensive business. It requires billions of dollars, plus many years of patience, to create a car company from scratch. Huge amounts of infrastructure needs to be built in order to manufacture the vehicles themselves. But there's also reams of regulations and approvals that are required before production begins. Electric vehicles are also significantly more tech-focused, requiring software and hardware integrations that conventional vehicles don't need to contend with.

It can be difficult to find investors willing to invest billions of dollars at a loss for a decade or more just to see whether an EV start-up can produce cars that people like, nevertheless cars that can be produced en masse at a suitable profit. The immense potential of an EV business has attracted many newcomers. But the smallest misstep can cause investors to worry and pull back -- a death knell for a business that requires a consistent stream of fresh capital to turn its vision into reality.

It's no wonder, then, the only a handful of pure-play EV companies today actually have vehicles on the roads. Today, Tesla sells nearly 2 million vehicles per year. Most of its EV competitors, at least in the U.S., manage to produce only a tiny fraction of that amount.

Tesla's success should cause you to ask one obvious question: How did it manage to maintain enough momentum to gain critical scale, crossing a milestone in which it no longer needs to rely on financial markets for survival? The key was to produce cars at an affordable price point, a feat that itself requires a bit of scale. But if an EV maker can produce cars for under $50,000 -- a price point that nearly 70% of buyers in the U.S. want to be under for their next car purchase -- growth can take off massively. Today, more than 90% of Tesla's car sales comprise just two affordable models: the Model Y and Model 3.

That's the trick to EV investing. Look for companies that are about to release affordable models to the masses. Promises of affordable models years down the road don't count, as the company will still require financial markets to survive until then. Ideally, the release of such vehicles should be imminent. And that's exactly the case for one EV stock.

Image source: Getty Images.

Rivian is about to repeat Tesla's biggest growth catalyst

When it comes to following Tesla's playbook for growth, no company is as close as Rivian (NASDAQ: RIVN). In recent weeks, we got confirmation that the company's first affordable vehicle -- the R2, priced at just $45,000 -- is expected to begin production in early 2026. "R2 is a core focus for our team and a critical step to achieving our objective of delivering millions of vehicles per year," Rivian's CEO told investors in August.

After R2 production ramps, two additional low-priced models -- the R3 and R3X -- are expected to begin production. That would provide the company with three affordable EVs in its line -- one more than Tesla.

Rivian should gain critical economies of scale should the R2 launch succeed. But these affordable vehicles have also brought cost savings to other parts of the business, allowing the company to streamline production costs for its two existing luxury models. In all, Rivian is set up for a very exciting 2026 and beyond.

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Ryan Vanzo has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Tesla. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.