2 Top Energy Growth Stocks to Buy Before It's Too Late

Energy stocks often experience cyclical swings, but the top stocks tend to be strong long-term investments because the world will continually consume more energy. But instead of sticking with the classic oil and gas stocks to profit from that trend, investors should consider buying some higher-growth plays in the solar and nuclear energy markets.

Both of those growing markets should benefit from global decarbonization initiatives, making them more resilient investments than the top fossil fuel stocks. If you want to profit from that shift, you should invest in these two higher-growth energy stocks: Nextpower (NASDAQ: NXT) in the solar market and BWX (NYSE: BWXT) in the nuclear market.

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Nextpower

Nextpower is the world's largest producer of solar trackers, which tilt solar panels to follow the sun throughout the day. It also produces electrical balance-of-systems (eBOS) solutions for moving electricity from solar panels to the grid, robotics systems for maintaining solar farms, and AI software for predicting weather and automating a solar power plant's operations.

Nextpower still generates most of its revenue from selling solar trackers in North America, but it's expanding overseas and beefing up its smaller businesses through acquisitions. That expansion is locking in its customers, widening its moat against its competitors, and turning it into a "one-stop" shop that supports the entire lifecycle of a solar power plant.

The global solar market's total volume could expand at a 19.9% CAGR from 2026 to 2031, according to Mordor Intelligence, as more companies ramp up renewable energy investments to meet the power-hungry demands of of the artificial intelligence (AI), cloud infrastructure, and data center markets.

From fiscal 2025 (which ended last March) to fiscal 2027, analysts expect Nextpower's revenue and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) to grow at CAGRs of 13% and 12%, respectively. With an enterprise value of $20.4 billion, it still looks reasonably valued at five times this year's sales and 22 times its adjusted EBITDA. So if you're looking for a simple play on the growing solar market, Nextpower checks all the right boxes.

BWX Technologies

BWX, which was spun off from Babcock & Wilcox (NYSE: BW) in 2025, is the only large-scale nuclear equipment manufacturing facility in North America. It produces specialized nuclear components, fuel systems, and naval reactor systems in its large precision nuclear fabrication facilities. It's also one of the only companies simultaneously licensed to work with regulated nuclear materials, handle high-assay enriched uranium (HALEU) and tri-structural isotropic (TRISO) fuel, and manufacture naval reactor components for the U.S. Navy.

Those facilities, which are widely considered irreplaceable parts of the nuclear supply chain, make BWX a linchpin of the nuclear energy market. Its heavy exposure to the defense sector also helped it keep growing, even as many countries reined in their nuclear spending in the decade after the Fukushima disaster in 2011.

BWX's backlog grew 50% year over year to $7.3 billion at the end of 2025, driven by the demand for naval propulsion components for submarines, commercial nuclear power components, and special materials. Its nascent small modular reactor (SMR) business, which produces smaller and easier-to-deploy nuclear reactors for remote areas, is also attracting more attention as a long-term play on the AI, cloud infrastructure, and data center markets.

From 2025 to 2028, analysts expect BWX's revenue and adjusted EBITDA to grow at 13% and 12% CAGRs, respectively. With an enterprise value of $20.1 billion, it isn't cheap at five times this year's sales and 30 times its adjusted EBITDA. Still, its wide moat and exposure to the resurgent nuclear energy market should justify that higher valuation.

Leo Sun has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends BWX Technologies and Nextpower. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.