Two Growth Stocks That Outperformed the Market Twice in the Last Five Years

Key Points

• Netflix and Amazon have underperformed the market over the past five years, with only notable gains in 2023 and 2024.

• Wall Street analysts project earnings per share growth for both companies between 18% to 24% over the coming years.

As of mid-December 2025, Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) has risen 80% since 2020, while the S&P 500 has surged by 99%. Despite past struggles, Netflix’s subscriber base now exceeds 300 million globally, and its revenue is expected to grow by 15% in 2025. In the last year, Netflix posted $10 billion in profit on $43 billion in revenue, significantly bolstered by an acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery that could enhance content offerings.

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) has also trailed the market, gaining about 1% since 2020 compared to the S&P 500’s 17%. However, Amazon reported third-quarter sales of $180 billion, a 13% year-over-year increase, with 59% of its revenue stemming from profitable non-retail segments like cloud computing. The company’s net profit last year was $76 billion, and analysts forecast earnings to grow at an annualized rate of 18% over the next several years.