Many investors gravitate to large and established companies, but mid-cap stocks offer a unique way to profit from reasonably stable firms with a long runway ahead of them.
Typically, mid-cap stocks are considered any company between $2 billion and $10 billion in market value, so they have enough of a footprint to weather short-term disruptions or risky sensitivities to a single client or product launch. However, even at $10 billion there’s ample headroom for future growth when you consider the weighted average market cap of the S&P 500 is somewhere around $300 billion at present and the 100 largest stocks all top $100 billion in value.
There’s no guarantee these smaller names will ever get as big as Apple Inc. (ticker: AAPL), of course, or that they will outperform the fashionable blue chips. But given strong financial performance as well as recent share momentum, all of these seven picks are worth watching as the best mid-cap stocks to buy now:

Argan Inc. (AGX)

Market value: $2.1 billion
Sector: Industrials
Argan provides engineering, construction, and technical consulting services mainly to the power generation and telecom industries. Its Power Services segment is particularly interesting right now given its focus on large-scale alternative energy projects, such as biomass plants, wind farms and solar fields. And considering that segment is almost 80% of total revenue, this is the big driver of AGX growth. This top mid-cap stock is headed for more than 30% revenue growth this fiscal year, and another 12% or so in fiscal 2025 on top of that. Share performance is even more impressive based on the long-term outlook for Argan, with the stock tripling across 2024 as it charges into 2025 with tremendous momentum.

Brinker International Inc. (EAT)

Market value: $5.2 billion
Sector: Consumer discretionary
Dallas-based Brinker is a restaurateur that owns the Chili’s and Maggiano’s Little Italy brands. Unlike other dining chains like McDonald’s that make their money primarily from franchise agreements with restaurant operators, roughly half of Chili’s are company-owned and EAT is not currently franchising Maggiano’s for new locations. This attention to the actual operation of individual restaurants instead of just operating a corporate mothership allows Brinker to ride favorable dining trends to substantive success. For instance, across its fiscal 2024 that ended in August, the firm recorded a collective 7% increase in same-store sales over the prior year. Brinker stock is up about 170% from Jan. 1 through early November as a result of favorable financials and investor interest.

Cinemark Holdings Inc. (CNK)

Market value: $3.8 billion
Sector: Consumer discretionary
Cinemark is a movie theater operator with more than 5,700 screens in more than 500 locations across the U.S. as well as South and Central America. The theater biz took a hit a few years ago thanks to both the rise of in-home viewing as well as the impact of COVD-19, but CNK stock is back and better than ever. As proof, the company delivered record-high Q3 revenue recently, which grew 5% year over year – significantly better than Wall Street was expecting. Looking ahead, the next fiscal year’s forecasts include double-digit revenue growth. There’s risk for this mid-cap stock, given the direct exposure to consumer spending trends, but all signs are looking positive for CNK stock after shares have roughly doubled across 2024 in anticipation of brighter days ahead.

Hims & Hers Health Inc. (HIMS)

Market value: $5.1 billion
Sector: Consumer defensive
Hims & Hers is a unique mid-cap telehealth company, connecting individuals with licensed care professionals. It offers a range of health and wellness services including consultation on prescription medications and then recurring fulfillment on those drugs but also a host of over-the-counter products and cosmetics including vitamin C, melatonin, skincare and sexual health products. This is a fast-growing marketplace, and HIMS provides easy and confidential access that many customers are clamoring for. The proof comes from a staggering 65% surge in revenue in fiscal 2024, and projections of roughly 40% growth in fiscal year 2025.

Remitly Global Inc. (RELY)

Market value: $3.9 billion
Sector: Technology
Remitly is a mid-sized software firm worth watching as it continues to build out disruptive digital financial services operations. Specifically, RELY customers are immigrants and expatriates that require cross-border transactions. It’s a hyper-targeted business, but one that supports a top line of more than $1.2 billion this year – up 30% from the prior year, and set to grow another 25% to $1.5 billion for fiscal year 2025. The company counts Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos among its early supporters, and is a specialized fintech stock that has found a lucrative niche that bigger firms in Silicon Valley and on Wall Street aren’t as concerned with. That has given it a good runway for growth, as illustrated by a roughly 50% increase for shares over the last three months alone.

Riot Platforms Inc. (RIOT)

Market value: $4.1 billion
Sector: Financial services
Riot Platforms is a Colorado-based cryptocurrency mining company that independently mines Bitcoin along with providing co-location services for institutional-scale Bitcoin mining companies and other critical infrastructure for related operations. Though it previously operated as a medical device maker known as Bioptix, the company changed its name and business model back in 2017 to ride the crypto wave. The timing couldn’t have been better based on Bitcoin’s run ever since – and with hopes of a favorable environment in Washington for crypto and blockchain firms after the reelection of Donald Trump, RIOT stock surged 20% in a single session on Nov. 6 to build on an already impressive year-to-date return. If you want to profit from the digital asset revolution without directly owning Bitcoin, this mid-cap stock is a great alternative.

Rocket Lab USA Inc. (RKLB)

Market value: $6.5 billion
Sector: Industrials
Rocket Lab is an aerospace startup that currently provides launch services and space systems solutions for NASA and the defense industry. It has performed some tremendous scientific feats, such as recovering a falling rocket booster in mid-air, and is on the cutting edge of putting satellites into orbit and putting payloads into space. The company is admittedly young, founded in 2006, and remains unprofitable as it invests heavily in the future. However, it is connecting in big ways as evidenced by more than 70% revenue growth in fiscal 2024 – and share prices that have blasted off more than 130% since Jan. 1 of this year.