Brands that are increasing in value.

Stock prices rise and fall on a near-term basis due to a number of factors, including geopolitical developments and changes in investor sentiment. Long-term investors are more concerned about the value of a company and its brand. The best long-term investments are companies that are constantly cultivating their brand value. Brandz recently released its annual list of the 100 most valuable brands in the world. However, the brands that will make the best investments may not necessarily be the ones that are the most valuable today. Here are seven stocks with the fastest-growing brands, according to Brandz.

Next:Facebook (ticker: FB) Credit

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Facebook (ticker: FB)

Despite growing public concerns over privacy, data security and abusive behavior, social media remains as popular as ever. In fact, Facebook subsidiary Instagram was the single fastest-growing brand on the Brandz top 100 list. Brandz values Instagram’s brand at $28.2 billion, up about 95% from its $14.4 billion valuation just a year ago. Instagram ranks just 44th on the top 100 list in terms of value, well short of the $158.9 billion brand value of Facebook’s namesake platform. However, investors see the high-growth Instagram platform as the future of the company. Facebook is one of U.S. News' 10 best stocks to buy in 2019.

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Brands that are increasing in value.

Stock prices rise and fall on a near-term basis due to a number of factors, including geopolitical developments and changes in investor sentiment. Long-term investors are more concerned about the value of a company and its brand. The best long-term investments are companies that are constantly cultivating their brand value. Brandz recently released its annual list of the 100 most valuable brands in the world. However, the brands that will make the best investments may not necessarily be the ones that are the most valuable today. Here are seven stocks with the fastest-growing brands, according to Brandz.

Facebook (ticker: FB)

Despite growing public concerns over privacy, data security and abusive behavior, social media remains as popular as ever. In fact, Facebook subsidiary Instagram was the single fastest-growing brand on the Brandz top 100 list. Brandz values Instagram’s brand at $28.2 billion, up about 95% from its $14.4 billion valuation just a year ago. Instagram ranks just 44th on the top 100 list in terms of value, well short of the $158.9 billion brand value of Facebook’s namesake platform. However, investors see the high-growth Instagram platform as the future of the company. Facebook is one of U.S. News' 10 best stocks to buy in 2019.

Lululemon Athletica (LULU)

It’s been an extremely difficult couple of years for retail and apparel companies, but don’t tell Lululemon investors. The high-end athletic apparel company’s brand is valued at just $6.92 billion. In fact, it didn’t even crack the top 100 ranking in terms of most valuable. However, its value shot up 77% from $3.91 billion just one year ago. Investors are certainly taking note of Lululemon’s momentum. Lululemon shares have gained 45% in the past year, more than tripling the returns of competitors Nike (NKE) and Under Armour (UA, UAA) in that time.

Netflix (NFLX)

It’s no surprise to see the globally expanding streaming leader Netflix among the fastest-growing brands. Netflix’s brand is valued at $34.3 billion, up 65% from a year ago. Netflix is no stranger to the high-growth brand list. In fact, the 65% jump was a slight slowdown from last year’s 71% leap in Netflix brand value. This year’s growth was enough to catapult Netflix from 61 to 34 on the list of the world’s most valuable brands. Netflix’s brand should only continue to grow as it expands into new markets.

Salesforce.com (CRM)

Salesforce is one of several cloud services stocks included among the fastest-growing brands. Salesforce’s brand grew 58% in the past year to $26.9 billion in value. After ranking as the 78th most valuable global brand in 2018, Salesforce broke into the top 50 this year, placing 46. Gartner, a Connecticut-based research company, recently projected the cloud services market will grow another 17.5% in 2019, suggesting plenty more growth for Salesforce ahead. Long-term investors are hoping that growth translates more directly to Wall Street in the quarters ahead. CRM stock is down 4% overall in the past three months.

Adobe Systems (ADBE)

Cloud competitor Adobe is neck-and-neck with Salesforce in terms of both brand growth and brand value. Adobe’s brand value grew 57% this year to $27.9 billion, just shy of Salesforce’s growth rate. That jump was enough to push Adobe from 75 in the top 100 ranking in 2018 to 45 in this year’s ranking, one spot better than Salesforce. Fortunately for Adobe investors, the company comes out on top where it matters most – share price. Adobe’s stock is up 20.2% in the past year, outpacing Salesforce’s 12.9% gain. Adobe is one of U.S. News' 10 best growth stocks to buy for 2019,

Shiseido (SSDOY)

Shiseido is perhaps the most surprising brand on the fastest-growing list. American investors might not be familiar with the Japanese skin care, hair care and cosmetics company, which doesn’t even have a U.S. stock listing. However, the Shiseido brand increased in value by 56% this year to $5.98 billion. Shiseido didn’t crack the top 100 most valuable brands list, and it barely made the top 10 in the personal care category. However, its 56% growth shines brightly in a category where most of the other top brands failed to hit double digits in growth rate.

Amazon.com (AMZN)

It simply wouldn’t be a proper growth list without Amazon. Despite its massive size and nearly $1 trillion market cap, Amazon is still putting up mind-boggling growth numbers. Brandz reports Amazon grew its brand value by 52% to $315.5 billion this year, enough to push Amazon past Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) and Apple (AAPL) and up from No. 3 to the No. 1 as the most valuable brand in the world. Incredibly, Amazon was the only company in the top 30 most valuable brands of 2019 to also grow its brand value by more than 30%.

Great growth stocks for long-term investors:

Facebook (FB)Lululemon Athletica (LULU)Netflix (NFLX)Salesforce.com (CRM)Adobe Systems (ADBE)Shiseido (SSDOY)Amazon.com (AMZN)1 of 10

Wayne Duggan, Contributor

Wayne Duggan has been a U.S. News & World Report contributor since 2016. He is an expert at ...  Read more

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