MarketWatch: 10 S&P 500 Stocks With Fast Sales Growth per Share

If you're a growth investor, one metric you want to look at is sales growth per share.

"Those increases often reflect the benefit of acquisitions, or they may show companies’ success in growing their core businesses," writes MarketWatch columnist Philip van Doorn.

He lists the 10 S&P 500 companies with the fastest year-over-year sales growth per share, based on their latest earnings report.

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COMPANY	Sales/Share Most Recent Qtr	Sales Growth/Share Year-Over-Year
Gilead Sciences	$3.94	142 percent
Constellation Brands	$6.81	121 percent
Intercontinental Exchange	$10.33	115 percent
Devon Energy	$12.10	79 percent
Tenet Healthcare	$41.38	76 percent
Morgan Stanley	$6.02	60 percent
Chesapeake Energy	$8.61	58 percent
Facebook	$1.11	54 percent
Micron Technology	$3.35	51 percent
AmericsourceBergen	$134.45	45 percent

All but Intercontinental Exchange, Morgan Stanley and Chesapeake Energy have outperformed the S&P 500 so far this year.

Morningstar analyst Karen Andersen heaps high praise on Gilead. "Its focus on infectious disease has paid off in spades," she writes on Morningstar.com.

"With a small salesforce, inexpensive manufacturing and selective research and development, it generates stellar profit margins. And the firm's pipeline is extending its reach into other high-margin markets."

Sales for the company's Sovaldi hepatitis C drug are growing like wildfire. Andersen estimates global Gilead hepatitis C sales of $10.9 billion this year.

To be sure, Gilead's stock is trading near her fair value estimate of $100. The shares stood at $101.99 near midday Wednesday.

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