There’s a counterintuitive way to trade a stock like this. You want to buy high-growth stocks when they hit a temporary rough patch. And this stock has risen from $15 to $50 in the past year, thanks to scorching growth, but we’ve repeatedly seen fast-moving stocks like this take a huge hit when a bad quarter arrives (Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) and Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) being two recent notable examples.) 3D Systems’ long-term growth prospects are so robust, you need to track this stock and be ready to pounce when the inevitable quarterly stumble happens.

Akorn hopes to grow faster than the rest of the industry by establishing a low-cost beach head. The company’s manufacturing plant in India will be capable of producing 10 times more output than its U.S. facility — and at lower cost. It’s already a reasonably profitable business, with gross margins exceeding 55%. That should enable earnings per share (EPS) to power higher, from a projected 50 cents a share in 2012, to more than 80 cents a share by 2014, and perhaps $1 a share by 2015, once the plant in India is working closer to capacity.

Per-share profits are rising at a commensurate clip, from a projected $1 in 2011 to more than $3 by 2013. So why has this stock fallen from $70 in 2008 to $40 in the spring of 2011 to a recent $22? Because investors are less than impressed by the profit trajectory and instead want to see Carrizo generate robust free cash flow. The company has plowed every cent back into its drilling expansion plans and has never generated positive free cash flow in its history. Management says Carrizo will start to generate positive cash flow later in 2013, and if it can show spending discipline in 2014 and beyond, then the cash flow should rise sharply, finally giving this stock a long-awaited lift.

As more firms have signed on to help their clients use Financial Engines’ software and asset-management program, growth has been remarkably steady. Sales have risen roughly 20% to 25% annually since 2005 and are on track to grow at least 20% in 2012, 2013 and again in 2014, by which time they should approach $275 million.

And this kind of sales growth over a largely fixed cost base is fueling profit gains. Goldman Sachs estimates that EBITDA margins rose two percentage points in 2012 to 23.7% and could approach 25% in 2013. And robust growth can be sustained for quite some time to come, Goldman’s analysts say. “Financial Engines is on the verge of broadening its offering to include IRA plans, a market significantly larger than 401Ks,” they note, adding that the company should have an easy time simply working with existing partners, rather than trying to market the new offerings directly to consumers.