If a company isn't expanding its business, the long-term future is likely to be cloudy at best. That's why growth is a key factor to consider as you buy a stock, regardless of whether the stock price is $1,000, $100, or less. But growth doesn't come without some costs.

Here are two growth-oriented consumer stocks at different points of the business life cycle that are both worth a deep dive (and that are both trading at well below $100 a share).

Hormel Foods (NYSE: HRL) is a food maker that's struggling today. Inflation, a broader industry headwind, is particularly problematic at the moment with price hikes in the fiscal first quarter of 2023 (ended Jan. 29) more than offset by an 11% volume decline. The best-performing competitors have been able to raise prices and increase volume at the same time. Hormel will, eventually, push higher prices through to protect its margins, but it clearly isn't doing as well as peers on this front right now.

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Source Fool.com