I'll readily admit that I've picked some supposed growth stocks in the past that didn't deliver much growth. The good news, though, is that my winners have far outpaced my losers over the long run.

One of my mistakes has been to rely on wishful thinking. I've bought stocks that had potential but weren't anywhere close to being profitable yet and had valuations that weren't easily justified. A smarter approach, based on my experience, is to insist on potential, profits, and a reasonable price tag. My top growth stock to buy right now -- Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX) -- has all three in spades.

Vertex will soon report 2023 revenue that is expected to be in the ballpark of $10 billion. The big biotech will probably post a profit for the year of around $3.6 billion. And it will almost certainly add to the cash stockpile of $13.6 billion -- including cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities -- that it had on hand at the end of the third quarter of 2023.

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Source Fool.com