Up 28% year to date, Rolls-Royce is easily beating the FTSE 100‘s 8% gain. But there are plenty of UK growth shares that are doing far better so far in 2026.

One of them is Moonpig (LSE:MOON), which has surged 43%. And while there’s still another four and a bit months of 2026 remaining, during which time anything can happen, this FTSE 250 stock is on course to thrash both indexes and Rolls-Royce.

So why have investors turned bullish on Moonpig recently?

More than a catchy ad tune

As the UK’s leading online greetings card company, Moonpig will be familiar to most readers. I still have its catchy ‘Moonpig dot com!’ sign-off stuck in my head from the advertisements.

I’ve highlighted this growth stock eight times since mid-December, when it was at 197p. So it’s nice to see it near 300p today.

Beneath the catchy ad tune and cute pigs though, there’s a lot to like about this business. For starters, the firm has a 70% share of the online UK card market, as well a leading, albeit smaller, brand in the Netherlands (Greetz).

Altogether, the group has 12.3m active customers. And they’re very engaged and loyal, with around 90% of revenue coming from existing customers.

Helping solidify repeat orders, the firm’s Plus subscription service reached 1.2m members in April, up 29.3% from the year before. This base now represents around a quarter of orders.

As a capital-light digital platform, the firm enjoys high cash generation and profitability. Free cash flow rose from £61m in FY24 to £66m in FY25 and £74m in FY26 (ended 30 April). Adjusted EBITDA jumped 8.1% to £105m last year, representing a 28% margin.

A data flywheel

Digging deeper, I think the secret sauce here is a big data advantage over rivals. Every time a customer uses Moonpig to buy a personalised card for a birthday or anniversary, the information is stored to fuel its massive occasion reminder database.

At the end of April, this customer reminder set had ballooned to 113m, up from 101m. This offers the chance to cross-sell gifts like flowers, chocolates, and experience vouchers.

At the heart of Moonpig Group is a simple but powerful idea. We use data and technology to turn transactions into long-term customer relationships. Most retailers start each year having to reacquire a large proportion of their customer base. Our model is fundamentally different.

CEO Catherine Faiers.

Has Moonpig flown too high?

No stock is perfect, of course, and one weakness is the firm’s Experiences division, where revenue declined 4.5% last year. Meanwhile, there’s growing competition from the likes of Funky Pigeon (owned by Card Factory). And the tough consumer backdrop isn’t ideal, especially for selling additional gifts and experiences.

On balance though, I think the positives far outweigh the negatives here. Moonpig’s a leader in a large, underpenetrated market that’s shifting online. Today, only around 15% of card purchases are done digitally.

Despite the recent surge, the stock’s trading at just 13 times next fiscal year’s forecast earnings. That looks too low for a growing platform generating plenty of cash, paying a dividend, and buying back shares.

Therefore, I don’t think it’s too late to consider buying this cheap FTSE 250 growth stock for the long term.

Should you invest £5,000 in Moonpig Group Plc right now?

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Ben McPoland owns shares in Rolls-Royce.