Nasdaq Sell-Off: 3 Smart Stocks to Buy Right Now
The Nasdaq Composite dropped into correction territory last week. Investors never like to see stocks go down, but dips and corrections are inevitable, as are crashes and bear markets. If you’re in it for the long game, which you should be, you can let this pass without breaking a sweat. Alternatively, you can find bargain stocks to scoop up before the Nasdaq climbs even higher. Global-e Online (NASDAQ: GLBE), Roku (NASDAQ: ROKU), and SoFi Technologies (NASDAQ: SOFI) are three great choices.
1. A top e-commerce player with a niche business
Global-e is the brains behind an increasingly large percentage of global e-commerce. It handles cross-border e-commerce for retailers, and with a growing list of high-profile clients and improving profitability, it could be a standout stock to own for the long haul.
Revenue growth has been slowing down for the past few quarters, reflecting the state of retail overall. Sales were up 24% year over year in the 2024 first quarter, with gross merchandise volume up 32%.
But profitability measures keep moving in the right direction. Gross profit increased 36%, outpacing revenue growth and leading to a 3.9-point increase in gross margin. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) increased from $14.5 million to $21.3 million, and net loss improved from $43.1 million to $32.1 million.
Global-e stock is down nearly 60% from its highs. Investors are often pessimistic in these kinds of situations because a young company has to achieve a certain amount of scale to become profitable. If growth slows too much before a company produces profits, the market senses danger.
There’s a mismatch here between how the market is pricing Global-e stock and what Wall Street is seeing. Wall Street overwhelmingly calls Global-e stock a buy and sees the price moving up over the next 12 to 18 months. Wall Street isn’t the final say in the matter, but analysts see the growth drivers and well-run business outweighing the external headwinds.
There’s likely to be volatility on the way up, but as Global-e continues to grow and its stock keeps tanking, smart investors with a high risk tolerance should take advantage.
2. The top streaming system in the U.S. at a bargain price
Roku was finally making progress last year, and the market was beginning to sense it before the company got slammed earlier this year. A combination of events influenced the downfall, including missed expectations and a threat from a competitor. Not only has it not recovered, but it’s dropped even more since.
Roku missed analyst expectations for loss per share in the 2023 fourth quarter by $0.03, followed by the news that Walmart was acquiring Roku competitor Vizio, which has never been a big challenger to Roku. Combined with overall pressure in streaming and retail, it was enough to send Roku stock plunging. Roku beating expectations for loss per share over the past two quarters, and by a wide margin, hasn’t been enough to make things right with the market.
In the meantime, Roku’s earnings have been strong. Accounts increased 14% in the second quarter, but viewing hours have been growing even faster, up 20% year over year. The company has been bringing more viewers onto its platform by selling more of its streaming devices, which is one of its business segments. It’s been building up its platform business, which is its other business segment, through adding viewing hours.
Management is still working its way back up to profits after pandemic-fueled demand slowed down, and it’s making progress. It’s been free cash flow and adjusted EBITDA positive for four consecutive quarters, and it’s expecting improvements in net loss from $330 million last year to $65 million this year. If it beats on that, the market could finally reward it.
Roku is gaining momentum as more cord-cutters buy into its system, and in a few years from now, you’ll wish you’d bought shares today.
3. This digital bank could become top 10
SoFi’s management envisions it becoming a top 10 bank at some point in the future. That’s a long-range goal, since it comes in at No. 74 on the list of largest U.S. banks by assets. But it has its eye on the goal, and it continues to report impressive growth.
One way it’s looking to move up on the list is expanding its collection of services. That can draw interest from new members, and generate higher engagement with the platform among current members. It can also shift some of its business away from its core lending business, which comes with higher risk in this environment and higher risk in general from concentrating too much in one segment.
This underpins its growth strategy, and it’s bearing fruit. Revenue from the financial services segment increased 80% year over year in the second quarter, and management expects that to be even higher for the full year. It also has a tech platform segment called Galileo, which is a financial infrastructure for business clients. It’s not growing quite as fast, but it’s another layer of expansion that provides opportunities and hedges against pressure in other segments.
It certainly seems to be working. SoFi added 643,000 new members and even more new products in Q2, and it boasted the third straight quarter of positive net income. It’s expecting these trends to continue. However, the market is zeroing in on pressure in the lending segment, and SoFi stock has plummeted this year.
SoFi’s model is working, and if you can handle the volatility and have a long time horizon, SoFi stock should reward you in the long run.
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Jennifer Saibil has positions in Global-E Online and SoFi Technologies. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Global-E Online, Roku, and Walmart. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Nasdaq Sell-Off: 3 Smart Stocks to Buy Right Now was originally published by The Motley Fool
