The shortest month of the year could also be the hottest, if you know where to invest. Plenty of stocks will be on the move through the next four weeks, so let's take a look at three names that appear to be compelling buys at this point.
Roku (ROKU -3.05%), The RealReal (REAL -7.13%), and Uber Technologies (UBER -2.10%) are some of the stocks that could be making waves this month. Let's take the pulse of where the three potential winners are now, and why they could be moving higher in February.
Image source: Uber Technologies.
Roku
Last year's hottest large cap is taking a breather in 2020. The company behind the ascending streaming video hub saw its shares soar 337% last year, but it slipped nearly 10% in January. Roku reports financial results next week, and there's no reason to think it won't be another blowout performance.
Roku was serving up streams to 32.3 million active accounts at the end of September, a 36% spike over the past year. The fourth quarter was probably huge for Roku, as the launch of two prolific services in November and the holiday shopping season probably helped light a fire in the migration process to its rapidly growing platform. Usage is growing even faster than its active account growth, and that's the kind of engagement that has made Roku the top operating system of choice for smart television manufacturers and a popular plug-in accessory for everybody else.
The climate is ideal for Roku. The only recent stumbling block -- a standoff with Fox that would've forced a blackout of Fox apps ahead of the Super Bowl -- was settled late last week. Roku isn't going to quadruple again in 2020, but it's highly unlikely to close out the year in the red. Next week's financial update should be just the ticket to turn the year-to-date returns around.
The RealReal
The consignment of luxury goods may not seem like fertile soil for growth investors, but there's always a market for deal-seekers looking to score bargains on big-ticket clothing, fine jewelry, watches, fine art, and home decor. It also helps when consignment in general is trendy given the the way that young consumers are taking to the circular economy. The RealReal runs the leading consignment marketplace for verified luxury goods, a pretty big deal in a market rife with counterfeit merchandise.
If Roku's audience is growing fast, The RealReal's base is growing really fast. The 542,987 active buyers it had at the end of the third quarter were 53% more than it was watching over a year earlier. This is a pretty big business. Despite the bargains that are inherent with secondhand goods, we're talking about an average order size of $438. The take rate here is naturally a lot more generous in The RealReal's honor than it would be traditional firsthand sales.
The RealReal went public at $20 last year, and as a broken IPO it's now trading in the low teens. BMO Capital initiated coverage of the stock this week with an outperform rating. Analyst Simeon Siegel sees consumers growing more at ease with the consignment market, and The RealReal's average order size should continue to improve along with its widening audience. The lock-up expiration on the shares ended more than a month ago, so the coast should be clear on that front. Siegel's price target of $19 implies 35% of upside from current levels. The RealReal hasn't announced when its next earnings report will come out but it should take place later this month.
Uber Technologies
Roku and The RealReal are trading lower in 2020, but that's not the case with the world's leading ridesharing platform. The stock has soared 26% so far this young year, and investors are finally getting excited about one of last year's most disappointing IPOs.
Uber is starting to do a lot of things right. After leaving a trail of red-inked skid marks in the past, it's committed to improving on the bottom line. Unloading its presence in markets with no clear path to near-term profitability and taking a more calculated approach to growing its personal mobility and food delivery segments are helping.
Revenue growth accelerated in Uber's most recent quarterly report, and we won't have to wait long for another financial update. Uber reports its fourth-quarter results shortly after this Thursday's market close. It's fair to say that investing in IPOs isn't for the risk-averse, but it's also sometimes where one can find some of the more compelling values.
