The number of stocks trading in the single digits is widening these days. I figured I would take a look at some of the market's more compelling low-priced stocks that didn't happen to start 2020 in the single digits.
Zuora (ZUO -0.19%), Tanger Factory Outlet Centers (SKT -0.54%), and Sonos (SONO -0.29%) are all trading below $10, even though none of them were in the single digits when the year began. Let's look at these three potential turnaround candidates (prices quoted are from Friday's close).
Image source: Tanger Factory Outlet Stores.
Zuora ($7.69)
We live in subscription-hungry times, and Zuora provides the cloud-based tools to turn any business into a subscription service. The stock has taken a 46% hit year to date, and a good chunk of that came last week when it announced disappointing financial results and the surprising resignation of its CFO.
No one likes when an executive bolts for a leadership position at another company, and there's an unfair stigma when it just happens to be the CFO moving on. Revenue growth did slow to 11% in its fiscal fourth quarter, and Zuora does see its top-line gains slowing to between 9% and 11% for the new fiscal year. But the subscription revenue that is now making up the lion's share of its business is still projected to climb 16% to 18% higher in the year ahead. There are still ample opportunities to be had in the subscription economy, and Zuora shares are a bargain at nearly half of where they were at the beginning of the year.
Tanger Factory Outlet Centers ($8.95)
Shopping malls are naturally going to get clobbered in this coronavirus interruption, and that explains why Tanger Factory Outlet Centers has plummeted 38% so far in 2020. The leading operator of factory outlet centers serves as a landlord to clearance outlets for well-known retailers.
Tanger boosted its dividend in January, something that it has done every year since going public in 1993. There aren't too many equity REITs that have been able to achieve that kind of payout aristocracy. The sell-off given the challenging operating climate and the market's poor reaction to its holiday-containing quarter has pushed the yield up to 16%.
The near future will be rough. Tanger began 2020 with a hearty 97% occupancy rate, and it's highly unlikely to stay that buoyant as the closures and social distancing edicts play out. But an outlet center operator specializing in bargain-priced brands seems like a good place to be when shoppers do eventually come out again.
Sonos ($8.45)
Another name that has surprisingly crashed through the floor of double-digit pricing is Sonos. The stock likely made a thunderous boom when it dropped, and not just because investors have suffered a 46% hit in 2020. Sonos is a pioneer in wireless home audio systems, so it knows a thing or two about amplifying sounds.
Sonos hit 52-week highs in early February after posting better-than-expected financial results. Revenue and net income rose 13% and 15%, respectively. Consumers have taken kindly to its expanding product line, and despite the competitive nature of audio equipment, Sonos has come through with 14 straight years of revenue growth. The company is also a natural to come out of the coronavirus crisis better than most companies as homebound consumers invest in enhancing their in-home audio systems. Folks preparing for a recession aren't going to be anxious for big-ticket purchases, but audiophiles will see the logic in paying up to make their homes sound better.
