Since the stock market crashed in March, I've been investing regularly in stocks -- usually on a weekly basis. I plan to keep doing so. And while the amount I invest varies somewhat, it's typically around $3,000 each time I buy stocks. There's nothing magic about that number. However, it does allow me to spread out my available cash to invest over a period of time.
I think that there are quite a few stocks worthy of your consideration even after the stock market rebound. If you've got $3,000 to invest (or somewhere in that ballpark), here are three fantastic stocks that you can buy right now that I've personally bought in recent weeks.
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1. Brookfield Renewable Partners
Pandemic? What pandemic? Brookfield Renewable Partners (BEP) continues to rock along with its growth not skipping a beat in the first quarter. There's a good reason why: The company's business model is relatively steady regardless of what happens in the global economy.
As its name indicates, Brookfield Renewable Partners focuses on renewable energy. It owns hydroelectric, wind, and solar energy facilities along with energy storage facilities. Most of its cash flow is contracted, so the company is largely immune to market gyrations.
Brookfield Renewable's growth prospects are strong. Countries across the world and several large U.S. states have committed to achieving renewable power generation goals over the next decade. Most of them are far short of those goals right now. With the costs of generating energy via wind and solar, in particular, plunging in recent years, renewable energy is now often a financially attractive option.
Then there's the dividend. Brookfield Renewable's dividend currently yields a mouthwatering 4.8%. The company has consistently boosted its dividend payout too, with the dividend growing more than 30% over the last five years.
2. Mastercard
There's no question that Mastercard (MA -0.07%) has felt the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. Its profits fell 9% year over year in the first quarter. Because of the uncertainties created by the pandemic, MasterCard withdrew its full-year 2020 outlook and didn't provide guidance for the second quarter.
But even though it's unclear how long it will take for the economy to fully recover from the coronavirus impact, MasterCard's challenges should only be temporary. CEO Ajay Banga thinks there will be four phases: containment, stabilization, normalization, and growth. He said in the company's Q1 conference call on April 29 that the U.S. was in the stabilization phase. However, it now appears that many areas of the country and across the world are shifting into the normalization phase where restrictions will be incrementally relaxed.
More importantly, the long-term prospects for the payment processing giant still look really great. A major shift from cash and checks to electronic forms of payment is under way. Mastercard is poised to be a big winner from this shift. And the trend seems likely to pick up momentum as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
One other reason to like Mastercard is its moat. The company, along with Visa, has a duopoly in payment processing throughout much of the world. The costs to disrupt this duopoly are so massive that it's doubtful that any rival will make an attempt. Mastercard also boasts a rock-solid financial position with its cash stockpile totaling $10.7 billion at the end of the first quarter. It's a company built to survive and thrive over the long run.
3. MongoDB
Meanwhile, MongoDB (MDB 0.81%) stock is near its all-time high. Shares of the database company sank during the overall stock market crash earlier this year but quickly rebounded.
It's likely that MongoDB will face some headwinds this year from the COVID-19 outbreak. Customers could cut back on spending. CFO Michael Gordon acknowledged on MongoDB's Q4 conference call in March that the company anticipates a "more challenging economic environment in the coming weeks and months."
As was the case with MasterCard, though, any problems for MongoDB should be relatively short-lived. Increasingly more data is being generated every day that has to be stored somewhere. Market researcher IDC projects that the global database market is projected to grow close to 37% within the next three years. If MongoDB can grow at this rate and keep it up throughout the end of the decade, its stock will nearly quintuple in value.
What's especially promising is that MongoDB is growing at a faster rate than the overall database industry. This growth is fueled primarily by its Atlas cloud database-as-a-service platform, which eliminates most of the hassles associated with database management. With Atlas likely to gain even more steam over the next few years, MongoDB should deliver outsize returns for investors.
