The stock market has been extremely volatile so far this year, and for many investors, the news has been extremely bad. But looking at the Nasdaq 100 index, you'd never know it, because the benchmark is actually up 18% in 2020.
That's great performance for any year, but some of the individual components that make up the current Nasdaq 100 put even those returns to shame. Here, we'll look at the three top stocks in the Nasdaq 100 and see if they have room to run further.
Zoom Video Communications, up 284%
Zoom Video Communications (ZM -0.42%) is a recent entrant to the Nasdaq 100, having just joined the index in April. The company took the place of Willis Towers Watson among the Nasdaq's top 100 stocks.
Zoom needs little introduction to most investors. The provider of video conferencing services has become an essential element of doing business during the COVID-19 outbreak, as in-person meetings have given way to remote working. A dramatic rise in conference call activity has taken place. Zoom is meeting the challenge well, scaling up its business with relatively few bumps along the road.
The pace of Zoom's growth is so fast that it's difficult for investors using traditional valuation metrics to make realistic guesses about the company's true value. For now, though, there's a lot of lingering uncertainty about whether a second wave of coronavirus will come. If it does, it could give Zoom even more staying power and give shareholders still more reason to own the stock.
Image source: Nasdaq.
Tesla, up 189%
The COVID-19 pandemic has crushed traditional automakers, in large part because production facilities have had to shut down in many areas. However, Tesla (TSLA 12.50%) hasn't seen any significant decline in demand for its vehicles. The company boasted solid production and delivery figures for the second quarter of 2020, even as it had to fight to stay in operation. Many still believe that Tesla can hit its target to deliver 500,000 vehicles this year even with the challenges of the pandemic.
Helping to bolster shares of Tesla is the fact that if the car maker can make a profit in the second quarter, it would mark the fourth period in a row of black ink for Tesla. That's the last obstacle between the electric vehicle pioneer and a spot in the prestigious S&P 500 index. The resulting forced buying from index mutual funds and ETFs could send prices still higher, and that's what speculators seem to be counting on as they keep gobbling up Tesla's stock.
DocuSign, up 158%
DocuSign's (DOCU 0.05%) time in the Nasdaq 100 has been even briefer than Zoom's, with the company having taken the place of United Airlines Holdings (UAL -2.02%) in late June. Nevertheless, the document signature service's membership is well-deserved given the company's strong performance recently.
DocuSign's most recent quarterly results show that the subscription-based document signature service is seeing continued revenue growth at attractive levels, and billings in the first quarter of its 2021 fiscal year climbed almost 60% from year-earlier results. As with Zoom, DocuSign has benefited from the greater need of its clients to arrange for alternatives to in-person meetings to get signatures. With DocuSign recognized as legally binding, there's plenty more room for those seeking to build out a greater presence in the cloud to shift their document-signing needs to DocuSign and its platform.
Will the Nasdaq keep outperforming?
High-growth stocks have always been a key to the Nasdaq's fortunes, and right now, there's never been a greater appetite for companies that can grow sales and profits even under current difficult situations. DocuSign, Tesla, and Zoom have already soared, but there could still be more upside left for those investors who are courageous enough to see their full potential.
