The phrase "come full circle" has taken on new meaning for Wall Street and investors in 2020.
During the first quarter, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic punished equities and sent the broad-based S&P 500 lower by 34% in just 33 calendar days. But over the past four months, the benchmark index has regained all of what it had lost for the year. The stock market has come full circle all right, but it's tested the resolve of investors like never before in the process.
Of course, periods of above-average volatility are also an excellent time to put your money to work. That's because every single stock market correction in history, prior to the coronavirus correction, has eventually been erased and put into the rearview mirror by a bull-market rally.
Image source: Getty Images.
If you're looking to put your money to work in a high-growth company that has 10-bagger potential this decade, let me introduce you to my single best investment idea for August: social media giant Pinterest (PINS -2.86%).
I know what some of you are probably thinking: "Pinterest just shot up 36% on Friday following its second-quarter earnings report and is going to pull back." While this statement may well be true -- stocks rarely move higher in a straight line -- trying to time the market with any consistency is a fruitless endeavor. If you're willing to hang on for the next five to 10 years, if not longer, I think you'll be satisfied purchasing Pinterest at any price over the next couple of weeks or months.
Pinterest could find near-term growth prospects challenging
As is customary when I share my favorite investment idea of the month, I'll first run through some of the concerns that Pinterest shareholders (or prospective investors) should keep in mind. Remember, even companies that look like the perfect investment face challenges.
In the near-term, which I'll define as the next two years, the biggest challenge for Pinterest is going to be generating consistent ad-revenue growth. The coronavirus pandemic has walloped developed, developing, and emerging market economies without prejudice, and that's typically bad news for businesses when it comes to ad spending. Since ads make up the bulk of Pinterest's revenue, it could lead to some lumpy sales recognition.
Image source: Getty Images.
To build on this point, Pinterest is still in the early innings of its operational buildout, which means it's going to be spending liberally to attract more users and merchants to its platform. However, costs aren't commensurate with user growth. This is a fancy way of saying that Pinterest may not be profitable on a recurring basis until 2021 or 2022. Wall Street seems OK with the prospect of tech stocks putting profits on the backburner in favor of growth for the time being, but that tune could easily change if we see another serious COVID-19 correction in the market.
Another clear concern for Pinterest is that some deep-pocketed peers may look to invade its turf. For example, Facebook (META -2.28%) announced the launch of the Hobbi app back in mid-February, which was designed to allow iPhone users to share photos and projects that they were working on. Facebook's experiment with Hobbi didn't last long, with the company choosing to shutter the app on July 10. According to Facebook, few of the users opted to receive push notifications, which were critical to app engagement, and users were perturbed by the app requiring their phone numbers. Though Facebook's copycat failed, there are likely to be many more where this came from.
Now that we've had a look at Pinterest's biggest concerns, let's walk through all of the reasons investors have to be excited about this potential 10-bagger.
Image source: Pinterest.
Here's why now is the time to buy Pinterest
To begin with, Pinterest's monthly active user (MAU) growth hasn't stalled out like some of its other social media peers. During the June-ended quarter, Pinterest's MAUs grew 39% to 416 million, with the vast majority of this growth coming from overseas markets -- approximately 106 million of the 116 million MAUs added over the past 12 months came from outside the United States. Although average revenue per user (ARPU) tends to be considerably higher in the U.S., this insanely fast overseas MAU growth gives Pinterest the opportunity to double its international ARPU a couple of times this decade.
Don't overlook Pinterest's ad-pricing power, either. Advertisers are always looking to reach as many eyeballs as they can, and with 416 million MAUs, few social platforms compare. Additionally, with Pinterest based on sharing interests, hobbies, and ideas, it's the perfect platform for targeted advertising.
Investors are also going to be excited about Pinterest's push into e-commerce. Since people are using the site as a platform to share products, services, and ideas that interest them, it only makes sense for Pinterest to provide a means for small and/or specialized businesses to connect with these users. Pinterest has been integrating shop functions into pins, user boards, and traditional search in an effort to streamline purchasing activity.
Image source: Getty Images.
Further, as evidenced by the company's rapidly growing MAUs, Pinterest is having little issue keeping users engaged. This is being done, in part, by incorporating video more often on its platform. Video has shown to be more effective in getting users to take action (i.e., purchase a product online).
Pinterest's partnerships are yet another selling point. In May, Pinterest partnered with e-commerce platform Shopify (SHOP -2.04%) to aid merchants in getting their products in front of users. The Pinterest app on Shopify allows merchants to quickly upload their product catalog, as well as receive daily tracking and sale updates. Most important, it's easy to set up, meaning Shopify has removed the need to edit code for merchants.
Ultimately, Pinterest can offer double-digit growth potential throughout the decade, and should be able to double its sales about every four years. All of this makes it the perfect stock for investors to scoop up in August and hang onto for many years to come.
