The Dow Jones Industrial Average is hovering just below its all-time high, but if you look at some of the market's most widely followed tech stocks, you would never know it. Many high-momentum stocks are down by 25% or more from their recent highs, and some have seen their share prices more than cut in half.
Obviously, nobody likes to watch the value of their portfolio go down. On the other hand, corrections like the one we've been seeing in the tech sector can create some interesting buying opportunities. Here are three stocks in my portfolio that have all lost 25% or more of their value recently, but are on the top of my watch list to add to my positions.
Image source: Getty Images.
Tons of revenue growth potential without the controversy
Pinterest (PINS -0.52%) is one of my largest stock positions, and with shares down by about 35% from their February high, it has also been one of my worst performers recently. But I'm viewing this as an opportunity to add even more shares to my position, and if the current price holds, that's what I plan to do.
While many of Pinterest's latest figures looked strong, the lack of domestic user growth (Pinterest's highest-revenue customer base) seems to be a concern for investors. Plus, CEO Ben Silbermann even went so far as to hint that active U.S. users could decline a bit as the economy reopens.
This isn't a surprise to me and doesn't overshadow the rest of Pinterest's success and opportunities. Revenue grew by 78% year over year in the first quarter, and the company's guidance is calling for even stronger growth in the second. And most importantly, international growth is very strong with monthly active users up 30% year over year to 380 million, and this is a massive group that Pinterest is still in the very early stages of monetizing.
A disruptor that could capitalize on a massive opportunity
Insurance disruptor Lemonade (LMND -0.46%) is down more than 60% from its 2021 high. While the stock may have run a bit too far earlier in the year (it had roughly quintupled in the first six months since its July 2020 IPO), this pullback could be the second chance investors were looking for.
To be sure, some of the declines were due to a few scary numbers in the company's recent earnings report. The brutal winter storms in Texas caused big insurance losses, and while management attempted to highlight that it was a successful "stress test" for the business, a 121% loss ratio versus just 73% in the previous quarter isn't what investors wanted to see.
However, don't let this bump in the road distract from the opportunity here. Lemonade's in-force premium increased by nearly 90% over the past year and there are now 1.1 million customers who have signed up for Lemonade insurance products. With the company set to go all-in on its potentially lucrative auto insurance product this year, we could certainly see accelerating growth for some time.
This massive fintech could be just getting started
Last but certainly not least, fintech giant Square (SQ -1.57%) has declined nearly 30% from its highs, fueled not only by the recent tech correction, but Square also has significant Bitcoin (BTC -3.56%) exposure as its Cash App platform facilitated about $3.5 billion in Bitcoin transfers in the first quarter alone. And Bitcoin has also fallen about 30% from its recent highs, putting pressure on cryptocurrency-related stocks.
However, Square has a massive opportunity, even without the Bitcoin side of its business. The payment volume through its network continues to grow rapidly (29% year-over-year growth in the first quarter) and now has an annualized rate of about $120 billion flowing through the company's platform. Cash App has successfully rolled out stock trading, direct deposit, and more, and has seen its user base roughly quadruple over the past three years. With Square recently obtaining a banking charter of its own, there are many possibilities to add even more value to the platform. With an estimated $185 trillion in payment volume around the world (including person-to-person transfers), Square could still be in its early stages of growth.
Invest with the long term in mind
To be perfectly clear, I'm not saying that the tech correction is over. It's entirely possible that we'll see continued investor rotation into the "reopening" plays as life in the U.S. returns to normal this summer, and this could certainly put pressure on these stocks. However, all three have tremendous long-term potential to grow, and that's why I'm watching them very closely at these price levels.
