2021 started out on a positive note on Wall Street but the year has already turned sour for many investors. Even though the major market indexes are setting fresh all-time highs on a regular basis, many of last year's high-flying tech stocks took a tumble in recent months.
I'm talking about a temporary market correction where lots of investors saw the world going back to normal after the coronavirus pandemic. With an effective vaccine in every arm, it's easy to crave some stability and traditional value investments. Skyrocketing growth stocks powered by the unique market conditions of a global health crisis have come back to earth. The extreme growth story is over.
Or is it?
The sudden correction doesn't necessarily make bad investments out of last year's fastest-growing market darlings. I'm here to tell you why you should consider investing in Coinbase Global (COIN +3.26%) and The Trade Desk (TTD 1.36%) at a generous discount.
Image source: Getty Images.
The Trade Desk
This online advertising specialist is trading 44% below December's all-time highs, but we shareholders are still nursing a market-beating 52-week gain of 73%.
Keep in mind that The Trade Desk is crushing it in terms of business results. Sales rose 37% year over year in the first quarter and earnings jumped 57% higher. The bottom-line result nearly doubled the analyst consensus target.
Critics have argued that the good times will stop rolling next winter when Alphabet (GOOG +1.99%) (GOOGL +1.71%) changes the data-tracking capabilities of the market-leading Chrome browser. The bearish idea is that The Trade Desk absolutely needs third-party tracking cookies in order to deliver useful ad-buying metrics and effective marketing campaigns.
As it turns out, the company has been planning for this altered future for years. The Trade Desk is not only equipped to do without the ancient cookie technology but is also a leading developer and promoter of a modern click-tracking technology known as Unified ID 2.0. Like cookies, this platform delivers actionable insights about consumers' browsing habits. Unlike cookies, Unified ID also works with mobile apps and media-streaming services that don't rely on traditional web browsers -- all with a deeper respect for each user's privacy.
If anything, The Trade Desk is only increasing its business value in a cookie-less world. It will soon be hard to find another company that can match The Trade Desk's powerful marketing tools, especially when it comes to injecting targeted ads in streaming media experiences.
You can buy this stock with confidence, knowing that the company is poised to continue crushing the market for years to come. The dramatic share-price discount is just a nice bonus for long-term investors.
Image source: Getty Images.
Coinbase
Cryptocurrency trading service Coinbase entered the stock market as recently as last month. Crypto prices have been trending downward throughout that six-week period, taking Coinbase shares along for the ride. The stock is trading 29% below the first day's closing price. Bitcoin (BTC +3.23%) prices fell 41% over the same time span.
The young company's first earnings report wasn't a barnstormer, either. Sure, revenues surged from $191 million to $1.8 billion and the company posted positive earnings of $3.05 per share, but your average analyst had still expected something more on both counts. Coinbase shares fell 6% the next day.
Coinbase represents a lower-risk way of investing in the cryptocurrency market than owning the digital coins directly. Any particular coin may fall out of favor over time -- including the Bitcoin graybeard -- but Coinbase will continue to offer crypto-trading services and other fintech products to consumers anyhow. The company has 56 million verified users, $223 billion of digital assets under management, and a $2 billion cash cushion. Coinbase is consistently profitable, even during lean times with low cryptocurrency prices and limited trading.
The corollary to Coinbase's lower risk is that the stock may offer more limited shareholder rewards over time. It's hard to argue against the explosive rewards cryptocurrency owners see in each bull market. That being said, Coinbase comes with a modest market cap of $43.5 billion while Bitcoin's market value is a massive $766 billion today. Coinbase shares have plenty of room for growth, especially if cryptocurrencies pull out of their recent funk and start rising again.
