Even though the major U.S. stock market indexes are within a stone's throw of an all-time high, history tells us that it's always a good time to put your money to work, as long as you're a long-term investor. That's because every crash or correction has eventually been put into the rearview mirror. In short, the stock market is a maker of millionaires.
But to become a millionaire -- or better yet a multimillionaire -- you'll first need to buy and hold game-changing and innovative companies. The following five supercharged stocks all have the tangible and intangible attributes of companies that can make you a millionaire.
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Social media sites are mostly a dime a dozen, but up-and-comer Pinterest (PINS 0.89%) is proving to be something special. That's because unlike most social media destinations, its user growth hasn't hit a brick wall. In fact, after ending March with 478 million monthly active users (MAU), it's only a matter of time before Pinterest crosses the psychologically important 500-million-user threshold.
Although U.S. MAUs generate considerably higher average revenue per user (ARPU) than international users, these ex.-U.S. users are Pinterest's key to sustainable double-digit growth throughout the decade. That's because it's going to be a lot easier for the company to double international ARPU multiple times in the 2020s than it'll be to double U.S. ARPU -- especially when greater than 90% of its user growth its outside of the U.S. to begin with.
Pinterest's platform is also something of a dream come true for businesses. It's a platform where people willingly share the products, places, and services that interest them, which allows advertisers to effectively target their spending. As long as Pinterest can keep its users engaged, which has been accomplished of late by ramping up video usage, it shouldn't have any problem becoming a key e-commerce player.
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Cresco Labs
Marijuana is projected to be one of the fastest-growing industries in North America this decade, and the U.S. is at the center of this growth. If a report from New Frontier Data is correct, sales growth will average 21% through 2025. That makes U.S. multistate operator Cresco Labs (CRLBF 1.51%) a potential millionaire-maker.
Like it peers, Cresco Labs has a burgeoning retail presence. Taking into account its recently closed purchase of Bluma Wellness and its pending acquisition of Cultivate in Massachusetts, it'll soon have three dozen operating dispensaries and approximately one dozen additional retail licenses in its back pocket. Quite a few of the states Cresco is targeting, such as Illinois, are limited license issuers. This means they have a preset number of retail licenses they'll issue in total. In other words, targeting limited-license states will ensure that Cresco can build up its brand without getting steamrolled by a larger player with deep pockets.
What's even more impressive about Cresco Labs is the company's wholesale operations. Wholesale often gets a bad rap in the cannabis industry because it generates lower margins than the retail side of things. However, Cresco offers more than enough volume to offset any margin weakness. That's because it holds one of only a small number of cannabis distribution licenses in California, the largest pot market in the world. Being able to place its pot products into more than 575 dispensaries in the Golden State makes wholesale Cresco's greatest asset.
Image source: Square.
Square
The War on Cash is alive and well, and fintech stock Square (SQ 5.04%) is leading the charge. Even with a $100 billion market cap, it could reasonably deliver a 500% to 1,000% return over the next decade.
First and foremost, Square generates consistent growth from its foundational seller ecosystem. This is a segment that provides point-of-sale devices, analytics, loans, and other tools to help businesses succeed. In the seven years leading up to the pandemic, the seller ecosystem's gross payment volume (GPV) rose by an annual average of 49% to $106 billion. Since this is a merchant fee-based segment, the fact that a larger percentage of GPV is now coming from bigger businesses is a good sign for continued double-digit annual GPV growth.
However, most folks are enamored with peer-to-peer digital payment platform Cash App -- and for good reason. Square announced that, in three years, Cash App's MAU count more than quintupled to 36 million. Moreover, the company is generating $41 in gross profit per new user and paying less than $5 to attract each new MAU. Those are millionaire-making margins. With Cash App giving Square the ability to generate revenue from merchant transactions, bank transfers, investments, and even Bitcoin exchange, the sky's the limit.
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EverQuote
Don't forget about small-cap stocks -- they can make you a millionaire, too. One fast-growing small-cap that finds itself in the perfect niche of a staple industry is EverQuote (EVER -0.16%).
EverQuote operates an online insurance marketplace that allows consumers to compare policies. While insurance is a generally slow-growing (dare I say, boring?) industry, digital ad spending within the insurance industry is expanding quickly. Of the $16.7 billion in ad spending projected for 2021, $6.5 billion is digital spending. EverQuote solely operates in this digital ad space, which is expected to grow by an average annual rate of 16% through 2024.
EverQuote's online marketplace is making the insurance buying and selling process so much more efficient. Consumers can do price-comparisons with the click of a button, while insurers can more effectively target their ad spend to motivated shoppers. Not surprisingly, 20% of all consumers who request a price comparison ultimately buy a policy through EverQuote's marketplace.
As one final note, EverQuote has expanded beyond auto insurance into new verticals. These new verticals (home, rental, health, and life insurance) are growing at a considerably faster pace than its core auto insurance marketplace.
Image source: Redfin.
Redfin
The fifth and final supercharged stock that can make you a millionaire is technology-driven real estate company Redfin (RDFN 2.48%).
To cover the obvious, Redfin has absolutely benefited from historically low mortgage rates, which has fueled home buying and selling activity. But there's more to like here than just favorable external factors.
For example, Redfin has differentiated itself in the cost-savings department. Redfin fully understands that it can woo its clients by saving them a boatload of money during the home purchase/selling process. That's because it charges a listing fee of between 1% and 1.5%, which is up to two percentage points lower than traditional real estate companies. Considering how quickly home prices are rising, the amount Redfin is saving buyers and sellers is growing almost daily.
Real estate companies will also struggle to match the personalization that Redfin brings to the table. Its Concierge service helps with staging and upgrades to maximize the value of a home being sold. Meanwhile, RedfinNow allows the company to buy homes for cash, thereby removing the usual hassles and haggling that comes with selling a home.
It should be no surprise that Redfin's share of U.S. existing home sales has nearly tripled (0.44% to 1.14%) since the end of 2015.
