Since the stock market bottomed out in March 2020, investors have been treated to a record-breaking bounce-back rally. The widely followed S&P 500 has nearly doubled in 16 months, and it's spent the better part of 2021 pushing to one new all-time high after another.
While some investors might be skittish about putting money to work with the market regularly knocking on the door of new highs, history has shown that, if you're a long-term investor who allows their investment thesis to play out, anytime is a great time to buy high-quality stocks.
The following five game-changing stocks all offer the potential to turn a sizable amount of cash, say $250,000, into a life-altering amount of money ($1 million) by 2030.
Image source: Getty Images.
Salesforce
Don't let anyone tell you that brand-name, mega-cap stocks can't deliver big-time returns for investors. Despite a $236 billion market cap, cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) software provider Salesforce.com (CRM -0.57%) has all the tools necessary to make a run at a $1 trillion valuation by the end of the decade.
For those of you wondering, CRM software is used consumer-facing businesses to oversee client relationships, handle service issues, manage online marketing campaigns, and run a variety of predictive analyses, to name a few core functions. Salesforce is the undisputed king of CRM sales. When IDC examined global CRM revenue in the first half of 2020, it found that Salesforce brought in 19.8% of total sales. That was more than its four-closest competitors, combined, and it practically ensures that the company's leading position in this double-digit growth trend remains unmatched.
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has also been a mastermind on the acquisition front. Previous purchases (MuleSoft and Tableau) have expanded its product and service ecosystem and helped to fuel a 29% compound annual sales growth rate over the past decade. The company's most recent acquisition of cloud-based enterprise communications platform Slack Technologies will serve as a jumping-off point for Salesforce to cross-sell to small-and-medium-sized businesses.
If all continues to go well, Salesforce will surpass $50 billion in annual sales by fiscal 2026 after reporting $21.3 billion in revenue in fiscal 2021. That's sustainable growth long-term investors can count on.
Image source: Getty Images.
The Original Bark Company
On the other end of the spectrum is dog-focused product and service small-cap stock, The Original Bark Company (BARK 0.94%), which is perhaps better known as BarkBox.
Even though pet expenditures aren't growing as quickly as CRM software on an annual basis, there may not be a more recession-resistant industry than pets. After all, sales data from the American Pet Products Association shows it's been at least a quarter of a century since year-over-year pet spending declined. This year alone, pet owners are forecast to shell out $109.6 billion.
What makes Bark so intriguing is its subscription-focused operating model. Approximately 90% of its sales are based on a monthly subscription model, with the remainder originating from product placement in over 23,000 retail locations. Not having to maintain brick-and-mortar locations or sit on mountains of inventory means lower overhead costs and a gross margin that's consistently hovered around 60%.
Furthermore, Bark is leaning on innovation and tech-driven personalization to boost sales. Last year, it introduced Bark Home and Bark Eats. Bark Home is a portal for basic need accessories like leashes and beds, whereas Bark Eats is a subscription service that works with owners to develop a customized dry food diet for their pooch. The potential for add-on sales, along with existing growth opportunities, could triple Bark's revenue by fiscal 2026.
Image source: Getty Images.
Lovesac
Another game-changing stock that can turn $250,000 into a cool $1 million or more by 2030 is furniture stock Lovesac (LOVE 2.21%). And yes, I did just use the words "game-changing" and "furniture stock" in the same sentence.
Typically, retailing furniture is a highly cyclical and relatively boring operating model that's dependent on brick-and-mortar retail locations. However, Lovesac is changing up multiple aspects of the furniture industry.
Arguably the biggest difference between Lovesac and traditional furniture manufacturers and retailers is the product. Almost 85% of Lovesac's revenue is derived from its "sactionals." These are sectional-based modular couches that can be rearranged a countless number of ways to accommodate any livable space. The company's sactionals have approximately 200 different cover choices, which means that buyers shouldn't have any trouble matching Lovesac's modular furniture with the color scheme or theme of their home. And lastly, the yarn used in these covers is made entirely from recycled plastic water bottles. That's functionality, choice, and environmentally friendly products all rolled up into one.
Were this not enough, the company has dazzled Wall Street with its ability to shift its sales approach during the pandemic. In fiscal 2021, 47% of Lovesac's sales were generated online, with another 7% coming from pop-up showrooms. Having less in the way of overhead and emphasizing direct-to-consumer sales pushed the company to recurring profitability well ahead of Wall Street's forecast.
Image source: Getty Images.
Jushi Holdings
The U.S. cannabis industry should be another source of opportunity for patient growth-seeking investors this decade. By 2030, small-cap marijuana stock Jushi Holdings (JUSHF -5.64%) has a good chance to quadruple (or more) in value.
Jushi's growth story can't be told without noting its focus on limited-license states. More than 80% of the company's revenue this year will likely originate from Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Virginia. The former two states cap how many retail licenses can be issued in aggregate, and to a single business, while Virginia assigns licenses according to jurisdiction. The key point being that these three markets are purposely reining in competition, which will ensure that Jushi has a fair chance to build up its brand and garner a loyal following.
For such a small pot stock, Jushi hasn't been afraid to put the capital it's raised to work. It's expanded its cultivation potential in Virginia, added to its large retail presence in Pennsylvania, and acquired two dispensaries in California, just since the year began. California is the world's leading marijuana market by annual sales.
Between 2020 and 2024, Wall Street is looking for Jushi's sales to climb by 1,100% to nearly $1 billion. With the company expected to become profitable on a recurring basis next year, it may well be the biggest bargain in the industry.
Image source: Getty Images.
Sea Limited
A final game-changing stock that could generate a life-altering return for investors is Singapore-based Sea Limited (SE -2.20%). What makes Sea such a special company is that it has a trio of rapidly growing operating segments to support its valuation expansion.
For starters, Sea's gaming division has grown rapidly, and is currently the only one of the three segments generating positive earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA). As of the end of March, Sea had close to 649 million active mobile gamers, 12.3% of which were paying customers. Most pay-to-play platforms only average a 2% conversion rate, so this is a phenomenal monetization rate for its mobile game platform.
Second, Sea has a rapidly expanding e-commerce presence in Southeastern Asia and Brazil. Shopee, as the company's online commerce platform is known, is the most-downloaded shopping app in Southeast Asia. Between a burgeoning middle class and the coronavirus pandemic keeping people in their homes, Shopee saw more gross merchandise value traverse its network in the first three months of 2021 than it did in all of 2018.
And third, Sea has its relatively new digital financial services operations. Since many of the regions Sea operates in are underbanked, the ability to offer mobile wallet payments could be a game-changer for consumers. The company already has more than 26 million paying users. Altogether, these three segments could quintuple Sea's annual sales over the next four years.
