If you have an extra $1,000 to invest in the stock market, these two stocks could provide high returns over the long term. Considering both companies are assisting in the international e-commerce market, they have the potential to become extremely valuable to customers as the market expands.
Global-E Online (GLBE -2.88%) and dLocal (DLO -4.38%) have seen strong adoption over the past years, and this trend could continue because of their market's expanding size. With plenty of room to grow and exploring in this industry, Global-E and dLocal have the potential to provide long-term investors with amazing returns.
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Global-E: The international commerce "guru"
Global-E has a mission to "make global e-commerce border agnostic" and its platform is certainly successful in doing that, focusing on global e-commerce transactions that are as seamless as possible. If you've ever ordered something from China or across the world, you might know how difficult it can be to find a clear price in dollars (or whatever your domestic currency is), conduct the experience in your own language, or easily return a defective product. When it comes to global e-commerce, these simple things can be logistical nightmares for merchants. But Global-E is working to fix this, improving the customer experience for both merchants and shoppers.
For shoppers, it does this by focusing on localizing languages -- so a U.S. shopper will see text in English while a shopper in Germany will see it in German. The company is also providing clear pricing, offering speedy delivery by partnering with over 20 shipping carriers and enabling frictionless returns. For merchants, Global-E wants to offload complexities like the ones above, enable growth into new markets, and reduce legal risk while increasing sales.
This extreme focus on enabling growth for merchants has led to Global-E becoming very valuable to its customers. The average customer experiences a 60% uplift in international traffic conversion rates after switching to Global-E. This has attracted big enterprises, like the English football club Tottenham Hotspur and Michael Kors, a subsidiary of Capri Holdings. It should come as no surprise that the company has maintained customer churn of just 2% and a net retention rate of over 140% for many years. The loyal customer base has likely gained investors' attention as the stock grew 67% over the past year.
Revenue increased 92% in the second quarter of 2021 from the year-ago quarter to $57.3 million, and gross merchandise value increased 95% to $326 million. Gross margin also improved from 32.4% to 36%. Global-E ramped up its sales and marketing spend in Q2 2021, from $1 million in the year-ago quarter to $30 million. This resulted in a net loss of $22 million. The company did, however, generate $6.8 million in free cash flow in Q2 2021.
While the company's unprofitability is a concern, the ramp-up in sales and marketing was a one-time expense due to warrant expenses from Shopify's investment in Global-E. However, the main risk for Global-E is that companies may decide to manage these logistics in-house. Many large e-commerce companies have the budget to self-develop this technology, thus getting rid of the need for Global-E. On the other hand, Global-E's customers clearly derive value from the company, and it is likely that few enterprises could build everything Global-E has today.
dLocal: The international payments provider
dLocal operates not only in the e-commerce space but also in the payments market, where it is trying to redefine the payments space in emerging markets. The company does this through One dLocal, where global enterprises can seamlessly get paid and make payments through cross-border transactions. While Global-E is focused on improving the customer experience and logistical challenges, dLocal has its eyes on the payment frictions associated with global e-commerce.
The company works with anyone who needs to process cross-border payments. Some of its big-name customers are Amazon and Uber, along with over 340 merchants in over 30 countries, reaching over 2 billion users in 2020. This has led to an annual growth rate in its total payment volume (TPV) of 97% per year since 2016.
Despite being launched in 2016, the company has already reached $59 million in quarterly revenue in Q2 2021 -- which grew 186% from the year-ago quarter. Its Q2 TPV grew 319% to $348 million from the year-ago quarter, helping the company reach $17.7 million in net income for the period. What might be the most impressive statistic about dLocal is that its net retention rate for Q2 2021 was a staggering 196% -- meaning that existing customers spent 96% more in Q2 2021 than they did in Q2 2020.
In exchange for this astounding performance, the company trades at 105 times sales. Considering that it is growing extremely fast and has some of the most impressive financial figures I have seen, this should be expected.
Forrester expects that by 2023, the cross-border e-commerce market will reach $736 billion, leaving plenty of growth for both dLocal and Global-E to succeed over the long term. With both companies growing extremely fast, it seems as though this rapid adoption is already starting to take place. But with market caps of $14 billion and $8 billion for dLocal and Global-E, respectively, there is still tons of growth opportunity left.
