Since the end of the Great Recession over 12 years ago, growth stocks have ruled Wall Street. The combination of historically low lending rates and a highly accommodative Federal Reserve has allowed fast-paced companies to borrow cheaply in order to hire, acquire, and innovate.
But for some growth stocks, their sales explosion is just beginning. Keeping in mind that consensus estimates from Wall Street are subject to change, the following four companies are expected to grow sales by 509% to 3,324% between 2020 and 2024. This makes them some of the fastest-growing stocks on the planet.
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Novavax: Consensus sales growth of 711% by 2024
The first stock with insane sales-growth potential is biotech stock Novavax (NVAX 2.95%). Following the company's $475.6 million in reported sales last year, Wall Street is looking for a consensus of nearly $3.86 billion in annual sales by 2024.
Fanning the flames for Novavax is the company's coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine, NVX-CoV2373. Although there's more to a COVID-19 vaccine than just its headline vaccine efficacy (VE), Novavax managed to wow folks with respective VEs of 89.7% (U.K. trial) and 90.4% (U.S. and Mexico trial) in two large-scale studies. Such an impressive VE should be enough to help Novavax unseat seemingly less-effective COVID-19 vaccines from Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca to become the No. 3 COVID-19 vaccine producer in the world.
The big hurdle for Novavax thus far hasn't been efficacy; rather, it's been execution. There have been concerns raised about the purity of the vaccines being produced, and Novavax's shareholders have endured numerous emergency-use authorization (EUA) filing delays in key markets. The good news is management appears to finally be clearing these hurdles, with NVX-CoV2373 receiving its first EUA in Indonesia less than two weeks ago and the company filing for provisional approval in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.
What investors should really keep an eye on is the company's combination-vaccine development program. Novavax has a combination influenza/COVID-19 vaccine in the works that could reasonably reach pharmacy shelves before its peers. If Novavax continues to lead with innovation, it could be an absolute bargain at its current valuation.
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Jushi Holdings: Consensus sales growth of 1,023% by 2024
It should surprise absolutely no one that U.S. marijuana stocks are on pace to be some of the fastest-growing companies through 2024. Although cannabis is growing like a weed worldwide, the U.S. is the epicenter of legal pot sales.
Small-cap multi-state operator (MSO) Jushi Holdings (JUSHF 4.53%) is looking to reap the rewards of this rapid growth. Jushi's sales are forecast to climb from $80.8 million in 2020 to $907 million in 2024, according to estimates from FactSet.
For the moment, Jushi is a small player in a big pond. The company recently opened its 26th dispensary, which compares to a handful of MSOs in the U.S. with well over 100 open retail locations and/or licenses in their back pockets. But what Jushi does have is a very methodical plan to grow its business.
The key to this company's success is its focus on limited-license cannabis markets. Specifically, Jushi should see a majority of its revenue derived from Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Illinois. Aside from all three markets having billion-dollar annual sales potential (Illinois already topped $1 billion in annual weed revenue in 2020), they all limit how retail licenses are assigned.
Illinois and Pennsylvania cap the number of dispensaries in operation, as well as how many licenses a single business can hold. Meanwhile, Virginia assigns licenses by jurisdiction. The point is that regulators are purposely scaling back competition, which'll give Jushi a solid opportunity to build up its brands and garner a loyal following.
Additionally, despite Jushi's small stature, management has been prudently deploying some of the company's capital to acquire dispensaries in high-dollar markets. It'll soon own a vertically integrated dispensary in Las Vegas, Nevada, and earlier this year, it bought its way into Southern California. The Golden State is the biggest pot market in the world by annual sales.
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Zogenix: Consensus sales growth of 3,324% by 2024
Novavax isn't the only biotech stock whose sales are expected to skyrocket through 2024. Small-cap drugmaker Zogenix (ZGNX) should see its annual revenue climb from $13.6 million in 2020 to an estimated $467 million in 2024. That's a better than 3,300% increase, for those of you keeping score at home.
Leading the charge for Zogenix is Fintepla, a drug that's currently approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat a rare type of childhood-onset epilepsy known as Dravet syndrome. Net sales of Fintepla surpassed $51 million through September 2021.
But the real key to supercharged revenue growth is Zogenix's ability to expand Fintepla's label. In the previous quarter, the company filed a supplemental new-drug application with the FDA to also include Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS). LGS is another rare form of childhood-onset epilepsy.
Recently released interim data from its ongoing open-label phase 3 study of Fintepla for LGS patients showed a median seizure reduction of 39.4% at the three-month mark and 51.8% for patients assessed between months 10 and 12. In other words, Fintepla looks to have a really good chance of having its label expanded in 2022.
The biggest question mark for Zogenix is where it'll fit within the Dravet/LGS space. Cannabinoid-focused drugmaker GW Pharmaceuticals, which was acquired by Jazz Pharmaceuticals, beat Zogenix to market with Epidiolex. Considering that focused treatments for Dravet/LGS patients have been few and far between, it's possible both companies coexist and excel, but only time will tell.
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Coinbase Global: Consensus sales growth of 509% by 2024
A fourth and final company that qualifies as one of the fastest-growing stocks on the planet through 2024 is cryptocurrency exchange and digital ecosystem Coinbase Global (COIN 4.68%). Coinbase, which went public earlier this year, recorded $1.28 billion in sales in 2020. By 2024, it should be pushing nearly $7.8 billion in annual revenue.
Coinbase's rapid growth is a reflection of it being the preferred platform to trade/invest in cryptocurrencies. Between the third quarter (Q3) of 2020 and Q3 2021, the number of monthly transacting users more than tripled to 7.4 million, while assets held on the platform catapulted from $36 billion to $255 billion. As long as the core revenue generators for Coinbase keep chugging along -- Bitcoin and Ethereum, the "Big Two" -- the company has a good chance to remain very profitable.
However, of the four fast-growing companies listed here, Coinbase is the stock with the greatest implied risk. That's because Coinbase is overly reliant on revenue from the Big Two in cryptocurrency, and investor sentiment can turn on a dime.
Arguably more worrisome is the lack of a barrier to entry in the cryptocurrency-exchange space. Despite Coinbase having more than 73 million verified users, it wouldn't be difficult for a competing platform to undercut the fees it charges. We've watched these same price wars erode the revenue potential for traditional brokerage firms on Wall Street. The same fate likely awaits Coinbase.
My suspicion is that we'll see these revenue expectations for 2023 and beyond dwindle in the months and years to come.
