The market has been particularly harsh to high-growth stocks over recent months, causing major price declines in otherwise solid companies. The omicron coronavirus variant, soaring inflation, and the possibility of interest rate hikes next year are all causing uncertainty for investors today.
Opportunities to buy outstanding businesses at significant discounts to their recent highs are rare. Now is not the time to abandon your long-term investing strategy. Instead, take a look at the following stocks as potential additions to your portfolio right now.
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1. Etsy
The first stock you should consider is online marketplace Etsy (ETSY -0.86%). It's down 26% in the past month as investors worry that the pandemic-induced surge in demand for its unique goods will fade with economies slowly reopening. But if we zoom out and focus on the bigger picture, Etsy is doing just fine.
The platform generated $3.1 billion in gross merchandise sales (GMS) in the third quarter, up 17.9% over the year-ago period. This was all the more impressive given that a year ago GMS shot up 119%. The ecosystem is robust and growing with 96 million active buyers and 7.5 million active sellers, both of which are up substantially on a sequential basis.
Over the past 12 months, Etsy's profit margin was a superb 21.6%. And the business is a cash cow, producing $584 million in free cash flow during that time. That leaves lots of room to potentially buy back stock, further boosting earnings per share.
The stock has been a massive outperformer, skyrocketing nearly 1,600% over the past five years. But don't think the party is over for this booming e-commerce business. CEO Josh Silverman has ambitions to create a "House of Brands" that will penetrate what the leadership team believes is a $1.7 trillion global opportunity. The recent acquisitions of Depop, a secondhand-fashion reseller, and Elo7, known as the Etsy of Brazil, should help support that vision of growth for the company in the decade ahead.
2. The Joint Corp.
Who knew that offering fast and affordable back adjustments would be such a lucrative business model? That's exactly what The Joint Corp. (JYNT 2.18%) is doing. The nationwide franchisor and operator of 666 chiropractic clinics has been growing at a breathtaking pace. A decade ago, the company had just 26 locations.
After reaching an all-time high of $107.30 in early September, the stock has crashed over 40%. Even so, the price is up 135% year to date. This company does away with the traditional, insurance-based structure by letting patients walk in (no appointment needed) and receive quick and effective treatment from a licensed chiropractor. At $29, a visit here is often lower than co-pays at independent chiropractor offices.
The model is working. Same-store sales for locations open at least four years jumped 21% in the latest quarter. And with annual spending on back pain in the U.S. estimated to be $134 billion, there is a massive market opportunity. The Joint's trailing-12-month revenue totaled $75 million.
Management is confident the company can one day have 1,800 locations in the U.S., almost triple its current footprint. With 295 clinics in active development and 132 franchise licenses sold in the first nine months of 2021, The Joint is well on its way to bringing chiropractic care to the masses.
3. Roku
Perhaps the biggest shocker on this list is Roku (ROKU -3.05%), which has seen its stock shed roughly half of its value since July. Some challenges, including missing Wall Street's sales estimates in the third quarter plus supply-chain bottlenecks, are certainly pressuring the stock. But I still firmly believe that the long-term outlook for Roku is intact.
This top streaming business is attractive not because of its media sticks, which have actually been sold at a loss in the past two quarters, but because of its burgeoning platform segment. This is where high-margin advertising and subscription fees are. In the most recent quarter, the platform business represented 86% of total revenue, a figure that has steadily increased over time.
Roku's 56.4 million active accounts streamed 18 billion hours of content in the latest three-month period. But what really stood out was the average revenue per user of $40.10. The monster success of The Roku Channel, now a top-five channel on the platform, has further helped ad revenue. This allows even greater investment in content (including 50 new original series planned over the next two years), bringing in new viewers.
The management team, led by CEO Anthony Wood, thinks that streaming is the future of video entertainment. The ongoing decline of cable-TV subscribers makes this trend undeniable. Roku will continue riding this wave as it tackles overseas markets, particularly in Europe and Latin America.
Taking advantage of what the market is giving you today by adding shares in these proven winners, now at steep discounts, could be a game-changer for your portfolio.
