You don't need to have a ton of money to invest, and certainly not to pick up shares of high-quality companies. Some stocks offer shares for less than $20, and for the price of a burger and fries, or a large pizza, you can build wealth over the years ahead.
Don't know where to start? No worries, here are three technology companies with significant growth opportunities that cost less than $20 per share right now:
1. Palantir Technologies
Data is everywhere; every click, email, and record produces digital footprints that can be tracked and put together like pieces of a puzzle to learn from. Palantir Technologies (PLTR 3.19%) helps its customers understand data, building software solutions on its Gotham and Foundry platforms.
Image source: Getty Images.
The company has a deep relationship with the U.S. government, including work with the Army, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Department of Health and Human Services, and various other groups within the public sector. In all, roughly half of Palantir's business comes from government clients.
Palantir has invested in several start-ups and special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) to increase its business with the private sector. The business is profitable, generating $320 million in free cash flow in its 2021 third quarter, a massive leap from Q3 2020 when it burned $285 million.
Management is guiding for 30% revenue growth per year over the next four years, and the stock's recent slide amid a broader tech sell-off has pushed the price-to-sales ratio down to 25, from what was more than 40.
2. Grab Holdings
Southeast Asia is one of the world's most digital economies. The population is young, roughly half are under the age of 30, and they tend to spend more time connected to the internet than the average person. Super-app company Grab Holdings (GRAB 4.78%) has benefited, building a platform that its users can enjoy throughout their daily lives.
The company's core services include ride-hailing, delivery, and fintech services, which management estimates are leading market share in Southeast Asia. The high usage of these core services has enabled Grab to enter new businesses over time, adding things like investing, insurance, and buy now, pay later features.
Grab's net revenue grew at a compound average rate of 133% per year from Q1 2018 to Q4 2020, but the business hit some turbulence over the past year due to strict lockdowns in Southeast Asia to combat COVID-19. The ride-hailing business has suffered, and the company's Q3 2021 revenue dropped 9% year over year.
The stock price has fallen to the $7 range since the company's SPAC merger took the company public in December. Grab is a market leader in several core services, and investors may have an opportunity to buy shares before it recovers and resumes its long-term growth trajectory.
3. Marqeta
It doesn't seem that long ago when payment methods were limited to cash or traditional debit/credit cards. However, Marqeta (MQ 4.05%) has built a card-issuing platform over the past decade that has made innovation possible in the payments space.
Think of a traditional payment network like Visa or Mastercard that connects our banks to the point-of-sale where we swipe our cards. Marqeta's platform gives other companies the ability to tap into these payment networks in new ways.
For example, DoorDash uses Marqeta to enable its drivers to pay for customers' meals when they pick up the food and receive payment for making their food deliveries. The drivers can only pay for the specific meal and amount, which would be impossible with a regular payment card.
Marqeta has a wide range of fintech and other rapidly growing customers, including Block, Uber, Affirm, and more. The company's revenue grew 56% in Q3 2021, yet the stock price has fallen well below its initial public offering (IPO) price of $27 per share from earlier this year. At nearly $17 per share, the stock's P/S ratio has come down from 40 at the time of its IPO to just 17 today. As its customers continue growing, Marqeta is poised to grow with them because it takes a small percentage of the payment volume that flows across its platform.
Bargain stocks with wealth building opportunities
The stock market has recently turned against most growth stocks, but that can be an opportunity for long-term investors. Palantir, Grab, and Marqeta have all come down considerably at arguably no fault of their own, which makes them more likely to generate strong returns as long as they continue growing as they have been.
Investing when stock prices keep falling can be challenging, but it's how long-term wealth is often created. These stocks are affordable at less than $20 per share and show that investors don't need thousands of dollars to participate in the markets.
