While the stock market at large is hitting all-time highs, many technology stocks have been getting hammered in 2021. Despite this broad drop in tech companies, many businesses are seeing strong success operationally. The share prices are sinking, but these companies continue to grow their top-line and establish their leadership roles in their respective industries.
Both UiPath (PATH 3.49%) and Twilio (TWLO 2.94%) are in this boat. Shares of both tech stocks have fallen 35% and nearly 30%, respectively, despite strong growth across their businesses. With large markets ahead of them, I think today's prices could be optimal buying opportunities to get these innovative stocks at a bargain.
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1. UiPath: Bringing AI to the enterprise
We have all been doing something so tedious and repetitive at work that we wish we could simply have it magically completed. It is, after all, a huge waste of our time because we would rather work on more thought-intensive, engaging work. With artificial intelligence-powered virtual bots, UiPath is turning our wishes into commands.
The company offers automation software that can emulate a human by understanding what is on a screen, extracting data, and making critical decisions. However, this software can do it much faster than humans, making 58% fewer mistakes. UiPath uses robotic process automation (RPA) in tandem with humans to make businesses more efficient. With UiPath, real workers are not fired or eliminated but rather freed to work on more critical tasks. UiPath has saved some of its customers millions of hours and dollars, which is why over 9,600 customers use UiPath and are currently spending 44% more than they did one year ago.
The stock has not fallen because of bad operational performance. The company has brought in $602.5 million in revenue so far this year, 50% higher than the year-ago period. Shares have taken a downturn because of the major uptick in the company's net loss. In the third quarter, the company lost almost $123 million -- more than the total net loss for the first nine months of 2020. This has been because UiPath has rapidly ramped up its spending on advertising, along with research and development.
This is not without good reason, however. The company projects that its addressable market will nearly double to $30 billion by 2024. UiPath is already the industry leader in RPA, according to Gartner's Magic Quadrant, but the company is ramping up spending to make sure its competitors like Automation Anywhere do not overtake them. With the RPA market growing so rapidly over the next few years, UiPath is spending now -- rather successfully -- to obtain brand recognition as the industry begins to explode.
Here's the bottom line: UiPath is the leader in a futuristic industry that is expected to grow rapidly over the next few years. With so much investment going toward capturing this growth, along with a dominant product that has caught the eyes of NASA and Alphabet, I think that today's share prices are a gift to long-term investors.
2. Twilio: Falling victim to the tech sell-off
With over 250,000 businesses using Twilio, most of us have used its technology without even recognizing it. Anyone who has ever communicated with a food delivery driver or Lyft driver has used Twilio's services unknowingly. The company is helping other enterprises communicate within apps, allowing consumers and businesses to connect easier. These services seem to have grown even more important for Twilio's users as they are now spending 31% more today than they did one year ago with the company.
Twilio posted year-over-year revenue growth of 65% in Q3, but some of that came from its acquisitions. Although the company has consistently been able to post impressive organic growth -- something most growth-by-acquisition companies lack. In Q3, the company's revenue improved 38% year over year organically, and it has been able to organically boost its top line by 34% or more year over year for the past nine quarters.
Shares have largely been sent downward in 2021, and Twilio's major net losses haven't been helping. The company lost $224 million in Q3, with almost $170 million of that being stock-based compensation. While this might be worrisome today, it is overshadowed by the impressive top-line growth that the company is seeing, both organically and inorganically, in this lucrative market. At 17 times sales, this stock is trading at levels not seen since mid-2020, leaving an opportunistic window for investors.
The use of in-app communication will only become more prevalent as the world continues to adopt these habits, and Twilio has been and will likely continue benefiting from it. Twilio's future is bright, which is why I think investors should consider taking advantage of these low stock prices today.
