It's 2022. Look around, and you're going to like what you see. There's no shortage of attractive growth opportunities and potential turnaround candidates that you may want to consider loading up on in January.
Disney (DIS -0.83%), Peloton (PTON -0.32%), Crocs (CROX -1.12%), Roku (ROKU -0.40%), and Nike (NYSE: NKE) are my top stocks to buy in January. Let's see why they might also be right for you.
Image source: Getty Images.
Disney
Welcome home. You're on the couch. A remote control is in your hands. What are you going to watch? If you're a sports buff, you'll be watching some of Disney's ESPN. If you're looking for a hot show, The Book of Boba Fett reached 1.7 million viewers with its premiere last week on Disney+. If you want to watch one of last year's biggest box office winners, it's a good time to point out that Disney owns Marvel -- and Marvel characters scored the four highest-grossing films of 2021 in America. Disney also has the world's most visited theme parks, and it will expand its cruise ship fleet by 25% in a few months.
As complete as Disney is as an entertainment empire, it's still baffling to see the stock close lower in 2021. Disney was the worst performer among the 30 Dow components, but that gives it more ammo to spring higher in 2022.
Crocs
At what point can we stop calling Crocs a fad? The company's been around for 20 years now, and revenue has grown in 75% of those years. This long-term success rate doesn't really sound like something from a flash in the pan. The maker of comfortable shoes and a growing number of celebrity fans is rolling.
Revenue is expected to climb 62% to 65% by the time it reports full-year results in a few weeks, and that follows back-to-back years of 13% top-line growth. Roku's guidance calls for net sales to climb by at least 20% in 2022. We're talking about four years of double-digit revenue growth. How many times do you think Nike, the class act among shoe stocks, has posted double-digit top-line gains over the past 20 years? Never. It did post back-to-back years of double-digit growth over the past two decades, but just once.
Crocs is a stock that will sneak up on you, even if it already more than doubled in 2021. With a lot of people still dismissing the ascending footwear speedster as a fad, it's easy to see the stock continuing to climb the wall of worry this month.
Peloton
If you ate perhaps a little too well over the holiday, you may have made getting into shape a New Year's resolution over the weekend. But with the omicron variant, you may want a home solution over a gym or fitness center, and you're going to find yourself considering a four-figure investment in the Peloton ecosystem.
Peloton offers interactive and engaging treadmill and stationary bike workouts. The stock took a beating after a treadmill recall and widespread access to COVID-19 vaccinations, but where are we now? The tweaked treads are back on the market, and you're back home realizing that you're not going to an in-person spinning class anytime soon.
The potential boost comes at a great time for Peloton shareholders. The stock plummeted 76% last year. Business has slowed dramatically in recent quarters, and total workout sessions and top-line results have declined sequentially in back-to-back quarters. Peloton still had a record 2.5 million connected fitness subscribers by the end of its latest quarter, and the new wave of COVID-19 cases will make it harder for customers to cancel.
Nike
I felt bad calling out Nike in the Peloton bullish case, so let's get the leading maker of athletic footwear to lace up and join us in the winner's circle. It's not flashy, but it's consistent. Nike has only posted two fiscal years of negative fiscal growth, and one was when the pandemic started and shut down manufacturing facilities and retail outlets. The other down year was a mere 0.8% revenue decline a dozen years ago.
Nike is a steady producer. The 0.7% dividend yield may not seem like much, but it has now boosted its payouts for 20 consecutive years. Revenue rose a mere 1% in its latest fiscal quarter, but earnings moved high on improving margins. This is the time of year to get active, and whether you do it on your Peloton or in the great outdoors, moving around just feels right with Nike.
Roku
After three picks that have you on the move -- two footwear plays and a premium player of in-home fitness -- let's wrap things up by moving you back to the couch where we started.
Roku has carved out a cozy living as the country's top hub for streaming services. It has 31% of the market, nearly double its closest competitor. Whether you buy a cheap Roku dongle or you happen to have a TV that comes factory installed with Roku's operating system, as 38% of the smart TVs shipped in this country do, it's easy to warm up to the free-to-use gateway to thousands of streaming apps. With 56.4 million active accounts -- a 23% gain over over the past year -- and improving monetization, Roku is just where you will probably be no matter which way the current pandemic surge plays out. Roku is another stock that had a rough 2021 with its stock chart, but it's positioned well to thrive in January and beyond.
