So far, 2022 has not been friendly to the stock market. Pricey growth stocks have been crashing for months, and now the major indexes are starting to drop. This isn't a market crash yet, but there's a lot of pandemic-era excess that needs to be wrung out. Something like this was bound to happen sooner or later.
For long-term investors, a market crash is nothing more than a buying opportunity. It's always good to have a watch list of stocks you'd like to buy at lower prices. Three stocks that stand out to me right now are Boston Beer (SAM 0.74%), Cloudflare (NET -3.01%), and Best Buy (BBY 0.20%).
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1. Boston Beer
Things are not going great for Boston Beer right now. The brewer tapped into the hard seltzer boom with its Truly brand, but it overplayed its hand. Demand for hard seltzer weakened, and Boston Beer was left holding the bag. Through the first nine months of 2021, the seltzer slowdown combined with higher costs to decimate the company's profits.
Investors are not happy. Boston Beer's pandemic rally has now been almost entirely erased. The stock is down 65% from its peak in 2021, and the short-term picture is not pretty. Costs are rising everywhere, from raw materials to labor to transportation, and the company will need to successfully pass along those higher costs to customers.
Boston Beer stock looks extremely expensive based on its beaten-down earnings, but relative to sales, it looks reasonable historically. The hard seltzer fiasco is a blemish on its track record, and there's no telling how badly or for how long higher costs will impact earnings.
If the stock market keeps falling, dragging down Boston Beer along with it, my interest will certainly be piqued. This is a company with a decades-long track record, and growth should resume once it gets past these headwinds.
2. Cloudflare
I like Cloudflare the company quite a bit. The edge-computing specialist protects and speeds up websites by putting its global edge network in between end users and servers. Built on top of this edge network is a growing list of products, tools, and functionality. Cloudflare has a ton of optionality.
One example: Through Pages, Workers, and various storage products, a developer can build a full-fledged application on Cloudflare's platform, complete with web hosting, serverless computing, and persistent data storage. While there are limitations, a developer can get by without the need for servers or data bases.
Cloudflare the stock is a different story. At its peak in late 2021, the company was valued close to $70 billion. Revenue should be around $650 million for 2021, putting the peak price-to-sales ratio over 100. That kind of valuation is, in my opinion, completely insane.
The stock has cooled off since then, but Cloudflare is still valued at roughly $30 billion. That's still far too expensive in my book. I'd love to invest in it, but not at these prices. If the current market correction evolves into a crash, I'll be keeping a close eye on Cloudflare to see if I can justify an investment.
3. Best Buy
While Best Buy's large network of stores was once viewed as a liability in the age of e-commerce, it's turned into a valuable asset. Each store can act as a mini distribution center, enabling ultra-fast delivery without the need for any additional facilities. The stores enable Best Buy to do same-day delivery and free next-day delivery on many items, and online ordering with curbside pickup worked well during the worst of the pandemic.
This omnichannel approach coupled with the pandemic-era boom in demand for PCs and other gadgets boosted Best Buy's sales and profits. Analysts expect it to report earnings of roughly $10 per share for the current fiscal year. At the current stock price, Best Buy trades for a bit less than 10 times earnings.
There are some good reasons the stock looks cheap. For one, who knows what demand for gadgets, TVs, and other electronics will look like in the coming year? Elevated inflation can hurt consumer confidence and spending, and much of what the company sells is discretionary. By pushing Best Buy stock down nearly 30% from its peak, the market is betting that the company is going to run into some trouble.
I don't disagree, but I think Best Buy is a good retailer that should prosper in the long run. If the stock does keep tumbling, a strong balance sheet can fund additional share buybacks. Its market cap is actually lower now than it was before the financial crisis, but the company is in far better shape today. I'd be happy to add Best Buy to my portfolio if the market keeps dragging the stock lower.
