From e-commerce to healthcare to the metaverse, there's no shortage of innovative trends and industries for investors to capitalize on and supercharge their portfolio growth within the years ahead. In this segment of Backstage Pass, recorded on Jan. 12, Fool contributors Rachel Warren and Trevor Jennewine discuss several such themes for investors to jump on without hesitation.
Rachel Warren: Personally, when I think there's so many trends that I'm excited to invest in, e-commerce is definitely one of them. I think there's so much potential there. I just even think about my own habits as a consumer, like what you were saying, I rarely shop in-store.
Maybe the grocery store. Yeah. I'd usually go in person for that, although not always. Sometimes I have things delivered which through an app like Instacart, which I think is going to go public later this year. But when it comes to ordering pretty much anything else, I do it online. The convenience is nice.
I can be doing something for work and then, oh I need that thing, and then I'll just go online real quick and order it, and I'm done. More and more, I think consumers value the convenience that these e-commerce platforms provide. I don't see that being anything that goes anywhere in the next few years. I honestly think we've seen this trend with more people are shopping in-store than they were earlier in the pandemic.
I think some of that is the ability to leave your house again. Maybe people miss being able to go stroll the aisles of their local Target (TGT +1.42%). But I do think overall, we're going to be seeing this increasing trend and continued shift towards digital brands. I know for me, Shopify (SHOP 2.40%) is an obvious play in that space.
Etsy (ETSY 3.08%) is a stock that I own, I love that company, and I think that's one that has a lot of runway left. I love the fact that it has this very specific area that it operates in with these vintage and handmade and specialty goods.
But apart from e-commerce, another industry I'm really excited about investing in over the next decade is in this theme of the digitization of healthcare. Companies like Teladoc (TDOC +6.04%), that we were talking about in the previous hour.
One of the things I love about a company like Teladoc is it is very much democratizing healthcare. Whether you have insurance or not, no matter where you are, if you need to speak with a physician, whatever your need might be, you can get on, and in a few minutes, you're talking with a licensed physician.
I know this is a stock I talk about a lot, it's one that's gotten beaten down really, really bad over the last year or so. But I still continue to think that it has a lot of potential and its growth has continued to be stellar.
Revenue was still up 81% year-over-year in the third quarter, definitely looking forward to those full-year results, and even visits on the platform were still almost 40% higher than in the third quarter of 2020. Fair to say its share price growth is not really keeping up with its business.
Then I think one last area as well, just off the top of my head that I am interested in, is the future of remote work. Companies like Fiverr (FVRR 3.64%), like Upwork (UPWK 4.28%), or even like Shopify and Etsy that are providing the platforms that entrepreneurs are using to build their businesses to work from home, I think that these are all trends that I'm very excited about and I'm very excited to invest in. I think they are durable trends as well. These aren't things that are going to go away overnight. These aren't things that are going to be gone in a year or two.
That's the other thing if you're looking at investing in themes and industry trends, like this lady was saying in this article, look for trends that have durable staying power, like what Trevor was talking about and Jamie. Definitely some interesting things to bear in mind.
Trevor Jennewine: Rachel, I have a question for you. I like Fiverr, I like Teladoc. I know you guys are talking about on the previous hour about building that physician relationship.
I think to me, Primary 360, their virtual first primary care service seems to be a way to build those relationships with a care team, so you're seeing the same physician over and over again. What do you think about that?
Warren: Yeah, it was interesting. I thought that was a great question because that was not an area I had looked into specifically before and I probably would have more so had I used Teladoc service, which I haven't. My understanding is though, I did a little research on this in-between, you can potentially, and depending on your benefits, select a specific doctor for your visit.
There may be, in some cases, the ability to build that rapport with a specific physician rather than just hopping on and off the platform and talking to different providers. My understanding is that is an option as well and I do think that's important for a lot of people.
Jennewine: Yeah, I think it was a good point that Taylor made. I do think the company is working on it though, just because the relationships with your healthcare provider are so important.
