It's been a tough market for technology and growth investors over the past several months. Weak companies can sometimes get traded to absurd valuations and get flushed out when the music stops. However, the market tends to overreact, leading to some deals on great stocks.
It's a wonderful time to be shopping for high-quality companies with track records of success. If you're looking to build a nest egg to $1 million or more, these three stocks have solid fundamentals and growth opportunities to double or triple their current value over the next decade.
1. Etsy: E-commerce in niche categories
Etsy (ETSY 2.86%) is an e-commerce marketplace where people can buy and sell unique homemade items. Items on Etsy are typically not mass-produced, which makes it hard for big-box competitors to threaten Etsy's business. Masks became a sensation on Etsy during the pandemic, but the company is doing well otherwise; non-mask sales on the platform have grown 136% over the past two years.
Image source: Getty Images.
The stock has been a victim of the market-wide sell-off among growth stocks, and investors may be frowning on Etsy's slowdown in growth coming off pandemic tailwinds. However, this all seems like short-term noise. Etsy's market cap is just $15.5 billion, and revenue could approach $2.7 billion in 2022, according to analyst estimates. Meanwhile, Etsy is profitable already, posting $174 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) in the third quarter of 2021, and also bought back $54 million in stock during the quarter.
Etsy recently acquired Depop for $1.6 billion in 2021, getting the company into the clothing resale market, as well as Elo7 for $217 million the same year, boosting Etsy's presence in Latin America. If the company continues executing over the years to come, there could be a lot of room for Etsy to grow within its crafts niche in the multi-trillion global retail industry.
2. Zoom: Reinventing communications in business
Zoom Video Communications (ZM 3.49%) became a poster stock of the pandemic when everyone was "Zooming" during lockdowns. The company did see an explosion of growth during COVID-19; its revenue grew 326% in the year ended Jan. 31st, 2021. However, its stock followed with an equally dramatic hangover -- the shares have been down almost 70% over the past year.
However, the company is showing that its success is not a fluke. Zoom grew revenue 35% year over year in its most recent quarter, which ended Oct. 31st, 2021. This seems impressive, considering that it's on top of its triple-figure growth from the prior year. The company's net revenue retention rate has been 130% or higher for 14 consecutive quarters, which underlines how its customers spend more on the platform over time, a vital component of this growth.
Product innovation should also remain an essential part of Zoom's business moving forward. The company is going after how enterprises communicate, with products like Zoom Phone, a unified communications app for phone, video, meetings, and chat. Management reported Zoom Phone grew by triple figures year over year in its most recent quarter. Despite Zoom's growth and profitability, the stock has come down to a price-to-sales (P/S) ratio under 10, lower than before COVID-19. Last quarter, the company generated $375 million in free cash flow and had a $5.1 billion cash position. Investors should see how management uses this cash hoard to create value for shareholders.
3. Autodesk: Providing the tools to build the world
Autodesk (ADSK 0.37%) might be one of the most influential software companies you've never heard of. Its software is used primarily by engineering professionals to design and model objects in industrial and construction applications. Its roots go back to the early 1980s, but the business has successfully evolved, switching to a subscription billing model that makes 97% of Autodesk's total revenue recurring.
The company is probably beyond its hypergrowth stage. Its revenue grew 18% year over year in its most recent quarter, which ended Oct. 31st, 2021. However, there are a lot of levers for Autodesk to pull to drive solid growth moving forward. Its product is a core tool for engineers, and there's pricing power, features, and new services that it can roll into its subscription model. For example, Autodesk's Fusion 360 is a cloud-based platform that combines a lot of software for design and manufacturing into a single platform that customers can subscribe to.
Autodesk targets double-digit revenue growth from 2023 through 2026, so investors will need to see how management follows these targets. The stock's P/S ratio is just over 11 at the moment, which is its lowest in three years, excluding March 2020 market lows. If Autodesk can hit its growth targets, the valuation seems to have room for growth to reflect in the stock price. It may not have quite the upside that Zoom or Etsy has, but it's arguably the most proven company of the three.
