By definition, a bear market is when stocks drop 20% or more. The Nasdaq Composite Index (^IXIC 2.02%) is no longer in a bear market. It's still in a correction, though. Corrections are when stocks drop between 10% and 20%.
The good news is that Nasdaq's correction could nearly be over, too. The index isn't far away from recovering enough to toss the talk of correction aside. With the prospect of brighter days ahead, here are three stocks to buy sooner rather than later.
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1. MercadoLibre
While the Nasdaq isn't in a bear market anymore, some individual stocks in the index are. MercadoLibre (MELI 3.09%) is definitely one of them, with shares of the Latin American e-commerce and fintech company down close to 40% from the high set in September 2021.
I think that now is the time to buy MercadoLibre. The stock is trading near its lowest price-to-sales ratio in 10 years. But its business outlook remains as bright as ever.
MercadoLibre posted impressive fourth-quarter results in February. Net revenue soared more than 60% year over year. Even with tough year-over-year comparisons, the company reported record gross merchandise volume, payment volumes, and credit portfolio size. Customer retention continue to improve. And customers are buying more, with items per buyer jumping 17%.
Despite its tremendous growth, MercadoLibre is only scratching the surface of its opportunity. The e-commerce penetration rate in Latin America is currently around 10% but is projected to soar to 16% by 2025. Many people in Latin America still have challenges accessing financial services, presenting a big growth market for MercadoLibre's fintech products.
2. MongoDB
MongoDB (MDB 4.83%) has some momentum already, with its shares popping recently as Wall Street analysts have become more bullish about the company's prospects. I think this momentum is likely to continue.
For one thing, MongoDB's shares are still down more than 30% below the peak in October. If the overall environment improves for tech stocks, MongoDB could easily be one of the leaders.
Like MercadoLibre, MongoDB reported excellent Q4 results. Revenue jumped 56% year over year. The company's Atlas cloud-based database generated much of that growth, with revenue skyrocketing 85%.
Also like MercadoLibre, MongoDB has tremendous growth prospects ahead. CEO Dev Ittycheria noted in the company's Q4 call earlier this month:
Businesses across all industries will continue to invest heavily in software as a means to differentiate themselves to seize new opportunities and to respond to new threats. While this has been happening aggressively over the past decade, we are still only in the early stage of this movement.
Ittycheria is exactly right, in my opinion. There's no better time than the present to hop aboard the MongoDB train.
3. Vertex Pharmaceuticals
Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX -0.06%) fared much better than most Nasdaq stocks in the recent sell-off. The biotech stock never fell much more than 9% below its high. Vertex's shares are still up by a double-digit percentage year to date.
My view is that the picture for Vertex could soon get much better. The company has recently secured label extensions for cystic fibrosis (CF) drug Kaftrio in Europe for treating younger children. It has also picked up additional reimbursement deals for the drug in Spain and the Netherlands.
Vertex has other potential catalysts on the way outside of CF. The company and its partner, CRISPR Therapeutics, expect to report results from late-stage clinical studies evaluating gene-editing therapy CTX001 in treating transfusion-dependent thalassemia and severe sickle cell disease this year. Vertex hopes to file for regulatory approvals in the U.S. and Europe in late 2022.
I'm especially excited about Vertex's long-term potential. The big biotech is advancing its APOL1-mediated kidney disease drug VX-147 into late-stage testing. There are more patients with APOL1-mediated kidney diseases than there are with CF. Vertex could also have a real game-changer with its experimental islet cell therapies that could potentially cure type 1 diabetes.
