Who wants to be a millionaire? With the possible exception of billionaires, just about everyone does. The idea spawned a British (and then an American) quiz show. On television, it can happen overnight.
In investing, becoming a millionaire takes time. Buying shares of high-performing companies can, over time, produce life-changing gains. The Trade Desk (TTD -0.54%), Paycom Software (PAYC -0.71%), and Align Technology (ALGN -1.04%) are three that I believe have that potential.
Let's look at their earnings, growth rates, and valuations to see how they could transform a $100,000 portfolio into a seven-figure retirement nest egg over the next decade.
Image source: Getty Images.
1. The Trade Desk
There is an old saying in the advertising business that half of ad spending is wasted, but nobody knows which half. The Trade Desk is eliminating that waste with its data-driven self-service platform. Its customers manage their ad spending on more than 500 billion digital opportunities per day. The goal is to help customers make the most intelligent ad-buying decisions and provide them with an abundance of performance feedback. In today's digital economy, it's invaluable.
And business is growing like a weed. Earnings per share (EPS) are expected to climb more than 23% next year. That's a reasonable rate to use in our calculation. The company has grown revenue 375% over the past five years. Also, gross spend on Trade Desk's platform climbed 47% last year to $6.2 billion. And management pegs the global ad-spend opportunity at $750 billion, with about $50 billion in display advertising. That offers plenty of room to grow for years.
TTD revenue (TTM). Data by YCharts. TTM = trailing 12 months.
Wall Street sees the potential. The Trade Desk's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio has varied between 40 and 120 over the past few years. We'll use 50 for our calculations.
Doing the math on an initial investment of $33,333.33 (a third of the $100,000) leads to a stake in The Trade Desk worth almost $190,000 in 2032. That relies on bold assumptions. But they are well within what the company has delivered so far.
2. Paycom
Paycom offers businesses a platform to manage employee payroll, time and attendance, and benefits administration, among other things. Its product was built for the cloud. That's different from many traditional human capital management (HCM) vendors that have pieced together acquired software over the years.
Customers can clearly tell the difference. Paycom topped $1 billion in revenue last year for the first time, a 26% increase over 2020. Most importantly, that revenue is recurring and sticky. Revenue retention was 94% in 2021. Customers stick around once they start using the platform.
Before the pandemic, Paycom's top line was expanding between 30% and 45% each year. We'll use last year's 26% for our calculation and apply a multiple of 60 times earnings. That seems high. But shares have stayed within a range of 50 to 100 times earnings over the years.
For Paycom, that one-third of the $100,000 hypothetically invested in 2022 turns into more than $350,000 a decade from now. That would make it a 10-bagger. While it might seem unlikely, if the market continues to reward predictable revenue, and Paycom continues to grow, it's possible. After all, its $1.1 billion in 2021 revenue is a drop in the bucket of an HCM market that is predicted to reach $47 billion by 2029.
3. Align Technology
The company best known for its Invisalign clear teeth-straightening system is actually a vertically integrated combination of several businesses. They all help people get straighter teeth faster, and orthodontists and dentists see more clients every year. It also provides scanners and software -- two acquisitions -- that help practitioners develop and communicate a plan for patients.
The growth opportunity is tremendous. Management estimates 500 million potential customers in the world with 21 million orthodontic starts each year -- two-thirds of them teens. For context, it shipped 2.55 million aligners last year.
Align is the crown jewel in our attempt to grow a million-dollar portfolio. The $33,333.33 invested in it could grow over the next 10 years into $461,000. That's assuming the $12.50 analysts expect this year grows at the midpoint of management's long-term guidance of 20% to 30% a year. Similar to the other two stocks, Align typically trades at a premium. We'll use 50 times earnings, slightly above the bottom of the 40 to 100 historical P/E range. It's an amazing potential return when running the numbers.
"It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future"
That quote from Yankees legend Yogi Berra underscores a key point in the analysis above. No one knows what the world is going to look like in 10 years. Investors with a long-term mindset need to block out the noise without being irresponsible.
The Trade Desk, Paycom, and Align have all grown rapidly while turning a profit. I expect that to continue. If the assumptions hold, a $100,000 investment will be worth $1 million in 10 short years.
Calculations and chart by author.
It's an interesting exercise that relies on the past as a guide. If the performance changes, so can the outcome. That's why it's best to build a diversified portfolio of a lot more than three stocks.
