Got $10,000? 2 Top Fintech Stocks to Buy for the Long Term

If you have $10,000 available to invest after paying off debt and setting up an emergency fund, there's a world of opportunity in the current market. The key here is patience. We might be settling in for a bear market, and it might not let up until interest rates begin to come down. But you can't time the market, so if you see great deals today, you don't want to miss the chance to buy them.

Fintech is a sector that's been hit hard in this market. Financial services companies are acutely affected by macroeconomic changes, and tech stocks, which often sport high valuations, have faltered in an environment that prizes value over growth. If you focus on the bigger picture, though, many of these companies have winning, high-growth businesses that should benefit shareholders in the long term. PayPal Holdings (PYPL 0.64%) and Global-e Online (GLBE -1.18%) are two of my favorite stocks with enormous long-term potential.

1. PayPal

The original digital payment company, PayPal hasn't let up on its leading position. It has upgraded, acquired, and improved its way to staying on top of this industry, and it can stay there comfortably for many years to come.

2021 was an amazing year for the company as spending returned, and digital spending exploded. As much as digital shopping was growing at a fair clip prior to the pandemic, its acceleration gave a huge boost to PayPal's business. PayPal was in an excellent position to handle the influx, and its annual results tell the story. Total payment volume (TPV) increased 33% year over year in 2021 to $1.25 trillion, revenue increased 18%, and non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) earnings per share increased 19%. It also added 49 million net new active accounts to the platform, which is more than the entire population of Canada, in just one year.

It followed up with continued growth into the 2022 first quarter. TPV increased 13% over the 2021 first quarter, and revenue increased 7%. The outlook for fiscal 2022 displeased investors and sent the stock tumbling. But although growth is slowing, PayPal is well positioned for long-term success.

It has 429 million users, and it's expecting 10 million net new active accounts in 2022. That's a lead that's hard to compete with, providing it with a solid moat. Contrast that with Block's 44 million active Cash App users.These actives are also increasing engagement, creating organic growth. 

Management has been actively adding new services, such as a new business credit card and a monthly pay option, both launched in June.

PayPal stock is down more than 60% this year and trades at only 25 times trailing-12-month earnings. It looks like a great option to load up on considering its future growth prospects.

2. Global-e

Global-e is in many ways a completely different kind of company from PayPal. It's at the beginning of its journey, it's not yet profitable, and in its current form it has a very niche focus. At the same time, it's a leader in its relatively new industry and is racking up customer count, posting high growth and adding value to its services.

The company operates in cross-border digital payments, offering an integrated platform for e-commerce businesses. Once installed, shoppers see the option to ship to more than 200 destination countries and have the ability to pay in over 100 currencies. It also offers all kinds of data analysis and marketing tools and works with many other e-commerce solutions. It claims that companies see a rise of more than 60% in sales after implementing its technology. 

It's still a fairly small company, with $275 million in trailing-12-month sales, but it's growing rapidly. Sales increased 65% year over year in the 2022 first quarter, and gross merchandise volume increased 71%. It's signing on new clients, such as Adidas and Brooks Brothers, and has an agreement with Shopify. Last week it announced that it's acquiring competitor Borderfree from Pitney Bowes, with whom it will maintain a relationship for mutually beneficial services. E-commerce is expected to grow from just under $5 trillion in 2021 to nearly $7.4 trillion by 2025 according to eMarketer, and online sales are expected to account for more than 23% of all sales by then. Global-e's market opportunity is massive, and it's setting itself up to dominate its field.

Global-e stock is down 68% in 2022 and the shares aren't cheap even at this price, trading at nearly 13 times trailing-12-month sales. The price-to-sales ratio will naturally decline as it absorbs Borderfree's business, unless the price spikes at the same time, an unlikely event in this market that investors probably wouldn't protest. But the company has huge potential, and it's making the right moves. The decline in the stock price provides an opportunity to buy the stock before the market turns back up.