After an amazing decade-plus run, tech stocks have turned into one of the worst-performing sectors of the market, with the Nasdaq 100 Technology Sector index losing one-third of its value over the first six months of the year. It's deep in bear market territory today.
Investors are jumping with both feet into the energy sector as oil prices rise and cycling into more defensive positions in the consumer staples market. Many believe that companies producing products consumers use daily will be more resilient in a recessionary economy.
That means now just might be a great time to invest in tech stocks. Many are trading at significant discounts to where they were even just a few months ago, and while it's not smart to simply anchor your investment decisions to a stock's price -- they can always fall further -- quality names are being offered at valuations not seen in years.
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Buying in now means you might not catch the exact bottom (in fact, no one can perfectly time the top and bottom), but in the long run the few pennies or even dollars missed will be negligible to your overall returns. If you are a long-term investor with a diversified portfolio and don't need the money you're investing to pay the bills or for emergencies, these two tech stocks give you a solid business at a good price.
1. Airbnb
The possibility of a recession has been weighing heavily on Airbnb (ABNB 2.79%) because a recession would mean job loss and, subsequently, less money for people to spend on vacations and getaways. Shares of the short-term vacation rental leader are down 43% in 2022 alone and off 57% from the all-time high hit last year.
Yet there is good reason to believe the fears are overblown. Despite rampant inflation, rising gas prices, and the Federal Reserve raising interest rates, air travel is up 16% through the end of June compared to a year ago, according to the Transportation Security Administration. While the number of travelers hasn't yet recovered to pre-pandemic levels, people are still looking to fly.
It's showing up in Airbnb's results, too. It exceeded 100 million nights and experiences booked for the first time ever in the first quarter, an important metric for the vacation rental company, which drove higher average daily rates of gross booking volume to more than $17 billion for the period. Adjusted EBITDA of $229 million marked the first time it recorded a profit, and Airbnb expects to report net profits for the first time this year.
Certainly there are risks for the hospitality industry, but Airbnb remains a good company that's found its footing and is offering its lowest price ever since going public in late 2020.
2. Snowflake
While cloud-data warehousing company Snowflake (SNOW 3.07%) has bounced off the lows it hit in the middle of June, it is trading far below its IPO price (it also went public in 2020) like Airbnb. Although it still trades at what would otherwise be considered nosebleed valuations, there could be good reason to think it will grow into it.
Businesses continue to move data to the cloud, and because Snowflake's technology is built on top of various popular cloud services, it enables companies to share their data even if they're not using the same infrastructure service providers.
Analysts forecast Snowflake's revenue growing exponentially over the next five years, going from $1.2 billion at the end of its last fiscal year in January to almost 10.3 billion in 2027, a better than 53% compounded rate annually. Earnings are expected to go from a loss of $0.08 per share to a profit of $2.32 per share while producing some $2.8 billion in free cash flow.
Also like Airbnb, the cloud-data warehousing specialist faces risks, though more along the lines of "Will investors continue to support such lofty valuations until it hits its stride?" I'd contend not only is it hitting it, Snowflake is outrunning it.
Because putting data in the cloud is a necessity, not a luxury, for the efficient operation of a business, Snowflake will be worth the price paid well into the future.
