The market has been brutal in 2022. As we sit at right around the halfway point for the year, the S&P 500 is down 19.7% year to date, and the Nasdaq-100 index is down 29%. Investors are worried about rising inflation, the Federal Reserve raising interest rates, and the potential for the U.S. economy to dip into a recession.
All of these things could have a negative effect on corporate profits, and therefore stock prices. However, if you are an investor with a five- to 10-year or longer time horizon, now is a great time to find some high-quality stocks and buy them at a discount.
Here are two cheap stocks to buy during this current stock market sell-off.
Image source: Getty Images.
1. Alphabet
First up is a stock many investors are aware of, Alphabet (GOOG 1.43%). The parent company of Google, YouTube, Android, and Google Cloud is one of the largest businesses in the world, with a market cap of $1.43 trillion. Over the last 12 months, it has generated a whopping $270 billion in revenue, mainly from advertising on Google properties and YouTube.
In the first quarter of this year, Alphabet's revenue hit $68 billion, up 23% year over year. This growth is coming from all of Alphabet's business lines, including Google Search, YouTube, and Google Cloud. Operating income was $20 billion, up from $16.4 billion a year ago, and this is with Google Cloud and the Other Bets segment both burning around $1 billion in the quarter. If/when these segments flip to profitability, this will be an easy way for Alphabet's bottom line to grow in the years ahead.
At today's current stock price, Alphabet has a free cash flow yield of 4.7%. Free cash flow yield measures how much cash a company is generating for you as a percentage of its market cap, and is the inverse of the price-to-free cash flow (P/FCF) ratio. Alphabet is yielding right around the market average right now. With Alphabet's strong track record of growth, the dominance of Google Search, and the potential for both Google Cloud and Other Bets to start generating positive cash flow in the future, this feels like a cheap price at which to buy the stock, as long as you plan to hold for many years.
GOOG Free Cash Flow Yield data by YCharts
2. Autodesk
The second stock on our list is Autodesk (ADSK 0.29%). Autodesk has a market cap of $37.8 billion, significantly lower than Alphabet's, but still one of the largest in the world. The company offers various software products to the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industries.
This includes design tools like AutoCAD and Revit, a mechanical and manufacturing software platform called Fusion 360, and construction workflow tools in Autodesk Build. It even serves the media and entertainment markets with its 3D animation software called Maya.
Given the increased digitization of all these different industries, Autodesk has a multi-decade tailwind at its back that should keep its financials growing at a steady clip each year. In Q1, Autodesk's revenue grew 18% year over year to $1.17 billion, driven by double-digit growth in all five of its product categories. For the full year, it expects revenue to grow 13% to 15% year over year to around $5 billion.
Since software products have such high margins, Autodesk converts a ton of its revenue to free cash flow. Currently, it trades at a trailing free cash flow yield of 4.1%, which is slightly worse than the market average. With the company poised to grow its top line by 10%-plus a year for the foreseeable future, this makes Autodesk stock an easy buy at these prices, as it should generate a ton of cash for shareholders this decade.
