Market downturns like the one we're in the midst of can be very unsettling for investors -- especially those with less experience. More experienced investors are likely to remember how the market crashed in the past, only to recover and go on to hit new highs. They will also probably remember that bear markets tend to deliver many terrific investing opportunities, when the stocks of great companies are put on sale.
Here are three examples -- three solid companies with very promising futures and with shares that have fallen in cost. See if any pique your interest.
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1. PayPal
Cash may be king, but more and more people are making financial transactions digitally, and one of the leading companies in the "fintech" arena is PayPal (PYPL 0.10%). Just how big a player is it? Well, consider that its market value was recently $85 billion -- and that was after a stock price decline of 76% from its 52-week high.
PayPal boasted 426 million active consumer and merchant accounts as of the end of 2021, when it employed close to 31,000 people. In 2021, it processed a total of $1.25 trillion in payments, averaging 40,000 transactions per minute. Better still, the company is more than just the PayPal payment platform; the company also owns the popular Venmo app, not to mention Zettle, Xoom, Hyperwallet, Honey, and Paidy, among other businesses. PayPal noted in its 2022 annual report that "Today, more than 70% of the top North American and European retailers, including more than 80% of the top U.S. retailers, accept PayPal or Venmo at checkout."
In its first quarter, PayPal posted total payment volume up 13% (15% on a currency-neutral basis), and net revenue up 7%. It added 2.4 net new active accounts in the quarter as well. It ended that quarter with a fairly healthy balance sheet, too, featuring more than $15 billion in cash and cash equivalents and investments and about $9 billion in debt.
2. Broadcom
Broadcom (AVGO -3.09%) may not be a terribly familiar name to you, but it's a massive chipmaker, with a recent market value near $200 billion. It's also the product of various mergers and acquisitions with the likes of LSI, Broadcom Corporation, Brocade, CA Technologies, and Symantec.
Broadcom is already a diversified chipmaker, with a range of offerings for the data center, networking, enterprise software, broadband, wireless, storage, and industrial markets, among others. On top of that, it's looking to expand in the hybrid cloud computing world, which incorporates multiple cloud environments, both private and public, by acquiring software specialist VMware -- reportedly for more than $60 billion.
Broadcom is also a solid dividend-paying stock, with a payout recently yielding 3.3%. Even better, that dividend has been growing rapidly, averaging increases of 32% annually over the past five years. While many technology-oriented companies have seen their stocks fall sharply, Broadcom's stock was recently only down around 27% from its 52-week high -- a relatively small drop. Clearly, the company has a lot to offer investors.
3. Amazon.com
Amazon.com (AMZN -2.36%) is known to most people as an online marketplace -- with a Prime membership service offering streaming video, ebooks, music, gaming, and more. Its Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud computing business is less well known but growing briskly -- with AWS revenue up 37% year over year in the company's first quarter, and making up 16% of total revenue, up from 13% a year earlier. And, of course, it has a lot more going on, such as its advertising business. Emerging businesses include Amazon Care virtual health services, along with Project Kuiper -- an initiative to increase global broadband access via satellites. Amazon is also home to devices and services such as Alexa, Echo, Fire TV, Fire tablets, Kindle, Ring, Eero, and much more.
With its shares recently down 37% from their 52-week high, Amazon.com is more attractively priced than in recent years. Its recent price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 59 may seem a bit steep, but it's slightly less than half of the stock's five-year average of 120. If you've ever wanted to be a part-owner of Amazon, this is a promising opportunity.
These are just three solid companies with plenty of growth potential -- each selling at a far lower price than it has been in a while. Take a closer look at any and consider them for your portfolio -- or go hunting on your own, as there are plenty of other attractively priced great growth stocks out there. Whether you have $5,000, $500, or $50,000 to spend, great investment opportunities abound.
