Currently, the Nasdaq Composite is 26% off its all-time high, putting the index in a bear market. That downward slide started in the fourth quarter when investors began to worry inflation was more persistent than the Federal Reserve acknowledged, and the losses accelerated in the first quarter when the Fed outlined a series of rate hikes.
Despite that turbulence, some of the world's wealthiest investors have continued to put money into the market. Here are two growth stocks that millionaires have been buying hand over fist.
1. Datadog
John Overdeck of Two Sigma Investments has a sizable stake in Datadog (DDOG 1.19%). He first bought shares in Q1 2020, and last added to his position in Q1 2022. The stock currently ranks as the seventh-largest holding in his hedge fund.
Datadog is an industry-leading vendor of monitoring and observability software. Its platform ingests data from applications, networks, and infrastructure, processing over 10 trillion signals each day. Using those signals, Datadog leans on artificial intelligence to predict and identify problems, alert the appropriate team members, and help businesses prevent or quickly resolve performance and security issues.
Datadog simplifies customer adoption with more than 500 built-in integrations, and its broad portfolio of observability and security software has enabled a successful land-and-expand growth strategy, which has made its customer relationships stickier over time.
In the past year, Datadog saw its customer base increase by 30%, and average spending per customer climbed by more than 30%. That led to strong first-quarter financial results. Revenue soared 83% to $363 million and free cash flow (FCF) skyrocketed 192% to $130 million. That works out to a monster FCF margin of 36%.
In the years ahead, businesses will pump out ever-growing streams of data as cloud adoption and other digital transformation projects continue. Monitoring that data for performance and security problems will become increasingly complicated but also increasingly critical. Datadog believes that will create a $53 billion addressable market by 2025, leaving the company with plenty of room to grow.
Currently, shares trade at 25 times sales, which certainly isn't cheap. But it is less expensive than the three-year average of 39 times sales. More importantly, it seems like a tolerable valuation for a company of this caliber. Investors should consider buying this growth stock right now.
2. Salesforce
Robert Shafir of Sculptor Capital has amassed a sizable stake in Salesforce (CRM -1.59%). He first bought shares in Q4 2019, and he last added to the position in Q1 2022. The stock currently ranks as the fifth-largest holding in his hedge fund.
Salesforce is the fastest-growing enterprise software company in history. Its suite of customer relationship management (CRM) applications drives productivity across sales, customer service, marketing, and commerce. Its platform also includes solutions for low-code application development, data analytics, and workflow automation. Collectively, those tools help businesses provide a high-quality experience during all stages of the customer lifecycle.
CRM software has become mission critical as digital transformation has made the world more connected, and Salesforce has led the CRM industry for nine consecutive years. Better yet, the company continued to pull away from the pack in 2021, capturing 24% market share, up from 20% in 2020. That strong market position has led to impressive financial results.
In the last quarter, revenue jumped 24% to $7.4 billion and FCF climbed 14% to $3.5 billion. That works out to an astounding FCF margin of 47%. Better yet, Salesforce is well-positioned to maintain that momentum in the coming years.
Management puts its total addressable market at $248 billion by 2025, and the company's capacity for innovation should keep it at the forefront of the CRM industry. Salesforce has introduced 12 industry-specific CRM clouds in recent years, and it just added new tools for consumer goods companies and financial-service providers. Those tailored solutions contributed to seven of the top 10 deals in the last quarter.
Currently, Salesforce trades at 6.3 times sales, a good deal cheaper than the three-year average of 9.1. That means now is a good time for investors to follow Shafir's lead and buy this growth stock.
