A bear market is when a financial asset or stock index declines by 20% (or more) from its all-time high. The technology-focused Nasdaq-100 index has spent much of 2022 firmly in that territory, but thanks to a strong bounce over the past month, it has narrowed its decline to just 18.6%.

It has been buoyed by better-than-expected financial results from the technology sector during the quarter ended June 30, combined with further hints that the 40-year high in inflation is easing. A panel of Motley Fool contributors has identified three tech stocks that, despite strong gains recently, remain well below their all-time highs and still present an opportunity. Here's why investors should buy Amazon (AMZN 3.43%), Lemonade (LMND 1.64%), and The Trade Desk (TTD 1.67%) on the dip. 

This tech stock is a screaming buy

Trevor Jennewine (Amazon): High inflation has wreaked havoc on Amazon, slowing sales growth and squeezing margins. Even worse, consumers have spent less time shopping online as physical retail has rebounded, resulting in tough year-over-year comparisons. To that end, Amazon saw revenue rise just 7% to $121 billion in the second quarter, and it posted a net loss of $2 billion.

Those results are undoubtedly disappointing, and Amazon may continue to struggle while inflationary pressures persist. But some investors have zeroed on the temporary problems while ignoring the long-term potential. As a result, Amazon has seen its share price tumble 24%, and the stock currently trades at three times sales. That's a bargain compared to the five-year average of 3.8 times sales, especially since the company is a key player in three high-growth markets.

Amazon operates the most-visited online marketplace in the world, and it will power nearly 40% of online retail sales in the U.S. this year, according to eMarketer. That leaves Amazon well positioned to capitalize on a tremendous market opportunity. U.S. online retail sales are expected to grow at 12% per year to reach $1.5 trillion by 2025, and global online retail sales will grow at 10% per year to reach $7.4 trillion over the same time period. 

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the most popular public cloud vendor by a wide margin. In the second quarter, AWS captured 34% share in the cloud infrastructure market, up from 31% in the prior year. Meanwhile, Microsoft Azure saw its market share decline by 1 percentage point. Investors can chalk that success up to three things: AWS was the first mover, it has consistently set the bar for industry innovation, and its portfolio of cloud services is more robust than that of any other vendor. On that note, the cloud computing market is forecast to grow 16% per year to reach $1.6 trillion by 2030.

Finally, Amazon has become a powerhouse in digital advertising, growing its U.S. market share from 2% in 2016 to 12% in 2021, and that figure will climb to 15% by 2023, according to eMarketer. To put that in context, U.S. digital ad spend is expected to grow at 9% per year to hit $315 billion by 2025, putting Amazon in front of yet another massive market opportunity.

Here's the big picture: The Amazon brand is synonymous with e-commerce, but the company also dominates the cloud services market and it's gaining share in digital advertising. That's particularly exciting because cloud vendors and advertisers typically achieve much higher margins than retailers, meaning Amazon's profitability should accelerate in the coming years.

For all those reasons, it's time to buy this growth stock.

Transforming an age-old industry with artificial intelligence

Anthony Di Pizio (Lemonade): You could be forgiven for admitting you don't enjoy dealing with your insurance provider -- many people feel the same way. Making a claim can be stressful and time consuming, especially when much of the process happens over the phone. But Lemonade is an up-and-coming insurer that promises to change all of that. It's using artificial intelligence to not only overhaul the customer experience, but also to deliver better insurance products.

The company's web-based bot is called Maya. It can write a quote in under 90 seconds and, for Lemonade's 1.58 million existing customers, it can pay claims in less than three minutes. Lemonade currently operates in five insurance categories including renters, homeowners, life, pet, and the most recent addition, car insurance. 

In the second quarter of 2022, Lemonade unveiled its most predictive artificial intelligence model to date for pricing premiums, called LTV6. It calculates the probability that a particular customer will buy multiple products from Lemonade, how likely they are to make a claim, and even whether they might leave for a competing insurer. Then, it uses that information to predict the customer's lifetime value, which can be used to determine insurance premiums. 

The second quarter was one of Lemonade's best so far, financially speaking. It generated all-time highs across several metrics, with its average premium per customer topping $290, and in-force premiums rising 54% year over year to $458 million. Second-quarter revenue soared by a whopping 77% to $50 million as a result. 

Lemonade's challenge now is to deliver profitability after years of making net losses. It has told investors it can reach that milestone without requiring any further capital, and if that's true, this could be a great time to buy Lemonade stock since it's down 81% from its all-time high. Not to mention, the car insurance segment makes up 20% of the company's sales at the moment, and that market could be a $316 billion opportunity in 2022 alone. 

This leader continues to dominate

Jamie Louko (The Trade Desk): Investors weren't expecting much from The Trade Desk in Q2 given the challenging macroeconomic environment. With high inflation and a potential recession on the horizon, many businesses could easily cut back on their ad spending. Considering The Trade Desk makes money on ad spending from its customers, it was likely going to be affected by changes to ad budgets. 

However, that was not the case. Q2 revenue reached $377 million, a 35% year-over-year jump. This showed that, while advertisers might be pulling back spending on some platforms, they aren't doing it on The Trade Desk. Additionally, the company believes it will continue to see robust demand for its services: third-quarter revenue is expected to grow 28% year over year to $385 million.

Why is The Trade Desk seeing such healthy demand in this environment? It is the leader in digital advertising, especially outside of walled gardens like Alphabet's Google. In other words, if advertisers are looking to buy ad space on a connected TV platform or other independent platforms, The Trade Desk is the best way to do so. Additionally, The Trade Desk provides a high return on ad spending for its customers, and with ad budgets tightening, businesses are forced to spend only where they will see the best payback.

Even in an environment where advertising is assumed to struggle, The Trade Desk continued to outpace its rivals and gain market share. Therefore, while shares certainly aren't cheap at 23 times forward sales, you should consider buying this high-quality business while shares are down 34% from their all-time highs.