The stock market has been painful in 2022. The S&P 500 (^GSPC -0.46%) market index has fallen 18% year-to-date and many high-quality companies have seen even steeper dips. That doesn't mean you should abandon stocks right now, though. In fact, this looks like a great time to buy fantastic stocks at a massive discount.
Consider the case of Netflix (NFLX 1.74%) in 2011, for example. The DVD-by-mail pioneer was riding high that summer, reaching an all-time high (at the time) of $43.54% on July 13 after a 52-week climb of 147%. But the company stood on the verge of a dramatic sell-off. Netflix expanded its digital video-streaming service to a few countries in Latin America that month, followed by splitting DVD mailers and streaming services into two separate consumer services. With the benefit of hindsight, that separation was a wise and game-changing move. Back then, investors focused on the higher subscription prices that followed. Netflix shares plunged as much as 79.5% lower during these four months, now remembered as the Qwikster debacle.
What if you saw through the short-sighted panic and bought Netflix shares in the fall of 2011, when everyone else was selling the stock? For example, I doubled down on my Netflix investment on October 30, about a month before the yearly lows on November 30. So I missed the perfect buying date and some lucky investors have enjoyed a 33% stronger return from this event. I'm not complaining, though. Every $5,000 investment from Nov. 30, 2011, is now worth $122,500, trouncing the S&P 500's returns over the same period:
If you bought Netflix on July 13 instead, you would still have doubled the S&P 500's returns with a 4230% return on your investment. That's still not too shabby! However, I'm very happy that I had the courage of conviction to buy Netflix shares when Wall Street threw them out with the bathwater.
On that note, high-growth phenoms Airbnb (ABNB 0.10%) and Coupang (CPNG 1.01%) have taken a beating in 2022 but they may be poised to deliver Netflix-like returns in the long run. Read on to see why you want to consider them for your next $5,000 investment.
Airbnb
Lodging marketplace operator Airbnb gives travelers a different toolkit for planning their vacations and business trips. Renting living space directly from homeowners in the area is a different experience. Renters can save money while hosts earn some cash for spaces they're often not using anyway. And the Airbnb portal also gives travelers alternative suggestions based on previous experiences and favorites saved to their account. This intuitive cross-promotion platform has become a significant business advantage for Airbnb.
Business is booming. Airbnb's revenues rose 58% year-over-year in the second quarter, or 64% excluding the prevailing foreign currency headwinds. The company is booking more stays than ever, collecting higher fees per sojourn. Quarterly results tend to meet or beat Wall Street's consensus estimates, including a 27% bottom-line surprise in the second quarter.
Yet, Airbnb's stock has fallen 32% in 2022 and trades at some of the lowest valuation ratios in company history. Investors have lumped this high-performing business together with less exciting stocks in the travel sector. The company is disrupting the global hotel market, a sector already worth more than $1 trillion in annual sales. The three co-founders still run the company as CEO, chairman, and chief strategy officer. This stock is poised for a massive rebound as Airbnb continues to disrupt the travel sector over the next decade.
Coupang
South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang might be a less familiar name, but its long-term business prospects are just as exciting as Airbnb's.
First, you shouldn't worry about Coupang's international profile. South Korea is a modern nation with an advanced economy, home to many household-name businesses, and a robust economy. Furthermore, Coupang's stock is registered directly on the New York Stock Exchange, making the company subject to the same rules and regulations for financial reporting as any all-American business. As a result, you should expect high-quality bookkeeping and reporting here, which isn't always the case for foreign stocks that are only available to American investors through pink sheets or over-the-counter tickers.
With that procedural concern out of the way, let's talk about what Coupang does for a living. The company offers a variety of e-commerce solutions across Southeast Asia, with the bulk of the business aimed at South Korea and a single warehouse operating on American soil. Even the American offshoot clearly targets a Korean customer base, as the shopping platform is only available in the Korean language.
Apart from the Korean market focus, Coupang reminds me of Amazon.com in many ways. The company sells products and services direct to consumers, complete with an internal shipping and delivery system and a digital video-streaming platform. The company leans into food delivery a bit harder than its American role model, and the Coupang Eats delivery service is a core component of the overall business. Food delivery has slowed down in recent quarters because of looser COVID-fighting regulations in South Korea, but the operation is becoming more efficient and profitable even as the top-line revenues are shrinking.
The company is not yet profitable as it reinvests most of its gross profits into additional sales and marketing programs, expanded free shipping options, and other growth-promoting ideas. But currency-adjusted sales soared 27% higher in the recently reported second quarter, driving gross profits 75% higher and shrinking the bottom-line losses by 44%. Coupang is a classic high-octane growth stock, which exposed it to negative market forces in the first half of 2022.
The stock has fallen 42% this year and currently trades at a modest 1.5 times trailing sales. 18 months ago, that valuation ratio stood at nearly 7 times sales. Coupang has found a massive target market and is carving out a lucrative slice of that space for itself. Like Airbnb, it looks like a solid long-term winner and a worthy candidate for your next $5,000 investment.
