This has been one of the toughest years in decades for Wall Street and the investing community. Since hitting its respective all-time closing high during the first week of January, the widely followed S&P 500 plunged into a bear market and delivered its worst first-half return since Richard Nixon was president.
On one hand, bear markets can be unnerving given how quickly the major indexes can decline over a short time frame. But on the other hand, history conclusively shows that buying stocks during bear market declines is a genius move for long-term investors. That's because every double-digit percentage decline throughout history has eventually been wiped away by a bull market. Patience is the not-so-subtle secret ingredient needed for success.
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It also doesn't hurt if investors buy and hold companies with game-changing characteristics. What follows are three supercharged growth stocks with the innovative capacity to turn an initial investment of $300,000 into $1 million by 2029.
Nio
The first colossal growth stock with the potential to generate a return of at least 233% by 2029 is electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer Nio (NIO 2.30%).
For the past couple of quarters, Nio and other auto stocks have contended with tremendous headwinds, such as semiconductor chip and general parts shortages, as well as historically high inflation. Being based in China, Nio is also dealing with domestic zero-COVID policies, which have created supply chain headaches throughout the country.
Yet in spite of these challenges, Nio looks like an amazing deal for patient investors betting on sustained double-digit growth in global EV sales throughout the decade.
To start with, Nio is based in the world's No. 1 auto market. With China aiming to phase out the sale of gas-burning autos by 2035, the ramp-up in EV sales should be faster than in most developed countries. Considering that China's EV industry is still nascent, Nio has a genuine opportunity to become a major player despite being a relatively new entrant to the auto industry.
Additionally, the company has demonstrated impressive production totals in spite of the aforementioned headwinds. Nio has delivered in excess of 10,000 EVs in each of the past three months. This includes an all-time high of 12,961 EVs in June. Management has previously opined that monthly production could ramp to as many as 50,000 EVs within a year once supply chain constraints are removed. In other words, Nio isn't contending with any demand-side issues.
This is also a company that's leading with innovation. Nio has been introducing at least one new vehicle annually, and has expanded its SUV and sedan offerings to cater to a wider audience. What's arguably most intriguing about Nio's sedans is the fact that the top battery upgrade offers superior range (approximately 621 miles) compared to virtually all other EV manufacturers.
Nio's out-of-the-box thinking is a competitive advantage as well. During the summer of 2020, the company introduced its battery-as-a-service (BaaS) subscription. For EV buyers, BaaS lowers the initial purchase of a vehicle and allows for the recharging, swapping, and upgrade of batteries. As for Nio, it forgoes a little near-term revenue in exchange for high-margin, recurring subscription sales, and the loyalty of its early buyers.
Green Thumb Industries
A second supercharged growth stock that can turn $300,000 into a cool $1 million over the next seven years is U.S. cannabis multistate operator (MSO) Green Thumb Industries (GTBIF -1.37%).
Following the 2020 election that saw Joe Biden win the presidency, Wall Street was enthused about the prospects of cannabis reform at the federal level. This buzz really kicked into high gear when Democrats took control of the Senate by the narrowest of margins in January 2021.
But after more than 19 months of President Biden in the Oval Office, it's become painfully clear that marijuana legalization isn't on the docket anytime soon. While pot stock investors might be disappointed to hear this, there are ample opportunities at the state level for legalizations to drive sales and profits for MSOs like Green Thumb higher.
When the first half of 2022 came to a close, Green Thumb had 77 operating dispensaries spanning 14 states. While same-store sales growth was disappointing in the most recent quarter, the pandemic has demonstrated the nondiscretionary appeal of cannabis products. In other words, no matter what the U.S. economy throws at consumers, they'll keep buying pot products.
Although Green Thumb has a presence in most high-dollar legalized markets, its push into limited-license states (Illinois, Ohio, Massachusetts, and Virginia) is what should be raising eyebrows. Limited-license markets purposely limit the number of dispensary licenses issued in total, as well as to a single business. Doing so encourages competition and ensures that Green Thumb can build up its brands and garner a loyal following.
However, the most exciting thing about Green Thumb Industries might be its revenue mix. Well over half of the company's sales originated from derivative cannabis products in the second quarter. Derivatives include oils, edibles, infused beverages, pre-rolls, and vapes. These are products with substantially higher price points and much better margins than dried cannabis flower. Pushing derivatives has helped Green Thumb achieve eight consecutive quarters of generally accepted accounting principle (GAAP) profits. Comparatively, most MSOs aren't even profitable on a recurring basis, as of yet.
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Block
The third and final supercharged growth stock with the capacity to turn a $300,000 investment into $1 million by 2029 is fintech giant Block (SQ -1.97%).
Like most high-flying growth stocks, Block has been taken to the woodshed as a result of weakening growth prospects for the U.S. economy and exceptionally high inflation. The latter is particularly worrisome for a digital payments platform, since it threatens to reduce discretionary spending for the lowest decile of earners.
Yet even with these concerns, Block looks like a screaming buy following a close to 80% pullback from its all-time high.
The company's foundational segment continues to be its Square ecosystem. Many of you may recall that Square changed its name to Block in December, but kept the Square name to describe its operating segment that offers digital point-of-sale solutions, loans, and data analytics to merchants. In the June-ended quarter, the Square ecosystem generated $48.3 billion in gross payment volume (GPV). That's an annualized run-rate of $193 billion. For context, GPV for the full year totaled just $6.5 billion in 2012. That's how quickly the Square ecosystem has ramped up.
To add, 39% of the $48.3 billion in second-quarter GPV derived from sellers with at least $500,000 in annualized GPV. That's up from 27% of total GPV during the comparable quarter in 2020. Because the Square ecosystem is a fee-driven business, attracting larger merchants should lead to substantially higher gross profit.
But the real cash cow for Block over the long run looks to be digital peer-to-peer payment platform Cash App. In less than five years, Cash App's active user count has grown from 7 million to 47 million. Gross profit per Cash App active account has consistently come in many multiples higher than the acquisition cost for each new user. Thus, as Cash App scales, Block recognizes a disproportionately positive boost to its gross profit.
Perhaps more important, the acquisition of buy now, pay later service Afterpay allows Block to create a closed-loop payment system between Cash App and its Square ecosystem. Connecting the two provides a competitive advantage that could really expand operating margins throughout the decade.
