Bear markets are painful to experience. If you are reading this, it is likely that you are a lot more nervous about your portfolio in 2022 than you were in 2021. The price declines of the last few quarters have been broad and steep, and investors are extremely pessimistic about the near term with high inflation, rising interest rates, and the threat of war around the globe.
But if you take a longer view over multiple years and decades, now looks like an optimal time to buy stocks, especially growth stocks that have seen huge price drops. Two consumer stocks you should consider now are Coupang (CPNG 1.16%) and Revolve Group (RVLV 2.24%) during the 2022 bear market. Here's why.
1. Coupang: A force in South Korean e-commerce
Coupang went public in early 2021 in a massive initial public offering (IPO), raising $4.6 billion from investors and debuting at a market cap of $84 billion. However, since then the stock has slid by about 66%. This is a divergence from Coupang's underlying business, which has done quite well over the last few years. It runs the largest e-commerce website in South Korea -- similar to Amazon -- with its market share growing every year since 2017. In 2021, this share was estimated at 15.7% in its home nation.
In the second quarter of 2022, the company grew its revenue by 27% year over year in constant currency terms to $5 billion. What's even more impressive about this growth is that it is compared to 2021 when Coupang got a nice catalyst as people stayed home during COVID-19 and saw revenue grow 57%. Since 2020, its revenue has nearly doubled.
Why has this happened? Because Coupang continues to draw in more Korean shoppers and gets its existing shoppers to spend more on its websites. In Q2, Coupang's customers grew 5% to 17.9 million, while revenue per active customer was up 7% to $282. With a vast array of products, fast shipping times, and ancillary offerings like grocery and food delivery, Coupang is becoming a daily essential for many Koreans.
With the stock down so much, Coupang trades at a market cap of $32 billion. With the company having annual revenue closing in on $20 billion and a multi-year track record of growing market share in South Korea, now looks like a smart time to pick up shares of Coupang.
2. Revolve Group: Millennial and gen z online shopping
Much smaller than Coupang, Revolve Group is an e-commerce fashion company focused on selling clothing to millennial and gen z women. It has over 2 million active customers, a number that has more than doubled since 2018. This consistent customer growth is due to Revolve's social media influencer marketing strategy, which helps them target its ideal demographic (younger women) where they spend a lot of their time online.
Last quarter, trailing 12-month sales hit $1 billion, growing 18.6% from 2021 and up significantly from five years ago when Revolve did just $312 million in sales. The company's marketing strategy is working wonderfully, and with only 2 million shoppers compared to tens of millions of millennial and gen z women around the world, there's plenty of room to double or even triple the size of its business over the next five years.
RVLV Net Income (TTM) data by YCharts
As with many stocks, Revolve Group is down over the past year -- some 67% -- and now trades at a market cap of $1.65 billion. Over the last 12 months, it generated a net income of $85 million, giving the stock a trailing price-to-earnings ratio of 19.4, which is only slightly above the market average. For a company with such a strong track record of growth, this seems like a great price to pay if you're looking to hold for the long haul.
Coupang and Revolve Group could fall further in the short term if investors become increasingly pessimistic about the economy. But over the long term, the two companies are set up for massive success.
