A tough year for investors holding lots of innovative growth stocks keeps getting tougher. The Nasdaq Composite index, which contains heaps of growth stocks is down 33% in 2022 and there could be more pain ahead.
On Nov. 2, the Federal Reserve raised the primary credit rate to 4% from nearly nothing at the beginning of the year. With capital a lot harder to come by, capital-hungry businesses in a high-growth phase could stagnate.
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Nearly every growth stock is in free fall but the businesses behind them are hardly identical. The healthcare-related businesses underlying these two stocks are already profitable enough to continue growing without relying on increasingly expensive capital injections. Here's why they look like smart stocks to buy now.
Doximity
Doximity (DOCS -0.85%) runs a digital platform for U.S. medical professionals under the same name. At the core of Doximity's operation is a social media site that boasts 80% of U.S. physicians as members.
Doximity's members can't upload their own posts in an attempt to gain notoriety. Instead, it attracts clinicians with tools that make their lives easier. For example, Doximity Dialer allows physicians to contact patients using their personal devices. Dialer masks physicians' private information so it looks like they're calling from an office phone.
Most productivity tools for physicians are actually built for their employers. Physicians used Dialer around 200,000 times per day in the month of October because Dialer was built with their needs in mind.
Doximity's productivity tools are so popular with physicians that hospitals and health systems are eager to pay subscription fees so their employees can access its premium features. Third-quarter revenue rose 25% year over year to $91 million and a lot of that high-margin revenue reaches the bottom line. Free cash flow soared 31% year over year to $43 million.
Doximity's stock price has tanked but expectations are still relatively high. The stock is trading at around 36-times forward-looking earnings estimates. With a captive audience of U.S. physicians and a suite of tools to keep them engaged, growing into this steep valuation probably won't be an issue.
InMode
Shares of InMode (INMD 1.34%) soared in 2021, but the stock has tanked by around 53% this year. This is a little surprising because its position in the rapidly growing aesthetics market is stronger than ever.
InMode develops and markets proprietary technology for non-invasive body shaping, fat reduction, and skin tightening. For example, Morpheus8 is a radio-frequency-powered device that can remodel adipose tissue in a way that tightens jawlines and removes wrinkles.
A workstation containing Morpheus8 and several related devices is just about all a doctor needs to run a successful spa these days so demand is sky-high. Third-quarter revenue soared 29% year over year. At just $121.2 million, though, this business still has a lot of room to grow.
Strong intellectual property means InMode is the only company marketing radio-frequency-powered skin contouring devices. This gives the business so much pricing power it was able to report a jaw-dropping 85% gross margin in the third quarter. On a GAAP basis, net income over the past year equaled around 41% of topline revenue.
At recent prices, you can scoop up InMode for just 14.6 times this year's adjusted earnings expectations. That's an unbeatable bargain for an aesthetics business that could continue growing by leaps and bounds for many years to come.
