Investors have been more than a bit skeptical about the market lately as inflation rises and the Federal Reserve hikes interest rates to tame it.
But while the near-term outlook may look uncertain, some huge investing trends are already underway and could bring significant opportunities for investors in the years to come. Here are two that investors should consider putting $1,000 toward right now.
1. Electric vehicles are hitting the accelerator
By 2030, electric vehicles (EVs) are expected to account for more than 60% of all light-duty vehicles (cars, vans, SUVs, and pickup trucks) sold worldwide -- up from just 13% this year. And those rising sales would create an estimated $1.4 trillion market by 2027.
The shift toward building EVs among automakers is already in full swing. The industry recently got a boost from the Inflation Reduction Act that included significant incentives for EV purchases -- up to $7,500 toward a new EV purchase and up to $4,000 for used EVs.
Investors have a host of opportunities in this space, including Tesla (TSLA +1.16%).
NASDAQ: TSLA
Key Data Points
Tesla's share price suffered over the past year, but that shouldn't overshadow the company's recent growth. Tesla's vehicle deliveries surged 42% in the third quarter (ended on Oct. 19) to 343,830.
That's an important number for investors to track as the company has set a goal to produce and deliver 20 million EVs by 2030 -- up from an estimated annual run rate of 2 million vehicles this year. Tesla's ongoing addition of new Gigafactories has allowed the company to keep deliveries rising at a healthy clip.
The company's top and bottom lines also grew quickly during the quarter, as sales climbed 59% to $21.45 billion and earnings jumped 69% to $1.05 billion.
In addition to its current financial growth and increasing vehicle production, Tesla's profit margins are also higher than many of its competitors, partially because of the company's ability to sell its vehicles directly to consumers versus through dealer networks.
There are, of course, risks in the EV industry right now. Supply chain shortages, factory disruptions in China, and increasing material costs have all impacted Tesla recently.
Additionally, Tesla CEO Elon Musk's recent purchase of Twitter could prove to be a distraction. Musk recently sold an additional $4 billion of his Tesla shares to fund the purchase of the social media company and investors will want to keep a close eye on how much time Musk devotes to Twitter in the future.
But with its early bet on EVs and the company's continual expansion of factories around the globe, Tesla is already benefiting from consumers' shift to electrified vehicles and should continue to do so for many more years to come.
2. Cybersecurity is more needed than ever before
Most of us know how frustrating it is when your identity is stolen, an online account gets hacked, or a password becomes compromised. The scale of these problems is enormous and growing, with cybercrime estimated to cost the global economy $10.5 trillion by 2025, according to Cybersecurity Ventures.
But this huge problem is also creating a massive opportunity for investors. Companies like CrowdStrike Holdings (CRWD 4.01%) are at the leading edge of fighting cybercrime with an array of tools.
The company's cloud-based cybersecurity services protect everything from desktops to mobile devices for companies of all sizes -- and business is booming.
NASDAQ: CRWD
Key Data Points
CrowdStrike's second-quarter sales (reported on Aug. 30) spiked 58% year over year to $535.2 million, and the company's free cash flow jumped 84% to $136 million.
CrowdStrike's current success has been built on a foundation of strong customer growth, and the company continues to deliver on this front. Subscription customers increased 51% in the second quarter to 19,686 -- the company's sixth straight quarter of growing 50% or more.
While there are other players in the space besides CrowdStrike, the global cloud security market, worth an estimated $77.5 billion by 2026, is more than big enough to handle multiple companies. And with CrowdStrike already benefiting from its position in this space, now may be a good time to put some money into this fast-growing trend.
Patience is an investing virtue
There's no getting around the fact that the stock market is volatile right now. But what's important to remember is that since about 1987, market corrections tend to last about five months.
There's no way to predict how long the current sell-off will last, but investors should keep this idea in the back of their minds when they consider tapping into the cybersecurity and EV trends. Market declines don't last forever, and when stock prices eventually rebound, owning shares of companies in fast-growing trends could be a very smart move.
