Investors seeking stocks that can produce dramatic gains for their portfolios have a lot of terrific options these days. Soaring interest rates and a looming recession that those rates could cause keep applying downward pressure on the best growth stocks to buy as well as those that are best avoided.
Up and down Wall Street, analysts have identified businesses that are doing a lot better than their beaten-down prices would suggest. The average price target on these stocks suggests they can deliver between 44.1% and 58.9% upside once the rest of the market shares their enthusiasm.
Image source: Getty Images.
1. Amazon
Shares of Amazon (AMZN 2.94%) have fallen by nearly half from a peak they hit in 2021. The stock has been battered all year as it's become painfully clear management overreacted to the temporary surge in demand for online order fulfillment caused by the pandemic.
Third-quarter sales growth was strong, but Amazon still reported operating losses from e-commerce operations in North America and around the globe. If not for a strong performance from Amazon Web Services (AWS), the company's cloud services segment, it would have reported a net loss in the third quarter.
Analysts who follow the e-commerce and cloud services giant expect a swift rebound. The average price target on this stock suggests a 51.2% gain is ahead for patient investors.
Despite a horrible, no-good year for Amazon's e-commerce operations, Wall Street analysts are confident the company will return to profitability. It's just a matter of time before demand for online order fulfillment catches up to its current capacity again.
2. Duolingo
Duolingo (DUOL 5.45%) is the company behind the increasingly popular language-education app of the same name. Despite a strong financial performance from the business, the stock price has collapsed by around 66% from the peak it reached shortly after its initial public offering in 2021.
Citing paid subscriptions that keep outpacing free users, investment bank analysts expect this stock to bounce back. The consensus price target on Duolingo right now is 58.9% higher than its recent stock price.
In the third quarter, the number of monthly active users rose 35% year over year to 56.5 million. That's impressive but not nearly as exciting as the company's conversion rate. There were 3.7 million paid subscribers at the end of September, which was 68% more than there were a year earlier.
I'm a buyer of Duolingo stock because it's leveraging the popularity of its smartphone application to become the proficiency standard in English testing. English proficiency testing is a big business that's ripe for disruption. With an English proficiency test that's already accepted by 3,800 higher education programs around the world, there's a good chance the stock will gain a leading share of this lucrative niche market.
3. InMode
InMode (INMD 0.41%) develops and markets medical devices that leverage proprietary radio frequency (RF) technology. Cosmetic surgeons are enamored with the company's handheld, minimally invasive devices because they can perform an array of aesthetic procedures without using a scalpel.
InMode shares are around 63% below the all-time high they reached last year. Analysts watching the company think it can start to bounce back soon. The consensus price target right now suggests a 44.1% gain could be ahead for this stock.
Investors like InMode because the company uses a razor-and-blades business model. Sales of consumable gear that needs to be repurchased from InMode after each procedure is an increasingly important part of the business. Third-quarter revenue from consumables outpaced equipment sales by growing 53% year over year.
Unlike a lot of the growth stocks that are being beaten down this year, InMode's underlying business is strongly profitable. Fear that a recession could limit demand for aesthetic procedures has pressured the stock down to what looks like a bargain price of just 17.4 times trailing-12-month earnings. Adding some InMode shares to your portfolio at this price looks like a smart move.
