Fast-growing stocks were the driving force behind the market's 13-year climb following the Great Recession. Tech stocks, in particular, were the high-octane fuel that soared.
Where the Nasdaq Composite index returned nearly 900% over that time frame, or more than twice what the S&P 500 did during those years, the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index returned 1,250%.
Image source: Getty Images.
Yet tech stocks have stalled in 2022, as the index plummeted 29% this year. The big winners have turned into some of the biggest losers, though that's not true across the board. Some tech stocks that have been smartly growing sales and profits at a rapid pace over the past few years are still projected to continue on the same path into the future.
The following three stocks showed not only some of the fastest rates of growth in earnings and revenue, but Wall Street forecasts earnings will maintain that pace going forward.
|
Stock |
5-Year EPS Growth |
5-Year Sales Growth |
EPS Growth Next Year |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Pinduoduo (PDD -0.66%) |
83.3% |
184.4% |
56.4% |
|
Shopify (SHOP 0.17%) |
124% |
64% |
180% |
|
Tesla (TSLA -2.17%) |
48.6% |
50.4% |
37.3% |
Data source: Finviz.com.
1. Pinduoduo
Chinese social e-commerce platform Pinduoduo is the third-largest online retailer in the country behind Alibaba (BABA 0.20%) and JD.com (JD -0.33%). Yet where they have seen growth slow amid a regulatory crackdown on China's tech sector and a slowing economy, Pinduoduo continues to chug along.
It just reported third-quarter results where sales of $5 billion soared 65% year over year while profits quadrupled, handily outstripping analyst estimates. Pinduoduo makes 80% of its money from online marketing services, or the fees third-party sellers pay to list their products on its marketplace. That revenue jumped 58% for the period while transaction services revenue, or the percentage of the sales Pinduoduo takes on every transaction, more than doubled from the year-ago period, reaching almost $1 billion.
This growth occurred despite an exceedingly challenging environment for the Chinese economy, as Beijing's draconian zero-tolerance Covid policies have forced people into repeated and extended lockdowns.
The government has signaled it may ease up on restrictions after protests against the brutal policies flared up in major cities across the country, which could benefit Pinduoduo going forward. It could unleash a welter of exchange for the e-commerce platform, justifying the hefty profit growth Wall Street forecasts.
2. Shopify
While not struggling to overcome crushing human rights violations, Shopify has sought to reignite the growth it enjoyed during the early stages of the pandemic when new businesses seemingly sprang up like mushrooms overnight. Although the e-commerce platform provider has continued to expand rapidly, it's been at somewhat slower rates than what investors had become accustomed to, and its stock suffered. Shares are down 77% from a year ago.
Yet where Amazon (AMZN -2.87%) is still suffering from moderating growth, Shopify just broke Black Friday records, with currency-adjusted sales jumping 19% from last year and a 27% surge in point-of-sales growth for Shopify merchants. The entire Black Friday to Cyber Monday weekend hit a record $7.5 billion in sales, a 21% rise from the year-ago period on a constant-currency basis.
That helps explain why Wall Street expects Shopify to bounce back strongly. They've set a one-year price target on its stock of almost $62 a share, for an implied 66% gain. That's still well below the e-commerce platform provider's all-time high hit last year, but it indicates there is still a long runway of growth and appreciation ahead of the company.
Image source: Getty Images.
3. Tesla
Tesla has long been a company the market loves to hate, but it's hard to argue with the record of success the electric car stock has enjoyed. It owns two-thirds of the EV market in the U.S., and while that's down from 71% last year, according to CNBC, it's still a remarkable achievement considering the influx of cheaper rivals that have flooded the market.
Although S&P Global Mobility says the competition is nibbling at Tesla's heels, it is still the primary vehicle for the industry's growth, and consumers moving to EVs are choosing Teslas over the competition. Moreover, they're coming from Honda (HMC -1.06%) and Toyota (TM -1.32%), two brands well respected for their highly fuel-efficient vehicles but which so far have been slow to fully commit to all-electric cars.
Tesla is also setting records in Norway for daily vehicle deliveries of EVs that are coming from its Berlin Gigafactory. So far, 6,000 Model Y's have been delivered in Norway this year.
No doubt a more competitive market will prove challenging, but Tesla's solid performance and its expected continued investments indicate it will remain the dominant force in the industry for many years to come.
