Several hypergrowth tech stocks soared to all-time highs during the buying frenzy in growth stocks last year. But this year, many of those stocks collapsed as rising interest rates and other macroeconomic headwinds drove investors toward more-conservative investments.
The sell-off burned lots of overzealous investors who ignored the bubbly valuations. But it also created promising buying opportunities for more-patient investors who hadn't jumped on that hypergrowth bandwagon. Let's examine three of those stocks that deserve a second look: Zscaler (ZS 0.30%), Cloudflare (NET -0.23%), and Wolfspeed (WOLF 8.46%).
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1. Zscaler
Zscaler provides "zero trust" services, which treat everyone -- including an organization's CEO -- as a potential threat. Unlike many other traditional cybersecurity companies, which install their services through on-site appliances, Zscaler only provides cloud-native services, which are stickier, constantly updated, and easier to scale up as an organization expands.
Zscaler has grown like a weed since its initial public offering in 2018. Its number of customers more than doubled from 3,250 at the end of fiscal 2018 (which ended in July of the calendar year) to over 6,700 at the end of fiscal 2022. Its revenue had a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 55% between fiscal 2018 and 2022, and it expects 40% growth in fiscal 2023.
The company is still unprofitable on the basis of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). But it's also been profitable on a non-GAAP (adjusted) basis since fiscal 2019, and it expects its adjusted earnings per share (EPS) to grow 78% to 81% this year.
The stock isn't cheap at 96 times forward earnings and 9 times next year's sales, and Zscaler faces near-term challenges as companies rein in their spending to cope with the macro headwinds. But I believe this hypergrowth stock could still have plenty of room to run, and its decline of more than 60% this year could represent a great long-term buying opportunity.
2. Cloudflare
Cloudflare provides a cloud-based content delivery network (CDN), which accelerates the delivery of digital media on websites. It accomplishes this by storing cached copies of that content on a sprawling network of "edge" servers, which are physically located closer to a website's visitors than the origin server. It also shields those websites from bot-based cyberattacks.
Cloudflare went public in 2019, and it now serves data from 275 cities across more than 100 countries, processing an average of 39 million HTTP requests every second. Its annual revenue had a CAGR of 51% from 2019 to 2021, and it expects its revenue to rise another 48% to 49% this year. It also turned profitable on an adjusted basis in the first nine months of 2022, and it expects to stay in the black for the full year.
Cloudflare isn't profitable by GAAP measures yet, and its stock isn't a screaming bargain at more than 300 times forward earnings and 12 times next year's sales. But if you believe the company will continue to grow faster than its smaller rivals in the CDN space and benefit from the ongoing expansion of the World Wide Web, then it's still a rock-solid investment.
3. Wolfspeed
Wolfspeed is one of the world's leading producers of wide-bandgap (WBG) semiconductors. WBG chips are produced with silicon carbide and gallium nitride, which enable them to operate at higher voltages, temperatures, and frequencies than traditional silicon chips. That resilience makes them ideal for short-length LEDs, lasers, 5G base stations, and military radar, as well as batteries and powertrains for electric vehicles.
The WBG market is still a tiny niche of the semiconductor sector, but it's a high-growth one. Wolfspeed's revenue declined 16% in fiscal 2020 (which ended in June of the calendar year) as it grappled with pandemic-related disruptions, but rose 12% in fiscal 2021 and surged 42% in fiscal 2022. Analysts expect revenue to rise 34% this year, even as other larger chipmakers with heavy exposure to the macro-sensitive PC, smartphone, and data-center markets struggle with slower growth.
It also recently opened the world's largest 200mm silicon carbide plant to reinforce its dominance of its niche market, and it will likely benefit from the CHIPS and Science Act because it manufactures its chips in the U.S.
Wolfspeed isn't profitable by GAAP or non-GAAP measures yet, but it looks reasonably valued at 7 times next year's sales, and its business could still experience explosive growth as more companies recognize the importance of its WBG semiconductors. Investors who recognize that growth potential today could be richly rewarded in the future.
