It isn't easy watching your investments plunge in value, but that's what Wall Street and everyday investors have endured throughout 2022. It's been particularly difficult for those of us with a lot of growth stocks in our portfolios. The Vanguard Growth ETF has plunged around 33% from the peak it reached in December 2021.
There are two important aspects of bear markets that make right now a good time to be a net buyer of growth stocks that you intend to hold over the long term. First of all, every bear market in history has been wiped away by subsequent recovery periods.
We also know that bear markets are relatively short-lived. The one we've been experiencing is already very long in the tooth. For this reason alone, there's a solid chance that the market's latest big dip in October could turn out to be the bottom.
Shares of these two stocks have been hammered into the dirt from the peaks they reached in 2021. Here's why they look like terrific stocks to buy now and hold on to for the long run.
Right now might not seem like a great time to buy Pinterest (PINS -1.55%) or any social media stocks. This year, Facebook and Instagram's parent company, Meta Platforms, reported declining revenue for the first time in its history as a publicly traded company. I'd argue that Pinterest's unique role in the social media space makes it a terrific stock to buy right now.
You see, Pinterest is the place people go to tell everyone about the things they want to buy and the places they want to visit. This means the company can give advertisers all the information they need to serve highly targeted advertisements without any invasive tracking features.
Pinterest's inherent advantages are showing up in its results. Despite a general pullback in digital advertising revenue from its peers, Pinterest reported average revenue in the third quarter that rose 15% year over year in the U.S. and Canada to $6.13 per user.
Users outside Europe, the U.S., and Canada, represent an enormous growth opportunity. The average revenue per user from this group jumped 38% year over year, and it's just getting off the ground at $0.11 in the third quarter.
Despite falling 72.2% from their peak in early 2021, shares of Pinterest are not cheap. The stock currently trades at around 41.9 times forward-looking earnings estimates. I believe the company can meet this lofty growth expectation, but investors should be prepared for a lot of volatility along the way.
PayPal
If you're looking for a terrific growth stock less likely to be subjected to volatile price swings, consider PayPal (PYPL 0.34%). After falling 77.6% from their peak in 2021, shares of the payment processing behemoth are trading for just 17.1 times forward-looking earnings expectations.
PayPal's current valuation is appropriate for a business expected to grow by a mid-single-digit percentage from one year to the next. That hardly jibes with the company's past or its immediate future. Since 2015, PayPal's total payment volume processed has increased at a 25% compound annual growth rate.
The COVID-19 pandemic led the company to invest a bit more heavily than it probably should have. With help from more recently instituted cost-cutting measures, though, management expects adjusted earnings to rise 15% in 2023.
In the third quarter, PayPal added around 2.9 million net new accounts bringing the total up to a whopping 432 million. The company's also getting older accounts to increase their usage. It recorded 50.1 transactions per account over the past 12 months, which was 13.1% more than it recorded a year earlier. With an operation firing on all cylinders, investors who buy some shares of this stock now and hold on have a very good chance to come out miles ahead over the long run.
