For investors with a focus on growth stocks, 2022 began full of promise, but inflation and rising interest rates let the air out of that balloon. Shares of the Vanguard Growth ETF have collapsed 34% from their peak in January.
We don't know when the situation will improve, but there are reasons to expect a bull market in 2023. When stocks fall they tend to fall fast, and the bear market we've been in all year is relatively old already. Moreover, the Federal Reserve's pace of interest rate hikes has already slowed down in response to signs that inflation is beginning to subside.
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These three stocks have been through a wringer in 2022 but their best days are still ahead. Here's why you'll want them in your portfolio all the way through the next bull market.
Veeva Systems
Veeva Systems (VEEV -0.71%) is a cloud-based software company that targets the biopharmaceutical industry. General investor interest in the biotech industry reached a fever pitch in the early days of the pandemic, but that interest quickly fell along with the company's stock price. Shares of Veeva Systems are around 52% off the high-water mark they set in 2021.
Most folks outside of the life science industry have never heard of Veeva Systems, but it's an indispensable partner for over 1,000 biopharmaceutical companies. Four of the six largest contract research organizations rely on Veeva's clinical trial management system.
With a unified suite of services that none of its competitors can match, Veeva's also attracting the world's largest pharmaceutical companies. For example, Merck recently agreed to take a Veeva-first approach to all new industry-specific software over the next 10 years.
In 2019, when Veeva was generating around $1 billion in annual revenue, management told investors this figure would triple by 2025. The company's already well ahead of schedule. It finished its fiscal third quarter ended Oct. 31, 2022, with total revenue that rose 16% year over year to an annualized $2.2 billion.
A stock market scorned for enterprise software companies has pushed Veeva's market valuation down to 39.3 times forward-looking earnings expectations. That's about as low as it's ever been. With Veeva's leading share of its niche market and a proven track record for reaching lofty growth targets, taking advantage of its beaten-down price looks like a smart move.
Doximity
Doximity (DOCS -1.34%) is another exceptional business with a leading share of the niche healthcare market that it essentially created on its own. The company operates a social medial platform with a membership roster that includes roughly 80% of American physicians.
Despite an operating performance that most companies can only dream of, shares of Doximity have fallen about 66% from the high-water mark they set in 2021. Now, you can scoop the stock up for around 51 times forward-looking earnings expectations.
Doximity's market valuation implies significant growth but not as much as the company's poised to deliver. During its fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 30, 2022, cash flow from operations soared 106% to $39.5 million.
Investors can look forward to continued growth from Doximity. This is a generally difficult time to be in the advertising business but pharmaceutical companies are falling over each other trying to get their messages in front of U.S. physicians. The average marketing solutions customer contributed 25% more revenue during the most recently reported quarter than they contributed a year earlier.
In addition to some of the most valuable advertising inventory on the internet, Doximity provides immensely popular productivity tools for clinicians. For example, its telehealth tools were used by over 370,000 healthcare professionals during the fiscal second quarter. With multiple growth drivers pushing its bottom line forward, buying this stock now and holding through the next bull market could give your whole portfolio a boost.
