The stock market may not be giving investors the mouth-watering returns of years past right now, but companies with strong underlying businesses are still booking wins and paving the way to future growth. Investors could have a rare opportunity to seize the long-term potential of these quality businesses while buying in at discounted prices.
If you have $1,000 to invest in stocks, here are two powerhouse stocks to consider buying right now.
1. Innovative Industrial Properties
It's been a tough time for the marijuana industry at large. Oversupply in certain markets has dragged on retailers' sales and profitability, and while strides continue to be made at the state level, it appears that federal legalization could still be a somewhat distant reality.
Unlike a traditional cultivator or dispensary, Innovative Industrial Properties (IIPR 1.18%) isn't in the business of growing or selling the actual cannabis plant or its derivatives. Rather, the company operates as a real estate investment trust (REIT), engaging marijuana growers in multiyear triple net leases for its portfolio of greenhouses and other facilities.
This is a business model that has enabled it to deliver hefty profits and shareholder returns over the years. And the company only leases its industrial facilities to licensed medical-use marijuana growers, a side of the industry that remains more widely regulated and legalized to date.
Innovative Industrial Properties closed out 2022 with a total of 110 properties in its portfolio in 19 states, totaling just shy of 9 billion in rentable square feet. The company also acquired nine new properties in seven states last year. At the end of 2022, 100% of the properties in its total operating portfolio were rented under triple net lease contracts, with an average lease duration of 15 years.
In addition, Innovative Industrial Properties' model ensures that no tenant or state accounts for more than 14% and 16%, respectively, of its overall portfolio. Currently, multi-state operators (MSOs) account for 85% of its total operating portfolio. This business model has enabled Innovative Industrial Properties to grow its revenue and funds from operations (FFO) by respective amounts of 3,100% and 18,400% in the nearly seven years since its founding, while delivering a total shareholder gain of 490%.
NYSE: IIPR
Key Data Points
Of course, the chief concern for a company like Innovative Industrial Properties, given the macro environment and struggles that many cannabis companies are dealing with currently, is the potential risk of its tenants defaulting on their leases. As of Jan. 18, management said the company had collected 97% of the rent due from its tenants for the 2022, and 92% of rent due for January 2023. Meanwhile, three tenants had defaulted on rent obligations; however, the properties in question represented just about 6% total of Innovative Industrial Properties' invested capital.
The company made major headlines last summer when one of its big tenants, Kings Garden, defaulted on its rent obligations. However, in the months that have followed, Innovative Industrial Properties has continued to recoup the rent owed by this tenant while maintaining ongoing contracts with Kings Garden on other properties. The near term will undoubtedly continue to present challenges for cannabis operators, and this could impact Innovative Industrial Properties' business to a certain extent.
However, the company is coming from a position of strength, both financially and in terms of the structure of its business. It has continued to maintain high rent collection ratios even in the current market and its lengthy triple net lease terms and highly diversified portfolio all bode well for its ability to ride out the imminent choppy market.
For investors with an appropriate investment horizon and a healthy appetite for risk, Innovative Industrial Properties presents a compelling potential buy in an otherwise volatile space. At current share prices, a $1,000 investment would add 12 shares to your portfolio.
2. Pinterest
Pinterest (PINS +0.41%) has faced a challenging environment over the last year as investor sentiment has waned toward growth stocks and many companies have shifted ad spending initiatives in light of the ongoing macro situation. However, over the long term, Pinterest remains a compelling business with a lot of untapped potential, and patient investors with the appropriate risk tolerance can capitalize on this fact.
The company makes most of its money from ad revenue. While at first glance Pinterest just looks like a fun, visual-oriented platform to find image inspiration about everything from travel to home décor, the business itself is built to be an advertising machine. According to an internal study, Pinterest ads are more than two times more efficient at cost per conversion than traditional social media ads, while delivering twice the return on ad spend.
One of the most difficult aspects of ad conversion is capturing the attention (or eyeballs, if you will) of prospective customers. The genius aspect of advertising on Pinterest's platform is that it's already designed to capture and retain the user for prolonged periods. Pinterest's image-centric design lends itself to lengthy user browsing.
NYSE: PINS
Key Data Points
As users browse Pinterest for their topic or topics of interest, they won't just encounter images and videos that fit with their search, but also ads that look very much like ordinary "pins" that can guide them to complete their customer journey.
As CEO Bill Ready noted in the third-quarter earnings call, "Pinterest is a unique place for advertisers because our users seek inspiration and discovery with intent and purpose." Ready added, "We've built our ad platform so advertisers can meet users at every stage of their purchasing journey as they move from ideation, where brand advertising is most effective; to consideration, where a traffic campaign makes sense; to taking action, where conversion objectives are optimal."
Pinterest's revenue and user growth have slowed in recent quarters, but pre-pandemic comparisons offer a better view of how the company is doing outside of this accelerated period of growth. Case in point: The company's revenue and global users for the third quarter of 2022 represented respective increases of 35% and 11% on a compound annual growth rate basis compared to the third quarter of 2019.
At current share prices, a $1,000 investment in Pinterest would add 38 shares to your portfolio.
