With inflation continuing to run hot and concerns that the Federal Reserve will need to continue raising interest rates to get the situation under control, growth stocks have been under pressure over the last couple of years. The growth-heavy Nasdaq Composite index trades down roughly 25% from its high, and even strong companies that are posting profits have seen sell-offs push past that level.
But while the turbulent market backdrop may be cause for concern in the near term, it also creates windows of opportunity to buy stocks at levels that open the door for stellar gains over the long term. If you're on the hunt for great investments you can confidently hold forever, read on for a look at two innovative and resilient tech companies that are poised to deliver tremendous returns.
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1. CrowdStrike
Business is increasingly migrating to and expanding in digital channels, and cybercriminals are ramping up attack attempts. As a result, demand for CrowdStrike's (CRWD -0.09%) services has been surging. The company's AI-powered Falcon platform evolves with each threat that it comes into contact with and provides detection capabilities and protections that help prevent computers, mobile devices, servers, and other hardware from being used to breach networks.
Spurred by customer additions and existing customers purchasing new service modules, CrowdStrike grew revenue 48% year over year to reach $637.4 million in the fourth quarter, and non-GAAP (adjusted) earnings per share jumped 58.5% to reach $111.6 million. This performance pushed revenue to $2.24 billion and adjusted earnings per share to $1.54 for the year, up 54% and 130%, respectively, on an annual basis. Free cash flow climbed 53% to hit $676.8 million.
Based on management's midpoint target, sales are expected to climb roughly 39% year over year in the first quarter. Meanwhile, midpoint guidance for the full-year period calls for revenue growth of roughly 34% and adjusted per-share earnings growth of 49%. Even with a less favorable macroeconomic backdrop, the cybersecurity leader is on track to grow revenue and earnings at encouraging clips this year, and its long-term growth story likely remains in very early innings.
Trading down approximately 50% from its high, CrowdStrike looks like a great buy-and-hold play right now.
2. Alphabet
Despite macroeconomic headwinds pressuring the digital advertising industry, Alphabet (GOOGL 0.40%) (GOOG 0.48%) continues to look like one of the most attractively valued big-tech stocks on the market. The company is in the early stages of recognizing massive benefits from the evolution of artificial intelligence technologies, and its strengths in search, mobile OS, cloud computing, and other categories combine to create an incredible products-and-services ecosystem.
Trading at under 21 times expected forward earnings, the stock looks like a great long-term buy, even though macro challenges have led to slower sales growth and a dip in earnings lately.
GOOGL P/E Ratio (Forward) data by YCharts.
Alphabet's sales inched up roughly 1% year over year in the fourth quarter to reach roughly $76 billion. The company managed to post sales growth despite its core Google Search-and-other segment seeing sales fall approximately 1.6% compared to the prior-year period to land at $42.6 billion. Notably, the company has been seeing strong momentum in the cloud infrastructure services market, with its Google Cloud business growing sales 32% year over year to hit $7.3 billion in Q4.
With its Q4 performance, Alphabet closed out the year with sales up roughly 10% to hit $282.8 billion and earnings down 19% to $4.56 per share. While the slowdown in the digital ads market pressured sales and earnings performance, the company continued to post strong margins and earnings, and it retains excellent financial footing. The tech giant has roughly $113.8 billion in cash and equivalents against just $14.8 billion in debt, and it's generating strong free cash flow even as its core digital ads business is facing some headwinds.
Alphabet's fantastic war chest and portfolio of category-leading technology services should help it continue to be one of the most influential and profitable companies in the world. The business has sturdy pillars that can withstand pressures and its incredible access to data and tech resources positions it to be one of the biggest drivers and beneficiaries of the AI revolution. Down 28% from its high, Alphabet offers a compelling risk-reward profile for long-term investors.
