The market is continuing its climb back up after falling in the wake of the Silicon Valley Bank debacle. The S&P 500 is up nearly 8% this year, but many individual stocks are rocketing much higher. That's because smart investors are embracing the opportunity to load up on terrific bargains that may not come their way again.
Global-e Online (GLBE 3.00%) and Paramount Global (PARA 0.10%) are two no-brainer choices that investors should consider now. Let's take a closer look at them.
1. Global-e Online: Up 45% year to date
Global-e provides complete cross-border solutions for e-commerce retailers -- and investors appear to be pleased with the results. The stock is up about 45% so this year.
The company's client list is a who's-who of premium businesses like Walt Disney, Hugo Boss, and Marc Jacobs, and it's constantly adding new brands. Most recently, it added names including Katy Perry and Cuts Clothing. But it also services thousands of small businesses, and specifically, it has a stock-based relationship with Shopify and is available to Shopify's merchants.
The company has demonstrated outstanding performance since going public in 2021, closing out 2022 with a 69% year-over-year revenue increase in the fourth quarter. Adjusted gross profit (adjusted to exclude certain amortizations) increased 77% over last year, with adjusted gross margin increasing 1.8 percentage points.
The company's net loss, however, increased from $22.5 million to $28 million. That's partially due to expenses piling up as the company is in high-growth mode, but a large portion is due to the amortization of stock warrants related to its partnership with Shopify. Those are set to finish in 2025.
Management is guiding for 2023 revenue to increase 39% over 2022 at the midpoint, but it gave a broad range of possible outcomes, reflecting the volatility of the economy. If trends don't improve, it's likely to feel more pressure in the near term. However, it's posting incredible performance despite the squeezed economy, and it's likely to get even better when global trends do improve.
While Global-e stock has had a good run this year, it's still down over 60% from its 2021 highs and trades at a price-to-sales ratio of 11.5. That may be reasonable, considering its compelling growth opportunities ahead.
2. Paramount Global: Up 29% year to date
Paramount was one of only four stocks that legendary investor Warren Buffett bought in the most recently reported quarter. And smart investors are following that lead.
Paramount is a big-league media company that was formerly ViacomCBS. It owns the CBS, Showtime, MTV, and Nickelodeon networks in addition to others, as well as the Paramount film studio and Paramount+ and Pluto streaming channels. That's quite a load of revenue-generating assets.
Although it's a much smaller company than media giant Disney, with $30 billion in trailing-12-month revenue versus Disney's $84 billion, its business and strategy are very similar to Disney's. It churns out amazing content, which brings in ticket revenue at the box office or attracts streaming subscriptions, and it spins that success into more content to populate all of its networks.
It also has long-standing relationships with advertisers and a strong advertising platform from its decades of operating CBS. It has used this to its benefit running the ad-supported streaming channel Pluto.
Some of Paramount Global's recent hits include Top Gun: Maverick, which was the second-highest-grossing film of 2022, and the streaming series Yellowstone. It has already released several new pieces of content based on Yellowstone, and these are the backbone of a successful streaming channel.
Can it compete with larger rivals such as Disney and Netflix? So far, indications are that it can. Paramount+ has only 56 million paid subscriptions and Pluto has 79 million -- versus 162 million for Disney+ and around 234 million for all Disney streaming subscriptions, and 230 million for Netflix (which has not broken out the number for its new ad-supported network).
However, Paramount+ grew faster than its larger peers in the 2022 fourth quarter. That's not surprising since it's much smaller. But it's also a positive sign for investors.
As for profitability, Paramount is facing the same challenges as other networks. The main hurdle is producing enough fresh content while optimizing costs to maintain profitability. While it's an old company, streaming is essentially a growth segment and requires a large initial investment.
In the meantime, Paramount stock is trading at only 13 times trailing-12-month earnings. That looks like a bargain if you can envision the good times ahead.