The market has kept investors guessing over the past year, and as fears about a possible recession and the health of the global economy lingered, few stocks have been spared from bouts of volatility. Even as 2023 has brought continued volatility for many businesses and their shareholders, solid companies with intriguing growth stories ahead have continued to make progress in a challenging environment. 

If you're going stock shopping right now, here are two such solid companies to consider hitting the buy button on before the week is out. 

1. Amazon 

Amazon (AMZN -1.65%) shares have popped by about 40% since the start of 2023. I've said it before and I'll say it again: This is a business that has stood the test of time and not only survived but thrived.

The tech giant's domination of some of the world's fastest-growing and most lucrative industries, from e-commerce to cloud computing, not to mention its growing footprint in other fast-growing spaces like entertainment, healthcare, groceries, and more, has given it a moat that few other companies have been able to penetrate at scale. 

It's also important to understand that no company is wholly impervious to the operating environment in which it exists. Scaled back discretionary spending by individual consumers to large enterprise customers was inevitably going to impact Amazon. However, its market leadership in the industries in which it operates, and its history of profitability and cash generation have created a solid foundation from which it can leverage a position of strength in a down period. 

Amazon took aggressive actions to decrease its operating costs, most notably a series of layoffs that garnered considerable media attention in recent months. While the people it let go comprised a relatively small portion of its overall workforce, the company's renewed focus on capital efficiency was evident in its first-quarter 2023 report. 

The company recently reported net sales of $127.4 billion, up 9% from the year-ago period. Meanwhile, operating income came in at $4.8 billion, a 30% year-over-year increase. And after reporting its first annual loss in nearly a decade in 2022 (mostly due to a steep decline in the market value of its investment in Rivian), Amazon returned to profitability in the first quarter with net income of $3.2 billion.  

Bear in mind, those three figures (revenue, operating income, and net income) were still up 67%, 20%, and 28%, respectively, on a three-year basis. Amazon closed Q1 2023 with a hefty stash of cash and investments on hand to the tune of $64 billion. As economic conditions improve, this is a tried-and-true business that looks poised to handily eclipse the growth that it continues to report even in this challenging operating landscape.  

2. Upstart 

Upstart (UPST -1.25%) has dealt with a particularly tough environment recently given the state of the lending industry. Still, its shares have jumped approximately 93% since the beginning of the year as some investors renewed interest in the business and its expected growth story. The company has retained its competitive advantage as a lending marketplace leveraging the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning to manage loan approvals and denials. 

With its platform, which connects consumers with partners like banks and credit unions, Upstart has not only been able to increase lending opportunities for these institutions at lower loss rates, but expand the accessible pool of creditworthy consumers, many of whom have historically faced hurdles accessing the lending market on the basis of their FICO scores alone. Currently, 84% of all loan approvals processed on Upstart's platform are completely automated, thanks to its rapidly evolving, constantly learning model.  

Upstart faced a few notable challenges in recent quarters given the broader economic backdrop. One was a decline in loan volume. Consumers are applying for fewer loans given that interest rates have risen significantly. Its platform is also approving fewer loans as it calibrates to the current risk environment, and those that are approved carry higher interest rates.

While this headwind won't dissipate overnight, as economic conditions improve, it follows that loan volume will rebound, which would flow to Upstart's currently depressed top and bottom lines. 

Another notable challenge was the decline in funding from Upstart's institutional partners, which historically bought most of the loans processed by the platform. This change meant that Upstart had to carry far more loans than usual on its balance sheet. That, coupled with the decline in loan volume, drove the company back into considerable unprofitability. Upstart has taken steps to move its business steadily back toward profitability, as well as to rectify its funding problem. These efforts would appear to be paying off already. 

The company recently cut its workforce by about 30% in a move to reduce operational expenses. Notably, it announced in its first quarter report that it had secured $2 billion in loan funding agreements over the next year, which was followed shortly thereafter by securing up to another $4 billion in loan funding from Castlelake.

Upstart is also rapidly growing its network of bank and credit union partners. It had 99 as of the end of the first quarter, compared to 50 a year earlier and 10 when it went public in December 2020.

For investors willing to hang on for the ride, Upstart's positive funding changes, the ongoing expansion of its lending partner network, and the continued improvement of its disruptive lending model may present a buying opportunity that is too good to ignore.