The stock market has been doing extremely well in light of all the negative views that many investors have about its prospects. Amid economic challenges, political wrangling, and prices that have remained stubbornly high for consumers, it's easy to think that Wall Street has more working against it than it could possibly overcome.
Yet with that level of hostility, the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC 2.02%) and S&P 500 (^GSPC 1.02%) have climbed back to their best levels in nearly a year, and even the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI 0.40%) got in on the action.
|
Index |
Daily Percentage Change on Friday, June 9 |
Daily Point Change |
|---|---|---|
|
Dow |
+0.13% |
+43 |
|
S&P 500 |
+0.11% |
+5 |
|
Nasdaq |
+0.16% |
+21 |
Data source: Yahoo! Finance.
A pair of stocks stood out late last week as the best performers among those companies with market capitalizations of $1 billion or more on Friday. Braze (BRZE 1.29%) and Joby Aviation (JOBY 4.90%) are in very different areas of the business world, but they share the aspiration of making technology more useful to a broader population, and they both have good prospects to become great growth stocks. Below, you'll learn more about why Braze and Joby saw their stock prices soar.
Braze is blazin' hot
Shares of Braze climbed 16% on Friday. The maker of customer engagement software reported fiscal first-quarter results for the period ended April 30 that made its shareholders feel more positively engaged with the company as well.
Braze's financial numbers were encouraging. Sales climbed 31% year over year to $102 million, with an even bigger percentage jump in revenue from subscriptions. Gross margin figures rose by a full percentage point to 68.8%, and Braze signed up 363 new customers over the previous 12 months, bringing its total to 1,866. Among those, 164 customers spent $500,000 or more annually on the software platform, up 27% from the previous year. Net dollar-based retention rates came in at 122%, showing continued adoption among existing and new customers.
Braze also boosted its guidance for the remainder of its 2024 fiscal year. The company now expects revenue to come in between $442.5 million and $446.5 million. That's about 2% higher than its previous forecast, and it was also ahead of where most of those following Braze expected the company to be by the end of the year.
Braze isn't yet profitable, but its adjusted losses are narrowing. That has been enough for promising software companies with exposure to favorable high-growth trends, and analysts like how Braze is building momentum and taking advantage of its opportunities.
Image source: Joby Aviation.
Joby looks to fly
Elsewhere, shares of Joby Aviation gained altitude, climbing 11%. The specialist in developmental-stage electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles got positive comments from Wall Street analysts covering the space.
Canaccord looked at a number of different eVTOL companies, concluding that low-level flying vehicles have the potential to disrupt the auto-based ride-hailing industry. Canaccord's research suggests that more than 100 million people use ride-sharing services currently, and if Joby and its peers can develop viable air-based solutions, they could quickly take substantial market share away from their ground-based competitors.
Accordingly, Canaccord started its coverage of Joby with a buy rating. The analysts also set an $8 per share price target, which was 28% higher than where the stock had started the day on Friday.
Joby wasn't the only eVTOL company that Canaccord expects to do well. However, with the analysts expecting as many as 45 million monthly active users of eVTOL aircraft within the next decade, there's enough business for Joby to do well even if it has to share its success with some of its peers.
