Do you like bargains? Of course. Who doesn't?

Great deals aren't limited to the stores or websites consumers frequent, though. Stocks go on sale too. After all, most stocks are just priced using an informal ongoing auction approach that reflects supply and demand at any given time. Some of those times, investors collectively underestimate a company's future.

With that as the backdrop, here's a closer look at three massively discounted stocks the market underestimates. You may want to consider jumping in while they're still on sale. As is the case in the world of retail, these sale prices won't last forever.

1. Altria

There's no denying the tobacco business is living on borrowed time; the smoking cessation movement continues to get traction here and abroad. Philip Morris cigarette parent company Altria's (MO 0.66%) most-used slogan is now a trademarked "moving beyond smoking," acknowledging its inevitable eventual end. Smokeless (chewing) tobacco is facing a similar fate, while vaping/e-cigarettes' future is similarly murky.

What most investors may not fully appreciate, however, is the likely timeline involved in the wind-down of the business. By self-managing the cessation movement rather than letting regulators set the pace and tone, Altria and its peers have turned a process that could have taken a few years into a process that could be measured in decades. Given net profit margins on the order of one-fifth of its revenue, there's still lots of money to be made in this business.

There's no real growth in store, mind you. It's just sustained, steady cash flow in the cards. That's why you should view Altria as a stock with an expiration date rather than as a lifetime holding. You're renting it to plug into its well-supported -- and plain big -- dividend yield of 8.5%. That's more yield than you'll get from nearly any other stock of its ilk, and for that matter, more yield than you can get from most corporate bonds despite the recent wave of interest rate hikes.

Just don't forget to let go of it before the industry's ongoing contraction finally starts shrinking profit margin rates.

2. Qualcomm

When investors think of semiconductor stocks, names like Nvidia or Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing typically come to mind. Qualcomm (QCOM 1.13%) often doesn't, as it's not making the tech found at the heart of most computers or artificial intelligence development platforms.

Don't be discouraged by Qualcomm's position outside the center of the chipmaking arena, though. It dominates its sliver of the chip market and will continue to do so.

As a refresher, Qualcomm's core business is smartphones. Its flagship Snapdragon processor is used by several smartphone makers, including many of Samsung's Galaxy line. The company also manufactures 5G connectivity components and Wi-Fi solutions. It's possible you're using a Qualcomm-made product right now without even realizing it. In the meantime, know that Qualcomm is working on artificial intelligence tech. It's just mostly aimed at the edge-computing market. By being out of the thick of the world's chip competition, the company's able to produce much more reliable, consistent results.

This focus hasn't helped much of late. Last quarter's revenue tumbled to the tune of 23%, and is en route to falling 19% for the full fiscal year ending in September. Qualcomm's weak guidance for the quarter currently underway reflects (among other things) the "continued impact of the macroeconomic headwinds." That's a big reason shares have gone nowhere this year after falling more than 40% from last year's peak.

Take a step back and look at the bigger picture, though. The headwinds are temporary. We're always going to need mobile connectivity technology; we're always going to want better mobile connectivity technology tech. That's why analysts are calling for the beginning of a sales and profit recovery next year.

Investors getting into Qualcomm now will also be stepping in while the dividend yield is a healthy 2.7%.

3. Alibaba

Last but not least, add Alibaba (BABA 0.84%) to your list of stocks to buy at a massive discount right now.

The recent narrative regarding China suggests the bounceback from its pandemic-prompted lockdowns is losing steam before it ever really got going. The country's industrial output growth fell from April's pace of 5.6% to 3.5% in May, coinciding with retail sales' growth pace slide from 18.4% to 12.7%, falling short of the expected 13.6%. (All of those numbers are big, but bear in mind China was still under heavy-handed lockdowns in April and May of 2022.)

Things haven't improved in the meantime. Based on June's numbers, Moody's economist Harry Murphy Cruise fears "China's recovery is going from bad to worse. After a sugar injection in the opening months of 2023, the pandemic hangover is plaguing China's recovery."

Given this backdrop, it's no surprise that shares of China's e-commerce powerhouse Alibaba have performed poorly this year.

Don't be so distracted by the past, however, that you forget to think about the future.

In this vein, China's consumer class may already be doing better than the recent data implies. Alibaba's top line grew a healthy 14% year over year during the quarter ending in June, marking the fastest revenue growth the company's produced since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in the third quarter of 2021. Net income also topped estimates after soaring 51% year over year.

Analysts are calling for steady sales and earnings growth for the full year and for 2024, despite the still-pessimistic narrative about China's consumer market. These same analysts are maintaining an average target price of $140.80 for the stock, which is 48% above its current price.

With all of that being said, notice that Alibaba stock is finally starting to test the waters of higher highs. We may be at the turning point.