The Nasdaq Composite has ripped 33% higher this year as evidence of economic resilience reinvigorated investors. The index is now just 13% from a record high, a threshold that signals the onset of a new bull market, which itself hints at more prodigious gains in the coming years.
The Nasdaq is often seen as a barometer for growth stocks due to its technology-heavy composition, but investors would do well to remember that growth and value are not mutually exclusive. In fact, the best investments generally fit both categories. A company that lacks growth prospects will find it hard to create value for shareholders, but even the fastest-growing company would be a bad investment at the wrong price.
When those qualities come together -- meaningful growth prospects at a reasonable valuation -- the result is a no-brainer buying opportunity. Roku (ROKU -10.29%) and MercadoLibre (MELI 3.09%) currently fit that description, and if I had $3,000 available to invest that isn't needed for monthly bills, to pay off short-term debt, or to bolster an emergency fund, I would split it evenly across these two stocks right now.
1. Roku
Television streaming pioneer Roku reported mixed results for the second quarter. Active accounts climbed 16% to 73.5 million and streaming hours jumped 21% to 25.1 billion, evidencing strong engagement with the Roku platform. However, that engagement led to lackluster growth as macroeconomic uncertainty continued to suppress ad spending. Second-quarter revenue increased just 11% year over year to $847 million, and Roku reported a GAAP loss of $108 million. But investors have good reason to believe the picture will improve.
This week, Roku announced plans to reduce its headcount by 10% and downsize its office footprint. That announcement was accompanied by more optimistic guidance for the current quarter, including a 500 basis point increase in projected revenue growth. But cost structure revisions are minor compared to the tailwinds behind the business.
Roku is the most popular streaming platform in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico as measured by viewing time, and Roku OS is the top-selling connected TV (CTV) operating system in the U.S. and Mexico. Both of those statistics point to brand authority, and the upshot is that Roku does a better job engaging viewers than its peers. That makes the company a particularly attractive ad tech partner in the CTV space.
Indeed, Roku accounted for an industry-leading 46% of programmatic CTV ad spend in North America during the second quarter, according to Pixalate, and its strong foothold in that market portends strong growth in the years ahead. CTV ad spend in the U.S. alone will increase at 13% annually to reach $40 billion by 2027, according to eMarketer, and Roku is probably better positioned to benefit from that tailwind than any other company.
That said, Roku is also working to accelerate growth by driving engagement through product innovation, and its most compelling experiments are (1) interactive ads that allow viewers to make purchases from their TVs and (2) The Roku Channel, an ad-supported streaming service that now accounts for more than 1% of TV viewing time in the U.S., putting it on par with Comcast's Peacock service.
Here's the bottom line: Roku has a good shot at growing revenue in the mid-teens annually for the foreseeable future. That makes its current valuation of 3.6 times sales look dirt cheap, and it certainly qualifies as a bargain compared to the three-year average of 11.6 times sales. That's why this growth stock is a no-brainer buy.
2. MercadoLibre
Latin American e-commerce pioneer MercadoLibre had a phenomenal second quarter. Revenue increased 31% year over year to $3.4 billion due to strong growth in the commerce and fintech segments, and GAAP earnings soared 112% to $5.16 per diluted share. Those results are particularly impressive in light of unfavorable exchange rates, which created a 300 basis point headwind to earnings.
Investors have good reason to believe MercadoLibre can maintain its momentum in the future. The investment thesis centers on its position as the largest online commerce and payments ecosystem in Latin America. To contextualize its dominance in the market, MercadoLibre is projected to account for 21.6% of regional retail e-commerce sales this year, up from 20.9% last year, meaning the company is still gaining share.
One reason MercadoLibre has been so successful is its portfolio of adjacent services. The company provides merchants with solutions for financing, logistics, advertising, and payments, all of which make its marketplace a more compelling option. That strategy is clearly paying off. Mercado Ads is the regional leader in retail media, and Mercado Pago is the sixth-largest but fastest-growing merchant acquirer (i.e., the entity that settles digital payment transactions on behalf of a merchant) in Latin America.
With that in mind, regional retail e-commerce is expected to grow at 14% annually to reach $307 billion by 2027, according to Statista. That implies equally strong growth in adjacent markets like digital payments and advertising, and MercadoLibre is set to create value for shareholders as the Latin American digital economy expands. Shares currently trade at 6 times sales, a material discount to the three-year average of 10.6 times sales, and a very reasonable price to pay for this growth stock.
