When the markets get choppy, it helps to own growing companies benefiting from powerful megatrends. You want to avoid the temptation to sell out at the wrong time. One way to stay patient is to own companies whose opportunities for lots of growth excite you.
Owning industry-leading companies posting big growth rates in revenue can lead to spectacular gains. Let's look at three extraordinary growth stocks that could deliver wealth-building returns.
NASDAQ: TTD
Key Data Points
1. The Trade Desk
Digital advertising is a massive opportunity for investors, and The Trade Desk (TTD 1.75%) is well positioned to capitalize. As millions of households ditch cable TV, more brands are saying goodbye to old media and shifting ad spending to streaming and retail media. The $600 billion digital ad market is allowing The Trade Desk's programmatic ad-buying platform to soak up money by the truckloads.
Since 2016, The Trade Desk's market value has soared from less than $1 billion to nearly $40 billion at current share prices. The Trade Desk has a competitive advantage built around trust. It's a neutral platform that only generates revenue from charging a fee on the total ad spend by customers. It doesn't hold ad inventory to resell to its customers at a profit. This is a key selling point for the company's platform over other digital ad companies.
The Trade Desk is also seeing growing adoption for its Unified ID 2.0 (UID2) technology, which allows brands to target ads at the right audience without violating consumer privacy. UID2 is increasing the value brands get from their data, boosting ad spend on the platform and, therefore, the company's revenue. In the first half of 2023, revenue grew 22% year over year, which is enough to gain share on competitors in a soft advertising market.
The Trade Desk is riding powerful tailwinds and should continue to deliver market-beating returns for years.
NASDAQ: MELI
Key Data Points
2. MercadoLibre
MercadoLibre (MELI +0.41%) started in 1999 and is now Latin America's leading fintech and e-commerce company. Over the last 20 years, the company has posted explosive growth and delivered enormous returns to investors -- and it could grow at high rates for several more years.
In the second quarter, revenue grew 57% year over year on a local currency basis. The company's three largest markets -- Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico -- continued to put up robust numbers. Its online marketplace posted a 47% increase in gross merchandise volume, while its Mercado Pago credit business, logistics services, and mobile payment solutions also continued to report high growth rates.
The main reason for Mercado's sky-high growth is the relatively low e-commerce penetration in Latin America compared to other countries like China. In 2020, China's e-commerce penetration was 27% of total retail shopping, according to Fidelity International, while Mexico and Brazil were still at 8.5% and 12.5%.
The company's largest markets are expected to see strong e-commerce growth over the next few years as the adoption of smartphones and growing preference for online shopping continues to take hold across the region.
NASDAQ: TSLA
Key Data Points
3. Tesla
A list of extraordinary stocks wouldn't be complete without Tesla (TSLA 2.17%). The leading brand in electric vehicles (EVs) said it delivered 435,059 EVs in the third quarter. It's come a long way from the sub-10,000 quarterly deliveries in 2013. Its growth has powered Tesla's market value from less than $15 billion to $826 billion.
Despite Tesla's enormous growth, it's just getting started. EVs still make up only a tiny fraction of the total vehicles on the road. However, the advantage for Tesla is that it has a growing number of EVs collecting data to feed its neural training, which could make its self-driving car software the most advanced driving computer in the industry.
Tesla said it plans to spend $1 billion on its Dojo training computer through 2024. However, Tesla isn't being selfish with its technology. CEO Elon Musk said the company wants to license its software to other car manufacturers, and one Wall Street analyst has already crunched the numbers on what this could mean for Tesla.
By 2040, Tesla's network services business could generate $335 billion in revenue, up from an estimated $135 billion in 2030, according to Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas. This business could produce 60% of the company's core profits in the next few decades.
Jonas believes the stock could hit $400 within the next 18 months, 54% above the current share price. Other investors seem to agree. The stock has surged 110% so far this year as Tesla reports strong growth in an otherwise lackluster car market.
Investors who see Tesla as more than EVs could be in for the ride of a lifetime.
