Do you like bargains? Sure. Who doesn't? Discounts are even compelling when you're talking about stocks.
With the desire for discounts in mind, here's a rundown of three surprisingly (and likely temporarily) cheap stocks you can step into for the long haul. If you're willing to give them enough time, they may even help you retire earlier than you've already been planning. In no particular order...
Alibaba
The COVID-19 pandemic hit the entire world pretty hard. But China seems to be struggling more than any other nation to shake off its impact. The nation's retail spending growth remained relatively lackluster for most of this year, and its real estate market is on the defensive. The Shanghai Composite Index is down 7% from April's peak, dragging it to 16% below its 2021 high.
Shares of the country's e-commerce powerhouse Alibaba (BABA 0.38%) aren't faring any better. With investors pricing in the swell of pessimistic rhetoric, the stock's been stagnant since the middle of last year following a sizable pullback in 2021.
Alibaba, however, may be faring better than the market gives it credit for. Its second-quarter sales were up 14% year over year, driving even better profit growth. Analysts expect full-year revenue growth to cool to a pace of 8.4% and then reaccelerate to a slightly better clip of nearly 10% next year.
Even so, that's pretty healthy for an organization of Alibaba's size, serving an economy in less-than-ideal shape. The key to this market-leading growth is the nature of the company's businesses themselves.
China's ongoing growth in e-commerce is stronger than any economic headwind blowing against it. Industry research outfit e-commerceDB estimates the country's online shopping market is set to grow at an annualized pace of 12.4% through 2027. Meanwhile, Alibaba's cloud computing and artificial intelligence ventures are also poised for similar growth, as their would-be customers need to invest in such tech more than they need to conserve capital.
Alibaba's breadwinning e-commerce operation just might outperform in the foreseeable future, too. Although September's full-month numbers aren't out yet, China's Ministry of Commerce reports retail sales during the country's "Golden Week" holiday between late September and early October were up 9% versus the comparable week a year earlier. That figure improves on the country's already-accelerating retail spending growth pace of 4.6% for August.
You can step into the Alibaba stock at less than 10 times next fiscal year's expected per-share profit of $9.97.
Dollar General
There's no denying Dollar General (DG 1.21%) stock has been a disaster of late. Shares trade down 60% from their late-2022 high, reaching new 52-week lows just last week. The discount retailer has just been hit hard by several missteps, ranging from too much inventory, understaffed stores, shoplifting, and the wrong mix of merchandise for this inflationary environment.
As the adage goes, though, it's darkest before the dawn.
Yes, Dollar General dropped several balls. It was also simultaneously the victim of multiple tricky circumstances. However, the company's got a turnaround plan underway that isn't being factored in yet.
This plan includes continued clearance of decreasingly marketable goods, raising its labor-pay budget by $150 million -- up from a previously planned increase of $100 million -- and the investment of several million dollars in demand-forecasting solutions. This spending will crimp the bottom line through the remainder of the year.
These are necessary (and arguably overdue) investments, however, with the prospect of more than paying for themselves as early as next year. The inflation that's even keeping consumers out of dollar stores could also be abating by then. The Conference Board expects the United States' overall inflation rate to fall from around 3% this year to around 2% next year.
The kicker: Dollar General's CEO Jeff Owen has only been on the job since November of last year. Although he was the chief operating officer prior to taking the helm, the change may be just enough to fully jolt the company out of its rut.
As of the latest look, Dollar General shares are valued at 13.3 times this year's expected EPS of $7.73 and 12.2 times next year's projected bottom line of $8.41 per share.
Cisco Systems
You should consider picking up a stake in networking name Cisco Systems (CSCO -0.08%) while the stock's trading at a trailing price/earnings ratio of 17.5 and a forward-looking one of 13.3. Mostly, though, mull this ticker while its dividend yield is a surprisingly big (by technology stock standards anyway) 2.9%. You won't find too many other tech names dishing out this degree of income.
Cisco is, of course, an icon of the computer networking business. International Data Corp. reports it currently controls a leading 46% of the worldwide Ethernet switch market, maintaining its long-standing dominance. That's thanks to sales growth of 16% year over year in its most recently ended fiscal fourth quarter, capping off full-year revenue growth of 11%.
The analyst community believes this growth will slow to a crawl in the newly begun fiscal year and remain tepid next year. Earnings growth isn't expected to be much better. However, most, if not all, of that slowdown is already priced into the stock's current value. In fact, given its recently announced plan to acquire cybersecurity company Splunk, it may still be undervalued.
Cisco already provides several cybersecurity solutions. However, by bringing Splunk's tech into the fold, Cisco will add new monitoring and artificial intelligence know-how to its offerings.
The union will particularly bolster the combined companies' ability to address the so-called managed service market, which is a tremendous growth opportunity. This market is on pace to grow more than 12% this year despite lots of economic challenges working against it. The pairing will also allow the combined companies to better compete with SEIM (security information and event management platform) players like Microsoft.
It's difficult for most investors to connect these technical dots right now. As they do so in the foreseeable future, though, don't be surprised to see the stock's budding rally effort really take off. The deal is a bit of a game-changer.