The technology sector is a popular place to look for stock ideas. Many of the world's largest and most successful companies are classified as tech stocks, so investor interest in the sector makes sense. In fact, eight of the top 10 companies in the S&P 500 by index weight are tech companies.
When looking for stock ideas, individual investors can sometimes find an advantage by discovering promising tech stocks that are less well-known. These companies tend to be smaller and younger and could still have most of their growth ahead of them. Here are two under-the-radar growth stocks to buy right now.
1. PubMatic
PubMatic (PUBM 1.75%) operates on the sell side of the programmatic advertising market. Put simply, it helps those with advertising space to sell (e.g., websites, mobile apps, etc.) find advertisers to fill that space. PubMatic is a small company with a market cap of approximately $650 million. It is relatively unknown, especially when compared to the big player on the buy side of the market, The Trade Desk.
After posting strong results in its first several quarters as a public company, PubMatic has seen its growth slow as the advertising market has hit a downturn. In the second quarter of 2023, PubMatic revenue grew by only 0.5% year over year, while its net loss was $5.7 million.
Q2 was the second consecutive quarter that PubMatic posted a net loss after being consistently profitable since its initial public offering (IPO). It's important to note that the Q2 net loss was impacted by a bad debt expense due to one of its buyers filing for bankruptcy. Excluding that, the net loss would have been only $49,000.
There are bright spots. Ad impressions for the trailing 12 months were up by 52% year over year in Q2 of 2023, following 85% growth in Q2 of 2022. Growth of ad impressions helped PubMatic realize 30% of revenue growth in the connected TV part of its business.
PubMatic's stock is down 82% from its early 2021 high and now trades for near all-time lows on price-to-sales (P/S) and price-to-free-cash-flow multiples. The near-term struggles have provided a decent margin of safety for buying the stock today.
2. Procore
Construction management software company Procore (PCOR 0.39%) is trying to modernize an industry that is still working on pencil and paper in some instances. By offering a comprehensive offering of products that can handle a construction project from start to finish, the company strives to get all stakeholders in the construction process operating on the same integrated platform.
Procore has only been publicly traded for a few years, but the results so far have been impressive. In Q2 of 2023, the company posted revenue of $229 million, good for a year-over-year increase of 33%. This is in line with where revenue growth has been historically. In the current quarter, management expects slightly slower but still strong revenue growth of 25% at the midpoint of guidance.
While still unprofitable, Procore has made good progress on this front. In Q2 of 2023, the company had a net loss of $53 million. This represented an improvement from a $73 million net loss in Q2 of 2022 and a loss of $150 million in Q2 of 2021. The company also expects to be able to produce sustainable positive free cash flow by the end of 2023.
These improving financial metrics are vital for Procore. Getting to profitability and positive free cash flow as soon as possible will prevent the company from needing to tap the capital markets at higher interest rates.
Growing its customer base will help with the top and bottom lines, and so far, this has been a positive trend for the company. Q2 of 2023 ended with 15,704 organic customers, an increase of 17%. Customers also stick around. Procore has a gross revenue retention rate of 94%.
Procore sells for 12 times trailing sales (P/S), which isn't necessarily cheap. However, it is trading below the company's historical average. If Procore meets its potential and can capture market share in the ever-growing construction market, today's valuation may look very reasonable in hindsight.
