Let me be clear upfront. To have a decent chance of retiring with $1 million or more, you're going to need cash to invest and plenty of time. Exactly how much cash and how much time is required will vary. And even then, there are no guarantees.
That said, it is quite possible to achieve this goal -- especially if you find the right places to invest. I can think of a few that merit serious consideration. Investing in these three stocks now could make you a millionaire retiree.
1. Amazon
You might think that Amazon's (AMZN +1.28%) best days are behind it. After all, the company already dominates the e-commerce market. It faces increasing competition in the cloud services market. There's also the tiny detail that Amazon's market cap hovers near $1.5 trillion. The bigger a company gets, the harder it becomes to deliver needle-moving growth.
To those observations, my answer is to simply look at what Amazon has done this year. Its stock has skyrocketed more than 70%. This outstanding performance is partly due to investors' increased interest in generative AI. However, it has also helped considerably that Amazon's profits and free cash flow are soaring.
NASDAQ: AMZN
Key Data Points
I firmly believe that Amazon has plenty of room to grow in e-commerce and cloud services. E-commerce accounted for only 15.6% of total U.S. retail sales in the third quarter of 2023. More than 90% of global IT spend is still on-premises. I look for the former percentage to increase and the latter percentage to decrease as organizations move their apps and data to the cloud. And Amazon should be a big winner from both trends.
Don't overlook Amazon's continual quest to expand into new markets, either. Just this year, the company announced a new supply chain service and that it plans to sell cars online. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos liked to say that "it's always day one" at Amazon. A company with that mindset can help grow your retirement account significantly over time.
2. CRISPR Therapeutics
Many biotech stocks are super risky. However, gene-editing pioneer CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP 0.45%) could be an exception that's at a pivotal time for aggressive investors to take action.
CRISPR Therapeutics and its big partner, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, recently won U.K. approval for exa-cel in treating sickle cell disease (SCD) and transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia (TDT). U.S. approvals could be right around the corner. The Food and Drug Administration expects to make a decision on the SCD indication by Dec. 8, 2023, and on the TDT indication by March 30, 2024.
NASDAQ: CRSP
Key Data Points
While exa-cel appears likely to become CRISPR Therapeutics' first blockbuster, the company also has other promising pipeline candidates. It's evaluating four cancer cell therapies in clinical studies. The biotech is working with Vertex on developing potential cures for type 1 diabetes. It also has advanced an experimental gene-editing therapy targeting cardiovascular disease into early-stage testing.
With commercial success for exa-cel likely on the way, CRISPR Therapeutics should soon have even more money to invest in expanding its pipeline. The company's market cap currently stands at around $5.4 billion. If it achieves a win or two with its clinical programs, CRISPR Therapeutics should grow much larger.
3. TransMedics Group
The biggest long-term winners are often companies that bring much-needed disruption to an established market. That's exactly what TransMedics Group (TMDX +3.20%) is doing in organ transplantation.
For years, cold storage has been the standard way of preserving donor organs. However, there are significant issues with this approach. Only 18% of donor lungs make it to the intended recipients. The percentage goes up to 38% for hearts and 60% for livers, but there are still far too many donor organs that ultimately aren't used.
NASDAQ: TMDX
Key Data Points
TransMedics' Organ Care System (OCS) addresses this issue by keeping donor lungs, hearts, and livers alive during transit. The results for OCS are staggering: Utilization soared to more than 80% in clinical studies, while the number of severe post-transplant complications dropped significantly.
The company is also addressing another issue -- the lack of available airplanes to transport donor organs -- with its recent acquisition of charter operator Summit Aviation. TransMedics is building its own aviation fleet that's exclusively dedicated to getting donor organs to their intended recipients.
Organ transplantation for lungs, hearts, and livers represents a multibillion-dollar market. TransMedics is on track to generate revenue of around $230 million this year. I expect that the company will capture a much larger share of the market over the next few years with its superior technology.
