As 2023 winds down, the stock market's narrative has been anything but dull. Following a buoyant 2021 and a challenging 2022, this year has seen a tentative yet notable recovery. The S&P 500 (^GSPC 0.23%) market index is up by 21% year to date, essentially reversing last year's 19% drop. The tech-heavy and more growth-oriented Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC 0.13%) has gained 29% in 2023, which also was just about enough to patch a 33% haircut in 2022.
Key to this turnaround has been the cooling inflation crisis and the ongoing boom regarding artificial intelligence (AI). The game-changing ChatGPT chatbot got the party started in November 2022, and pretty much every tech company has reworked their business strategy to take advantage of this incredible opportunity.
In this environment, it's wise to look toward growth stocks with solid foundations in technology. The economic recovery isn't complete yet and the AI surge is just getting started. So let me show you two stocks that not only show promise for robust growth at the tail end of 2023 but also hold potential for sustained success in the years to come.
These stocks are poised to beat the market over the foreseeable future, and you should consider adding them to your stock portfolio before it's too late.
NASDAQ: AMZN
Key Data Points
1. Amazon
E-commerce and cloud computing pioneer Amazon.com (AMZN +1.55%) rode a roller coaster in the last three years. The lockdown part of the COVID-19 pandemic made people comfortable with ordering everything online. Amazon took full advantage of that unique golden age, but also built out its distribution system a bit too fast as a result. The inflation downturn of 2022 limited Amazon's incoming orders, forcing the company to lay off some of the people it hired in the recent boom.
Many investors lost their patience waiting for another cyclical swing. At the end of 2022, Amazon's stock had lost the goodwill it built in the coronavirus crisis -- and then some. Even now, after gaining 72% year-to-date, the share price stands 21% below the all-time highs in 2021.
But Amazon's sales never stopped growing across these dramatic ups and downs. Earnings did slow down, but never dipped below $0.91 per share on a trailing twelve-month basis. And right now, a leaner, meaner Amazon stands ready to pounce when the American economy stabilizes again. Plus, Amazon Web Services is a leading provider of cloud-based computing power, including a basket of plug-and-play AI tools.
Amazon offers AI engines running on the market-leading specialty chips from Nvidia (NVDA 0.86%), but the company also designs its own AWS Inferentia brand of AI accelerator chips. Hold that thought, because the Inferentia chips will pop up again in a minute. There will be a quiz!
So investing in Amazon right now gives you a leader in the AI surge along with a potentially robust turnaround in the sluggish e-commerce division. Moreover, the stock is changing hands at just 2.8 times trailing sales -- well below Amazon's average price-to-sales ratio over the last 3, 5, 10, or 26 years.
In other words, Amazon is the same multi-industry titan it always was, but facing greater growth opportunities than ever -- and you can buy the stock at a discounted price.
NASDAQ: CDNS
Key Data Points
2. Cadence Design Systems
Next up, I'm talking about Cadence Design Systems (CDNS +2.68%). This company provides the software that helps other companies design electronics hardware such as semiconductors and circuit boards.
Imagine being the top dog in processor and computer systems design software, at a time where everyone is swooning over computing-intensive AI opportunities. Remember the AWS Inferentia chips just a minute ago? Here they are again -- Amazon is a longtime Cadence customer and partner. This company has its fingers directly in various AI pies, including Amazon's.
Speaking at a recent investor conference, Cadence CEO Anirudh Devgan described the current AI frenzy this way:
"The first phase is like the build-out of the infrastructure. It's GPUs and NVIDIA is a big partner of Cadence," he said. "All these hyperscaler companies like Google and all these others have talked about their own silicon."
Indeed, Amazon and Google parent Alphabet (GOOG 0.41%) (GOOGL 0.51%) already took the next step and actually produced their own AI hardware. They are likely to double down on that idea with next-generation AI solutions and perhaps ultra-specialized chips for specific AI tasks. Others are likely to follow suit, once again turning to Cadence Design Systems for supporting software.
Cadence Design Systems will hold their digital hands throughout this process, pocketing revenues and profits along the way. The longer this soaring AI focus lasts, the happier Cadence and its investors will be.
The stock isn't exactly cheap, trading at or near multi-year high price to sales and price to free cash flow ratios. But I'm not complaining, because these lofty valuation ratios are justified by towering growth opportunities in the next few years.
Some might balk at Cadence's price tag, but that's the premium you pay for a front-row seat in the AI revolution. For investors looking beyond short-term fluctuations, Cadence offers a compelling story of growth, driven by its indispensable role in shaping the AI-powered future.
