Cathie Wood gained legions of followers when her ARK Invest exchange-traded funds (ETFs) skyrocketed in the early pandemic bull market. Focused on growth and innovation, those same ETFs started a steep decline even before the stock market fell into a bear market in 2022.
But Wood didn't change her investing thesis during this time and still sees disruptive tech as the key to unlocking tremendous returns over time. Many of her ETFs beat the market in 2023 and are likely to continue moving higher in this bullish environment.
This makes it a good time to pay attention to what Cathie Wood is buying. Ark Invest has recently built up its positions in Toast (TOST +1.21%) and The Trade Desk (TTD +1.70%). These two top growth stocks could help you on your journey to building wealth.
1. Toast: Creating a movement in the restaurant industry
If you've eaten at a restaurant recently, you may have noticed your server replacing their usual pen and paper pad with a tablet.
In addition to wireless capabilities that can send your order straight to the kitchen, these devices have point-of-sale and digital-payment services that tie together seamlessly with accounting, supplies, payroll calculations, and everything else a restaurant needs to operate smoothly. This seamless platform is what Toast offers.
The company markets both software and hardware exclusively for restaurants, which it claims is one of the biggest industries globally, one that offers Toast a $110 billion total addressable market. It offers comprehensive solutions with various tiers and packages to meet the demands of different kinds of clients. From saving time and money to generating higher sales and opening new locations, Toast has something for its users.
NYSE: TOST
Key Data Points
The company has been expanding its own business as well. Sales increased 37% year over year in the third quarter, and its annualized recurring run rate, which is used to measure top-line growth over time, increased 40%. The company added 25,000 locations since last year, ending the third quarter with 99,000.
Toast is a classic Cathie Wood stock. It leverages technology to shake up a traditional industry with a best-in-class offering. Even better, it's moving closer to profitability. Its net loss of $31 million in the third quarter was much improved from $98 million a year ago. Toast also reported $35 million in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, deprecation, and amortization (EBITDA), up from a $19 million loss last year.
Toast stock was largely flat in 2023 but could explode in 2024 while offering years of gains for patient investors.
2. The Trade Desk: Enabling a huge global market
The Trade Desk operates an advertising platform connecting ad buyers with publishers. It has a huge reach that's informed by artificial intelligence (AI) and uses its formidable data trove to enable quick, simple, and effective ad buying.
This is another example of a disruptive technology that offers real value to stakeholders in a rapidly changing industry. Advertising has moved from traditional mediums like broadcast television and print magazines to the internet, which includes ad-supported streaming and digital news sites. Management says there's an $830 billion market in total global ad spending.
The company sees three near-term growth drivers right now. One is the move toward ad-supported streaming.
Netflix and Disney both made the move last year, and there are dedicated ad-supporting streaming networks like Roku and Paramount's Pluto. Amazon just made it's entry into ad-supported streaming as well. The Trade Desk says the cost of ad-free streaming is too high for too many people.
NASDAQ: TTD
Key Data Points
Next is the market outside of North America, which accounts for about two-thirds of total global advertising dollars. The third is called shopper marketing, which is targeted ad space on retail e-commerce web sites.
The Trade Desk is reporting double-digit growth, and sales increased 25% year over year in the third quarter. It's been profitable for years, giving investors the best of both worlds.
It took a dip last year to post its first quarterly net loss since becoming a public company. That was largely due to the inflationary pressure that has caused advertisers to reduce their spending in recent quarters. But net income more than doubled in the third quarter from $16 million to $39 million. As inflation moderates, The Trade Desk will likely get back to its usual trajectory.
The Trade Desk stock gained 61% last year and is well-positioned to extend its climb in 2024 and beyond.
