You don't need to have a ton of cash on hand to invest. Steadily investing even modest amounts of money and distributing that capital across various stocks through thick and thin in the market can help you compound your returns with time. It's important to understand the business behind any stock you buy.
While the recent market volatility is making some investors fearful of putting cash to work, if you have a more modest amount, like $200, you can still gain exposure to businesses you want in your portfolio without putting your financial health on the line.
Long-term investors can find opportunities to put cash into quality businesses in any environment: bull market, bear market, or anywhere in between. However, you should never invest the money you intend to take out soon in order to fund essential expenses.
On that note, here are two no-brainer growth stocks to consider if you have $200 to invest right now.
1. Hims & Hers
Hims & Hers (HIMS +0.41%) has experienced some volatility lately, but shares are still trading up by around 116% over the trailing-12-month period. The virtual care company's business model revolves around recurring subscriptions, which patients pay to access repeat deliveries of both prescription and nonprescription products.
Users can also access a wide range of healthcare resources on the Hims & Hers platforms and one-on-one telehealth sessions with medical providers in various specialties. These include dermatology, mental health, weight loss, and sexual health and wellness.
Hims & Hers recently started selling GLP-1 (Glucagon-like peptide-1) injections for just $199 a month as the company seeks to capitalize on the boom these drugs are having in treating a variety of concerns, including chronic weight management. The ability to pay a subscription to get not only quality medical care but also direct deliveries of vital medicines straight to your door is a valuable proposition for Hims & Hers subscribers.
NYSE: HIMS
Key Data Points
Revenue, profits, and cash flow are ballooning for the business. Hims & Hers finished the second quarter of 2024 with 1.9 million subscribers, 43% more than the subscriber count it reported at the same time last year. The company brought in profits of $13.3 million on revenue of $315.6 million in the three-month period.
That revenue figure was up a notable 52% from one year ago, while Hims & Hers had reported a $7.2 million net loss in the comparable quarter in 2023. Free cash flow for the three-month period came in just shy of $48 million. Hims & Hers looks like an excellent way to invest in the present and future of healthcare, and its rapidly improving financial foundation could bode well for generous, prolonged investor returns.
2. Shopify
Shopify (SHOP +2.12%) has dealt with the shifting tide of consumer and investor sentiment in the last few years. Growth slowed after the superior trajectory it witnessed during the height of the pandemic, and many investors jumped ship.
Layoffs, fluctuating profitability, and the surprise sale of its logistics business shortly after expanding its fulfillment network were all elements that understandably made some investors uneasy. However, Shopify appears to be making steady progress on the financial front, and it remains a market leader in global e-commerce solutions.
In the second quarter of 2024, gross merchandise volume rose 22% year over year to $67 billion, with revenue bumping up 21% to $2 billion. What drove these figures was the 27% growth in subscription solutions revenue, partly a function of new merchants onboarding and price increases for Shopify's subscription plans. In addition, merchant solutions revenue grew 19%.
NASDAQ: SHOP
Key Data Points
Shopify's free cash flow of $333 million was more than three times higher than the figure it reported in the same quarter last year, and it finished out the quarter with cash and investments of $5 billion. Looking over a more prolonged period, the last 12 months have seen Shopify bring in net income of $1.3 billion on revenue of $7.8 billion.
While economic turbulence could affect e-commerce spending in the short term, the outlook for this industry remains robust over the longer term. With a multitrillion-dollar addressable market, there's plenty of room for Shopify to succeed in a fragmented industry where it remains a key player. That's an opportunity investors might want to capitalize on with a multiyear buy-and-hold position.
