This has been a banner year for many stocks -- but not for Coupang (CPNG 1.23%) or Oscar Health (OSCR 3.21%). While the S&P 500 index has gained more then 16%, those two stocks are essentially flat year to date. These are two businesses in wildly different industries (international e-commerce and health insurance), but what they have in common is that they have both been sacrificing short-term profits to set themselves up for long-term success.
These investments could begin bearing fruit in the new year. Here's why both Coupang and Oscar Health can double next year.
NYSE: CPNG
Key Data Points
Coupang's large ambitions
Coupang has built itself into the premier e-commerce platform in South Korea. Even though it just had a major data breach scandal, it remains beloved among consumers for its ease of use and same-day and next-morning delivery model. Using a similar formula to the one that helped Amazon in the United States, Coupang has vertically integrated its supply chain infrastructure to best the competition.
South Korean e-commerce is highly profitable for Coupang -- its adjusted earnings margin was 8.8% last quarter. However, Coupang's consolidated earnings growth has stagnated even though revenue is growing around 20% year over year because of all the new initiatives it is tackling.
For one, it is expanding into a new market: Taiwan. Second, it is adding on adjacent services like food delivery, fashion, financial technology, and more. These moves require upfront capital investments that have cut into its recent earnings, but give the company a lot of potential to grow over the next decade.
It is also investing heavily in artificial intelligence (AI) computer chips and is testing whether to develop a cloud infrastructure service in South Korea. With a market cap of just $42 billion right now and $34 billion in trailing revenue, Coupang stock could double from here if it returns to expanding its consolidated profit margin in 2026.
Image source: Getty Images.
Oscar Health's reset year
Oscar Health is in a bit of a pickle due to U.S. government political decisions. It's a health insurer that focuses on selling policies in the Affordable Care Act marketplace (Obamacare). With its modern technology, positive customer experience, and affordable healthcare plans, it has grown to serve 2 million members, and brought in $11.3 billion in revenue over the last 12 months.
This is a fast-growing business, and one with a potentially long runway to keep growing if it can attract more people away from their current healthcare insurance providers. However, the stock is close to flat in 2025 for two reasons. First, the entire health insurance market has been hit with rising claims costs that have driven down profitability. Oscar Health has significantly hiked the premiums on its policies for 2026 to compensate and bring its profits back up.
Second, Congress and the president have allowed the long-running tax credits for Obamacare marketplace health insurance plans to expire. While there is still some wrangling going on in Washington, Congress is out of session for the rest of the year, so those subsidies will definitely expire as of Jan. 1.
NYSE: OSCR
Key Data Points
If subsidies go away permanently, Oscar Health is likely to lose some health insurance customers in 2026. That would be a temporary setback, but it should not be a huge loss long-term for the business.
Why? The company has a clear path to keep gaining market share with new customers and will be able to keep raising prices on health insurance plans due to healthcare cost inflation. If the company loses customers next year but prices go up 20%, its revenue could hold about steady compared to 2025. And if it can increase its profit margins to management's target of 5% or so (margins are low due to regulations on insurance profitability), then Oscar could generate $500 million or so in operating earnings next year.
Today, the company has a market value of just $4 billion, so relative to its potential operating earnings, shares look ultra-cheap for 2026, and for investors looking to buy and hold this stock for the next decade.
