The bull market still has legs, as the S&P 500 recently hit new highs after a recent dip. The stock market could keep climbing for at least another three years, if history is any guide.
Previous bull markets have stretched for about five years, but in the last 40 years, the stock market has tended to climb for around a decade before the next bear market strikes. Investors who put their money in top growth stocks could earn substantial returns. Here are two to buy right now.
1. Shopify
Shopify (NYSE: SHOP) is building a world-class operating system for businesses that positions it well for growth in the global e-commerce market. Its quarterly revenue growth has been consistently hovering above 20% year over year over the last year, which is pointing to a profitable investment opportunity.
Starting and growing a business is complicated, and this is why more merchants are turning to Shopify. Adjusted revenue grew 25% year over year in the second quarter, driven by a 27% increase in subscription solutions. Shopify has successfully extended its offering from online commerce tools to point-of-sale, business-to-business, and cross-border services.
As Shopify becomes a do-it-all merchant services platform, it continues to gain share of global e-commerce. Gross payments volume grew 61% year over year to $41 billion in Q2 alone. That’s an annual run rate of over $160 billion, which is a lot, but that is peanuts in a global e-commerce market expected to reach $8 trillion by 2027, according to eMarketer.
Of course, the total commerce market is much bigger than that. Total consumer payments — combining online and in-store — in the global economy are valued at $20 trillion. Consistent with that massive opportunity, Shopify’s point-of-sale platform is growing rapidly, with offline gross merchandise volume up 27% year over year in Q2. Management sees significant growth potential for its payments service through international expansion and offline business-to-business opportunities.
The stock is a great buy as it rebounds from the recent dip. The company’s momentum and future opportunities to expand internationally should deliver above-average returns for investors over the next several years.
2. Salesforce
Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) is another subscription-based business that helps companies more efficiently tackle sales leads and improve customer service. It offers a suite of software applications for managing sales, marketing, messaging, and more. International Data Corp. ranks it the No. 1 customer relationship management provider, but with just 22% market share, Salesforce still has a lot growth potential.
Salesforce has a big opportunity with its data cloud, which brings all of a company’s data together on one platform. Demand has been strong for this product, with the number of paid data cloud customers more than doubling over the year-ago quarter. Getting customers on the cloud is crucial to allow Salesforce to tap into the growing demand for artificial intelligence (AI) services.
The upcoming launch of the new Agentforce AI platform could be a game changer. This tool can analyze data, automate customer service inquiries, and qualify sales leads. Salesforce said bookings for new AI products more than doubled over the previous quarter, with 1,500 AI deals signed last quarter alone.
Salesforce is not growing revenue at the double-digit rates it was a few years ago, but the stock offers significant upside as margins increase. Free cash flow grew an impressive 20% year over year in Q2, putting the company on track to double free cash flow within five years, which is a catalyst for the share price.
The stock trades at a price-to-sales ratio of 7, which is very reasonable compared to other software companies, which trade around 10 times sales. Investors should expect the stock to increase in line with free-cash-flow growth, which means the potential to double your money by 2030.
Should you invest $1,000 in Shopify right now?
Before you buy stock in Shopify, consider this:
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John Ballard has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Salesforce and Shopify. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
History Says the S&P 500 Could Soar: 2 Monster Stocks to Buy Now was originally published by The Motley Fool
