Sunday, 24 November 2024
by BD Banks
This bull market has been running rampant for more than two years, but it’s an unusual one. Most bull runs don’t have to share time with inflation crises, and the monetary pressure that started to build in 2021 is finally easing. The macroeconomic boost from that shift could keep this bull running longer than usual.
While the bullish trend has been having a broad impact on the stock market, some stocks can be expected to benefit more than others as the investor-friendly run continues. These two supercharged tech companies could deliver market-beating returns over the next few years.
Anders Bylund (Criteo): One of the most game-changing aspects of this bull market is the ongoing return to normal consumer spending behavior. People largely reined in their discretionary spending when inflation surged a few years ago. The list of industries that faced lower sales in that tight economy has a lot of overlap with the sectors that do a lot of brand-oriented marketing. From luxury goods and travel services to cars and smartphones, consumer demand tightened up and brand advertising slowed down. Why spend big money on targeted ads when people aren’t willing to buy anything?
So digital advertising was pushed into an extra-deep downturn. Now, the leaders of that industry are poised to come back swinging as consumer spending recovers.
Criteo (NASDAQ: CRTO) is a fine example of this rebound opportunity. The Paris-based marketing campaign manager’s stock is down 22% from recent highs, but the business is poised to perform in a healthier economy. Speaking during the October earnings call, retiring CEO Megan Clarken outlined a thrilling growth opportunity.
“Retail media facilitates the targeting of high-intent shoppers by brands primarily on retailer sites and extending reach across the open web,” she said. “Performance media focuses on targeting high-intent shoppers for direct-to-consumer brands, primarily on the open web and social platforms. In other words, our solutions have a hyper focus on addressing or advertising to consumers who are on their buyer journey. “
So Criteo should benefit greatly when luxury brands and brand-oriented advertisers boost their marketing budgets again. And that’s already happening, just in time for the holiday shopping season. Meanwhile, the stock is trading for just 1.1 times sales and 9 times expected forward earnings. These valuation ratios would be cheap for a tired old retailer — they’re dirt cheap for a tech stock with proven growth chops that is arguably heading into a game-changing sector turnaround.
Keith Noonan: Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) is a leading provider of memory-chip solutions. The company’s business has been posting huge performance improvements in conjunction with artificial intelligence (AI) trends, but some investors appear to be betting that the good times will soon come to an end.
On the heels of recent pullbacks, Micron stock is down roughly 34% from the high it hit earlier this year. While the company’s future sales and earnings will almost certainly be uneven and shaped by cyclical industry trends, its recent performance points to the emergence of catalysts that will have positive long-term impacts on the business.
Micron’s revenue increased 93% year over year to $7.75 billion in the fourth quarter of its fiscal 2024, which ended Aug. 29. That explosive growth was spurred by AI-driven demand for the company’s DRAM and high-bandwidth-memory solutions. Along with the surge in sales, strong demand for its higher-end products helped the business post a non-GAAP (adjusted) net profit of roughly $1.34 billion — improving from a loss of roughly $1.18 billion in the prior-year period.
Micron stock is now valued at roughly 11 times this year’s expected earnings. Given the cyclical nature of the company’s business, it doesn’t make sense to put too much weight on the company’s price-to-earnings multiple when assessing the stock. However, it could still signal an attractive risk-reward profile for investors who approach the stock with an understanding of the cyclical guesswork involved.
Depending on demand and pricing trends in the memory chip space, the company’s performance can make big shifts in short order. Along those lines, some Wall Street analysts are concerned that weakness in the consumer market and oversupply in the high-bandwidth memory segment will soon lead to softer sales and earnings results. But the company’s current valuation suggests that investors are being too bearish about Micron’s near-term and long-term outlooks.
Spending on data-center infrastructure to support the training, deployment, and scaling of AI applications is likely still in a relatively early stage of its long-term growth trajectory. While Micron’s business will remain heavily cyclical and its results will be shaped by industry trends, it appears that the market is underappreciating the company’s potential to be a lasting beneficiary of the AI revolution.
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Anders Bylund has positions in Criteo and Micron Technology. Keith Noonan has positions in Micron Technology. The Motley Fool recommends Criteo. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.