My 2 Favorite Stocks to Buy Right Now
In recent days, investors have turned increasingly pessimistic about the market. A disappointing jobs report in early August led to massive drops in the indexes, and news that Warren Buffett had dramatically slashed massive positions, such as Apple and Bank of America, may not have boosted investor confidence.
These sell-offs don't mean some stocks can't perform well amid the crisis, and stocks have shown signs of recovery. Investors who still want to go long could profit from top e-commerce companies such as MercadoLibre (NASDAQ: MELI) and Shopify (NYSE: SHOP) .
MercadoLibre
When it comes to thriving in crisis situations, perhaps no stock stands out more than MercadoLibre. It operates in Latin America, a region that has long suffered from political and economic volatility. Nonetheless, you wouldn't know it from looking at MercadoLibre's results. The e-commerce company posted a 20% increase in gross merchandise volume. Its strength in Brazil and Mexico offset lagging sales in Argentina.
Moreover, as many investors know, MercadoLibre operates a fintech business called Mercado Pago. It allows cash-based consumers to buy from MercadoLibre and has expanded into fintech services for other companies amid its massive success. The continuing growth of this segment improved the company's total payment volume by 36% year over year.
Additionally, Mexico continues to be a focus for its logistics and fulfillment arm, Mercado Envios. The segment introduced same-day and next-day shipping to Latin America. Now, it has opened a fulfillment center in Texas to bring U.S. goods to the Mexican market, which should further boost the company's market reach.
That growing strength generated $9.4 billion in revenue for the first half of 2024, a 39% increase, compared with the same period in 2023.
Admittedly, operating expenses rose faster than revenue, and MercadoLibre showed it's not immune to struggles. It had to increase provisions for doubtful accounts by 74% for the first two quarters of the year, reducing the growth in operating income. Fortunately, net income still grew 89% yearly to $875 million, helped by lower foreign currency losses and reduced income tax expenses.
Still, that news was enough to increase the stock price by more than 40% over the last year, making it one of the few stocks trading near its 52-week high. With those gains, the price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) is now at 67. While that may sound high, investors should remember that its U.S. counterpart Amazon was trading at a higher multiple for much of its history.
Furthermore, MercadoLibre's price-to-sales ratio (P/S) is 5, a multi-year low. Such metrics show that it's likely not too late to buy MercadoLibre despite its rising stock price.
Shopify
Shopify approaches e-commerce from a different angle. Instead of enabling merchants through a large platform, it empowers enterprises of all sizes to conduct e-commerce independently. Its easy-to-use platform allows merchants without coding knowledge to set up and operate an e-commerce platform, and the tools offer considerable flexibility to customize a site's appearance.
Moreover, Shopify offers an ecosystem that addresses most of the ancillary concerns involving its customers' e-commerce operations. These can include handling payments, conducting email marketing, and managing inventory, regardless of whether the sales take place online or offline.
Additionally, with the launch of Shopify Plus, the company expanded beyond its support of small and medium-sized businesses to attract large companies as clients. This has led to some unexpected collaborations. Shopify's recent partnership with Target allows its merchants to sell on Target's platform, expanding Target's product line and giving merchants exposure to a major retailer.
Given Shopify's collaborations and improving technology, it may not surprise investors that its revenue for the first half of 2024 rose to $3.9 billion, a 22% increase, compared with the same period last year. Shopify lost $102 million in the first half of the year, which includes a $171 profit in Q2. That compares with a $1.2 billion loss in the first half of 2023, caused primarily by a one-time impairment charge from the sale of the logistics business, amounting to $1.3 billion.
It appears that freeing itself from such charges and turning profitable on a quarterly basis is finally helping Shopify's stock. Despite a significant pullback earlier this year, it's up by approximately 15% over the last 12 months.
Because of its recent losses, Shopify doesn't currently have a trailing P/E ratio. Still, its P/S ratio of 12 is near multi-year lows for the stock and well below its historical average of 22. As profits return and rapid revenue growth continues, along with possible multiple expansions, Shopify could potentially become a multibagger, even for new investors.
Before you buy stock in MercadoLibre, consider this:
