What does up can come down. Investors are getting a taste of that adage right now.
The Nasdaq Composite Index began picking up momentum in the fourth quarter of 2022 that carried over into last year and throughout the first half of 2024. However, with the index now down 10% from its recent peak, the Nasdaq entered into a correction as of the end of last week.
Should investors be concerned? I don’t think so. Instead, I view the Nasdaq correction as a great buying opportunity. Here are three no-brainer stocks to buy on the pullback.
1. Alphabet
The bad news for Alphabet (GOOG) (GOOGL) is that its stock has fallen nearly 13% below the high set in early July. The good news is that the Google parent’s shares are still up almost 20% year to date. But the great news is that the best is yet to come for Alphabet.
Google Search remains Alphabet’s top growth engine. Revenue for the company’s search business increased nearly $5.9 billion year over year (13.8%) in the second quarter of 2024. Fears that generative AI would present an existential threat to Google Search appear to be misguided. Google’s testing of its new AI Overviews indicates that usage and user satisfaction are increasing with the new functionality.
Google Cloud, once unprofitable, raked in $1.2 billion in operating profit in Q2. It’s Alphabet’s fastest-growing segment with revenue soaring 29% year over year to $10.3 billion. The artificial intelligence (AI) tailwind for Google Cloud won’t wane just because the Nasdaq has retreated. I agree with Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai’s proclamation in the Q2 earnings call that the company is “in a strong position to control [its] destiny as the technology [AI] continues to evolve.”
YouTube and Google subscriptions, platforms, and devices provide additional growth drivers for Alphabet. Don’t forget the company’s famous “Other Bets” either. I think Waymo alone could make Alphabet worth much more by the end of the decade as the robotaxi market explodes.
2. Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms (META) stock ended last week down nearly 10% below its recent high. However, this decline doesn’t look so scary considering Meta’s share price has soared almost 40% so far in 2024 and nearly tripled last year.
More importantly, Meta’s underlying business is booming. Revenue jumped 22% year over year in Q2 to $39.1 billion. Earnings skyrocketed 73% to $13.5 billion. Critics who slammed Facebook as only being for older people are having to eat their words. Meta CFO Susan Li reported in the Q2 earnings call, “We’ve seen healthy growth in young adult app usage in the U.S. and Canada for the past several quarters.” Facebook Marketplace has been a key driver of this growth.
Meta is getting better at monetizing its apps, too. The company has an especially attractive growth opportunity in increasing ad supply on videos. It’s also improving the technology that determines which ads to show which users and when on both Facebook and Instagram.
AI plays a key role in these efforts. It should also drive growth in other ways for Meta. For example, CEO Mark Zuckerberg thinks that AI-powered agents will be as ubiquitous for businesses in the future as websites are today.
3. MercadoLibre
MercadoLibre (MELI) is an outlier in this group. Its shares are only around 2% below the high reached earlier this year. The e-commerce and fintech stock jumped last week while many Nasdaq stocks sank.
How did MercadoLibre defy the downward pull? The company reported fantastic Q2 results. Net revenue soared 42% year over year to $5.1 billion. Earnings more than doubled to $531 million. Adjusted free cash flow skyrocketed 368% to $678 million.
I think MercadoLibre’s growth story has many more chapters. The company’s continual innovation is a key reason why. As a case in point, MercadoLibre is deploying 300 robots in its new Texas fulfillment center that supports its Mexican operations. These robots help reduce processing time by 20%.
MercadoLibre’s fintech business still has tremendous growth potential too. Its credit card business soared 146% year over year in Q2 with total payment volume more than tripling.
— Keith Speights
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Source: The Motley Fool