Finding cheap tech stocks isn’t always easy, as many top tech investments involve flashy or new technologies. As a result, they are often hyped up, which creates a strong demand for the stock and pushes their price up. However, many investments haven’t been subject to this buzz and make for great buys now.
If you’re looking at adding a bit of tech exposure to your portfolio, here’s a great list as a starting point.
1. CrowdStrike
CrowdStrike (CRWDS) is a top cybersecurity provider specializing in endpoint security. This type of security protects network access points like laptops or cloud workloads, but CrowdStrike also has a broader product suite than just that. With add-ons like identity threat protection, threat hunting, and malware search, CrowdStrike is becoming a one-stop shop for many cybersecurity needs. In fact, 63% of customers utilize five or more of its products, while 24% use at least seven.
CrowdStrike is also rapidly growing, with its annual recurring revenue (ARR) rising 37% to $2.93 billion in Q2 of FY 2024 (ending July 31). It also boasts a 26% free cash flow margin, showing it has achieved one profitability measure as it works toward sustained generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) profitability (CrowdStrike posted an $8 million profit in Q2).
As with all of these potential investments, when discussing if a stock is cheap, I’m referring to its valuation, not its stock price. While CrowdStrike may look a bit expensive at first glance, it trades at 15 times sales and 48 times free cash flow (FCF); when its growth is factored in, it appears much cheaper.
Wall Street analysts project CrowdStrike’s FY 2025 revenue to be around $3.9 billion. Combine that with CrowdStrike’s trailing-12-month FCF margin of 30%, and the stock trades at 10 times sales and 33 times FCF. Those are perfectly fine prices to pay for a stock that’s growing at greater than 30%.
As a result, CrowdStrike looks like a strong stock to buy right now.
2. UiPath
UiPath (PATH) gives its clients access to robotic process automation (RPA) software that can be used to automate tasks. It also has incredible artificial intelligence (AI) plug-ins that increase the use case of the platform. For example, UiPath can read a document, understand what it wants, and then fill out the information without human intervention.
This kind of potential excites investors about a practical AI application, but UiPath hasn’t received the hype that many other companies have.
At just 8 times sales, investors might wonder why it’s valued so low. With the business growing its ARR by 25% in Q2 of FY 2024 (ending July 31) and its FCF, it’s not because the business is struggling. It also increased its large customer count (those spending more than $100,000 annually) by 16%, so it’s seeing customer wins as well.
UiPath is a stock many investors haven’t jumped back into, thanks to its massive decline since it went public in 2021. As a result, many investors don’t have faith in the stock, which leaves an awesome opportunity to take a position today.
3. Amazon
While many would find it unthinkable to call Amazon (AMZN) stock cheap, it is. Over the past few years, Amazon has slowly transitioned away from being a solely e-commerce business. With the rise of businesses like Amazon Web Services (AWS), third-party seller services, and advertising, its gross margin has drastically risen.
Gross margin is the profit left after subtracting the cost of goods sold, which is normally quite low for a commerce business. But because of the growth of higher-margin businesses, Amazon’s gross margin is on the rise.
This normally translates to a higher valuation, but this hasn’t happened.
As a result, I think Amazon is drastically undervalued. Additionally, Jeff Bezos’ successor, Andy Jassy, has been intensely focused on improving operating efficiency, which has also improved Amazon’s profits.
Although Amazon is a large business, it grew at a respectable 11% pace in Q2. But the value story here isn’t growth; it’s improving margins. With the stock at a much lower valuation than in previous years, it looks like a great buying opportunity.
— Keithen Drury
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Source: The Motley Fool