Investors are eagerly waiting to close the book on 2022, which has been a challenging year to invest. The Nasdaq Composite is down almost 29%, marking the worst year for the index since 2008. As you look ahead to 2023, you might be thinking of adding some money into the market in hopes that the coming year won't be the same as 2022. One place to hunt for bargains is among growth stocks, which have been crushed.
While not all growth stocks might be worth investing in for the long haul, Datadog (DDOG -1.06%) and Global-e Online (GLBE -1.27%) look like two great picks. Their stock prices may be down, but both businesses have continued to flourish -- creating a disconnect between investor sentiment and actual business performance. Therefore, if you have some spare cash to invest for the long haul, these companies look like great choices.
1. Datadog
Many investors seem to have given up Datadog, considering that its shares are down 57% in 2022. But this only provides an opportunity for long-term investors.
Datadog provides mission-critical software to help companies monitor application and infrastructure performance, understand user behavior, reduce application downtime, and drive internal product development. These are tools that businesses need to stay competitive, no matter the economic environment. That's why the company has seen trailing-12-month revenue soar 74% to $1.5 billion.
Nothing shows how crucial Datadog is to its customers more than its continued track record of customer expansion and low churn. In the third quarter, the company saw customer churn remain in the mid to low single digits, while its net retention rate remained above 130% for the 21st consecutive quarter.
And customers continued to adopt more products. In the third quarter, 40% of customers used four or more products, and 16% used six or more. That's up from 31% and 8%, respectively, in the third quarter of 2021.
What's even more impressive is the company's profitability. Unlike most companies whose stocks have been beaten down, Datadog is immensely profitable. Over the trailing 12 months, the company has an adjusted free-cash-flow margin of 24% and an adjusted operating margin of 20%. This can be reinvested in product development and innovation, which could help Datadog keep its top-dog status in application performance monitoring.
Datadog looks like an excellent stock to own, but don't take just my word for it. Big investors have been rapidly buying shares. Stanley Druckenmiller, the hedge fund manager and philanthropist, bought $82 million worth of shares in the second and third quarters, making the stock his ninth-largest holding. Matthew Jacobson, a director at Datadog, also bought $70 million of stock in early November.
The shares might have been beaten down, but this looks more like an opportunity to buy than anything else. With a total addressable market worth $62 billion by 2026, this dog still has a lot of bite left.
2. Global-e Online
Shares of Global-e Online have plunged almost 70% in 2022, likely due to continued underwhelming guidance for the rest of the year.
The company provides tools to help e-commerce sellers deliver better experiences for international buyers while mitigating the complexities of selling across borders. This includes language localization, accepting various payment methods and currencies, and maintaining regulatory compliance with local laws and regulations.
In short, Global-e helps e-commerce companies expand internationally with ease, and it does a mighty fine job.
Global-e has attracted prominent businesses, including Walt Disney and Adidas, but it also has a partnership with Shopify to help small companies benefit from this $5.7 trillion global e-commerce opportunity.
The company has struggled with slight decreases in what it anticipates for the rest of the year, which has been a driver of its unflattering stock performance. In the third quarter, the company decreased its full-year revenue expectation, now forecasting about $408 million in 2022 revenue, down from the previous guidance of $411 million. However, this still implies an astounding year-over-year expansion rate of 66%.
While this guidance might be down, it still rapidly outpaces the broader industry growth in 2022 of 10%. So yes, its adoption might be slower than expected, but it represents tremendous success this year.
Shares are trading at 10 times sales, near their lowest valuation since coming public in 2021. At this valuation, the company looks too attractive to pass up given its greenfield opportunity. It could become the next e-commerce powerhouse, so if you're willing to buy and hold this stock for the long haul, Global-e could be a wonderful company to consider for 2023 and beyond.
