Growth stocks haven't received the same love from investors recently that they did during the early days of the pandemic. As the bull market has roared to life, some stocks have responded in a similar fashion while others are still trailing the market.
Ultimately, stock price is not the main factor that should determine whether or not you decide to invest in a business. While price is obviously part of the picture, you need to understand the business behind that stock, its financials, its moat, and long-term growth story.
If you have the risk appetite to invest in growth-oriented businesses, there are plenty of great choices ripe for the picking. Here are two such stocks to consider adding to your buy basket right now.
1. Innovative Industrial Properties
Innovative Industrial Properties (IIPR 0.51%) is something of a unicorn in the cannabis space in the sense that it's not technically in the business of growing or selling the actual product. The company operates as a real estate investment trust (REIT), and utilizes a sale-leaseback model. It purchases regulated cannabis facilities from licensed operators across the country, then leases them back to those operators under long-term, triple net lease arrangements. Innovative Industrial Properties currently has 108 properties in 19 states in its portfolio.
This REIT only operates in the medical cannabis industry, a far more widely legalized and regulated market compared to the recreational one. Its structure accomplishes multiple goals. With the triple net lease arrangement, the cannabis operator and not the REIT pays rent and utilities, along with other aspects of keeping up the property such as insurance and maintenance. As of the recent quarter, the average term of Innovative's leases is 14.8 years, with 95.2% of its portfolio leased.
No tenant represents more than 17% of its annualized base rent, and multi-state operators account for approximately 90% of annualized based rent for the business. If you're wondering why a cannabis operator would commit to a sale-leaseback model, the answer is simple. This is a common arrangement in the cannabis space, primarily because it enables the operator to use more capital to run the actual business. And, because cannabis use is still prohibited by federal law for either medical or recreational purposes, most banks and other financial institutions are extremely hesitant to lend credit to cannabis operators.
In the recent quarter, Innovative Industrial Properties generated total revenue of around $76 million, while net income totaled $39 million. Those figures were down slightly from one year ago, but investors shouldn't worry. The company took on some costs for property management fees it had to pay for properties it took back possession of, as well as costs associated with reclassifying leases on two properties.
Adjusted funds from operations, which are a more accurate metric to gauge a REIT's profitability, came in at $63 million, just a hair down from one year ago, but up 17% from two years ago. Management is being prudent in a tough operating landscape, and the business as well as its financials look solid.
Moreover, Innovative Industrial Properties has a debt ratio of just 11%, an exceptional figure for a capital-intensive business. As a REIT, it is required to pay out around 90% of its earnings in the form of dividends. The company has been consistently profitable, in addition to executing notable top-line growth, so dividend payouts have risen significantly through the years. Over the trailing-five-year period alone, Innovative Industrial Properties has grown its dividend by more than 200%.
That yield is currently just shy of 7%, an impressive figure by any measure and about 4 times higher than what the average stock trading on the S&P 500 pays. If you have the risk appetite to invest in cannabis stocks, this is one that pays a dividend, is profitable, and has a rock-solid balance sheet overall. Its resilient revenue model is driving growth forward even in an uncertain environment, and as legalization expands the opportunity for the company is considerable.
Investors might find it worthwhile to scoop up at least a few shares.
2. Shopify
Shopify (SHOP -0.20%) is trading down double-digits from the beginning of this year, and is almost touching its 52-week low. While investors seem to be nonplussed about the company's near-term growth prospects -- management is guiding for year-over-year revenue growth in the high-teens in the second quarter -- there's a lot to like about this business if you're looking at a long-term investment horizon.
The company made waves last year when it decided to sell its logistics business. It's still in the process of divesting this part of its operations, and that is expected to impact revenue by 300 to 400 basis points in the upcoming quarter. So, investors will need to be patient through this readjustment period. Certainly, Shopify isn't delivering pandemic-era growth figures, but expecting that long-term wasn't reasonable. You're looking at a much more mature business than four to five years ago, too.
In the first quarter of 2024, Shopify processed $61 billion in gross merchandise volume (GMV), a 23% increase from the same quarter in 2023, with gross payment volume totaling $36 billion. Revenue rose 23% year over year to just shy of $2 billion, $1.4 billion of which came from merchant solutions revenue with $511 million being derived from subscription solutions revenue. Merchant solutions revenue includes sources like payment processing fees and point-of-sales hardware, while subscription solutions are the recurring fees merchants pay to use the platform.
That merchant solutions revenue figure was up 20% year over year, while subscription solutions rose 34%. The company was free-cash-flow-positive, bringing in $232 million in the three-month period. It ended the quarter with $5.2 billion in cash and investments, and it's raked in operating cash flow of $1.1 billion over the trailing 12 months.
Shopify Payments has now penetrated 60% of the company's GMV, which means more and more merchants are choosing this seamless payment processing solution for their store rather than a third-party offering. Its checkout service, Shop Pay, processed 56% more GMV in the first quarter of 2024 than it did in the year-ago period, accounting for 39% of overall GMV.
Management is also actively working to integrate artificial intelligence into its suite of offerings for merchants. For example, its AI assistant, Shopify Magic, helps merchants write, edit, and create content for email campaigns, product descriptions, and other key aspects of marketing to customers.
In this writer's humble opinion, it seems shortsighted to suppose Shopify's day in the Sun is over. Investors who agree might want to consider an investment in this stock sooner than later while it's trading on sale.
