As we enter the homestretch for 2022, there’s little doubt this year will be viewed by the investing community as one of the most difficult on record. Although all three major U.S. indexes found themselves entrenched in a bear market at some point during the year, it’s the technology-driven Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) that’s been hit hardest, with a peak decline of 38% since November 2021.
Even though there’s no way to know in advance when a bear market will begin, how long it’ll last, or where the bottom will be, it’s a practical guarantee that all significant declines in the broader market, including the Nasdaq Composite, will eventually be cleared away by a bull market. This is what makes putting your money to work during bear market declines such a smart move. It can be an especially lucrative time to invest in innovative growth stocks that have been unfairly beaten down by poor sentiment during a Nasdaq bear market.
What follows are three remarkable growth stocks, down between 86% and 95% from their all-time highs, that have the tools and intangibles necessary to double your money in 2023.
Teladoc Health: 91% below its all-time high
The first phenomenal growth stock that has the potential to double your money in 2023 in spite of the Nasdaq bear market is healthcare stock Teladoc Health (TDOC). The COVID-19 pandemic winner has lost 91% of its value since peaking in February 2021.
Skeptics have two issues with Teladoc. First, they’re clearly concerned about the potential for virtual visits to be a fad. There’s uncertainty as to how quickly Teladoc can grow once the pandemic is officially put into the rearview mirror globally.
The other issue driving skepticism is Teladoc’s massive 2022 losses tied to its (in hindsight) overpriced acquisition of applied health signals company Livongo Health. A majority of this $18.5 billion purchase has been written down this year, resulting in the company registering a loss per share of more than $61 through the first nine months of the year. That’s not the best way to impress fundamentally focused investors during a bear market.
However, there are a couple of things investors should realize about Teladoc that could drastically change their view of the company. To begin with, virtual visits are anything but a fad. In the six years leading up to the pandemic (2013-2019), Teladoc averaged 74% annual sales growth. What this demonstrates is that the company’s services were transforming personalized care well before COVID-19 arrived on the scene.
Another key point is that telemedicine is an improvement for all facets of the healthcare treatment chain. It’s more convenient for patients, it gives physicians the ability to keep closer tabs on chronically ill patients, and the likelihood of improved patient outcomes means less money out of the pockets of insurers.
But the most immediate catalyst for Teladoc will be putting its one-time acquisition-related expenses tied to Livongo Health in the rearview mirror. With considerably cleaner income statements in the new year and a services platform that can sustain 20% sales growth, Teladoc Health doubling in 2023 isn’t out of the question.
Planet 13 Holdings: 86% below its all-time high
A second sensational growth stock that can bounce back in a big way in 2023 and double your money during the Nasdaq bear market is U.S. marijuana stock Planet 13 Holdings (PLNH.F). Shares of Planet 13 have tumbled 86% since hitting their all-time high in early 2021.
If there’s a knock against U.S. pot stocks, it’s that all efforts to enact cannabis reform at the federal level have failed. Even with Democrats holding both houses of Congress and the Oval Office for much of the past two years, cannabis remains federally illicit. Without federal banking reform and/or broad-based legalization, Wall Street has taken a cautious tone on the industry.
But what skeptics seem to forget about marijuana legalization is that individual states get to have their say. To date, approximately three-quarters of all states have authorized marijuana for medical use, while another 21 have approved adult-use consumption and/or retail sale. That’s plenty of opportunity for multi-state operators (MSOs) to become profitable.
Planet 13’s differentiating factor from other MSOs can be seen in the way it expands. Whereas most large-scale MSOs are looking to open cultivation facilities and dispensaries in as many legalized markets as possible, Planet 13 has just three operating dispensaries. Two of these three retail locations are unlike anything the cannabis industry has ever seen.
The company’s Las Vegas SuperStore is larger than the average Walmart and features a café, consumer-facing processing center, and events center. Meanwhile, its Orange County SuperStore in Southern California is 15 minutes from Disneyland and spans 33,000 square feet. These stores are just as much about nostalgia and the shopping experience as they are about making sales. In addition, this SuperStore blueprint hasn’t been duplicated by its peers.
Something else noteworthy about Planet 13’s expansion strategy is its move into Florida’s medical marijuana-legal market. Holding a retail license in the Sunshine State allows Planet 13 to open an unlimited number of dispensaries. In 2023, it’ll start by opening a half-dozen neighborhood-styled boutiques that span about 4,750 square feet. The revenue ramp from these neighborhood stores could be the lift needed to double Planet 13’s stock in 2023.
As one final note, cannabis tends to be treated as a nondiscretionary item. This is to say that no matter how poorly the U.S. economy performs, consumers keep buying pot products. That bodes well for Planet 13, even with the growing prospect that the U.S. will enter a recession in the new year.
Novavax: 95% below its all-time high
The third remarkable growth stock that can double your money in 2023 despite the Nasdaq bear market is biotech stock Novavax (NVAX). In terms of peak-to-trough decline, Novavax is the disaster du jour of this list, with a drop of 95% in less than two years.
Similar to Teladoc, pessimists view Novavax as something of a pandemic “fad” stock. It received a gigantic valuation boost as one of the few drug developers to advance a COVID-19 vaccine into late-stage clinical trials.
The other problem that’s plagued Novavax is that it missed a lot of the proverbial low-hanging fruit. The company’s Emergency Use Authorization filing was delayed numerous times in the U.S., and the production ramp-up of NVX-CoV2373 (known as Nuvaxovid overseas) was slower than expected. The end result has been sales coming in well below what Wall Street had initially expected.
And yet, there’s plenty of reason for Novavax stock to double in the new year.
The first important takeaway is that even though the worst of the pandemic looks to be in the rearview mirror, COVID-19 is now an endemic illness. This means ongoing revenue opportunities for Novavax’s drug as both a primary series and annual booster. Keep in mind that Novavax’s vaccine is protein based and not reliant on messenger-RNA. This differentiation could make it popular among vaccination holdouts.
To build on this, Novavax has clearly demonstrated that its vaccine-development platform works. The company is working on an omicron-specific variant vaccine that could play a future role, and Novavax has a relatively decent chance to beat most of its competitors to market with a combination vaccine targeting COVID-19 and influenza. In other words, one drug development success usually spurs additional opportunities.
Additionally, the efficacy of Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine shouldn’t be overlooked. Only three COVID-19 vaccine developers have managed to hit at least a 90% vaccine efficacy in late-stage trials. Novavax is one of those three (90.4% in its U.S./Mexico trial in 2021). Ideally, this makes Novavax a logical choice to remain a key COVID-19 vaccine player in developed and international markets.
The final reason Novavax stock could double in 2023 is its robust cash position. As of the end of September, Novavax was sitting on $1.28 billion in cash and cash equivalents, which is about equal to its current market cap.
— Sean Williams
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Source: The Motley Fool