Prediction: 2 Nasdaq Stocks Will Be Worth More Than Palantir Technologies in 3 Years

In This Article:

Key Points

  • Palantir Technologies is currently worth $300 billion, but Shopify and Intuitive Surgical are growing quickly enough to top that figure within three years.

  • Shopify is the second-largest e-commerce company in the United States and Western Europe as measured by gross merchandise volume.

  • Intuitive Surgical is the leader in robotic-assisted surgery, and the midyear launch of its da Vinci 5 system should drive continued strength in the business.

  • 10 stocks we like better than Shopify ›

Palantir Technologies stock has advanced 435% in the past year, bringing its market value to $300 billion as of June 7. But two Nasdaq stocks, Shopify (NASDAQ: SHOP) and Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ: ISRG), are growing quickly enough to top that figure in three years. Here's what that would mean for shareholders:

  • Shopify is currently worth $145 billion. It would achieve a market value of over $300 billion if its stock price increased 107% over the next three years, which implies annual returns of 27.4%.

  • Intuitive Surgical is currently worth $200 billion. It would achieve a market value of over $300 billion if its stock price increased 50% in the next three years, which implies annual returns of 14.5%.

Here's what investors should know about Shopify and Intuitive Surgical.

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Images source: Getty Images.

1. Shopify

Shopify develops e-commerce software and services that help merchants run their businesses across multiple channels, including online marketplaces, social media, mobile apps, and branded websites. The company has won substantial market share. Its merchants account for over 12% of online retail sales in the U.S. and 6% in Western Europe. That makes Shopify the second-largest e-commerce company behind Amazon in those regions.

Importantly, Forrester Research recently recognized Shopify as a technology leader in wholesale commerce (also known as business-to-business or B2B commerce) solutions. That's particularly encouraging because the wholesale commerce market is 4 times bigger and growing much more quickly than the retail commerce market, according to Grand View Research.

Shopify reported reasonably good first-quarter financial results. Revenue increased 27% to $2.3 billion, and non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) net income jumped 25% to $0.25 per diluted share. One encouraging metric was the 10-basis-point increase in take rate, which measures sales as a percentage of gross merchandise volume. A higher take rate indicates that merchants are adopting more add-on services, such as Shopify Payments.

Wall Street expects adjusted earnings to increase by 23% annually through 2026. That makes the current valuation of 90 times earnings look rather expensive. However, analysts have usually underestimated the company. Shopify has beaten the consensus earnings estimate by an average of 11% over the last four quarters.