The Ultimate Growth Stock to Buy With $1,000 Right Now
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 20% and 19%, respectively, through the first eight months of the year. With these two major indexes in record territory, investors might be worried there aren't attractive opportunities to bolster their portfolios.
I don't agree with this assumption. In fact, there's one dominant enterprise that looks like the ultimate growth stock to buy with $1,000 right now. I'm talking about tech titan Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN). Let's take a closer look.
Boosted by technological trends
Investors will notice that numerous tech-driven trends have been shaping the economy. Gaining exposure to these areas can lead to solid returns. Luckily, Amazon is positioned perfectly to benefit from many of these tailwinds.
The company is a dominant force in online shopping, which went from representing 6.3% of all U.S. retail sales to now having a 16% share over the past decade. As the industry continues to climb higher in the years ahead, Amazon should capture a sizable chunk of this growth, given that nearly 40% of all online spending in this country happens on its popular marketplace website.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has been a leader in the cloud computing industry for a long time. AWS currently has a 32% share of the global market, gaining from greater spending on off-premises IT infrastructure. This has typically been the company's key growth and profitability engine. Revenue was up 19% in Q2 (ended June 30), with a stellar operating margin of over 35%. AWS also gives the business a valuable platform in which to invest and introduce AI-related features to its corporate customer base.
Two other secular trends are propelling this business that might go unnoticed. Amazon Prime Video is a top streaming option. Given the popularity of this platform, as well as the billions of visitors going to Amazon.com every month, the company is also quickly rising up the ranks in the digital advertising market. It raked in $12.8 billion here in Q2, up 20% year over year.
It's hard to believe that with its gargantuan trailing-12-month revenue of $604 billion, Amazon can continue getting larger. But that's exactly what's likely to happen. According to Wall Street estimates, the business is projected to grow its revenue by 10.7% on a yearly basis between 2023 and 2026.
Quality at a reasonable valuation
Amazon clearly has a strong foothold in various tech-driven secular trends in the economy. As a result, it's a high-quality business that should probably be on every investor's watchlist.
One of the main reasons this is a wonderful company is the presence of multiple durable competitive advantages. Amazon's marketplace benefits from powerful network effects. As more merchants sell goods on the site, it can draw in more shoppers, and vice versa. And all of this activity attracts advertising dollars.
The company's massive scale has also resulted in tremendous cost advantages, particularly with Amazon's sprawling and well-developed logistics system. Investing heavily in building out capacity was worthwhile because the business can rely less on third-party logistics services, which lowers costs. And because it fulfills so many orders, Amazon can better leverage its fixed costs.
Investors have been drawn to the company's impressive growth trajectory. However, the business is starting to show improvements on the bottom line, thanks to a focus on efficiencies and cost cuts.
Amazon reported $30 billion in operating income in the last six months, an eye-popping 140% higher than in the same period last year. Executives expect 18% year-over-year growth in the current quarter (at the midpoint). That's a slowdown, but it's still a solid clip.
Shares trade at a price-to-sales ratio of 3.1. This is about in line with its trailing five- and 10-year averages, making now a great to buy this growth stock.
Should you invest $1,000 in Amazon right now?
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John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Neil Patel and his clients have no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The Ultimate Growth Stock to Buy With $1,000 Right Now was originally published by The Motley Fool