Don't have a fortune to invest? Nowadays, with many brokerages offering trades for small fees or none at all, there's plenty of incentive to invest with just about any amount.
If you don't need to worry about fees, you can contribute to your portfolio as slowly or as quickly as you need to. Three growth stocks that are attractive buys and that trade for less than $100 right now are Shopify (SHOP 0.73%), Palantir Technologies (PLTR 9.87%), and Pfizer (PFE 4.26%). Here's why you should consider adding them to your portfolio today.
1. Shopify
E-commerce company Shopify is an attractive investment because of its potential growth and its beaten-down valuation. At over $100 billion in market cap, it has proved that it can compete alongside Amazon and that it isn't in danger of going anywhere.
Shopify is in 175 countries, and there are 1.75 million merchants who rely on it to sell products and services.
The stock is trading around $81, which is nowhere near the levels it reached in 2021, when its share price was more than $170. That doesn't mean that Shopify's stock will double in the near future. But given the company's vast global presence, it could be in a great position to benefit from stronger economic conditions.
In its most recent quarterly results, for the period ending Sept. 30, 2023, revenue totaled $1.7 billion and grew by 25% from the prior-year period. The company also continued to rebound from a tough year in 2022, posting a profit of $718 million during the period (versus a loss of $159 million a year earlier).
All in all, Shopify's stock has slowed down in recent years, but its long-term trajectory remains promising. This is a solid stock to buy and forget about.
2. Palantir Technologies
Palantir's stock is trading at about $17. The company has grown in popularity over the years for its counterterrorism software, which many governments rely on.
And recently, the excitement surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) has investors bullish on this data and analytics business. It opens up many more doors for Palantir because its AI platform (AIP) will have many applications and provide more ways for businesses to leverage the technology.
For the quarter ending Sept. 30, 2023, Palantir reported revenue of $558 million, up 17% year over year. And the company is still in the early stages of AIP; there could be much more growth to come from the business in the future.
Palantir is also a profitable company now, posting a profit for four straight quarters, and it could only be a matter of time before the stock is added to the S&P 500, which would likely result in even more bullishness.
If you want some exposure to AI, Palantir is one of the better tech stocks you can invest in right now.
3. Pfizer
Pfizer was one of the S&P's most beaten-down stocks of 2023, with its share price falling by 44% last year. Today, at $28 per share, Pfizer looks like a cheap buy trading at a multiple of 13 times its estimated future earnings. That's well below the S&P 500 average of 21.
There's good reason for investors to be bearish on the stock. Pfizer's future looks uncertain now that COVID revenue isn't propping up its financials. Sales from its COVID vaccine, Comirnaty, plummeted 70% last quarter (also ended Sept. 30, 2023). Any time a company's top product suffers such a significant decline, there are legitimate concerns about its future.
But Pfizer has been preparing for the inevitable slowdown in sales and has been investing feverishly into other businesses to bolster its pipeline and long-term growth prospects.
Recently, it closed a $43 billion acquisition of cancer company Seagen. In total, Pfizer plans to add $25 billion to its top line by the end of the decade thanks to acquisitions and the development of new products to help offset declines in COVID revenue and other key products.
There's some risk with Pfizer's stock, but there's also the potential for this to turn out to be a fantastic contrarian investment for anyone willing to be patient with it.
John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. David Jagielski has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, Palantir Technologies, Pfizer, and Shopify. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
