After one of the worst markets in many years, investors are hoping for a change in 2023. Although there has been a slight improvement over the past few weeks, the S&P 500 remains down 15% in 2022. Nobody likes to see value erased from their portfolios, but taking a page from the playbook of Warren Buffett -- one of the world's most successful investors -- you can focus on the cheap opportunities in the market right now that can set you up for fabulous investing success long term. Lululemon Athletica (LULU 0.77%) and Global-e Online (GLBE 0.78%) are two great choices.
But before we take a closer look at each of these opportunities, let's first establish a framework to determine what makes a stock "cheap." When talking about stocks, cheap typically refers to the valuation rather than the actual price. A share price with three digits can be "cheaper" than a share price with two digits because the valuation is relative to various metrics.
Even within that framework, valuation needs to be viewed in relation to historical trends and growth prospects. A price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of 25, for example, may seem cheap, but if the stock isn't going anywhere, that would be called a value trap. If a company with a price-to-earnings ratio of 50 has high growth prospects, it may not be considered expensive when taking that into account.
1. Lululemon is cheaper than it has ever been
That brings us to Lululemon. Lululemon is the rare apparel company that's demonstrating high growth despite inflation and the distressed economy. It faltered at the beginning of the pandemic, but just slightly, and it has recovered and gone on to post robust progress.
Consider its sales growth as compared with athleisure competitors Nike, Under Armour, and Skechers, as well as other popular apparel companies like Gap and American Eagle Outfitters.
LULU Revenue (Annual) data by YCharts.
Then consider how much its P/E ratio has declined over the past three years (outside of the 2020 market crash). It's trading at 45 times trailing 12-month earnings, but that's close to its cheapest from even before the pandemic started.
LULU PE Ratio data by YCharts.
Lululemon is just getting started. It's the second-most popular clothing brand according to Piper Sandler's annual Taking Stock With Teens survey, right behind Nike, and the fourth-most popular e-commerce site, also right behind Nike, yet it took in about a seventh of Nike's revenue over the trailing 12 months.
Lululemon is an excellent stock with enormous potential, and it may not be this cheap again for a while.
2. Global-e Online could make a comeback next year
Global-e is a business-to-business e-commerce company that provides cross-border solutions for e-commerce retailers. It has built up a niche in selling easily integrated software-as-a-service that offers all sorts of services related to cross-border e-commerce, such as payments in 200 currencies, customs calculated at checkout, and shipping options. These are a no-brainer for large e-commerce retailers since they present huge sales growth opportunities with minimal effort and outlay. Plus, even under challenging economic circumstances, when many retailers are struggling to nudge sales forward, they still find value in -- and pay for -- Global-e's solutions.
In the third quarter, sales increased 79% over last year to $105.6 million, and that's about average for the increases it has posted since going public last year. It's a classic growth company, with high sales increases but increasing losses. The losses are piling up due to scaling, but also to warrants related to an investment from Shopify; the losses will improve as those warrants are amortized. Global-e is now a standard integration in Shopify merchant sites, giving it access to millions of small businesses and one of the largest e-commerce platforms in the world.
With its recent acquisition of Borderfree, Global-e has a firm hold on cross-border commerce solutions and would be hard to challenge. That gives it a moat in a burgeoning field where it's already dominant, and it has massive growth potential.
Going back to valuation being relative, Global-e stock trades at a price-to-sales ratio of 9.7. That's far from cheap in an objective sense, but it is fairly reasonable for a young stock demonstrating such high growth, especially in this type of economy. It's also the cheapest Global-e stock has been since going public.
GLBE PS Ratio data by YCharts.
Global-e could explode in 2023, and it has incredible long-term growth prospects. Now looks like a great time to start a position.
