These 3 Stocks Are Set to Soar In the Next Bull Market | The Motley Fool

A bull market is coming.

Though no one knows when or how far the stock market will fall before then, the beginning of another sustained cycle of growth in the market is virtually guaranteed.

That’s because every bear market in the U.S. has been followed by a bull market, and that includes everything from the Great Depression to the financial crisis of 2008-2009 to the pandemic and the tech bubble. There’s nothing so unique about the current bear market to make investors think otherwise, and stocks should eventually recover as interest rates stabilize and inflation cools.

When that happens and the stock market starts to rally again, you’ll want to own these three stocks.

Bull market stock No. 1 to own: Airbnb

I can’t think of a stock that’s being more unfairly punished by recessionary fears than Airbnb (ABNB -3.54%). The company posted soaring growth over the last year as it’s benefited from travel recovery and continues to gain market share, yet the stock is down 44%.

Unlike its tech sector peers, Airbnb has experienced virtually none of the macro headwinds afflicting tech stocks in areas like software and e-commerce. Revenue rose 29% in the third quarter, and the company guided to 17% to 23% revenue growth in the fourth quarter with margins expected to expand.

Airbnb’s growth could continue to moderate in 2023 as the rest of the travel sector is expected to normalize as well, but these headwinds are already built into the stock. It trades at a price-to-earnings ratio of just 40, about double the valuation of the S&P 500. 

Regardless of what happens in the economy, Airbnb still has a wide-open growth opportunity in front of it. It’s targeting an addressable market worth more than $1 trillion, and the company is uniquely positioned to take advantage of it as it dominates the home-sharing market. Its margins should also continue to expand thanks to its highly scalable business model.

When the stock market starts to recover, Airbnb could soar in the next bull market.

Bull market stock No. 2 to own: Shopify

Shopify (SHOP -4.84%) has gone from market darling to market dud in just a few short months, it seems. The e-commerce software stock surged from its 2015 IPO through the pandemic, but the stock has come crashing down over the last year. It’s down 72% year to date as growth slowed across the e-commerce sector, and last year’s profit has flipped back to a loss. 

However, most signs point to Shopify facing normal cyclical headwinds that will eventually recede, rather than more structural problems that are permanently impairing the company.

For example, Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales on the platform jumped 21% from last year to $7.5 billion. That growth comes even as dozens of major retailers, including Amazon, warned of a dismal holiday season and guided for significantly weaker growth than normal.

The results over Black Friday weekend also show that Shopify remains an attractive option for both shoppers and merchants who want to sell online, whether those are small businesses or Fortune 500 companies.

Shopify still dominates e-commerce software, and Amazon’s attempt to disrupt it with its Buy with Prime program also seems to have fallen flat.

E-commerce isn’t done growing, even though difficult comparisons could persist for a few quarters. Once the economy begins to recover, Shopify’s growth looks poised to accelerate as well, and that could give the stock a serious spark.

Bull market stock No. 3 to own: Roku

Like the other two stocks on this list, Roku (ROKU -7.76%) is also the market leader of its own tech niche as the biggest streaming platform in the U.S. 

Roku stock has fallen even further this year than Airbnb or Shopify. The company invested heavily during the boom times of the pandemic only to see advertising growth rapidly evaporate this year, leading to wide losses and near-flat growth. As a result, Roku stock is down 77% year to date.

However, Roku is far from the only digital ad platform experiencing these kinds of headwinds. Both Alphabet and Meta Platforms, the two biggest digital ad businesses in the U.S., have also reported sharply decelerating growth, and that’s understandable in a weakening economic environment.

Advertising is cyclical. It’s one of the first expenses businesses pull back when they’re afraid of a recession, as it’s easy to dial ad spending up and down, and it’s a much easier way to cut costs than, say, layoffs, or closing or selling physical real estate.

For the fourth quarter, the company is actually calling for a decline in revenue, but Roku’s ad business should recover when the economy turns and the ad market follows. The good news here is that the connected TV market is booming, with both Disney and Netflix launching ad-based tiers this quarter. That should expand Roku’s monetizable ad base, as it typically takes 30% of ad inventory from its streaming partners.

While the fourth-quarter numbers might be ugly, streaming is still growing, and the streaming ad market, based on recent comments from Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings, looks set to explode. 

John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Jeremy Bowman has positions in Airbnb, Amazon.com, Meta Platforms, Netflix, Roku, Shopify, and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Airbnb, Alphabet, Amazon.com, Meta Platforms, Netflix, Roku, Shopify, and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2023 $1,140 calls on Shopify, long January 2024 $145 calls on Walt Disney, short January 2023 $1,160 calls on Shopify, and short January 2024 $155 calls on Walt Disney. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.