Capital One Offers, Earn Up to 180K Miles with Motley Fool
If you have a Capital One card, check your Capital One Offers for an offer than can earn you up to 180,000 miles when you sign up for The Motley Fool. This offer is for cardholders, and not through Capital One Shopping.
The maximum bonus is for their most expensive plan which runs about $14,000. So that’s probably most people will skip that. But there are other bonuses available for their more affordable plans.
But the 60,000 miles bonus seems like a good option as the Epic plans costs $299. That means that you’re buying Capital One miles at 0.5 cents each.
In order to find this offer, just log in to your credit card account and go here. Don’t use the Cap One search feature, as it’s not showing up in there for some reason. Just look through the offers or search the page (Ctrl+F) for “180”. Click “View More Offers” at the bottom if you don’t find it.
I found this offer in my Capital One Venture X account. Make sure that you carefully look at your offer, as some people are seeing a maximum bonus of 18K miles and a bonus for 6K miles for the Epic plan.
The stock market has delivered average annual returns of about 10% going back decades, which is enough to double your money every seven years. But it’s not that difficult to grow your money faster with well-chosen growth stocks.
To give you some ideas, three Motley Fool contributors believe On Holding(NYSE: ONON), MercadoLibre(NASDAQ: MELI), and Dutch Bros(NYSE: BROS) can help you achieve above-average returns. Here’s why.
Running past the competition
Jennifer Saibil (On Holding): On has distinguished itself as a top premium brand that is challenging names like Nike and Lululemon Athletica. It stands out for its soaring growth despite inflation, and it’s just getting started. It has a massive growth runway as it builds its brands and attracts loyal fans, and growth-minded investors should take a look.
First, the numbers. On reported phenomenal results in the 2024 second quarter, beginning with a 29% year-over-year sales increase (currency neutral). Profitability was outstanding, with gross margin expanding from 59.5% to 59.9% and net income up by 834%.
The results were so strong that Wall Street was willing to forgive its earnings miss — it was expecting $0.18 in earnings per share (EPS), while On’s EPS came in at $0.17. A penny might look insignificant, but Wall Street has crushed stocks for misses that were less than that.
Next, the opportunity. On still has a low brand presence pretty much everywhere, and it’s impressing shoppers as it develops its name through marketing efforts, new direct-to-consumer shops, and wholesale distribution deals. It has its finger on the pulse of current shopping trends, and sales are increasing about equally through direct-to-consumer and wholesale channels.
While it’s best known for its shoes, many of which feature a unique sole that’s become its imprint, its premium branding is earning a following and resulting in interest in its apparel and accessories. All of these categories are growing at a brisk pace, but apparel was a standout in the second quarter, increasing 66% year over year, and it’s an opportunity that On is leveraging. It recently launched a partnership with celebrity Zendaya, for example, as a lifestyle and fashion icon, as well as a branded tennis collection.
On is expecting full-year sales growth to ramp up to at least 30%, which is likely what led to the positive market reaction after the results were released, and it’s implementing new efficiency models in the second half of the year. Expect On stock to keep soaring this year and in the long term.
This stock has returned 1,600% and is still undervalued
John Ballard (MercadoLibre): Latin America is one of the fastest-growing e-commerce markets globally, and MercadoLibre has capitalized on that to deliver phenomenal returns to shareholders over the last several years.
There are several ways it generates revenue, which speaks to the opportunities it has to deliver growth. It operates a marketplace for buyers and sellers where it earns transaction fees. It also sells its own inventory to consumers from its own fulfillment system. But one of its fastest-growing services is in-store transactions with its fintech offering.
The marketplace continues to show incredible growth in gross merchandise volume (GMV). Brazil and Argentina — two of its largest markets — reported GMV increases of 36% and 252% year over year in the second quarter. This comes as the company introduces new shipping options and investments to expand its last-mile delivery capabilities.
MercadoLibre recently launched a fulfillment center in Texas, which will expand the selection of products to customers in Mexico. It’s an example of the potential MercadoLibre has to find ways to drive strong growth for shareholders.
The best part is that despite the stock’s 1,600% return over the last 10 years, it is trading at its cheapest price-to-sales (P/S) ratio in years. It’s currently trading at a P/S multiple of 5.6 — below its previous 10-year average of 10.
With the company’s revenue still growing at high rates — up 113% year over year last quarter (excluding currency changes) — the stock could deliver wealth-building returns to shareholders. All the stock needs to do is continuing trading at the current P/S multiple.
A coffee stock that’s just heating up
Jeremy Bowman (Dutch Bros): One of the more puzzling stock movements in recent weeks came in after Dutch Bros reported second-quarter earnings.
The fast-growing drive-thru coffee chain reported strong results with revenue jumping 30% to $325 million on same-store sales growth of 4.1%. Its margins also improved with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) net income more than doubling $22.2 million. It beat estimates on both the top and bottom lines.
However, in spite of the strong results and an increase in financial guidance, Dutch Bros stock plunged on the update, falling 20% on Aug. 8.
The reason for the sell-off seemed to be because the company said that new store openings for the year would now come in toward the lower end of its guidance range of 150 to 165. There wasn’t any particular reason for that update, and it’s nothing that would indicate long-term problems for the business. It’s probably just delays in construction or permitting or other vagaries of the real industry.
Punishing the stock for modestly slower expansion this year seems excessive and illogical, especially considering the company raised its full-year revenue guidance from $1.215 billion to $1.23 billion from $1.2 billion to $1.215 billion.
The stock is still trading at a premium after the discount, but it also shows the business is misunderstood as the company was able to accelerate revenue growth even with the setback on new stores, an achievement that should be rewarded.
Dutch Bros has less than 1,000 stores currently and a long growth runway ahead of it considering that established coffee chains like Dunkin’ and Starbucks have several thousand locations in the U.S.
Investors should take advantage of the sell-off and buy a piece of this fast-growing restaurant chain that’s firing on all cylinders.
Don’t miss this second chance at a potentially lucrative opportunity
Ever feel like you missed the boat in buying the most successful stocks? Then you’ll want to hear this.
On rare occasions, our expert team of analysts issues a “Double Down” stock recommendation for companies that they think are about to pop. If you’re worried you’ve already missed your chance to invest, now is the best time to buy before it’s too late. And the numbers speak for themselves:
Amazon: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2010, you’d have $20,001!*
Apple: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2008, you’d have $42,511!*
Netflix: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2004, you’d have $357,669!*
Right now, we’re issuing “Double Down” alerts for three incredible companies, and there may not be another chance like this anytime soon.
Jennifer Saibil has positions in MercadoLibre. Jeremy Bowman has positions in MercadoLibre, Nike, and Starbucks. John Ballard has positions in Dutch Bros and MercadoLibre. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Lululemon Athletica, MercadoLibre, Nike, and Starbucks. The Motley Fool recommends Dutch Bros and On Holding and recommends the following options: long January 2025 $47.50 calls on Nike. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
With the stock market recently hitting new all-time highs again, times are exciting for people who are fully invested, but these conditions can be more frustrating for those who have cash available to put to work. Higher stock prices do make it a bit tougher for bargain hunters to find deals, but stocks don’t all rise or fall on a synchronized schedule. Some invariably lag behind those broad-market patterns.
The tough part of seeking out bargains among those laggard stocks is that there’s usually a good reason why a company’s shares didn’t participate in the rally. Still, even when there’s a good reason, at the right prices, out-of-favor stocks may well be worth buying.
With that in mind, three Motley Fool contributors went looking for stocks the recent bull market has left behind that might have a bit of life ahead of them, despite Wall Street’s pessimism. They came up with Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), Confluent (NASDAQ: CFLT), and Kinder Morgan (NYSE: KMI). But only you can decide whether they’re cheap enough to be worth a spot in your portfolio.
A mighty drug maker brought low by the market
Eric Volkman (Pfizer): With rare exceptions, star power rarely lasts forever. One example of a company that recently experienced the downside of this dynamic is pharmaceutical giant Pfizer.
A few years ago, Pfizer was a hot item thanks to its heavy involvement in the fight against COVID-19. It was the co-developer of the go-to coronavirus vaccine Comirnaty. On top of that, it is the company behind the well-known COVID antiviral treatment Paxlovid.
In the thick of the pandemic, when hundreds of millions of people were eager to get inoculated, and when treatments for the disease were in high demand, Pfizer experienced big leaps in revenue and profitability.
Even the mightiest company would find it challenging to follow up that sort of performance with a similar second act, and Pfizer is falling short in the minds of many. After all, both its recently released fourth-quarter and full-year 2023 headline figures were down substantially as the pandemic has evolved into an endemic and the public health crisis has receded. Revenue for Q4 and the full year fell by more than 40% on a year-over-year basis, with non-GAAP (adjusted) net income nose-diving by 91% in the quarter.
Yet those fourth-quarter figures beat the collective estimates from analysts, who were expecting the pharmaceutical giant to post a fairly deep adjusted net loss. Much of the upside surprise was due to Comirnaty, which is still making its way into the arms of people who are aware that COVID-19 remains a threat.
However, sales of several of Pfizer’s top products fell, compounding the generally bearish reaction to the earnings report. For example, in the face of intensifying competition, cancer treatment Ibrance saw a nearly 13% year-over-year decline in sales. Looming patent expirations for Ibrance and other top sellers are also making investors fret.
They really shouldn’t. Pfizer still has a solid lineup of blockbuster drugs, and it has a robust pipeline with potential blockbusters in development.
Meanwhile, its valuations look sickly, and will surely improve once the market gets past the idea that the company can’t sufficiently recover from the decline in its COVID-related revenues.
Its forward P/E is barely over 12, and its trailing price-to-sales ratio is a feeble 2.3. I don’t think it will continue to trade at such bargain levels for long. Strengthening the buy case is the company’s dividend, one of the most steady and reliable in the healthcare sector. At the current share price, it yields more than 6% — sky-high for a once and future blue chip stock.
Don’t call it a comeback
Jason Hall(Confluent): One look at the chart below may make investors think that Confluent is in trouble.
CFLT Chart
From its early 2023 low to its high point, Confluent’s stock price doubled, but then headed lower again before tumbling sharply back past that prior low when it reported third-quarter results in November.
What sent its shares tumbling? Frankly, the usual volatility of being a younger, still-developing business. Confluent is a leader in data streaming, and investors are focused on its growth rates and customer expansion. When it reported some churn with a few big customers that would carry over into early 2024, the market kind of freaked out.
My analysis says this was an overreaction. Confluent’s growth story remains intact.
Revenue was up 32% in the third quarter, and Confluent Cloud revenue was up 61%. Its growth has slowed, and investors expect to hear that it slowed further to 22% and 43% in the fourth quarter. (The company will report results for that period on Wednesday.) But Confluent Cloud (its version of Kafka built to live in AWS, Azure, etc) is still expected to grow by more than 40% per year.
Customer growth is still in the high-teens percentages, and the number of customers spending $100,000 or more with it annually is growing even faster. As a result, margins are improving and cash flows are getting stronger. The company forecast that it would be free-cash-flow breakeven in the fourth quarter, and expects to start generating positive free cash flow in 2024.
So while the market sees risk, I see a company that’s getting stronger and safer with each passing quarter. Now’s the time to buy this upstart in the brave new world of how businesses manage and use data.
This company’s industry still has decades of life left in it
Chuck Saletta (Kinder Morgan): Oil and natural gas may not be the sexiest forms of energy these days, but they remain in strong demand throughout the world. Indeed, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s most recent Annual Energy Outlook, oil and natural gas use is expected to stay approximately stable between now and 2050.
Beyond that, it’s not too far a stretch to project beyond 2050 and presume that even if our supplies of greener energy continue to grow, it will still take a long time after that to completely eliminate oil and natural gas from the world’s energy mix. After all, you can’t really go from about 20 million barrels of oil per day and 30 trillion cubic feet of natural gas use per year to absolutely nothing overnight.
In addition, even if you do factor in a decline in oil and natural gas use over the very long haul, pipeline companies like Kinder Morgan are likely to be among the longest-lasting parts of the industry. Pipelines have high up-front costs to build, but they benefit from relatively low costs per barrel of oil or cubic foot of natural gas to transport that energy.
As a result, as long as oil and natural gas are needed and have to move from where they’re produced to where they’re processed and consumed, pipelines will still be needed to move them around. Other transportation methods — like trucks and trains — will likely see their use for oil and natural gas transportation drop before pipelines do.
Despite those decent prospects for decades to come, Kinder Morgan’s shares have basically gone nowhere for more than five years, even as its dividends have continued to recover. Its market capitalization is around $38 billion, and it generated around $5.6 billion in cash from operations over the past 12 months. At that valuation — less than 7 times its cash-generating ability — the market is virtually giving up on the company, despite those solid decades likely ahead of it.
Kinder Morgan may not be the fastest-growing company on the planet, but given its prospects, its shares certainly look cheap enough to be worth considering at the moment.
Get started now
Although the market does occasionally leave solid companies behind when it rallies, true bargains rarely remain bargains for long. That’s why now is the time to take a look for yourself and see if you think these businesses’ shares are worth picking up at their current prices. Even if the market doesn’t end up bidding them up for big rallies, you just might find yourself with stocks of quality companies you’ll be pleased to hold onto for many years to come.
Should you invest $1,000 in Pfizer right now?
Before you buy stock in Pfizer, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Pfizer wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Stock Advisor provides investors with an easy-to-follow blueprint for success, including guidance on building a portfolio, regular updates from analysts, and two new stock picks each month. The Stock Advisor service has more than tripled the return of S&P 500 since 2002*.
Chuck Saletta has positions in Kinder Morgan and Pfizer and has the following options: long January 2026 $25 calls on Pfizer, short January 2026 $25 puts on Pfizer, short March 2024 $22.50 puts on Pfizer, and short March 2024 $27.50 calls on Pfizer. Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Jason Hall has positions in Confluent. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Confluent, Kinder Morgan, and Pfizer. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
In this video, Motley Fool contributor Jason Hall breaks down SoFi Technologies‘ (NASDAQ: SOFI) great quarterly results that helped spur the stock price higher, along with the two main reasons shares surged 20% in a single day. One of the reasons may come from an unexpected source.
*Stock prices used were from the afternoon of Jan. 29, 2024. The video was published on Jan. 30, 2024.
Should you invest $1,000 in SoFi Technologies right now?
Before you buy stock in SoFi Technologies, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and SoFi Technologies wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Stock Advisor provides investors with an easy-to-follow blueprint for success, including guidance on building a portfolio, regular updates from analysts, and two new stock picks each month. The Stock Advisor service has more than tripled the return of S&P 500 since 2002*.
Jason Hall has positions in SoFi Technologies. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Jason Hall is an affiliate of The Motley Fool and may be compensated for promoting its services. If you choose to subscribe through their link they will earn some extra money that supports their channel. Their opinions remain their own and are unaffected by The Motley Fool.
