It's no secret that the major market indices have been hitting new highs. Investors feel optimistic over the recently concluded presidential election amid news of a healthy economy.
However, unexpected bad news could trigger a sharp and sudden sell-off. Investors need to understand that such sell-offs are normal in the stock market. Rather than feeling surprised, you should take advantage of such scenarios to scoop up solid growth stocks on the cheap.
It's worth reiterating that the types of stocks you should target to buy should at least have a strong business model and competitive moat to help them defend against competition. Ideally, these businesses should be growing their revenue and profits and generating positive free cash flow. Most importantly, these growth stocks should possess catalysts that help them post sustainable growth in the years ahead.
Here are three stocks that are perfect candidates for purchase should there be a market crash.
Image source: Getty images.
1. Oracle
Oracle(NYSE: ORCL) is a market leader in the provision of cloud infrastructure (Oracle Cloud). It also provides integrated application suites, hardware, and business-related products and services such as Oracle Database, a relational database management system.
The company has grown its top and bottom lines in tandem with the explosion in demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications and cloud services. Total revenue increased from $42.4 billion in fiscal 2022 (ended May 31) to $53 billion in fiscal 2024. Net income soared by close to 56% over the two years, going from $6.7 billion to $10.5 billion. Free cash flow also more than doubled from $5 billion to $11.8 billion over the same period.
Oracle's strong financial performance has continued into the first quarter of the current fiscal 2025. Total revenue rose 7% year over year to $13.3 billion, while operating income jumped 21% year over year to $4 billion. Net income came in at $2.9 billion, up 21% year over year. The business continued to churn out a positive free cash flow of $5.1 billion for the quarter.
Oracle's remaining performance obligations stood at $99 billion, representing a sharp 53% year-over-year increase and signaling more business for the company. A quarterly dividend of $0.40 was also declared, providing investors with a stream of passive income in addition to capital gains.
The company's cloud segment still has significant growth potential. At last year's financial analyst meeting, management estimated that Oracle Cloud applications' revenue opportunity exceeds $115 billion, of which $88 billion represents incremental new opportunities that can be captured.
Multicloud agreements signed with technology giants Microsoft and Google will help the company to grow its cloud data center segment. Twenty-four Oracle Cloud regions are being built for Microsoft, while 14 are under construction for Google. Oracle also recently signed an agreement with Amazon's Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Oracle has also grown through choice acquisitions and not just organically. Last year, it bought Next Technik, which provides field service management capabilities for NetSuite customers. Back in 2022, Oracle purchased Cerner, which deals with electronic health records, and Newmetrix's intellectual property, which includes its AI-enabled construction-safety product suite.
2. Palo Alto Networks
Palo Alto Networks(NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company that utilizes AI to detect threats and enhance security effectiveness. Over the past several years, there has been an increase in the number of megabreaches that involve billions of dollars. Also, ransomware public extortion activity has jumped by more than 50% since 2022. These trends, along with a larger number of organizations digitalizing and moving onto the cloud, have created a pressing need for greater levels of online security. Palo Alto Networks has ridden these trends to steadily increase its revenue and net income over the years.
Total revenue started at $5.5 billion in fiscal 2022 (ended July 31) and increased to $8 billion by fiscal 2024. The cybersecurity specialist reported a net loss of $267 million in fiscal 2022 that has reversed into a net profit of $2.6 billion over the same period. Excluding a tax credit of $1.6 billion in fiscal 2024, profit before tax would still have been $988.3 million that year. The company also saw its free-cash-flow generation improve over the years, going from $1.8 billion in fiscal 2022 to $3.1 billion in fiscal 2024.
Palo Alto Networks still has a long growth runway. According to Statista, the cybersecurity market is projected to grow at an annual compound growth rate of 7.9% to reach $271.9 billion by 2029.
The company's numbers are showing good signs of this opportunity with next-generation security annual recurring revenue growing by 43% year over year to $4.2 billion. Remaining performance obligations increased by 20% year over year to $12.7 billion.
Management believes that larger incumbent organizations, such as itself, will see more success in harnessing AI as compared with smaller start-ups. AI will also play a major role in 2025 and beyond, thus benefiting the company, while enterprises will be compelled to adopt secure enterprise browsers to protect against malware and ransomware.
Palo Alto Networks has set a target for around 90% of its revenue to be recurring by fiscal 2030 and is confident of achieving further growth in customer numbers and spending.
3. Arista Networks
Arista Networks(NYSE: ANET) is a leading provider of cloud and AI networking services for its clients. Like Oracle and Palo Alto Networks, Arista Networks also enjoyed steady revenue increases and growing net income over the years as demand for its products and services increased.
Revenue doubled from $2.9 billion in 2021 to $5.9 billion in 2023, while net income soared nearly 105% from $840 million to $2.1 billion over the same period. The company also saw its free-cash-flow profile improve along the way, going from $951 million in 2021 to $2 billion by 2023.
Arista Networks saw this momentum flow into the first nine months of 2024 as its revenue climbed 17.4% year over year to $5.1 billion. Operating and net income surged by 32.6% and 39.2%, respectively, to $2.1 billion and $2 billion. The business also churned out a positive free cash flow of $2.7 billion, up nearly 80% year over year.
The company should enjoy healthy prospects with the release of new capabilities for its CloudVision platform, which enables a modern network operating model for its customers. Its network-as-a-service model covers data centers, campuses, and wide-area networks, and helps to simplify operations so that organizations can save on operating expenses.
There is still a significant growth opportunity for Arista Networks as the cloud networking market is growing rapidly. The company's total addressable market stood at $37 billion in 2023 and is projected to grow to $60 billion by 2027.
Management has outlined its vision for "Arista 2.0," which comprises three key pillars. These pillars involve investing in its core business of AI networking, targeting adjacent markets such as edge-as-a-service, and offering software-as-a-service capabilities by delivering Zero Trust networks.
With a clearly defined, long-term strategy in place and tailwinds at its back, Arista Networks should continue to enjoy growing revenues and profits for many years to come.
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Royston Yang has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Arista Networks and Oracle. The Motley Fool recommends Palo Alto Networks. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
