The tech sector has minted plenty of millionaires over the years, but it has also disappointed many investors who chased the wrong stocks. To find the next millionaire-maker tech stock, investors should seek out companies with unique advantages, high growth rates, and sticky business models.
I believe these three high-growth tech stocks check all the right boxes: SoundHound AI (NASDAQ: SOUN), SentinelOne (NYSE: S), and Cloudflare(NYSE: NET). Let's see why this trio might be well-poised to deliver multibagger gains over the next few years.
Image source: Getty Images.
1. SoundHound AI
SoundHound AI develops voice and audio recognition tools. Its namesake app helps users identify songs by playing a short clip or humming a few bars, while its Houndify platform lets companies develop their own customized voice recognition apps. Automakers like Hyundai, smart TV makers like Vizio, and fast food chains like Church's Chicken all use Houndify to create their own speech recognition tools that aren't tethered to a bigger data-mining tech company.
SoundHound's revenue grew 47% in both 2022 and 2023, and it anticipates 79%-85% growth in 2024 and 86%-110% growth from that midpoint estimate in 2025. It expects that acceleration to be driven by both its organic growth and its recent acquisitions -- which include the restaurant technology provider SYNQ3, the food ordering platform Allset, and the enterprise AI software maker Amelia. It's also been working with the AI chatbot maker Perplexity to upgrade its large language models and integrate more of its voice recognition tools into Nvidia's Drive automotive platform.
SoundHound isn't profitable yet and its stock isn't a bargain at 14 times next year's sales. But this hypergrowth company could deliver impressive gains as the generative AI market expands. That might be why Nvidia owns a minor stake in this little company.
2. SentinelOne
SentinelOne is a cybersecurity company aiming to replace all human analysts with AI-powered algorithms. It claims that approach is faster, more efficient, and less prone to errors. Its Singularity extended detection and response (XDR) platform runs on a mix of on-site appliances and cloud-based services.
SentinelOne's AI-driven approach impressed a lot of companies. Its revenue more than doubled in fiscal 2021, fiscal 2022, and fiscal 2023 (which ended in January 2023). Its dollar-based net revenue retention rate also rose from 117% in fiscal 2021 to 132% in fiscal 2023. Its revenue grew another 47% in fiscal 2024, but its dollar-based net revenue retention rate slipped to 114% as its growth in larger customers decelerated.
For fiscal 2025, it expects revenue to rise 31%. That slowdown, which it mainly blamed on the macro headwinds, spooked its investors and drove its stock below its initial public offering price. But after that decline, SentinelOne looks more reasonably valued at 8 times next year's sales. It's nowhere close to breaking even yet, but it could grow much larger over the next decade as more companies turn toward AI-powered automated cybersecurity solutions to counter increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks. It might also be a tempting takeover target for a bigger cybersecurity company.
3. Cloudflare
Cloudflare is one of the world's leading providers of cloud-based content delivery network (CDN) services, which accelerate the delivery of digital media for websites. CDNs accomplish that by storing cached copies of the digital content on edge servers, which are physically located closer to a website's visitors than a company's origin servers. It also shields websites from bot-based attacks with verification tools for human visitors.
Cloudflare's revenue soared 50% in 2020, 52% in 2021, and 49% in 2022. But in 2023, its revenue only grew 33% as the macro headwinds drove many companies to rein in their spending. Its dollar-based net retention rate also dropped from a record high of 125% in the fourth quarter of 2021 to 115% in the fourth quarter of 2023. For 2024, Cloudflare expects its revenue to grow 28%. Analysts expect its revenue to rise 26% in 2025.
It's still struggling to sign bigger deals in this challenging macro environment, but it's growing at a much faster clip than other major CDN providers like Fastly and Akamai. It isn't profitable on a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) basis, but analysts expect its adjusted earnings per share to grow 52% in 2024 and 15% in 2025. It certainly isn't cheap at 15 times this year's sales, but the market's demand for its services will continue to grow as internet speeds rise, companies launch more media-intensive websites, and bot-based attacks increase.
Should you invest $1,000 in SoundHound AI right now?
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Leo Sun has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Cloudflare, Fastly, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
