Got $ 10,000 and 10 years to wait? These 3 actions could make you a fortune

This year has certainly been a year like no other. The fear of the pandemic led to one of the fastest declines in stock market history, followed by one of the fastest recoveries on record. The recent introduction of at least two coronavirus vaccines has given people hope and pushed major stock indexes to all-time highs.

It is still unclear when this pandemic-influenced economy will return to normal and there is still uncertainty. Yet two things are Certain: investing in quality stocks over years or perhaps decades is still the clearest way to generate long-term wealth, and there are still some stocks worth buying, even if the market is setting new benchmarks.

Assuming you have sufficient emergency fund and $ 10,000 (or less) that you don’t expect to need in the next five to ten years, here are three businesses that are set up to thrive in the years and decades to come.

1. CrowdStrike: ensuring digital security in an uncertain world

There is no denying the massive shift to remote working that has occurred in the wake of the pandemic. The dispersal of the workforce presented unprecedented challenges for IT departments attempting to protect businesses and employees from the growing threat of cyber intrusion. CrowdStrike holdings (NASDAQ: CRWD) was there to answer the call.

Stopping cybersecurity threats before they take hold is key to the cloud-native business offering. This comes thanks to its Falcon platform, which focuses on protecting endpoints – servers, desktops, laptops and mobile devices – against known threats.

But his work doesn’t end there. CrowdStrike’s industry-leading protection uses cloud analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), and real-time visibility to power its Threat Graph Breach Prevention Engine. These sophisticated algorithms not only detect breaches and stop them in their tracks, but they also learn and improve over time, harnessing the power of AI to stop the next generation of threats. As new customers join the fold, its network grows stronger.

Business is booming. For the first nine months of 2020, CrowdStrike’s revenue grew 85% year over year. This is explained by a recurring annual turnover which jumped 81% and the addition of new net subscribers which increased by 88%. The company has yet to make a profit, but the results are heading in the right direction, with CrowdStrike cutting losses by almost 62% so far this year.

CrowdStrike is well positioned to not only take advantage of the continued need for remote work, but also to continue to provide cybersecurity in an increasingly dangerous digital world.

2. Twilio: simplify communications in the application

One thing that has become very clear this year is the need to keep the lines of communication open between businesses and their customers. Rather than reinventing the wheel, many companies with consumer-oriented apps have turned to Twilio (NYSE: TWLO) to bridge the gap. A growing number of developers are integrating the company’s communications technology into their applications, which works behind the scenes to process calls, videos, and text messages without ever leaving the app.

Seems familiar? Those real-time messages that you get from your food delivery service or your rideshare provider? The ability to reset a password without leaving an application? Those discussions in the app with customer service? Chances are, many of these experiences were powered by Twilio technology.

The importance of reaching customers where they live took on even greater importance during the pandemic, helping to bolster Twilio’s fortunes. In the first nine months of 2020, revenue grew 51% year over year. In a surprise development, Twilio posted adjusted (non-GAAP) profit in the third quarter, as investors expected a loss.

Twilio’s active customer base continues to grow slightly, up 21% year-over-year. Not only is the company adding new customers at a steady pace, but existing customers are expanding their relationship with Twilio, spending 37% more, on average, than they did around the same time last year.

The recent acquisition of Customer Data Platform Segment was even more significant for investors, which pushes Twilio further in the area of ​​customer engagement services. This will provide businesses with a single view of customer information from various channels, providing more transparent and efficient customer engagements. This move also significantly increases Twilio’s total addressable market.

The importance of communicating with customers has never been greater and Twilio provides the tools that help bridge the gap.

3. Datadog: give the cloud a ray of hope

The switch to cloud computing was already in full swing but was pushed hard by the pandemic. The strategic importance of monitoring and maintaining these cloud-based systems cannot be overstated, and it is more important than ever to keep these systems for employees and customers up and running, as any downtime can become critical and expensive. It’s there that DataDog (NASDAQ: DDOG) Between.

The cloud-native Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) provider offers a wide variety of monitoring services that collect vital information from a company’s cloud operations, aggregating data into a single dashboard and monitoring informing developers in case of problems. cause crucial downtime. DataDog’s ability to break down silos and bring together otherwise fragmented data in one place makes it a top choice among developers.

This is why the platform was selected as the top choice for application performance monitoring by a research company. Gartner, who named him one of the “visionaries” for 2020 in his vaunted Magic Quadrant. The company has also been identified as an industry leader in intelligent monitoring of applications and services by Forrester Research. Customers agree, with a whopping 98% giving DataDog a four or five star rating.

Business is going well. For the first nine months of 2020, DataDog reported revenue that grew 71% year over year. The company is also on the brink of steady profitability, cutting losses by 85% so far this year. What’s even more impressive is that DataDog landed these achievements just a year after the company went public.

The need to keep critical systems running has never been greater, so investors should consider taking DataDog for a walk.

Data by YCharts

A word about evaluation

Each of these companies offers the potential for breathtaking growth over the next decade, but like many high growth stocks, they fall into the high risk, high return category. As such, they are by no means cheap. CrowdStrike, DataDog and Twilio sell for 53, 51 and 34 times forward sales respectively – when a good price / sales ratio is generally considered to be between 1 and 2. Part of the reason for this high sticker price is by each the stock’s performance so far this year, as shown in the chart above.

Each of these companies came to understand a fundamental, but critical fact for software as a service companies: the lifetime value of new customers is much higher than what is currently spent on acquiring them, so the profits could remain elusive for these -flyers.

So far, however, investors have been more than willing to pay for the impressive growth in revenue and the explosive profit potential that remains.