Three Growth Stocks Recommended by Wall Street Experts: GitLab, MongoDB, and SentinelOne
12-17 18:00uSMART

While investors remain concerned about the overvaluation of U.S. equities, certain companies continue to hold investment appeal due to their promising growth potential. To identify such stocks, investors can rely on insights from Wall Street experts that highlight these companies' strengths and growth opportunities.

According to data from TipRanks, a platform that ranks analysts based on past performance, GitLab, MongoDB, and SentinelOne are three stocks highly favored by top professionals on Wall Street.

1. GitLab (GTLB)

● Business Overview

GitLab is a company providing a full-lifecycle DevOps platform that assists developers with code hosting, continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD), security scanning, and more, aimed at improving software development efficiency. It competes with GitHub and Atlassian, but its unique end-to-end DevOps platform gives it a competitive edge.

● Recent Performance

Revenue Growth: In FY2024 Q3 (latest earnings report), revenue reached $182.6 million, a 31% year-over-year increase, exceeding market expectations.

Profitability: Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) were $0.15, far surpassing the expected $0.10. The company turned profitable, reporting a net income of $12.3 million.

Customer Growth: GitLab reported a more than 40% year-over-year increase in high-value customers (contributing over $100,000 annually), indicating sustained demand for its platform among enterprise clients.

● Growth Potential/Market Reaction

AI-Driven Growth: GitLab is integrating more AI capabilities (such as automated code generation and vulnerability detection), appealing to businesses seeking AI-enhanced development solutions.

Competitive Advantage: As an end-to-end DevOps platform, GitLab reduces toolchain fragmentation for enterprises, ensuring steady market demand.

Market Reaction: Following its earnings report, the stock price surged by approximately 12% in a single day, reflecting market confidence in the company's growth potential.

Future Outlook: The expanding AI and DevSecOps markets are expected to provide significant growth opportunities for GitLab.

● Stock Performance

Current Price: Approximately $58.6.

Year-to-Date Performance: GitLab’s stock has risen by around 40% this year, driven by better-than-expected results and accelerated AI adoption.

Volatility: Due to the high valuations of tech stocks, GitLab remains sensitive to market sentiment, but its overall trend is positive.

● Key Investor Focus

Profitability: As the company has just turned profitable, the ability to sustain profit growth will be crucial.

AI Innovations: The rollout and market adoption of new AI features.

Competitive Pressure: The competitive landscape against GitHub (owned by Microsoft) and Atlassian.

2. MongoDB (MDB)

● Business Overview

MongoDB is a leading NoSQL database provider. Its flagship product, MongoDB Atlas (a cloud database service), is primarily used for data storage and management in modern applications. Atlas accounts for over 65% of the company's total revenue and serves as its main growth driver.

● Recent Performance

Revenue Growth: In FY2024 Q3, revenue reached $478.1 million, a 13% year-over-year increase, exceeding market expectations.

Atlas Contribution: Revenue from MongoDB Atlas grew by 27%, reflecting a sustained rise in demand for cloud database solutions.

Profitability: Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) were $2.40, higher than anticipated. However, the company reported a net loss of $54.5 million, with losses expanding compared to previous periods.

● Growth Potential/Market Reaction

AI and Cloud Computing Demand: As artificial intelligence and cloud computing continue to grow, MongoDB’s databases are widely used in data analytics and large-scale AI application deployments.

Market Reaction: Following its earnings report, MongoDB’s stock price surged by 14%, highlighting investor optimism about its growth potential. The growth rate of Atlas and its ability to attract new customers remain key focus areas.

● Stock Performance

Current Price: Approximately $420.

Year-to-Date Performance: MongoDB’s stock has risen by about 45% this year, driven by growing demand for cloud computing and the AI boom.

Valuation Pressure: Its high valuation (price-to-earnings ratio exceeding 300) may lead to market volatility.

● Key Investor Focus

Atlas Growth Rate: Whether MongoDB Atlas can sustain a revenue growth rate of over 30%.

Profitability: The company is still operating at a loss, and investors are looking for improvements in profit margins.

Competitive Pressure: Increasing competition from AWS, Microsoft Azure, and other cloud platforms offering proprietary database services.

3. SentinelOne (S)

● Business Overview

SentinelOne is a company specializing in AI-driven cybersecurity, providing endpoint security solutions. Its products leverage machine learning and artificial intelligence to detect and respond to cybersecurity threats, positioning it as a major competitor to CrowdStrike.

● Recent Performance

Revenue Growth: Q3 revenue reached $210.6 million, a 28% year-over-year increase, slightly exceeding market expectations.

Widened Losses: Net loss amounted to $78.4 million, highlighting ongoing challenges in cost control.

Customer Growth: High-value customers (annual subscription revenue exceeding $100,000) grew by approximately 35%, although growth has slowed.

● Growth Potential/Market Reaction

AI-Driven Capabilities: SentinelOne's use of AI and automation to enhance threat detection accuracy and speed remains a key competitive advantage.

Market Reaction: Due to underwhelming profitability, the stock price fell by 9.8% following the earnings report. Investors remain cautious about the company’s high-growth but high-loss model.

● Stock Performance

Current Price: Approximately $22.

Year-to-Date Performance: The stock has risen by about 30% this year, but with significant volatility.

Market Sentiment: While short-term performance is weighed down by earnings and profitability concerns, long-term prospects are supported by growing demand for cybersecurity solutions.

● Key Investor Focus

Profitability: Persistent losses are a major concern for investors, and cost control will be critical.

Market Share: The competitive landscape against CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks will play a significant role in the company’s growth trajectory.

AI and Innovation: SentinelOne's ability to innovate and maintain its technological differentiation will be key to its sustained success.

Conclusion

These stocks have been favored by Wall Street experts for their future growth potential. As market uncertainty increases, investors should closely monitor whether these companies can sustain their robust growth performance while addressing challenges such as profitability, competition, and market dynamics.