According to the well-respected marketing research firm eMarketer, the growth of ecommerce is poised to accelerate over the next few years in the U.S. Specifically, the firm estimates that the sector’s sales will climb 10.5% this year, up from 9.3% in 2023, before increasing to 10.8% in 2025, 11% in 2026 and 11.3% in 2027.
That’s certainly very good for U.S. e-commerce firms and the owners of e-commerce stocks. Moreover, in countries where e-commerce is not as well-established, e-commerce’s sales are probably growing much more quickly than in America.
For investors who want to generate huge profits by exploiting the sector’s accelerating growth, here are three top e-commerce stocks to buy.
GigaCloud Technology (GCT)
U.S.-based GigaCloud (NASDAQ:GCT) facilitates deals between e-commerce retailers and suppliers, handles “logistics and warehousing” for those e-commerce firms and provides info about suppliers to them.
The firm is expanding very rapidly, as its net income soared to $24.2 million in the third quarter, up from just $700,000 in Q3 of 2022. On the top line, the company’s revenue advanced 39% in Q3 versus the same period a year earlier to $178 million.
In November, Nasdaq.com identified GCT as one of the “best stocks to buy.” Similarly, Investor’s Business Daily gives GCT stock its highest possible Composite Rating of 99. Also noteworthy is that the shares have a maximum Relative Strength rating of 99, indicating that they’ve performed very well relative to the market over the past year. Finally the shares have an Accumulation/Distribution rating of B+, indicating that institutional investors have been buying the shares at fairly high rates over the past 13 weeks.
MercadoLibre (MELI)
MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) is an e-commerce juggernaut in Latin America, operating in 18 of the region’s markets.
The firm’s e-commerce business is growing extremely rapidly, as its gross merchandise volume soared 59% in Q3 versus the same period a year earlier to $11.4 billion. Moreover, its operating income jumped 2.3x YOY to $685 million.
Also importantly, MELI has been improving its shipping speed, as it delivered 80% of its orders within one day in Q3, representing an improvement of 22 percentage points versus Q3 of 2022. The firm’s strong logistics operations should help it stay ahead of the competition.
And as I noted in a previous column, the firm’s payments business is also hitting on all cylinders as its “payment volume jumped 45% versus the same period a year earlier to $47.25 million,” while its “credit card business appears to be taking off, as it issued an impressive total of 1 million credit cards in Q3.”
MELI stock has an attractive PEG ratio of 1.1x, showing that, despite its high price-to-earnings ratio of 47 times, its valuation is actually not elevated.
The firm’s strong growth and bright future make it one of the best e-commerce stocks to buy.
Amazon.com (AMZN)
As the runaway leader of the U.S. e-commerce sector, Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) is in great shape to benefit from the acceleration of e-commerce growth that I described in the introduction to this column.
Indeed, the firm is likely already benefiting from that trend as its North American e-commerce revenue climbed a strong 13% last quarter versus the same period a year earlier to $105.5 billion. Analysts, on average, had expected the figure to come in at $102.9 billion.
The company has meaningfully improved its e-commerce business by sourcing more items from warehouses that are near the consumers ordering them. The change has enabled the form to lower its delivery times and reduce its costs.
Meanwhile, as I ‘ve noted in past column, the conglomerate’s cloud business has been a major beneficiary of the AI boom.
On the date of publication, Larry Ramer did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
