If you’ve ever thought about taking early retirement from your work, this could be the right time for you to start investing in stocks. After the COVID-19 shutdowns and restrictions accelerated business growth for several tech companies in 2020 and 2021, tech stocks have seen a massive selloff in the last few months. While a recent decline in their YoY (year-over-year) financial growth has triggered this selloff, their long-term growth prospects still look amazing, which could help these high-growth tech stocks post outstanding returns from current levels.
Given that, you may want to start your retirement planning by buying some of these cheap high-growth stocks right now and holding them for as long as you want.
Lightspeed Commerce stock
Lightspeed Commerce (TSX:LSPD)(NYSE:LSPD) is a Montréal-based tech company with a market cap of about $4.4 billion. Its innovative commerce platform aims to improve the productivity and scalability of businesses across the retail, e-commerce, restaurant, and hospitality industries. Last week, Lightspeed announced its March quarter results. Its total revenue for the quarter jumped by 78% YoY to US$146.6 million with the help of a solid 88% increase in its transaction-based revenue.
While concerns about high inflation and a possible recession have been haunting many high-growth businesses lately, Lightspeed may largely remain unaffected by these negative factors. On its latest earnings call, the company’s president JP Chauvet explained how LSPD’s cloud-based platform primarily helps merchants “optimize how they operate, have way less manual processes, and operate with fewer employees.” This is one of the reasons why a possible recession and high inflation could actually encourage more merchants to use Lightspeed’s commerce platform.
Slightly more than two years after getting listed on the TSX with an offering price of $16 per share, LSPD stock has risen to $29.51 per share. But it’s still down more than 40% on a year-to-date basis. Considering its solid long-term growth outlook, buying it now could help you reach your early retirement goals fast.
Magnet Forensics stock
Magnet Forensics (TSX:MAGT) is another quality, high-growth stock in Canada that I find worth buying for the long term right now. Compared to Lightspeed, MAGT is a fairly small company with a market cap of around $203 million at the moment.
The shares of this Canadian enterprise cybersecurity software firm have dived by nearly 29% in May so far, extending its year-to-date losses to 48%. The ongoing tech sector-wide selloff and a recent slowdown in its financial growth could be two main reasons for MAGT stock’s sharp declines lately. In the first week of May, Magnet Forensics revealed that its total revenue rose by 35% YoY in the first quarter to US$19.8 million, beating analysts’ estimates. However, it reported an adjusted net loss of around US$0.9 million for the quarter against the Street’s expectation of US$1.1 million in profit, triggering a selloff in its stock.
The Waterloo-based tech company cited its increased research and development investments as one of the reasons for its losses in Q1. It’s not uncommon to see a growth company increasing its research and development investments to offer better products and services to its customers, which could help it accelerate its financial growth in the long run. That’s why I find MAGT stock way too oversold after its recent selloff. Consistently rising demand for its cybersecurity products and growing customer base could help this growth stock stage a sharp recovery in the coming months. Given that, investors with early retirement in mind could buy it now and hold for the long term to get outstanding returns on their investments.
