Last year was surprisingly big for growth stocks. This year, the upticks have been harder to come by. Just 115 U.S. exchange-listed stocks with market caps above $1 billion have doubled through the first six months of this year, and most of them won't repeat the feat again in 2021.
However, Revolve Group (RVLV 2.45%) and Funko (FNKO 1.67%) are in position to potentially double in value again in the second half of 2021, and investors should pay attention.
Image source: Getty Images.
The case for Revolve Group
It's been just two years since Revolve Group hit the market, and it has been a wild ride. The online apparel retailer IPOed at $18 in June 2019, and briefly traded up to nearly $50 before heading back down to near that original level. Then, during last year's pandemic selloff, it crashed to the single digits. At this point, though, Revolve Group has made all of that ground back, hitting new all-time highs this month with a 124% year-to-date gain through Friday's close.
Revolve Group takes a unique approach to e-tail. It leans on social media influencers to promote apparel offerings that they like. That's a cheaper method for generating leads than traditional advertising, and also more effective. Popular social media personalities aren't called influencers by accident. They influence their large audiences, who back that loyalty by digging deep into their wallets to emulate the wardrobes of their faves. In Revolve Group's latest reported quarter, its revenue rose by a better-than-expected 22%. The average size of the 1.3 million orders placed during the period was $256.
Revolve Group stood out two years ago as a profitable apparel e-tailer, a rarity among internet retail companies just out of the IPO gate. Its bottom line is growing even faster than its top line, and it has trounced Wall Street profit targets with ease over the past year.
| Quarter | EPS Estimate | EPS Actual | Surprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q2 2020 | $0.02 | $0.20 | 900% |
| Q3 2020 | $0.14 | $0.27 | 93% |
| Q4 2020 | $0.11 | $0.26 | 136% |
| Q1 2021 | $0.13 | $0.30 | 131% |
Source: Yahoo! Finance.
It hasn't even been close, landing at least 93% ahead of where analysts were perched over the past year. Revolve Group may team up with social media influencers to get its fashions noticed by customers, but it's a Wall Street influencer itself right now.
The case for Funko
There's money to be made in vinyl figures and bobbleheads, and Funko's unique merchandise linked to ascending pop culture trends and franchises is a hit. After delivering at least four years of double-digit-percentage revenue growth, its top line sank for much of 2020. But sales rebounded late last year.
Sales soared by 38% in the first quarter of 2021, though that was admittedly compared to last year's sandbagged results. A heartier-than-expected turnaround has helped push its shares 110% higher this year, but the company's decision to hop on a hot trend also isn't hurting. The stock price jumped in March after Funko announced it had signed a deal to purchase a majority stake in TokenHead, a popular platform for showcasing and tracking non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Funko already has significant mindshare among fans of keepsakes and collectibles, positioning it naturally to be a leader in the still-nascent NFT market.
Funko is also leaving Wall Street pros' conservative forecasts in the dust. It has more than doubled analysts' profit expectations in each of the past three quarters.
Revolve Group and Funko have more than doubled their stock prices so far in 2021. The catalysts are there to potentially allow them to double again before the year is done.
