We may be just three months into 2024, but some investors made a lot of money in the first quarter. Shares of Super Micro Computer (SMCI 2.69%), MicroStrategy (MSTR -3.98%), and Root (ROOT -0.92%) have already more than doubled in 2024.
They are among just 21 stateside-listed stocks with market caps greater than $800 million that have doubled this year, and they are the rare early victors of 2024 that also more than doubled last year. Let’s take a closer look at how these three produced wealth-altering returns in just the last three months.
1. Super Micro Computer: Up 255%
The market’s top gainers rarely come through with repeat performances the following year, but Super Micro Computer is hoping to break that mold. The stock has more than tripled in this young year, and that was after more than tripling in 2023.
Super Micro Computer has been a 12-bagger since the start of last year. It’s an amazing run in a mere 15 months, and the shares also nearly doubled in 2022.
Supermicro is a provider of server and storage systems for accelerated computing in enterprise data centers. The artificial intelligence (AI) revolution requires high-octane computing power, and Supermicro is positioned perfectly to ride the wave.
Image source: Getty Images
It’s not just an investing craze for AI stocks that’s driving the stock higher. Supermicro’s growth is living up to the hype. Revenue rose a modest 7% in its fiscal 2021 year, which ended that summer. It saw its sales shoot 46% higher in fiscal 2022 and 37% in fiscal 2023. Its latest quarter is taking growth to an entirely different level.
Revenue for the fiscal second quarter that ended in December soared 103%, fueled by a 107% surge in the server and storage systems that make up 94% of its business. The outlook for the fiscal third quarter is even better, as Supermicro is targeting 188% to 219% year-over-year growth on the top line. The $14.3 billion to $14.7 billion in revenue it’s now eyeing for all of fiscal 2024 would more than double its results from last year.
Supermicro has been profitable for more than two decades. The only thing growing faster than its top line is its bottom line right now. However, the stock’s blistering success will draw more entrants to the market of companies assembling accelerated computing racks to cash in on the AI boom. There are also the echoes of cyclical risk in any hardware market.
All this said, it’s still hard to ignore, much less fail to respect, what Supermicro has achieved over the past couple of years.
2. MicroStrategy: Up 170%
Another stock pulling off an encore performance is MicroStrategy. The business intelligence specialist had its stock more than quadruple last year, and it’s not slowing down in 2024.
There’s no point in even talking about its actual business here. MicroStrategy is a laggard in its niche. Revenue has declined in eight of the last nine years, including modest negative top-line growth in each of the last two years.
The real appeal to MicroStrategy is Bitcoin (BTC -4.93%). Co-founder and former CEO Michael Saylor has been a crypto evangelist, and the company has spent the last few years building up its position in the leading digital currency. Despite Saylor stepping down as CEO in 2022, he remains the board’s executive chairman.
MicroStrategy has increased its stake in Bitcoin for 13 consecutive quarters. It owned 190,000 Bitcoins at the beginning of this year at a total cost $5.93 billion, or $31,224 apiece. Its position has growth to 214,246 coins right now. With Bitcoin trading close to $70,000 on Monday morning, MicroStrategy’s stake is worth roughly $15 billion. This is more than half of MicroStrategy’s market cap, and it’s fair to say that as Bitcoin goes, so will shares of MicroStrategy.
3. Root: 483%
The smallest of the three stocks by market cap has had the largest gain. Root is nearly a six-bagger in 2024, and that’s after barely doubling in 2023.
Root hit the market as a disruptor for the insurance industry, becoming the country’s first licensed auto insurance carrier powered entirely by mobile. The company went public at $27 in late 2020, understandably a challenging time to IPO as a play on the auto market. Car sales and usage stalled early in the pandemic. The previously fast-growing Root would go on to post top-line declines in 2021 and 2022, sending the shares into the single digits.
It’s a different world now. Root’s revenue rose 46% in 2023. It’s still not profitable, and analysts don’t see that changing anytime soon. However, with the platform’s growth back to hitting the gas, the stock isn’t shifting back into reverse.
Rick Munarriz has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
