While Bitcoin may once again be a relatively popular investment following its surge in recent months, the stock market continues to offer companies with strong growth prospects.
In many cases, they trade on low valuations that suggest they could produce high returns over the long run. When purchased through an ISA, they could offer tax efficiency and may improve your retirement prospects.
Here are two prime examples of such companies, with their business models suggesting that they could produce high returns over a sustained period.
Dunelm
While the UK retail sector may be experiencing an uncertain period, home furnishings specialist Dunelm (LSE: DNLM) has delivered strong growth in the last couple of years. Its most recent annual results showed a rise in like-for-like sales of 10.7%, with its investment in an omnichannel shopping experience proving popular among customers.
Under its current strategy, the business is seeking to focus on its core offering. This could provide it with a higher rate of growth, while its investment in improving the customer experience may help to build loyalty.
Looking ahead, Dunelm could become increasingly profitable as it ramps-up investment in its digital offering. Although its price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 17 may not be the lowest in the FTSE 350 retail sector, the company’s recent performance and overall strategy suggest that it may be able to outperform its industry peers.
While the increasing importance of e-commerce may be causing challenges for many bricks-and-mortar retailers, Dunelm seems to be benefitting from the overall trend towards online. This could mean that it enjoys a period of improving financial performance, with consumers forecast to become increasingly online-focused over the coming years.
Boohoo
While Dunelm offers an omnichannel experience, fellow retailer Boohoo (LSE: BOO) is a pureplay online business (for now, at least). This has enabled it to benefit from lower costs than many of its industry peers, as well as a faster rate of sales growth as consumers increasingly switch from physical stores to e-commerce websites.
In Boohoo’s latest trading update, it reported that it traded ahead of expectations in the first half of its current financial year. As such, it is now forecasting astonishing sales growth of between 33% and 38% for the full year. This is expected to produce net profit growth of 24% in the current year. Since it trades on a price-to-earnings growth (PEG) ratio of just 1.6, it seems to offer a wide margin of safety.
Certainly, consumer confidence may continue to be weak over the medium term as economic risks weigh on sentiment. However, Boohoo’s valuation suggests that its share price is not yet excessive when its growth prospects are taken into account. This could mean that now is the right time to buy a slice of the business, with its strategy and market position suggesting that it has a highly profitable future.