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By Rick Munarriz, Fool.com
There are just a little more than 30 U.S. exchange-listed companies with market caps greater than $1 billion that more than doubled in the first half of this year. It's fair to say that most of them won't repeat the feat through the final six months of 2024. It doesn't mean that all of them won't deliver an encore performance.
Cava (CAVA), Hims & Hers Health (HIMS), and Sweetgreen (SG) are among handful of names that have already doubled this year. They have a shot at doubling again before the end of 2024. Let's take a closer look.
1. Cava Group: Up 116%
Investors are often smart to steer clear of freshly minted IPOs, but Cava has proven to be a tasty exception to the rule. The fast-growing chain of Mediterranean fast-casual restaurants went public at $22 in the springtime of last year. It nearly doubled to $42.98 by the end of 2023. It has gone on to more than double this year, a four-bagger for those who got in on the IPO less than 13 months ago.
Cava closed out its latest fiscal quarter with 323 locations, but it's less than a third of the way to its goal of having 1,000 locations open by 2032. The brand's growing appeal and some of its unique product offerings have also translated well to the upscale grocery level as a seller of consumer packaged goods.
Growth and top-line store-level performance have slowed since Cava's first quarter as a public company when revenue soared 62% on the strength of brisk expansion and an 18.2% jump in comparable-store sales. Revenue in its latest report rose 30%, fueled largely by a 23% surge in its open locations. Comps rose a mere 2.3%, and a closer look could prove problematic. The modest comps figure is the result of a 3.5% increase from menu price and product mix, weighed down by a 1.2% decline in guest traffic.
This isn't as problematic as it seems. For starters, Cava's scalability has scored it better-than-expected profitability in every quarter as a public company. Its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) nearly doubled in its latest quarter.
Watching a hot chain go through a slowdown in traffic can be scary, but Cava actually raised its guidance when it announced its first-quarter results in late May. It was initially eyeing a 3% to 5% increase for the entire 2024 fiscal year. Now it's eyeing a 4.5% to 6.5% increase. Put another way, business is expected to pick up again at the store level to give the aggressive chain expansion more oomph.
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2. Hims & Hers Health: Up 127%
The promise of telehealth is a win-win on paper. Using videoconferencing to connect someone requiring a medical consultation with a licensed or trained professional is cheaper, faster, and more discreet than conventional in-office visitations. However, the medium has generally failed to deliver profitable and sustainable growth.
Hims & Hers Health could be the exception. Hims was founded seven years ago, initially leaning on telehealth to sell hair loss and erectile dysfunction treatments that require a medical prescription. It would go on to double its target audience by launching Hers, offering birth control and flibanserin. It would eventually tackle mental health, and earlier this year it became a source to secure the wildly popular GLP-1 weight loss injections.
Growth has been stellar. Revenue gains have clocked in at 46% or better for every quarter since the company went public three years ago. It has finally broken out of the red, clocking in with back-to-back quarters of profitable results. There are regulatory risks here if there's a crackdown on telehealth prescriptions, but it may be too late to put that genie back in the bottle.
3. Sweetgreen: Up 167%
Let's close out with another fast-growing restaurant chain. In a year in which tech and crypto dominate the names of stocks that doubled, Sweetgreen is living up to its name for its fortunate 2024 investors. The company's fast-casual eateries specializing in premium salads and warm bowls are rocking, and the stock's 167% year-to-date burst makes it one of 2024's biggest consumer-facing gainers.
Unlike Cava, Sweetgreen was a dud after its initial IPO pop. It went public at $28 in 2021, briefly trading north of $50 before whittling its way down to the high single digits by late last year. The starting line matters here. Sweetgreen is growing roughly in line with Cava these days. Revenue rose 26% in its latest quarter on a 5% uptick in comps. However, it's still not profitable.
The catalyst for continued growth here is similar to what could drive Cava higher. These are high-end fast casual concepts that appeal to young and affluent professionals. The return to in-office work should continue to drive weekday lunch traffic to both chains, and brand appeal should only continue to grow as the year plays out.
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