After the recent stock market crash, many growth shares are now trading at attractive levels.
As such, long-term investors who can look past the near-term uncertainty could benefit by buying these stocks for the long haul.
Growth shares on offer
The Gym Group (LSE: GMY) used to be one of the market’s top growth shares. However, due to the coronavirus crisis, the business has had to shutter all its sites.
As yet, we don’t know when the company will be allowed to resume trading. But management has acted quickly to reinforce the group’s balance sheet to help it to weather the storm.
In the middle of April, the company raised £41m through a share placing to add to the £22m cash on hand at the end of March. This means it has £61m of cash to help see it through.
That should be more than enough. The Gym Group is currently burning through £5m of cash a month. That suggests the business can keep the lights on for at least a year.
The company’s low-cost subscription business model has proven popular in the past. It is one of the reasons why it used to be one of the market’s top growth shares. This will likely continue to be the case when the UK-wide lockdown is over.
The stock is down 51% since the beginning of the year. This suggests the stock offers a wide margin of safety at current levels.
Indeed, a return to its pre-crisis levels would mean a gain of more than 100%. Therefore, now could be the perfect time for long-term investors to snap up a share.
Internet security
The coronavirus crisis has forced many businesses to adopt home-working. This is good news for companies such as Avast (LSE: AVST), which provides online security software and is one of the market’s top growth shares.
The world is only becoming more connected. And, unfortunately, criminals are only becoming more sophisticated.
Cybercrime is by far the fastest-growing type of crime in the world. This means companies like Avast are reporting explosive demand for their products.
However, despite this tailwind, the stock has gone nowhere in 2020. The total return for investors so far this year is 0%.
Revenue growth has far exceeded this return. According to the company’s latest trading update, revenue increased 6.5% in the first quarter of 2020 on an organic basis.
This suggests that the market is substantially undervaluing Avast’s growth prospects. That is rare for a growth stock. Usually, growth shares command a premium valuation.
Therefore, now could be a good time for investors to jump on the chance to buy this world-leading cybersecurity business. With $262m of cash on its balance sheet as well, Avast is committed to its dividend and has plenty of financial resources available to the group to pursue growth opportunities in the next few years.
Over the past two years, Avast has doubled investors’ money. I see no reason why the firm cannot repeat this performance during the next three to five years as it capitalises on the rising demand for security software.
