Happy 2023! Here’s what I’m watching for 3 stocks in my portfolio. .
(1) iFAST: Can ePension and UK digital bank deliver record earnings?
iFAST is aiming for the ePension segment to see a sharp spike in earnings with the new Hong Kong eMPF system starting operations in 2023. iFAST Global Bank (IGB), the company’s UK digital bank is also scheduled to offer online accounts during 2023. I’m expecting IGB to be popular among the company’s Asian customers because the United Kingdom is a global financial hub and a trusted financial jurisdiction. iFAST has 760,000 customers across five countries so there should be ample cross-selling opportunities. If all goes well, higher ePension earnings and net interest income will result in overall net profit growing at least 150% year on year in 2023.
(2) Datadog: Will billings grow during a recession?
Datadog has consistently grown revenue and billings by 40-60% per year with the company releasing at least 10 new features every year. The reach of these features may seem overwhelming at first glance but they are targeted at Datdadog’s core developer/operations users. A 2023 recession will be a litmus test for the company’s sticky services. Some Datadog services are usage-based so not all services are recession proof. However, new services such as cloud cost management and cloud security management should be relevant during a recession.
(3) Fiverr: Will revenue, buyer count and earnings recover in 2023?
Fiverr’s revenue growth has been declining over the last four quarters and even declined sequentially during the third quarter of 2022 I’m hoping that the company’s efforts in reducing costs and focus on corporate customers and subscriptions will bear fruit during 2023. I’m excited about Fiverr Business because it is a separate marketplace tailored to corporate customers which includes a catalog of verified freelancers, success managers offering matching services and collaboration features.
How will Fiverr compete with Upwork for corporate customers?This approach is different from competitors such as Upwork which are focused on larger enterprises and require buyers to submit a scope of work and to invite bids for the project. Each Gig on Fiverr is listed with a defined scope and timeline and is sold for a fixed price rather than on an hourly basis. This quote from Fiverr’s CEO is helpful how Fiverr can attract large customers.
“We are not building another staffing business to help you hire a contractor developer or project manager, rather we want to provide businesses with the simplicity and nimbleness to engage with freelancers without the overhead of onboarding, contracting, time tracking and compliance. Think of the difference between leased data centers versus a cloud computing solution. You’ll have much faster setup, much lower management overhead and much more scalability and flexibility.”
Micha Kaufman, Fiverr CEO, Q3 2022 results
” I’ll be watching Fiverr’s active buyer count, spend per buyer metrics and EBITDA margins closely. Fiverr thinks that freelance demand during an economic downturn gets hit first but is usually the first to recover as the global economy recovers so 2023 should be an exciting time for the company!
It’s been a rough 2022 for these 3 stocks so I think it’s fair to say we shareholders deserve a happy new year! As usual, none of this is investment advice so treat this entire post as entertainment! What are your thoughts on these stocks?
Evergreen Investing 
Thanks for sharing. I’m also a fan of IFast and have been holding onto it. Bought it at average price of 1.5. The valuation is still crazy despite the potential growth. So do you mind sharing at what valuation would you considering cashing out some position?
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I bought at $1 and will probably cash out a bit at $10 for the happy memory of cashing in a 10 bagger. If all goes well, ePension alone should lead to earnings growing at least 3-4x by 2025 so I think there’s still a long runway.
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cannot be you bought at $1. i don’t believe.
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