Whatever Peter Thiel touches seems to turn to gold.
The billionaire venture capitalist co-founded PayPal, was the first outside investor in Facebook, and provided early funding for LinkedIn, Yelp, and dozens of other tech startups.
In September of 2020, data mining specialist Palantir Technologies — another company that he co-founded — went public through a direct listing at $10.00 per share.
Palantir now trades at around $24 per share and is currently enjoying a nice little pop on news that it won an $823 million contract with the U.S. Army.
Let’s take a look at three other stocks in Thiel’s portfolio that could rally next — one of them might be worth buying with your spare change.
Airbnb (ABNB)
2020 was a big year for Peter Thiel. Three months after Palantir went public, Airbnb completed its IPO.
And it was quite the debut.
The company was originally priced at $68 per share. On its first day of trading — Dec. 10 — it closed at $144.71, marking a gain of 113%.
Known for its online platform for vacation rentals, Airbnb has survived the worst of the pandemic. And its financials are now on the rise.
In Q2 of 2021, the company reported 83.1 million nights and experiences booked. That was up 197% from the pandemic-struck Q2 of 2020.
Revenue totaled $1.3 billion for the quarter, up nearly 300% year-over-year, and also surpassed Q2 2019 levels.
In other words, Airbnb is pumping out more revenue than even compared to pre-pandemic levels.
Year to date, the stock has returned around 15%. Other travel stocks such as Tripadvisor and Expedia are also up double-digits in 2021.
Of course, with COVID variants still lurking, investing in the vacation space isn’t easy.
The good news? If you’re on the fence about jumping in, some investing apps will give you a free share of Airbnb or Tripadvisor just for signing up.
Lyft (LYFT)
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, shares of the ride-sharing technologist Lyft took a massive nosedive. And for good reason.
At a time when people were stuck at home, who needed to get around?
But with the economy having largely reopened, it’s fair to say that Lyft has regained its forward momentum. The stock is up a whopping 105% over the past 12 months.
Thiel was one of the earliest backers of Lyft and would certainly be proud of what the company has become.
In Q2, Lyft brought in $765 million of total revenue, representing a 125% increase year-over-year and a 26% improvement sequentially.
While Lyft runs a growing business, it’s quite a bit smaller than its competitor Uber Technologies in terms of market cap. Uber is also getting renewed investor attention, with shares up around 29% over the past year.
Facebook (FB)
At this point, Thiel only has a relatively small stake in social media giant Facebook. But he continues to serve as a board member — a position he has held since 2005.
Facebook made headlines earlier this week due to its massive outage, which also took down its other products including Instagram, Whatsapp, Messenger, and Oculus.
The shares fell more than 5% on the news.
That said, the stock has rewarded investors with a commendable 24% return year to date, easily topping the S&P 500.
Facebook is a behemoth in the social media space, with a market cap of over $900 billion. For context, that’s much larger than the market cap of Twitter, SnapChat, and Pinterest combined.
And despite its already established presence, the company continued to expand its reach.
In Q2, Facebook’s monthly active users increased 7% year-over-year to 2.9 billion. For the company’s entire product lineup, MAUs rose 12% to a whopping 3.51 billion.
Facebook trades at a seemingly steep price of $335 per share. But you can get a piece of the company using a stock trading app that allows you to buy fractions of shares with as much money as you are willing to spend.
Secret asset of the super-rich
While these tech stocks have tons of long-term potential, they can still take a violent tumble in the event of an overall market crash.
If you want to invest in something that has little correlation with the ups and downs of the stock market, you might want to consider an overlooked asset — fine art.
Investing in fine art by the likes of Banksy and Andy Warhol use to be an option only for the ultra-rich like Thiel.
But with a new investing platform, you can invest in iconic artworks too.
On average, contemporary artworks appreciate in value by 14% per year, easily topping the average returns of 9.5% you’d see with the S&P 500.
This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
