Coupang (NYSE: CPNG) is often referred to as the "Amazon of South Korea." It's a fast-growing e-commerce store that is following a strategy similar to its U.S. counterpart by offering a range of services like food delivery (Coupang Eats) and entertainment (Coupang Play) to supplement its online retail business.

The thing is, Coupang is not trying to be the next Amazon. It started out years ago as an eBay-like marketplace. Even though Coupang was profitable, founder and CEO Bom Kim didn't like the direction in which the company was headed and decided to completely restructure the business into what it is today.

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue »

Since 2018, the company has grown revenue from $4 billion to $31 billion on a trailing-12-month basis. It dominates the Korean e-commerce market. While it's uncertain how far Coupang might be able to expand beyond South Korea over the long term, the stock is offering a reasonable valuation that may undervalue its prospects in existing markets.

Image source: Getty Images.

Solid momentum in 2025

On a currency-neutral basis, Coupang has delivered consistent growth of 20% or more since its initial public offering in 2021. It entered 2025 with continued momentum, with revenue up 21% year over year in the first quarter, excluding currency changes.

Coupang has built a strong advantage with its logistics infrastructure that can deliver orders overnight to customers living in high-density population centers. This has kept competitors like Amazon at bay, allowing Coupang to gain over 23 million customers, and it's still growing. Its active customer count grew 9% year over year last quarter.

Moreover, Coupang is seeing its free cash flow and margins improve as it scales investments and grows revenue. It generated $1 billion in free cash flow on a trailing-12-month basis, which is a notable improvement over the negative free cash flow reported just a few years ago. Investments in technology, automation, and robotics are benefiting its ability to deliver packages faster while reducing costs.

Investors should expect Coupang's free cash flow to increase over the next several years, which could benefit the stock.

Why the stock is a long-term buy

Coupang has a solid lead in South Korea, but investors need to know if its strategy will work outside of its home market. On that score, there are early signs that Coupang could be successful expanding in select international markets.

The e-commerce giant entered Taiwan in 2021 and continues to expand. It recently launched its WOW membership program there, bringing free shipping and other benefits for a subscription fee. The continued investment in Taiwan indicates management is seeing high returns on capital spending.

But it's also important to know that the South Korean retail market alone is worth $500 billion. Coupang controls a very small percentage of the combined market in both countries, providing plenty of long-term growth potential.

What makes the stock appealing is that its valuation doesn't require sky-high growth for investors to earn good returns. The stock's price-to-sales multiple of 1.7 is fair for its current pace of growth.

Given its growth trajectory and opportunities ahead, investors buying the stock today could double their investment in five years, assuming Coupang can continue growing revenue around 15% per year and the stock trades at the same price-to-sales multiple. If Coupang continues to show more potential for international growth, the upside could be quite significant over the next few decades.

Don’t miss this second chance at a potentially lucrative opportunity

Ever feel like you missed the boat in buying the most successful stocks? Then you’ll want to hear this.

On rare occasions, our expert team of analysts issues a “Double Down” stock recommendation for companies that they think are about to pop. If you’re worried you’ve already missed your chance to invest, now is the best time to buy before it’s too late. And the numbers speak for themselves:

• Nvidia: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2009, you’d have $367,516!*
• Apple: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2008, you’d have $38,712!*
• Netflix: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2004, you’d have $669,517!*

Right now, we’re issuing “Double Down” alerts for three incredible companies, available when you join Stock Advisor, and there may not be another chance like this anytime soon.

See the 3 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of June 9, 2025

John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. John Ballard has positions in Coupang. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon. The Motley Fool recommends Coupang. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Shares of Korean e-commerce giant Coupang (NYSE: CPNG) rallied 20% in May, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence .

Coupang reported first quarter earnings in the early part of the month, and while results may have looked mediocre on the surface, they were actually much better than advertised.

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue »

Stocks in general also generally climbed in May, as April's trade tensions eased somewhat, adding an additional tailwind.

Coupang promises 20% growth this year

In its first-quarter report, Coupang grew revenue 11%, which missed expectations, although earnings per share of $0.06 beat expectations by $0.01. Yet while that headline revenue figure "missed," that was likely due to a massive currency effect. In constant currency of largely the Korean won, Coupang's growth was actually 21%.

Coupang's main products segment, largely reflecting its Korean e-commerce services, grew 6% to $6.9 billion and 16% in constant currency, with customers up 9% from last year. Meanwhile, Coupang's smaller Developing Offerings, which include international e-commerce, the Eats delivery platform, Play, Fintech, and luxury e-commerce platform Farfetch, grew 67% to $1.0 billion, or 78% in constant currency.

Management also showed its confidence by authorizing a $1 billion share repurchase program.

The two big positives were one, management's projection for 20% revenue growth in constant currency for the full year, which means it's optimistic the current growth cadence will continue despite economic uncertainty. Second, Coupang showed impressive margin expansion in the quarter. In Q1, gross margins expanded 2.1 percentage points, with product segment gross margins up 3.0 percentage points, while adjusted EBITDA margins expanded 0.88 percentage points and product EBITDA margins grew 0.81 percentage points.

E-commerce stocks usually suffer from low margins, so that margin expansion was a big positive sign.

Image source: Getty Images.

Coupang continues to execute, but the stock looks expensive

After its recent run, Coupang's market cap has rallied to over $51 billion, or over 200 times earnings and 130 times this year's earnings estimates. While the company appears to be dominating the Korean e-commerce market, it looks like investors are anticipating some of its other developing offerings to become big businesses as well.

That being said, this past quarter showed promising execution and margin expansion from Coupang's team. So, it's not a surprise to see the stock higher, as consumer-oriented stocks largely recovered from the April tariff-related malaise.

Don’t miss this second chance at a potentially lucrative opportunity

Ever feel like you missed the boat in buying the most successful stocks? Then you’ll want to hear this.

On rare occasions, our expert team of analysts issues a “Double Down” stock recommendation for companies that they think are about to pop. If you’re worried you’ve already missed your chance to invest, now is the best time to buy before it’s too late. And the numbers speak for themselves:

• Nvidia: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2009, you’d have $367,516!*
• Apple: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2008, you’d have $38,712!*
• Netflix: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2004, you’d have $669,517!*

Right now, we’re issuing “Double Down” alerts for three incredible companies, available when you join Stock Advisor, and there may not be another chance like this anytime soon.

See the 3 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of June 2, 2025

Billy Duberstein and/or his clients have no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Coupang. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Sometimes you need to collect passport stamps to find unique investing opportunities. Coupang (NYSE: CPNG) is South Korea's leading e-commerce provider. It has a pretty dominant position with 23.6 million active customers. This may not seem like a lot, but it's about half of the country's adult population.

Despite posting nearly consistent double-digit revenue growth and turning profitable two years ago, Coupang is somehow still a broken IPO. The shares are trading 23% below their debutante price of $35 four years ago, and more than 60% lower than the all-time intraday high it scored the day it hit the market 50 months ago.

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Learn More »

Despite the disappointing overall return, momentum is on its side now. Coupang is beating the market with a 24% year-to-date rise, and there's a clear path for the upticks to keep coming. I predict that Coupang can beat the market in the coming year and potentially longer than that. Let's take a closer look.

Voted moat likely to succeed

The best companies have moats that make it hard to be taken down by rivals and disruptive upstarts. Coupang has a genius moat. It's not just an app and website. It has set up more than 100 fulfillment centers across South Korea's densest areas, placing it within a seven-mile drive of 70% of the country's population. It has a fleet of drivers working overnight, making sure that most orders placed before midnight are either delivered the same day or before the sun rises the next morning. If this sounds a lot like Amazon, you're getting warm but Coupang could be getting even hotter.

Like Amazon, Coupang has a premium Prime-like subscription platform that offers free delivery and access to other digital goodies like streaming content and access to an online grocery store. It goes beyond Amazon in that it also offers home delivery of area restaurant orders. If you want to return something, you can just leave it outside your door and Coupang will swing by to pick it up.

If you're wondering how an online platform can rapidly evolve to the point where it already has half of a tech-savvy country on its side, it's all starting to come together. Coupang has built an e-commerce empire that will be difficult to duplicate at this point.

Image source: Getty Images.

Shopping for growth

Coupang is a better company now than it was when it went public four springtimes ago. Revenue has more than doubled. It's now profitable. It stumbled in its initial expansion into Japan, but it's holding up better in Taiwan as a secondary market. It also scored some global street cred early last year when it acquired European luxury apparel e-tailer Farfetch at a distressed price.

Is Coupang growing at the same pace that it was when it charged out of the IPO gate with back-to-back quarters of better-than-70% top-line growth? No. Growth has normalized at a lower pace now. Outside of one quarter at the end of 2022, revenue gains have been able to stay in the double digits.

Data source: Coupang. YOY = year over year.

Revenue growth accelerated organically through 2023. The theme was a bit different in 2024, with the Farfetch deal that closed in January of that year boosting quarterly sales by as much as 7%. Things should normalize again, but analysts are encouraged. They see Coupang's net revenue climbing 13% this year, accelerating to 15% come 2026. The bottom line is expected to grow substantially faster.

Building out its offerings, expanding into new territories, and rescuing Farfetch from the brink of bankruptcy doesn't come cheap. Profitability is here, but it is modest. Even if you look out to next year, Coupang stock is trading for 40 times projected adjusted earnings. However, everything that is holding Coupang back now on the bottom line are the best reasons to own Coupang. Investing in engagement and stickiness will only strengthen one of the best moats in e-commerce. Entering new territories may heighten the risks, but it also lifts the ceiling. The Farfetch deal wasn't popular at the time, but it's a foot in the door outside of its home turf.

Coupang knows what it's doing. This seems to be the year that investors are coming to the same conclusion.

Don’t miss this second chance at a potentially lucrative opportunity

Ever feel like you missed the boat in buying the most successful stocks? Then you’ll want to hear this.

On rare occasions, our expert team of analysts issues a “Double Down” stock recommendation for companies that they think are about to pop. If you’re worried you’ve already missed your chance to invest, now is the best time to buy before it’s too late. And the numbers speak for themselves:

• Nvidia: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2009, you’d have $341,791!*
• Apple: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2008, you’d have $38,365!*
• Netflix: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2004, you’d have $644,254!*

Right now, we’re issuing “Double Down” alerts for three incredible companies, available when you join Stock Advisor, and there may not be another chance like this anytime soon.

See the 3 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of May 19, 2025

John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Rick Munarriz has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon. The Motley Fool recommends Coupang. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

A stock trading at a 52-week low is simply when the stock price is at its lowest point of the past 12 months. While this indicator does not guarantee that a stock is set to rebound and do well for shareholders, it can pay to look at a basket of 52-week low stocks and see if there are any high-quality businesses getting thrown out with the bath water. You might find some cheap stocks to buy for your portfolio.

As of this writing on April 23, few stocks are trading at their 52-week lows due to the massive broad market bounce we've seen in the last two weeks as investors try to navigate the tariff-based economic uncertainty. But there are a few strong growth stocks near their 52-week lows that look promising for investors who plan to buy and hold for many years. Here's why Coupang (NYSE: CPNG) and Airbnb (NASDAQ: ABNB) are two magnificent stocks to buy that fit this criterion.

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue »

CPNG data by YCharts

Coupang's growing market share

E-commerce has been a massive tailwind for innovative businesses, such as Amazon, that are able to take advantage of this shift in consumer spending. Coupang is an Amazon clone taking over the South Korean market. In fact, one might argue that Coupang has a better e-commerce value proposition than Amazon.

Subscribers to Coupang's Rocket Wow service get free same-day and next-day delivery when ordering by midnight the night before, discounts on food delivery, fresh groceries delivered in hours, and streaming video options. The service is so good, Coupang representatives will even change your tires and install household appliances for free, as long as the products are ordered on the Coupang marketplace, of course.

Most households in South Korea now use Coupang. It generates $30 billion in annual revenue and $1 billion in free cash flow, even as it expands into new countries such as Taiwan and reinvests heavily to improve its offering with add-on services such as the luxury marketplace Farfetch it acquired on the cheap.

Gross profit increased 29% year over year last quarter, excluding changes in foreign currency conversions and inorganic revenue from acquisitions, an impressive growth rate for such a large company. At still a small percentage of overall retail spending in South Korea, I believe there is plenty of room for Coupang to keep growing quickly, especially when you include the expansion into Taiwan.

At today's price of around $22.50, Coupang is only slightly above its 52-week low of $19.76 hit earlier this year. At a market cap of just $41 billion and a long runway to grow its $30 billion in annual revenues, Coupang stock looks like a magnificent steal at today's prices.

Airbnb's expansion plans

Airbnb is a well-known brand around the world, with hundreds of millions of people trying its home-sharing marketplace as an affordable or unique way to travel. Over the years, it has become an increasingly important piece of the global travel pie. Last year, $81.8 billion was spent on the Airbnb marketplace, up 12% year over year.

Growth should continue from this original concept for years, even in Airbnb's more mature markets like North America and Western Europe. The concept is still only a small sliver of the gigantic global travel market. However, to supercharge growth in the years to come, Airbnb is deliberately expanding its marketplace, both geographically and with the products offered to customers.

Management is now custom-tailoring the Airbnb marketplace to unique travel markets such as Japan and Brazil, which is leading to fast growth in these regions. Latin America and Asia Pacific both saw 20%+ growth in nights and experiences booked in Q4 of last year, which is faster than overall Airbnb growth. On top of this global expansion, Airbnb has been prepping for years to add on new services to its marketplace. These will be new products for both guests and hosts on the Airbnb platform, and could possibly include travel packages, cleaning services, and other add-ons to improve the value proposition for both sides of the marketplace.

These growth prospects make Airbnb a great stock to buy at its current price of $118, not far off its 52-week low of $105.69. You can buy Airbnb stock at a reasonable price and hold it in your portfolio for the long term.

Should you invest $1,000 in Airbnb right now?

Before you buy stock in Airbnb, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Airbnb wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $591,533!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $652,319!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 859% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 158% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of April 21, 2025

John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Brett Schafer has positions in Amazon and Coupang. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Airbnb and Amazon. The Motley Fool recommends Coupang. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

The stock market has crashed. In just the last five trading days, the Nasdaq-100 index is down more than 10% and has officially entered a bear market, meaning it is down at least 20% from its recent high. That has created some panic among a subset of investors. Panic can be infectious, but you have to stay rational when Wall Street is being irrational. Now is not the time to start trading manically. Extend your time horizon and keep laser-focused on your long-term goals.

But what should you buy during this market crash? If you have cash sitting around, here are three stocks to buy during this market dip and hold for the ultra-long term.

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Learn More »

Coupang's strong position in South Korea

If you're worried about tariffs, then Coupang (NYSE: CPNG) is a stock for you. Even though the company is listed in the United States, it does not operate in the country. The e-commerce marketplace is centered on South Korea, with some small exposure to Taiwan as well. South Korea just got hit with a tariff on exports to the United States, but that does not impact Coupang importing goods from other countries to South Korea. Sure, Coupang could be affected if the South Korean economy goes into a recession, but it is not directly hurt by tariffs.

The company looks strong enough to get through any economic volatility in South Korea that occurs, too. At the end of 2024, the company had close to $6 billion in cash on its balance sheet and minimal debt. It generated $1 billion of free cash flow last year. Gross profit -- a better top-line figure than revenue due to how Coupang does its accounting -- grew 29% year over year in the fourth quarter of 2024 when you exclude one-time gains and growth from acquisitions. This is much faster than the entire retail sector in South Korea, indicating that Coupang can grow simply through market share gains even if the broader economy slows down in Korea.

Coupang generated $30 billion in revenue last year. Over the long term, management believes it can achieve a 10% profit margin once the company stops reinvesting so aggressively for growth. That would be $3 billion in earnings at today's revenue level that can grow in the years to come. Today, Coupang stock trades at a market cap of around $36 billion, or just over 10 times these look-through earnings projections. That makes the stock dirt cheap for those who plan to hold for the long haul.

Take the long view with Amazon

A stock right in the line of fire with these tariffs is Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN). As the largest e-commerce marketplace in the United States, the company sources a lot of supply from Asian nations now getting large tariffs slapped on exports. While this could hurt Amazon's financials in 2025, the company is set up to do just fine over the long term.

Most of Amazon's business is not selling online goods itself, but facilitating transactions for third-party sellers. This will help it push back against tariff volatility (although it may hurt a lot of its existing sellers). If a lot of Amazon sellers go bankrupt or have to rapidly switch supply chains, that is not a cost Amazon has to shoulder. Most of its investment has been in the United States, as opposed to other technology companies like Apple, which has most of its fixed costs in China and other Asian nations.

Amazon also makes a lot of money from advertising, subscription services, and the cloud computing division Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS should still grow this year due to the boom in demand for artificial intelligence (AI) services. Advertising may see a slowdown if the broad economy tumbles, but over the long term it should remain a highly profitable division for Amazon.

The stock has tumbled to a market cap of $1.87 trillion and now has a forward price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) under 28, one of its lowest figures ever. Even if the numbers look bad in 2025, now looks like a fine time to buy Amazon stock for your portfolio.

Data by YCharts.

American Express and a resilient customer base

Financials, banks, and lenders can be very procyclical with the economic cycle. This means that when the economy is doing well, loans perform well and earnings are high. But when a recession occurs, rising loss rates and bankruptcies send earnings down rapidly. American Express (NYSE: AXP) gets tossed in this group as one of the largest credit card issuers in the United States. However, it is much more equipped to handle a recession than its peers.

American Express caters to a more affluent customer base with high credit scores. Even going through the elevated-inflation period of 2022 and 2023, the company's loss rates remained around 2%, which is around or below its pre-pandemic figures. A recession will likely cause these loss rates to increase, but the company is well-capitalized to deal with these temporary issues. Using history as a guide, it will do much better than other banks and lenders during a recession.

As of this writing, American Express stock is down almost 30% from all-time highs. I believe this is an example of the baby getting thrown out with the bath water. With the stock at a forward P/E of 15, you can buy American Express with confidence that it will perform well for your portfolio over the long haul.

Don’t miss this second chance at a potentially lucrative opportunity

Ever feel like you missed the boat in buying the most successful stocks? Then you’ll want to hear this.

On rare occasions, our expert team of analysts issues a “Double Down” stock recommendation for companies that they think are about to pop. If you’re worried you’ve already missed your chance to invest, now is the best time to buy before it’s too late. And the numbers speak for themselves:

• Nvidia: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2009, you’d have $244,570!*
• Apple: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2008, you’d have $35,715!*
• Netflix: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2004, you’d have $461,558!*

Right now, we’re issuing “Double Down” alerts for three incredible companies, and there may not be another chance like this anytime soon.

Continue »

*Stock Advisor returns as of April 5, 2025

John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. American Express is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Brett Schafer has positions in Amazon and Coupang. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon and Apple. The Motley Fool recommends Coupang. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.