Over long periods of time, the stock market is practically unrivaled in the return column. But over the past couple of years, stocks have been lapped many times over by the returns of cryptocurrencies.

Since the coronavirus crash in March 2020, the widely followed S&P 500 has doubled in value, as of March 2. But according to CoinMarketCap.com, the aggregate value of all digital currencies has catapulted more than 12-fold to $1.94 trillion since hitting their March 2020 low.

Although brand-name cryptocurrencies are responsible for the bulk of this nominal increase in market value, it’s high-flying tokens like Shiba Inu ( SHIB -2.11% ) that have garnered all the attention.

Despite soaring in 2021, Shiba Inu is bad news

Last year, Shiba Inu was virtually unstoppable. At its peak intrayear gain in late October, it had increased in value by more than 121,000,000% from where it began 2021. It ultimately ended higher by around 46,000,000%. Not surprisingly, these historic gains made Shiba Inu one of the most-searched cryptocurrencies in the U.S. last year.

A number of factors have worked in SHIB’s favor, including increased visibility via new crypto exchange listings and the launch of the decentralized exchange ShibaSwap in July 2021. Shiba Inu is also benefiting from certain crypto market dynamics (e.g., minimal short-selling activity and no derivatives/options with which to bet against SHIB) as well as the excitement surrounding numerous upcoming upgrades and ecosystem product launches.

But in spite of SHIB’s success, it’s impossible to overlook its shortcomings. For example, Shiba Inu has no clearly defined competitive advantages. At the moment, it’s nothing more than an ERC-20 token built on the Ethereum ( ETH -0.85% ) blockchain. In simpler terms, it’s a payment coin. There is no shortage of payment coins among the nearly 18,000 listed digital currencies on CoinMarketCap.com. Without true differentiation, SHIB will have a nearly impossible task of standing out in a crowded space.

To build on this point, it’s not even a particularly popular payment coin. While Shiba Inu is extremely popular on social media platforms, only 641 mostly obscure merchants are accepting SHIB as a form of payment. That’s a drop in the bucket when you consider there are over 32 million businesses in the U.S. alone and north of 500 million entrepreneurs globally.

Historic precedence would also suggest Shiba Inu’s future points much lower. In previous instances where payment coins or protocol tokens on payment networks delivered historic short-term gains, they almost always went on to lose 93% to 99%+ of their value in the 12 months to 26 months following their respective peaks. A similar fate probably awaits Shiba Inu.

This crypto duo offers much more for investors than Shiba Inu

To be fair, a lot of cryptocurrencies (not just Shiba Inu) are unlikely to live up to their frothy valuations over the long run. But there can be significant winners in the crypto arena.

As I spanned the digital currency landscape in March, two cryptocurrencies stood out as markedly better buys than SHIB.

Avalanche

The first cryptocurrency to buy in a heartbeat over Shiba Inu in March is Avalanche ( AVAX -1.37% ). As of March 2, it was the 10th-largest crypto by market cap ($20.6 billion).

Avalanche and its smart contract-driven blockchain network — smart contracts facilitate, verify, and enforce the negotiation of a contract between two parties — offer three very clear advantages that should allow it to succeed over time.

To start with, Avalanche’s network is fast. If you want to send money, data, or files on Avalanche’s blockchain network, your transaction will complete in less than two seconds. Compare that to the payment-focused Bitcoin ( BTC -0.16% ) or smart-contract rival Ethereum where transaction finality respectively averages 60 minutes and six minutes.

The second reason Avalanche stands out from the crowd is its ability to scale. Rapid block finality is only pertinent if the network in question can handle a lot of transactions at once. Bitcoin and Ethereum are only capable of 7 and 14 transactions per second (TPS), respectively. Meanwhile, Avalanche can handle more than 4,500 TPS, according to its developers. Though still some distance away from payment processor Visa, which is capable of 24,000 TPS, Avalanche has shown it can scale faster than virtually all other blockchain networks.

But the real dangling carrot for Avalanche is what’s included on its network. The third advantage is the incorporation of the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) on its blockchain. The EVM is what the software developers use to create decentralized applications (dApps) on Ethereum’s blockchain. Since Avalanche offers superior speed and scalability, along with lower transaction fees, relative to Ethereum, EVM’s inclusion should encourage dApp developers to come to its network.

Recent dApp protocol-revenue data does suggest this is happening. According to TokenTerminal.com, Avalanche has brought in $41.6 million in dApp protocol revenue over the trailing 90 days. But based on the $17.6 million generated over the trailing 30 days, its three-month run-rate is now closer to $53 million. 

IOTA

The second cryptocurrency that can confidently be bought in a heartbeat instead of Shiba Inu in March is IOTA ( MIOTA ). IOTA is certainly a more under-the-radar crypto, with a market cap of only $2.2 billion.

What makes IOTA so special is the uniqueness and efficiency of its network, as well as the fact that it has practical, real-world application.

Unquestionably, what stands out most about IOTA is that it’s not a blockchain-based network. Rather, its developers are utilizing what they refer to as the “Tangle.” The Tangle is a directed acyclic graph (DAG) which requires each new transaction to confirm two previous transactions. As the network grows and more transactions are validated, these validation lines begin to look something like a tangled web. That’s how developers came up with the “Tangle.”

There are a number of advantages to leaning on DAG as opposed to blockchain. For instance, blockchain-based networks require votes from users to generate and validate blocks. These are instances where delays can slow a network or make it costlier. With no validators needed, IOTA’s network is designed to grow more efficient with each passing transaction. On average, payment transactions complete in a few seconds.

Best of all, the DAG solution ensures that transactions on its network are (drum roll) free! That’s a significant competitive edge over most cryptocurrency networks and existing payment infrastructure.

Equally exciting, IOTA introduced staking in December 2021, which allows IOTA holders to earn passive income in the form of new tokens. One of these new tokens, Assembly, will offer free smart contract-based transactions when its network launches later this year.

A final reason IOTA is a much smarter buy than Shiba Inu in March is its real-world use case. In February 2021, IOTA announced a partnership with well-known IT company Dell Technologies ( DELL -1.20% ). Three years ago, Dell launched its Data Confidence Fabric (DCF), which aimed to track the journey of data from the edge of the cloud to its destination. IOTA is aiding with scaling and securing Dell’s DCF as well as logging the trust rating of this data in its Tangle. This is one of many reasons IOTA belongs in your portfolio well before SHIB.

Post Views: 119

 The stock market has experienced its worst correction since 2020 and as we put an end to a month that has been extremely difficult for virtually all asset classes and cryptocurrencies, investors may be scratching their heads as to where they put their money next. However, savvy investors will also know that the drop presents good value for long-term trades.

Despite being one of the most popular cryptocurrencies on the planet, in part due to its historic 46,000,000% gain last year, meme coin Shiba Inu (SHIB) is not one of the digital currencies I believe will reward investors in the long run. Rather, I’d argue that real value can be found in cryptocurrencies with strong fundamentals and solid utility, along with the potential for tremendous growth. For these reasons, Avalanche (AVAX) and Seesaw Protocol (SSW) are my two favourite picks for 2022.

While there are a few factors in Shiba Inu’s favour, such as the fact that the total number of unique wallet holders has surpassed 1.1 million and the median hold period for SHIB tokens has increased to 68 days from six days in just over three months, there are multiple red flags that should scare away long-term crypto investors.

For instance, regardless of how many new owners enter the picture, the fact that Shiba Inu lacks a competitive edge or true differentiation remains. Shiba Inu’s transaction fees should be reduced by an in-house layer-2 blockchain upgrade called Shibarium, but this is unlikely to be enough to distinguish this payment coin in a space where multiple next-generation blockchain projects can offer so much more.

Shiba Inu is also of limited utility outside of cryptocurrency exchanges. Despite the fact that hundreds of new merchants have accepted SHIB as a form of payment since early October, the total number of merchants worldwide accepting Shiba Inu coin is just over 600. This compares to a global population of well over 500 million entrepreneurs.

Additionally, history has been unkind to payment coins that have delivered life-changing gains in a relatively short period of time. Cryptocurrencies that experienced five- and six-digit percentage gains in the short term almost always experienced a retracement of well over 90% following their respective peaks. Shiba Inu is likely to experience a similarly large downswing.

Avalanche (AVAX)

It’s no secret that I believe Avalanche (AVAX) has the most long-term appeal and intrigue of any cryptocurrency. This is because Avalanche provides a plethora of competitive advantages and true differentiation in a crowded market.

Avalanche is a smart contract-based blockchain network that enables unprecedented speed and scalability, as well as the development of financial and nonfinancial decentralised applications (dApps).

According to its developers, Avalanche’s transactional finality is less than two seconds and its blockchain can support more than 4,500 transactions per second (TPS). The term “transactional finality” refers to the amount of time required for a transaction to be verified as true and settled on the blockchain. This trumps the “Big Two,” Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), which complete transactions in 60 and six minutes, respectively. Bitcoin and Ethereum are limited to 7 and 14 TPS, respectively.

Apart from being faster, cheaper, and more scalable than the two most popular blockchain networks that support smart contracts, Avalanche is also extremely compatible. For example, the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) – a widely used piece of software for developing decentralised applications (dApps) on the Ethereum blockchain – is already operational on Avalanche’s blockchain. By incorporating the EVM into its blockchain, it can entice developers to join its network.

Seesaw Protocol (SSW)

Seesaw Protocol is unique in that it is based on the concept of interoperability. In the cryptocurrency world, transactions take place on a single blockchain – and tokens cannot be transferred between different blockchains. Seesaw Protocol provides a solution to this issue.

Bridges connect parachains and related components referred to as parathreads to other blockchains.

Seesaw Protocol (SSW) is the logical evolution of cryptocurrencies, as it enables the creation of a multi-bridge DeFi and NFT marketplace. Seesaw Protocol will act as a true cross-chain connector, bridging the divide between Binance’s Smart Chain, Polygon, and Ethereum.

According to its creators, SSW’s platform enables users to conduct cross-chain swaps at the best possible rates using multiple solutions.

Seesaw Protocol recently launched its presale, providing investors with an excellent opportunity to invest prior to potential explosive growth. As Solana (SOL), Avalanche (AVAX), and Polkadot (DOT) have repeatedly demonstrated, investing early in cryptocurrencies such as this can result in massive rewards. Solana’s value increased by more than 11,000% last year.

With so many evident advantages over Shiba Inu and a path to real-world utility, Avalanche and Seesaw Protocol are cryptocurrencies to buy in February.

 

For More on Seesaw Protocol:

Presale: https://presale.seesawprotocol.io/register

Website: https://seesawprotocol.io/
Telegram: https://t.me/SEESAWPROTOCOL
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SEESAWPROTOCOL
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seesaw.protocol

Tomorrow, we’ll turn the page on what’s been an extremely rough month for virtually all asset classes. The stock market has undergone its biggest correction since 2020, and cryptocurrencies have been punished even more. In a recent three-day stretch, the aggregate value of all digital currencies declined by $600 billion.

But for patient investors with a long time horizon, certain cryptocurrencies may offer excellent returns.

The world’s hottest cryptocurrency isn’t worth investing in

Despite being one of the most-popular cryptocurrencies on the planet, thanks in part to its historic gain of 46,000,000% last year, meme coin Shiba Inu (CRYPTO:SHIB) is not one of the digital currencies that I feel will reward investors over the long run.

While there are a handful of factors working in Shiba Inu’s favor, such as the number of unique wallet holders surpassing 1.1 million, and the median hold period of SHIB tokens climbing to 68 days from a mere six days in a little over three months, there are multiple red flags which should keep long-term crypto investors as far away as possible.

For example, no matter how many new holders enter the picture, it hasn’t changed the fact that Shiba Inu lacks a competitive edge or true differentiation. An in-house layer-2 blockchain upgrade known as Shibarium should help lower transaction fees for Shiba Inu, but it’s unlikely to do enough to allow this payment coin to stand out in a space where multiple next-generation blockchain projects can offer so much more.

Shiba Inu isn’t particularly useful outside of cryptocurrency exchanges, either. Even after hundreds of new merchants gave SHIB the green light as a form of payment since early October, the total number of global merchants accepting Shiba Inu coin is only a hair over 600. This compares to well over 500 million entrepreneurs worldwide.

History has also proven unkind to payment coins that have delivered life-altering gains in a very short time frame. Cryptocurrencies with five-and-six-digit percentage gains in the short term have almost always gone on to retrace well over 90% after hitting their respective peaks. An equally large reversion is likely on tap for Shiba Inu.

These cryptocurrencies are much smarter buys than Shiba Inu

Instead of putting your money to work in a payment coin that’s been hyped incessantly on social media, the following two cryptocurrencies can be bought in a heartbeat over Shiba Inu in February.

Avalanche

It’s no secret that I believe Avalanche (CRYPTO:AVAX) offers the most intrigue and long-term appeal of any cryptocurrency. That’s because Avalanche offers multiple competitive advantages and true differentiation in a crowded space.

Avalanche is a smart contract-driven blockchain network that delivers incredible speed and rapid scaling potential, as well as offers users the ability to develop financial and nonfinancial decentralized applications (dApps).

According to developers, Avalanche is capable of a transactional finality of less than two seconds, and can support more than 4,500 transactions per second (TPS) on its blockchain. “Transactional finality” describes the time it takes for a transaction to be confirmed as true and settle on the blockchain. This compares to the “Big Two,” Bitcoin and Ethereum, which take a respective 60 minutes and six minutes to complete transactions. What’s more, Bitcoin and Ethereum can only handle up to 7 TPS and 14 TPS, based on Avalanche website’s comparison. 

Aside from being faster, cheaper, and more scalable the two most-popular smart contract-supported blockchain networks, Avalanche is also highly compatible. For instance, the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) — the highly popular software used to create dApps on the Ethereum blockchain — is already operating on Avalanche’s blockchain. Incorporating the EVM on its blockchain should serve as a lure to attract developers to its network.

With so many clear-cut advantages over Ethereum, and a path to real-world utility, unlike Shiba Inu, Avalanche is a cryptocurrency to buy in a heartbeat in February.

Cardano

Another smart contract-based cryptocurrency that would make for a smart buy over the long run is Cardano (CRYPTO:ADA).

As I’ve previously pointed out, the transparency of Cardano’s development team is possibly this project’s greatest attribute. The developers have consistently laid out a stepping-stone blueprint of how they’re going to build Cardano from the ground up to become a popular choice for dApp developers.

While some of the scheduled upgrades haven’t gone into effect when initially intended, a number of key improvements have been made to the Cardano networks over the past 19 months. For instance, July 2020 saw the Shelley upgrade take effect. Shelley allowed network participants to run a larger number of nodes. Following this upgrade, we witnessed rapid scaling of Cardano’s network and increased transactional activity. What had been a network handling 2,000 transactions a day was now a network regularly seeing north of 100,000 transactions on its blockchain daily in 2021.

Shelley was followed by the Goguen update in September 2021. Goguen is what introduced smart contracts to the Cardano blockchain. Smart contracts are the secret sauce that allow dApp developers to create financial and nonfinancial applications on blockchain.

But the most exciting development for Cardano might just be the Hydra upgrade. What makes Hydra so intriguing is the rapid scaling potential it offers. Once put into use, Hydra will funnel transactions off the main blockchain to staking pools, known as Hydra Nodes. In theory, up to 1,000 of these nodes could each handle 1,000 transactions. While there’s no official timetable for Hydra, its TPS potential could blow every existing cryptocurrency and traditional payment-processing network, such as Visa, out of the water.

If you think the stock market’s historic bounce from the coronavirus crash bottom is impressive — the S&P 500 has gained a little over 100% — you should probably take a closer look at the cryptocurrency space. In 20 months, the aggregate value of all digital currencies has catapulted from $141 billion to $2.45 trillion. That’s a more than 16-fold gain.

While there are nearly 15,000 cryptocurrencies now listed by CoinMarketCap.com, there’s one that’s stood head and shoulders above all others in 2021: meme coin Shiba Inu ( SHIB -4.42% ).

Shiba Inu’s year-to-date gains are jaw-dropping, but they likely won’t last

If you’ve heard about Shiba Inu and wondered why people can’t stop talking about it in 2021, the answer lies with its jaw-dropping year-to-date gains. At midnight on Jan. 1, SHIB could be purchased for a microscopic $0.000000000073 per token. As of this past weekend, they were going for $0.00003846 per coin, equating to a year-to-date gain of 52,684,832%. This means a $1.90 investment at midnight on Jan. 1 would have made you a millionaire, as of Nov. 27.

The world’s hottest cryptocurrency has benefited from a multitude of catalysts, including more crypto exchanges listing SHIB for trading, the launch of decentralized exchange ShibaSwap in July, the burning of approximately 41% of Shiba Inu’s outstanding coin supply, and the fear of missing out (FOMO).

Unfortunately, few of the catalysts in Shiba Inu’s sails strengthen its real-world use case or make it a payment coin that businesses are champing at the bit to employ. Aside from landing movie theater chain AMC Entertainment, just 369 merchants worldwide have given the green light to accept SHIB as payment.

Additionally, Shiba Inu lacks the differentiation necessary to stand out from an increasingly competitive space. Shiba Inu is an ERC-20 token built on the Ethereum ( ETH 2.58% ) blockchain. This means it’s tethered to the same high transaction fees and potential lag times that plague the extremely popular network. With new crypto projects debuting daily, Shiba Inu is constantly being diluted by superior innovation.

And if you need one more reason to keep your distance in December and beyond, consider this: Virtually all five-and-six-digit payment coin percentage gains in a short time frame have been met by reversals ranging from 93% to 99%. SHIB may be up big in 2021, but it’s primed to have an awful next couple of months or years, according to history.

These digital currencies have far more potential than Shiba Inu

Instead of putting your money to work in what appears to be a hype-driven coin with little substance, I’d encourage long-term-oriented investors to buy the following three cryptocurrencies in a heartbeat over SHIB.

Cardano

First up is Cardano ( ADA 2.89% ), which I believe is a considerably more exciting blockchain project that offers real-world utility. It’s worth noting that Cardano is one spot behind Shiba Inu in terms of monthly Google searches in the U.S.

What’s fascinating about Cardano is how its developers have laid out very clear stepping stones that will be implemented to improve processing speeds, lower transaction costs, increase security, and massively scale the network. In total, there are five key steps, with three of the project’s major upgrades already in play.

Cardano’s two biggest evolutions occurred in July 2020 and September 2021. In July 2020, the Shelley upgrade went into effect, allowing network participants to run an increased number of nodes. In the wake of Shelley, the average number of transactions on Cardano’s blockchain surged from around 2,000 a day to well over 100,000.

Then came Goguen in September 2021, which introduced smart contracts to Cardano’s blockchain. Smart contracts help to verify, facilitate, and enforce the negotiation of a contract between two parties. Incorporating smart contracts allows Cardano to go head-to-head with Ethereum, and should encourage the development of decentralized applications (dApps) on the network.

Furthermore, Cardano is fast. Whereas Shiba Inu is limited by the Ethereum network’s processing capacity of 13 transactions per second (TPS), Cardano was topping 250 TPS four years ago. The rollout of the Hydra upgrade, which has no specific timetable, will funnel transactions off-chain to staking pools, known as Hydra Nodes.  This should vastly improve the scaling and speed of the network.

Nano

Another cryptocurrency to confidently buy in a heartbeat over Shiba Inu is the long-forgotten Nano ( NANO 4.76% ), which has fallen to No. 144 on CoinMarketCap.com, in terms of market cap rank. Down 86% from its all-time high hit nearly four years ago, Nano has a unique blockchain network that should prove meaningful in the real world over the long run.

The really cool aspect of Nano’s blockchain is its design. Instead of a central blockchain, Nano employs what’s known as a block-lattice blockchain. With the block-lattice, every user has their own blockchain that they can add to. With users not having to compete with others for blocks on the main chain or waiting to gain consensus, Nano’s network offers incredible speed and rapid scalability that won’t adversely impact performance.

How fast is Nano? According to developers, it offers “a median transaction time of less than one second.” Compare this to existing payment infrastructure in place today that can take up to a week to validate and settle cross-border transactions.

What’s more, Nano’s network executes digital peer-to-peer payment free of charge. Utilizing Open Representative Voting helps to keep the network fee-less, which is a clear step up from the existing payment infrastructure.

Investing in Nano will require patience, but it offers clear competitive advantages in the payments space.

Algorand

A third cryptocurrency to buy hand over fist instead of Shiba Inu in December is Algorand ( ALGO 5.31% ). Although the 22nd-largest digital currency by market cap has generated a “modest” 369% gain in 2021, relative to Shiba Inu’s moonshot return, it offers far more real-world use potential than SHIB ever will.

While there are a number of unique aspects that can make Algorand a success, two things really stand out. First, Algorand’s secret sauce is its refined proof-of-stake consensus mechanism, known as pure-proof-of-stake (PPoS). Without getting overly complicated, PPoS chooses users at random to vote on proposals and propose blocks. With this process randomized, it ensures that a small group of hodlers can’t disrupt the network.

The other key for Algorand’s developers is recognizing the importance of blockchain interoperability. Right now, there are tens of thousands of blockchain projects in development worldwide. Many of these projects are unique, and will therefore struggle to work with other platforms. In other words, if Business A wants to send money, files, or data to Business B, but the two parties are using unique blockchain networks, this very likely wouldn’t be possible. Algorand has a keen eye on the business world and is targeting its blockchain solutions at bridging these gaps.

Aside from being a logical candidate to foster dApp development, Algorand also wows with its speed. As of this past weekend, the network had a reported block finality of 4.39 seconds and 1,152 TPS.  In other words, transactions are being completed in under five seconds, and Algorand’s network is processing about 88 times faster than Ethereum. These are numbers that’ll rightly garner the attention of businesses.

For well over a century, the stock market has been one of the world’s greatest wealth creators. It’s not going to outpace investment vehicles like bonds, gold, or housing every year, but when examined over the long run, it has handily outpaced the average annual return of other assets.

But since the rise of cryptocurrencies roughly a decade ago, digital currencies have run circles around the broader market. In particular, retail investors have flocked to the so-called “people’s currency,” Dogecoin (CRYPTO:DOGE).

Dogecoin has been on a tear in 2021, but it has a fatal flaw

In early May, when Dogecoin hit an all-time high of nearly $0.74 a token, its value had risen more than 27,000% in a trailing-six-month stretch. For context, the benchmark S&P 500 rose by 23,454%, including dividends, in a 56-year period ending on Dec. 31, 2020. That’s how insane the gains in Dogecoin were in such a short time frame.

If you were to ask Dogecoin’s “hodlers” (a purposeful typo meant to describe holders of the token) why they bought into the people’s currency, they’d probably tell you it’s because of the community, the perception of getting in near the ground floor in terms of retail adoption, and the fact that billionaires Elon Musk and Mark Cuban support Dogecoin. But there’s one big problem with every prevailing bull argument: It offers zero competitive advantages.

As I’ve previously touched on, Dogecoin doesn’t do anything particularly well. For instance, its transaction fees are notably higher than many other popular digital currencies. Its blockchain doesn’t settle or validate transactions quickly compared to other crypto networks, either. And when examined for usage, only around 1,400 mostly obscure businesses accept Dogecoin as payment. In eight years, you’d think it would have gathered more momentum.

In other words, Dogecoin has all the hallmarks of being a fad without any true staying power. With no barrier to entry in the cryptocurrency space and no attributes that make it special, it’s easily avoidable as an investment.

These beaten-down stocks are much smarter buys than Dogecoin

Instead of buying Dogecoin, I’d much rather put my money to work in the following trio of beaten-down stocks. These are companies down significantly from their 52-week highs that I don’t already own. But I’d buy them in a heartbeat if I had to choose between Dogecoin and these stocks.

Baidu

The first bludgeoned stock I’d buy in a heartbeat over Dogecoin is China-based internet search giant Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU). Shares of the company have retraced 56% since hitting an all-time high in mid-February, with the prospect of regulatory crackdowns in China weighing heavily on its (and its peers’) valuation. While brand-name companies like Alibaba have been hit with record antitrust fines, I don’t anticipate that being the case for Baidu.

The foundational selling point for Baidu has long been the dominance of its internet search platform. Although Alphabet‘s Google controls the lion’s share of global search, Baidu is the kingpin within China. According to GlobalStats, it’s maintained a 66.9% to 79.9% share of internet search in China over the trailing 12 months. As long as the Chinese economy is growing (it’s often growing much faster than the U.S. economy), advertisers will pay big bucks to get their message in front of users.

Investors will also appreciate the investments Baidu is making in artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud services. While its search revenue rose 18% in the June-ended quarter, its AI and cloud-focused ancillary segment delivered revenue growth of 80%. Keep in mind that AI and cloud services produce juicier margins than its marketing segment. This makes Baidu a sneaky growth and value play.

Cresco Labs

Even though marijuana stocks could be one of the top investment opportunities of the decade, U.S. pot stocks have performed miserably since hitting their all-time highs earlier this year. With Cresco Labs (OTC:CRLBF) now 45% below its all-time intraday high, I’d buy it at the snap of a finger over Dogecoin.

Like most multi-state operators (MSOs), Cresco is working on building up its brand and creating a profitable retail presence. It has 34 operating dispensaries and enough retail licenses in its back pocket to have around four dozen cannabis stores. Many of its existing dispensaries are in high-dollar markets (Florida) or limited-license states (Illinois and Ohio). Targeting limited-license states is a particularly smart strategy. With regulators purposefully reining in competition, Cresco has a greater chance of building up its brands and garnering a loyal following.

However, the true differentiating factor for Cresco, relative to other MSOs, is its massive wholesale presence. In the June-ended quarter, 52% of its $210 million in sales were derived from its wholesale operations. 

Typically, wholesale gets a bad rap because of its lower margins relative to the retail side of the equation. But holding a highly lucrative cannabis distribution license in California, the top market for marijuana in the world, allows Cresco Labs to place third-party and proprietary pot products into more than 575 dispensaries. In short, Cresco will have long-term investors seeing green.

Redfin

A third stock I’d buy in a heartbeat instead of Dogecoin is technology-driven real estate company Redfin (NASDAQ:RDFN). Shares of the company have effectively been halved since hitting an all-time high in mid-February.

There’s little question that historically low mortgage rates have lifted demand for real estate providers. But what Redfin brings to the table via cost savings and personalization helps separate it from the competition.

For example, most traditional real estate companies charge a listing or commission fee ranging from 2.5% to 3%. By comparison, Redfin charges a fee ranging between 1% and 1.5%, which is dependent on how much business a buyer or seller has previously done with the company. With the average sale price of new homes sold totaling $446,000 in July, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, an up to 2-percentage-point reduction in a listing fee could save the average seller close to $9,000. Perhaps it’s no surprise that Redfin’s share of existing-home sales has catapulted from 0.44% at the end of 2015 to 1.18% by the midpoint of 2021. 

Redfin’s personalization is driving business as well. During the pandemic, the company ramped up the use of 3D and virtual tours. It’s also been expanding its RedfinNow service, which purchases homes for cash to remove the hassles and haggling that come with selling a home.

Redfin is changing a stodgy industry before our eyes, which is more than I can say for Dogecoin.