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Discover the most recent Nasdaq-100 stock. It’s soared 110,600% since its IPO and is still a Buy by 2025, according to Wall Street.

Discover the most recent Nasdaq-100 stock. It’s soared 110,600% since its IPO and is still a Buy by 2025, according to Wall Street.

Shares of this specialty technology company have gained 141% over the past year, and that may just be the beginning.

THE Nasdaq Composite is one of the most closely watched stock indexes in the United States. This diversified, technology-focused index tracks the performance of approximately 3,000 publicly traded stocks. THE Nasdaq-100 is a subsection of this index, which tracks the performance of approximately 100 of the largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange. To be included in the Nasdaq-100, a company must meet the following requirements:

  • It must be listed exclusively on the Nasdaq stock exchange.
  • It should be very liquid.
  • It must be listed on an eligible exchange for at least three full calendar months.
  • A minimum of 10% of its outstanding shares must be available for trading.
  • She must not have filed for bankruptcy.

Axone Company (AXONE -1.18%) is the newest addition to the Nasdaq-100, joining the benchmark index on December 23 as part of its annual rebalancing, replacing the biotechnology company Modern. Since the company’s IPO in mid-2001, the stock has soared 110,600% as of this writing.

The company is best known for its Taser stun gun, but Axon has been expanding its line of technology for law enforcement. Despite its continued run, many on Wall Street think the stock remains a buy.

Image source: Getty Images.

A must-have for law enforcement

Axon publicized its mission to “increase the safety of law enforcement officers, reduce suspect injuries, improve community relations, reduce litigation and medical and liability insurance costs.” civilian policing, and potentially save lives.” The company’s flagship device, the Taser stun gun, has become a staple among law enforcement agencies around the world, becoming a household name in the process. In the third quarter, the Taser segment grew 36% year over year to $221.7 million, representing 41% of Axon’s total revenue.

But this is only the beginning. Axon is also the market leader in body cameras, in-car cameras and sensors used by law enforcement to document their interactions with the public. Segment revenue increased 29% year over year to $322.5 million, accounting for 59% of the company’s sales.

Within each of these segments are Axon’s cloud services, which include a host of digital evidence management, real-time operations and productivity tools. The company offers the #1 cloud software suite for public safety, complementing its suite of products and services.

Management notes that Axon’s offerings produce powerful flywheel effects. The company focuses on products and accessories to “ensure everyone gets home safely.” The growing adoption of these tools adds more people and devices to its network, which generates additional data that will be analyzed by Axon’s machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms. What she learns helps the company identify ongoing customer needs, which results in more useful products and accessories – and the flywheel turns.

In the third quarter, Axon reported total revenue of $544 million, up 32% year over year. This translated to adjusted earnings per share of $1.45, an increase of 38%. At the same time, the company’s annual recurring revenue grew 36% to $885 million. In total, subscriptions now represent 95% of Axon’s total revenue.

There is more. Axon notes that the average contract length is over five years, which helps the company achieve a 123% net revenue retention rate.

Management believes the company’s growth trend will continue and has raised its full-year revenue forecast to $2.07 billion, which would represent growth of 32%. up from its previous forecast of 29% growth.

Axon’s penetration in the US is respectable but still offers plenty of growth opportunities ahead. Additionally, its international expansion is still in its early stages, as is its foray into drones as first responders, so the company still has fertile ground to plow. Management estimates its total addressable market at $77 billion per year, which helps illustrate the scale of the opportunity that remains.

Analysts remain bullish on Axon

Wall Street is well known for its diversity of opinions, so it’s worth noting that all of the analysts who cover Axon are bullish. Of the 15 analysts who issued an opinion in December, each rates the stock as a Buy or Strong Buy. Its recent rise has pushed the stock price above analysts’ average price target, so some believe the stock has run too far, too fast. However, Wall Street is catching up. Axon stock has received nine price target increases over the past two months thanks to its blockbuster results.

Baird analyst William Power is Wall Street’s biggest bull, having recently reiterated his Outperform (Buy) rating on the stock and increased his price target to $800. This represents an upside potential for investors of 27% from Friday’s closing price. The analyst recently met with management and came away excited about Axon’s integration of AI into its suite of services.

The only problem is the stock’s high valuation. Axon currently sells for 162 times earnings, which seems ridiculously expensive. However, this does not take into account the company’s accelerated growth prospects. Using the more appropriate forward price-to-earnings-to-growth ratio, which takes into account its impressive growth, reveals a multiple of 0.95 when a number less than 1 is the benchmark for an undervalued stock.

Additionally, since Axon went public in April 2001, it has significantly outperformed the broader market, generating gains of 110,600%, more than 112 times the 984% return of the Nasdaq-100.

Given the company’s consistent execution and addressable market expansion, I’d say Axon is a buy.