Got $5,000? These 3 stocks could be bargain buys for 2024 and beyond

$5,000 may not seem like a lot of money in the stock market, where single shares of some companies can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars. However, at the end of the second quarter, the value of the average funded account on Robinhood Markets it was just $5,773, so smaller retail investors are still accumulating plenty of shares. This shouldn’t be too surprising, as Robinhood’s no-fee model and fractional share options make it much easier to build diversified portfolios with just a little money.

If you have around $5,000 that you’re ready to invest, I’d suggest buying these three undervalued tech stocks today: MicroStrategy (MSTR 8.02%), Micron technology (MU 0.42%)and HP (HPQ 1.10%).

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The Bitcoin Game: MicroStrategy

MicroStrategy was once a slow-growing data software vendor that struggled to keep up Microsoft and Salesforce. But four years ago, he switched gears and started hoarding Bitcoin.

As of July 31, MicroStrategy held 226,500 bitcoins. Those coins, which he bought at a total cost of $8.3 billion (or an average cost of $36,821 per coin) are now worth $13.8 billion. This represents 37% of the company’s enterprise value of $37.2 billion at the time of writing.

Cryptonists believe that the value of MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin holdings will increase further and offset the slower growth of its software business. It is gradually expanding its subscriptions with higher growth to offset the decline in licensing and support revenue.

Over the next few years, analysts expect MicroStrategy’s core software business to struggle to grow revenue and post more losses. They also anticipate that it will take on more debt and issue more shares to fund additional Bitcoin purchases.

Its shares might seem expensive, trading at 78 times this year’s sales. But if we ignore our software business and focus only on its Bitcoin holdings, it could be deeply undervalued if Bitcoin’s price skyrockets to $100,000 or even $1 million in the next decade.

Game AI: Micron Technology

Micron is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of DRAM and NAND memory chips. It’s not the biggest company in either market, but it generally makes denser and more energy-efficient chips than its top competitors, Samsung and SK Hynix.

The memory market is highly cyclical, and Micron’s sales cooled last year as PC shipments fell and the 5G smartphone upgrade cycle ended. That’s why its revenue fell 49% in fiscal 2023 (which ended in September 2023) and became unprofitable.

However, in the past year, Micron’s growth has accelerated as the PC and smartphone markets have stabilized and companies have upgraded their servers to process the latest AI applications. In fiscal 2024, its revenue grew 62% and became profitable again.

In fiscal 2025, analysts expect its revenue to grow 52% as adjusted EPS grows nearly sevenfold. Based on this outlook, Micron is trading at just 11 times forward earnings — making it much cheaper than top AI chip plays such as Nvidia.

PC plays: HP

HP is one of the world’s leading computer and printer manufacturers. Its consumer-oriented business saw major growth during the pandemic as more people upgraded their hardware to work from home, but some of that growth was offset by the disruption of its commercial-oriented businesses. In fiscal years 2022 and 2023 (which ended last October), HP’s revenue fell as its consumer sales stalled and macroeconomic headwinds halted the recovery of its commercial business.

That pressure led HP to cut costs and buy back more stock to boost its adjusted EPS — but that number rose just 8% in fiscal 2022 and fell 18% in fiscal 2023. For fiscal 2023 2024, analysts expect its revenue to remain flat. as adjusted EPS is up just 3%. That outlook looks bleak, but trading at 10 times forward earnings, HP stock looks undervalued, and its dividend at current share prices offers an attractive forward yield of 3.1%.

Over the next few years, HP’s profit growth should accelerate again as it cuts its workforce, streamlines its PC portfolio, launches more subscription-based services and launches new products for hybrid work with a higher growth, gaming, industrial graphics and 3D. print markets. Therefore, it might be a smart move to buy HP stock before the next growth cycle begins.