The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) dropped another 0.74% on Friday, taking losses to more than 2% for the past month.
Growth stocks have especially suffered recently, as investors shift to value shares in anticipation of an economic recovery and inflation.
For example, the S&P ASX All Technology Index (ASX: XTX) index has nearly lost a painful 15% over the past month.
Ouch.
While we're nowhere near the definition of a crash, the current correction has brought some darlings of 2020 back down to earth.
At the start of the year, a group of fund managers picked out shares that they thought were too expensive but would love to snap up if the price ever tumbled.
The Motley Fool takes a look back at 5 of those to see how much they have discounted:
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corp Ltd (ASX: FPH)
Sage Capital portfolio manager Kelli Meagher snapped up healthcare player Fisher & Paykel for cheap during last year's COVID-19 crash and did pretty well out of it.
But of course, that same appreciation made it too expensive by the end of the year.
"It's trading at a particularly high multiple at the moment given its earnings have been very elevated from COVID," she said in January.
"COVID-19 has actually put a spotlight on just how useful and beneficial their products are and how quickly it helps people breathe again, get out of the hospital, and save the hospitals' money. So, I think their addressable market from here is going to be a lot bigger and their growth trajectory is going to be a lot higher than what it would have been if COVID-19 had never happened."
At the end of the 2020, Fisher & Paykel traded for $30.95. It is now 15% cheaper, selling for $26.33 after market close on Friday.
REA Group Limited (ASX: REA)
At the start of the year, Spheria portfolio manager Matthew Booker loved the look of REA — but thought it was just too expensive.
"We think REA is a good business, but in a sell-off, I would probably pick it up at the right price," he told Livewire in January.
"We own some in one of our strategies, but it's too expensive for us at the moment and we're cycling out of it and we're finding better relative [opportunities] outside of that."
REA closed out 2020 at $148.86. It has now come down almost 9%, closing Friday at $135.89.
Hub24 Ltd (ASX: HUB)
TMS Capital portfolio manager Ben Clark reckoned Hub24 will eventually hold a duopoly in its field.
"I think Netwealth and HUB24 are going to be two dominant players in this industry for many years to come and they're going to have strong revenue growth for many years," he said in January.
"But they're about to hit the operating leverage part of the cycle, which is the sweet spot when you want to own those companies. I should have stepped in and done something about it and now they're quite pricey again."
Hub24 ended 2020 at $21.34. Clark said back then that he would buy if the stock went down to $15 or $16.
It was trading at $19.48 at market close on Friday, which is nearly 9% down year-to-date.
IDP Education Ltd (ASX: IEL)
Two experts selected education services provider IDP as the stock they would like to nab during a market correction.
"It is a global leader in the placement of international students and also does the IELTS English testing distribution," Paradice portfolio manager Julia Weng told Livewire in January.
"It has obviously been impacted by COVID, but prior to COVID, volumes were growing at 30% a year and even now there's strong pent-up demand with a lot of students choosing to study online."
Lennox Capital equity analyst Olivia Salmon agreed at the time.
"Love the business, love that tertiary education sector — don't love the share price at the moment given the worries that you have with the China-Australia relationship… and even China's relationship with the rest of the world," she said.
"It's a stock I'd love to own, just at a lower price."
So is it cheaper now? Unfortunately for Weng and Salmon, the stock price has actually gone up.
IDP ended 2020 at $19.85. It was trading for $23.55 at the close of trade Friday.
Pro Medicus Limited (ASX: PME)
Eley Griffiths portfolio manager David Allingham told Livewire at the start of the year that he would love to swoop on Pro Medicus if it were a bit cheaper.
"It's got genuinely disruptive technology and is winning major clients and major market share in the US," he said at the time.
"We've followed it for a number of years. The management team [has] done an exceptional job on an execution standpoint, but it's just always been too expensive for us. The valuation is astronomical; whether it's revenue multiple, P/E ratio, or EBITDA multiple."
Allingham would be disappointed to see that Pro Medicus shares have appreciated even further this year. The stock closed out last year at $34.16 but traded at $43.87 at the end of Friday's session.
