2 no-brainer stocks to buy and hold for the next decade

Smart investing means being patient. Indeed, numerous studies agree: the longer one stays invested in the stock market, the higher one’s return.

With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at two fantastic buy-and-hold candidates and explore why long-term investors should give them serious consideration.

Image source: Getty Images.

Amazon

The first no-brainer stock I want to highlight is Amazon (AMZN -3.65%). There are dozens of reasons to own this iconic company, but let’s focus something on some key financial metrics that explain why Amazon a great one stock to hold for the long term.

First of all, Amazon is huge. Its annual revenue is over $600 billion, trailing only behind Walmart in the terms of income generated by a US company.

Second, despite its massive size, Amazon is growing impressively. Its revenue is growing about 10% year over year, meaning that at its current size, Amazon is adding about $60 billion a year in new sales.

Third, Amazon is on last minute of some of the world’s most exciting new technologies. The company’s cloud unit, Amazon Web Services (AWS), generates a large share of new annual revenue, as it is growing faster than the rest of the company — about 19% year over year. In addition, Amazon is a pioneer in the robotics industry — with more than 750,000 robots working day and night in its fulfillment centers. Finally, the company has many artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives including USING Generative AI to streamline their e-commerce business and its ubiquitous voice-powered echo devices.

In short, Amazon’s high and growing sales numbers show that the company continues to find new ways to serve its existing customers and attract new ones. Over the next decade, Amazon remains an unusual stock to own because of its combination of proven businesses and innovative new ventures.

Meta platforms

The Next stock with no idea to own it is Meta platforms (META -3.21%). The reason Meta is such an obvious choice it’s this the company delivers the most important factor for any stock: it generates shareholder value.

What I mean is that The meta generates a lot of free cash flow — which is the life blood of any great stock.

Think a garden hose. When the tap is fully open, water flies at a fast pace. The more closed the valve, the less water comes out the other end of the hose.

In the case of a company, the valve represents operating expenses and capital expenditures, and the water represents free cash flow—it’s what’s left after employee salaries, taxes, capital expenditures, and many other costs have been incurred. were deducted from income.

What is so great about Meta is that the company generates a lot of free cash flow. In addition, his total continues to grow bigger.

META Free Cash Flow Data by YCharts

Over the past 10 years, Meta has grown its free cash flow from about $3 billion to nearly $50 billion. This is amazing. Keep in mind that many big companies you’ve heard of don’t generate $50 billion sales, let alone free cash flow.

Simply put, Meta’s free cash flow makes it a stock market juggernaut. With so much free cash flow at its disposal, the company can return value to its shareholders any number of ways, including paying dividends, buying back shares or making acquisitions.

In short, it gives Meta management plenty of ways to boost its stock price. And that’s something that should keep investors happy for many years to come.