Long-Term Investing Is Hard To Do
When most people invest in the stock market, they're looking to growth their wealth in some form or fashion. Many that begin in the stock market look at it as a cash machine; a way to put a dollar in and see that stock go up 10% to make a quick buck. However, The Motley Fool estimates that 95% of active day traders actually lose money. Time and again, the way to make money in the stock market has been shown to be long term investing. Sure, it takes a ton of patience to get rich slow, but you're still getting rich.
Today, I want to highlight three of the companies I think are worth hanging onto for the long term, as well as a few honorable mentions.
As a note, this is not investment advice. This is just my opinion. Please do your own research before investing, and contact a professional for your own personal situation.
One more caveat: I'm not just going to hammer tech companies on here. I want to do what any good investor should be doing and diversify. I'm going to give you my top three stocks to hold onto forever, so let's start with number one.
1. The Walt Disney Company (DIS)
The Walt Disney Company is, in my opinion, the best media company on the planet. Sure, Netflix has more subscribers than Disney+, and Amazon has deeper pockets to produce original content. Even Apple, who treats their content like the kid living under the stairs, can throw an infinite war chest at their streaming library (just look at the fucking disaster that is "The Morning Show"). However, Disney has one thing that the other companies really don't: established and beloved intellectual property.
I wrote about the concept of IP in my full write-up on the Walt Disney Company a few months ago, but essentially, Disney owns your childhood. Did you grow up loving Snow White or Cinderella? Disney! How about Luke Skywalker and Boba Fett? Disney again! Same with the four trillion characters from the Marvel comics that have been developed and nurtured since the 1940's. They also probably broadcast all of your favorite sports memories, or even that one season of The Bachelor that you can't stop talking about.
They also have more ways to capitalize on their IP than just streaming: they have the obvious parks and resorts around the world, they have linear television to own the advertising revenue and means of production, and they have key toy partnerships with Mattel and Target. Not to mention that they're pouring millions of dollars into establishing the presence of Disney+ around the world to really take on the streaming heavy hitters. And did I mention that their dividend is projected to return this year?
The absolute worst-case scenario for this company is that a global pandemic completely shuts down the biggest, highest-profile part of the company (the parks). Well, we just lived through that, and Disney is still here. Like Daredevil, the loss of one key attribute only served to strengthen the others, with Disney+ subscribers flocking to the platform in droves. This company has shown strength, resiliency and the ability to grow in an otherwise stagnant industry. This one is a winner.
2. Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A; BRK.B)
OK, this one is CLEARLY cheating, but it's going in anyway. For the uninitiated, Berkshire Hathaway is the corporation run by half of the Mt. Rushmore of investing: Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger. Together, these two created a boring company powerhouse that has outperformed anyone and everyone since its inception in 1965.
Quick background: In the 1960's, Warren Buffett discovered a sleepy textiles company called Berkshire Hathaway that was trading at a value less than the sum of its parts. He formed a partnership to take the company over, turning them into an investment holding company that then purchased Geico, the insurance company with the British(?) lizard that dominates your TV on football Sunday's. Using the insurance "float," he then began to buy up shares of companies on the basis of value investing, one of which was a little Atlanta-based drink manufacturer that turned out to be one of the biggest companies in the world: Coca-Cola.
I bring up the background to let you know what you're getting with Berkshire Hathaway. It's diversified. The company invests in quality based on the, ahem, *values* of value investing. It doesn't chase the next fad, or the next best thing, and this strategy has proven to be one of the best investing strategies of all time. Buffett, as a result of Berkshire Hathaway's insane returns, is now the sixth wealthiest man on the planet. Those that followed Buffett in the early days have also been richly rewarded. According to Equity Stat, a $1,000 investment in Berkshire Hathaway in 1965 is now worth $18 million. Not bad.
3. Apple (AAPL)
This is the most obvious one on this list, but it's certainly worth mentioning as a killer company. Apple is an unstoppable machine that continues to grow faster and faster. The world's most valuable company at over a $3 trillion market capitalization has seen an acceleration in their growth over the past few years. The company took 42 years to go from $0 to $1 trillion, then two years to go from $1 trillion to $2 trillion, then only 16 months to go from $2 trillion to $3 trillion. Just unbelievable stuff from CEO Tim Cook.
So what's behind this borderline psychotic growth? Apple is the expert at introducing new revenue streams and then absolutely up-selling the shit out of them. The company started with computers, launching the Macintosh and then later the iMac. Then they go with the Macbook and the million iterations of that laptop that every college student and liberal arts barista now possess. Then the iPod, then the iPhone, then the iPad. Then iTunes turns into Apple Music and there's Podcasts and AirPods and Apple TV and TV+ and Jesus Christ I can't keep up.
The company has shown the incredible ability to grow all of these segments rapidly. The Wearables segment (inclusive of AirPods, the Apple Watch and the Homepod that no one has ever purchased that doesn't have an @apple email address) accounted for $14.7 billion in sales last quarter. That was somehow bested by the Services segment (including Apple TV+, Apple Fitness+ and others), which generated an eye-watering $19.5 billion. Apple revenue continues to tick upwards, and their dividend continues to grow, a rarity in tech. This one is a current winner, past winner, future winner, and I'm just waiting for them to purchase another planet so they can name it "Apple World" and really take it to Disney.
Honorable Mentions
The three companies I listed above are what I call "low maintenance." Throw them in a retirement account and forget they're there. You don't have to worry about regulatory risks, analysts springing surprise downgrades or worry about Congress. Well, these next few honorable mentions all have some form of risk that causes them to miss out on being sure-fire, but they're still amazing companies. Let's quickly get into them and why they didn't make the podium.
Meta Platforms (formerly known as Facebook)
Meta Platforms is one of the most well-run companies I know of. Mark Zuckerberg is an actual genius, and his capital allocation in purchasing platforms like Instagram and WhatsApp have been nothing short of inspired. The introduction early on of Sheryl Sandberg to really realize the advertising side of the business was also incredible, and she deserves a ton of credit for making this company essentially the most efficient and effective advertising company on the planet. They also have positioned themselves as the leader in the clubhouse to capitalize on the Metaverse concept, especially with the acquisition of Oculus several years ago.
The company is well run, well organized, expertly positioned for the future and prints money like it's going out of style, so why don't I move it to the top of this article? Regulatory risk! Meta is enemy number one for the U.S government, and that's not a great place to be. Between the issues around fake news propagation on Facebook, the self-image crisis that has now befallen teenagers around the world thanks to Instagram and the now-failed cryptocurrency experiment, the company looks ripe for regulation and a breakup. This is one to keep in the portfolio in my opinion, but this one could go south pretty quickly if regulators do decide to step in and make an example of them.
Amazon
Amazon belongs in the Apple-type category of "growth monster that can do no wrong." However, they also fall under the Meta-type category of "regulators hate them." Essentially, Amazon is a now-legal monopoly that could soon be compelled to break the business up into component parts: Amazon Retail and Amazon Web Services.
Amazon Retail is the side of the company you're most familiar with. They operate Amazon Prime and general Amazon retail shipping and purchases, as well as the Amazon content library and production house that recently purchased MGM.
The Amazon Web Services side is likely one you're less familiar with. Essentially, Amazon has become the king of web-based cloud computing architecture, and now serves as the backbone of the internet. Thousands of extremely high-profile companies run on AWS servers, which gives Amazon incredible pricing power for a very sticky product. If Amazon had already been compelled to break up by regulators, AWS would be on my list of sure-fire winners for years to come. It's that good of a business.
Coinbase
This one is 100% you either believe in cryptocurrency, or you don't. Cryptocurrency has had an explosive four years in the mainstream, and Coinbase has been there to sweep up. It's essentially the first cryptocurrency bank, but if your bank charged you BRUTAL fees for using your debit card. I wrote about this company in-depth several months ago, and you can find that article here if you're interested.
One more quick note on Coinbase: they just announced that they have added Shopify CEO Tobias Lutke to their board of directors. This, in my opinion, might be the strongest appointment in the corporate world this year. Lutke is a master operator, but more importantly for this business, he's a master integrator. Shopify's list of integrations and plug-ins that Lutke has positioned Shopify as the most successful company in Canadian history, and one of the biggest in the world. Look for this appointment to send shock waves through the crypto industry.
What do you think about my list? Any you'd add? Let me know in the comments below, and don't forget to sign up for my email list so you never miss a post!
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