From Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s plenty of proof that it’s quite perilous for investors to presume they know what will work on Wall Street in a year or two. And the longer you look to the future, it becomes even harder to predict what investments will be winners.
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That said, there are a number of big-picture megatrends out there worth watching — as well as top-shelf companies that have a track record of performing in the long run regardless of the short-term news cycles that cause volatility.
If you’re a buy-and-hold investor looking for durable growth stories that will stand up for the long haul, the following nine companies all offer different ways to invest with an eye on the future.
— DaVita Inc. (ticker: DVA)
— DraftKings Inc. (DKNG)
— Extra Space Storage Inc. (EXR)
— First Solar Inc. (FSLR)
— Gen Digital Inc. (GEN)
— Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)
— Nvidia Corp. (NVDA)
— SoFi Technologies Inc. (SOFI)
— Tesla Inc. (TSLA)
DaVita Inc. (DVA)
Market capitalization: $11.9 billion Sector: Health care
One of the most durable long-term growth investments you can make is to bank on the continued expansion of the health care sector. That’s because demographics both at home and abroad are fueling a tailwind that will likely last for decades to come.
DaVita illustrates that point perfectly, with a business focused on dialysis treatment for patients with chronic kidney conditions. More than half a million dialysis patients in the U.S. need regular care, and as that figure grows, DVA has an even bigger pool of patients that literally depend on it as a matter of life and death. And beyond the narrative, it also has strong ownership with the backing of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A, BRK.B), which first took a stake in the stock back in 2011.
Berkshire has since increased its position steadily to account for more than 40% ownership in the firm at present. It’s no wonder why, either, with current earnings set to jump 20% from $7.42 in fiscal year 2023 to $8.94 this year — then another 13%, to $10.08, in FY 2025. With a trend like that, DVA is a stock worth watching for many years to come.
DraftKings Inc. (DKNG)
Market cap: $21.7 billion Sector: Consumer cyclical
Riding a structural uptrend of a much different kind, DraftKings is one of the preeminent online betting businesses out there. Ever since a 2018 Supreme Court ruling that overturned federal prohibitions on sportsbooks, it has been forging ahead with an ambitious plan to dominate related gaming businesses. The stock has been volatile lately, but as of 2023 it overtook rival Fanduel — which is owned by Flutter Entertainment PLC (FLUT) — to become the largest operator in this new but very lucrative industry. And judging by a forecast of more than 30% revenue growth this fiscal year, it’s hardly resting on its laurels as it looks to push out all the competition to cement its status as the go-to digital gaming platform for years to come.
Extra Space Storage Inc. (EXR)
Market cap: $30.7 billion Sector: Consumer cyclical
You might not think that a real estate company that specializes in storage units would have a lot of growth potential. But with nearly 3,700 self-storage locations in the U.S., this real estate investment trust, or REIT, has the property to maximize its potential profits. It’s also growing through acquisition, as evidenced by its mega-merger with Life Storage in 2023, pegged at about $12 billion.
As a result, EXR is expecting more than 30% revenue growth this fiscal year — and is paying a huge dividend of more than 4.6% right now, thanks to reliable and growing profits. It’s hard to find a lot of real estate stocks that offer more than income, but EXR may be worth a look as it continues to roll up the self-storage market.
First Solar Inc. (FSLR)
Market cap: $17.4 billion Sector: Energy
The energy sector isn’t really known for its long-term growth potential, since many old-school oil and gas companies have their profits closely tied to commodity markets. In other words, as oil prices go up — as they have in 2024 thanks to geopolitical unrest in the Middle East — oil stocks rise, too. The reverse is true as well, however, which means these stocks can suffer simply because oil prices roll back again.
In the age of climate change, a long-term tailwind for alternative energy stocks presents a unique opportunity in companies like First Solar. FSLR is near the top of the heap when it comes to both market value and revenue directly attributable to solar arrays. Revenue has surged from about $2.7 billion in fiscal 2020 to over $4.5 billion projected for fiscal 2024, showing that short-term price volatility cannot overshadow the long-term growth potential of this stock.
[READ: 7 Best Thematic ETFs to Buy in 2024]
Gen Digital Inc. (GEN)
Market cap: $14 billion Sector: Technology
Gen Digital is a stock riding the long-term trend of cybersecurity and hacking concerns. Rebranded in 2022 from NortonLifeLock — a combination of two brands that consumers likely recognize for their security-related services — this growth stock is tailor-made for the risks of a digital age. Cybersecurity solutions are in high demand generally because of prevalent malware, viruses, adware and other online threats. And in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine about two years ago, elevated cyber risk has raised the stakes even more.
As a result, GEN has seen revenue surge from less than $2.5 billion in fiscal 2020 to more than $3.8 billion projected for 2024. On top of this strong performance, GEN also is a rare tech sector dividend stock with a consistent 12.5-cent quarterly payday that has paid out every quarter since 2019.
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)
Market cap: $3.1 trillion Sector: Technology
Of course, if you want a long-term growth stock to invest in, it’s hard to imagine any tech company that’s more entrenched than enterprise software icon Microsoft. The company is the largest publicly traded U.S. corporation out there, after all.
Despite its massive size, however, MSFT is committed to growing even larger. Back in 2019, the company “only” had about $125 billion in revenue — and now it’s pushing $225 billion in revenue this fiscal year. A booming cloud business under its Azure platform has fueled this growth.
Wall Street is also very excited about Microsoft’s Copilot AI technology, and after Microsoft snapped up the former CEO of ChatGPT parent OpenAI, it’s going to be an uphill battle for any company that wants to go toe-to-toe with this tech titan in the decade to come.
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA)
Market cap: $2.2 trillion Sector: Technology
Nvidia is perhaps the most dramatic high-flying tech stock of the past few years, with shares that have surged an amazing 2,000% in five years to put NVDA right next to powerhouse Apple Inc. (AAPL) in terms of market capitalization.
Applications for this firm’s top-tier semiconductors include self-driving cars, AI, cryptocurrency mining, and other growth-oriented areas of the 21st-century economy. It’s only natural, then, that NVDA has seen massive growth thanks to its foothold in these areas.
Analysts think the chipmaker can keep running, too, based on ratings of “buy” or equivalent ratings issued by UBS, TD Cowen, Argus, Stiefel and others in the last few weeks.
SoFi Technologies Inc. (SOFI)
Market cap: $7.1 billion Sector: Financial
Typically, financial companies are more commonly classified as value investments rather than growth stocks. That’s because of a host of factors, including the fact that big banks are highly regulated and that they are generally are tied to cyclical trends in the economy such as overall lending demand. But SoFi Technologies is a unique way to play the long-term growth potential of finance, because the firm is a digitally native enterprise built for the future.
Specifically, SoFi provides investing tools for the “meme-stock” generation as well as a software suite for small businesses and a digital portal that lets borrowers shop around for lending products. And it does this without the overhead of traditional brick-and-mortar financial institutions to boot.
SoFi recently turned the corner to profitability after a massive revenue ramp from $750 million in 2020 to a projected $2.4 billion this fiscal year, and it is looking good as it continues to build a business that traditional financial firms are envious of.
Tesla Inc. (TSLA)
Market cap: $569 billion Sector: Industrial
As a group, manufacturing stocks are a tough investment to depend on for sustained growth. But EV leader Tesla stands apart, since it more or less established the EV marketplace as we know it — and it continues to grow and thrive as that market expands.
In 2023, for instance, vehicle deliveries grew by 38% over the prior year to 1.81 million units. In case you’re curious, 10 years ago the company made a paltry 35,000 of its now-iconic Model S cars and lost $294 million during its fiscal year in the process. The last decade of growth is plenty of reason to give Tesla some attention, but with news that the firm is talking with suppliers about a mass market vehicle launch around mid-2025, there are even more reasons to like where this growth stock is headed in the next 10 years.
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Update 03/27/24: This story was published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
