3 Stocks I'm Never Selling

Warren Buffett has said that his "favorite holding period is forever," and I generally invest with that same philosophy in mind. I don't think I'll keep each and every stock I own forever -- after all, there are plenty of valid reasons to sell stocks, and there's no way of knowing how a company or its industry will change in the future. 

Having said that, here are three stocks in my portfolio that I couldn't see myself selling anytime soon. 

Image source: Getty Images.

Data source: TD Ameritrade. Prices and yields as of 5/14/18. 

A rock-solid bank with lots of room to grow 

I own a few bank stocks in my portfolio, but I've referred to Toronto-Dominion Bank as my favorite. The Canada-based bank, which is the sixth-largest bank in North America, has a massive presence north of the border, a large and growing U.S. consumer banking operation, and a 40% stake in popular online brokerage TD Ameritrade. 

Like most big Canadian banks, TD has a great track record of responsible risk management and growth. This is why TD made it through the financial crisis largely unscathed, relative to its U.S. peer group, and never had to cut its dividend, which it has paid since 1857.  

TD's earnings have grown by 17% over the past year, and thanks to rising interest rates, there should be much more room to grow. Plus, TD has one of the highest credit ratings in the banking industry and has been named "Safest Bank in North America," by Global Finance magazine. 

Perhaps my favorite thing about TD Bank is its growth potential, which I consider to be the best among the big North American banks. While TD likely has limited room to grow in Canada, keep in mind that the bank has lots of untapped potential in the U.S., currently mostly on the East Coast. 

TD has done an excellent job of growing, both organically and through acquisitions, and I don't see this changing anytime soon. The bottom line is that TD Bank is an excellent combination of great risk management, rising dividends, and growth potential.  

A different kind of real-estate play 

As of this writing, Howard Hughes Corporation is my single largest stock investment. And, it is unlike any other real-estate stock I own, or even write about. While there is obviously more to Howard Hughes' business model than I can discuss in a paragraph or two, here's the simplified version.

Howard Hughes isn't a real-estate investment trust. The company's primary business consists of master-planned communities, or MPCs, which are essentially large plots of land that are developed into extensive communities with lots of amenities. 

Here's how it works. Howard Hughes Corporation sells land in its MPCs to homebuilders, who construct residential neighborhoods. This creates demand for properties such as office buildings, retail stores, etc., which Howard Hughes builds and uses to generate rental income. The addition of these amenities makes the remaining residential land more valuable, so the company sells more land to homebuilders at a higher price. And the cycle repeats... 

This is why Howard Hughes isn't structured as a REIT. The company feels that its business model will produce far superior returns for shareholders if all profits are reinvested back into the business to create more value-adding assets. Howard Hughes' management has some pretty big plans for the company's existing MPCs, as well as for some other assets like a Chicago office high-rise, so I'm extremely excited to see what the coming decades have in store for the companies.  

If I could only own one stock... 

I've said many times before that if I could only own one stock in my portfolio, Berkshire Hathaway would be it.  

Berkshire is actually a conglomerate of more than 60 businesses, with massive operations in insurance (GEICO, General Re), railroads (BNSF), real estate (Berkshire Hathaway Home Service), consumer goods (Duracell), and more. The company also has a closely followed stock portfolio worth nearly $200 billion that includes large positions in Apple, Bank of America, Coca-Cola, American Express, and dozens of other stocks. 

Berkshire's business model is simple yet effective. Its businesses and stock investments generate capital, which can then be used to acquire additional businesses and to make more investments. And who is picking those investments? Legendary investors Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, and Berkshire's two other investment managers who will eventually take their place.  

While Berkshire is an excellent stock to buy anytime, now could be an especially smart time to consider Berkshire. After ending 2017 with more than $116 million in cash, and Buffett and Munger visibly frustrated over the lack of attractive ways to deploy its capital, the company's cash balance went down during the first quarter for the first time in a while. In short, it looks like Berkshire is starting to have some success with deploying its capital, so it could be a smart time to get in before Berkshire figures out how to put even more of its cash to work and boosts its profit potential by billions.