A lot has changed in the past 10 years. In 2011, the U.S. was still recovering from the 2008 financial crisis, and no one had witnessed a deadly pandemic in several decades. Unless you have a crystal ball, it's hard to predict exactly how the next 10 years will develop. But for investors, one thing is for certain: Great businesses will keep beating the market.
If you're looking for excellent stocks to buy and hold through the next decade, here are two that could turn $200,000 into $1,000,000 (that's a compound annual growth rate of about 17.5%) in the next 10 years: Abbott Laboratories (ABT 2.36%) and Match Group (MTCH 2.43%). Let's see why both are worth adding to your portfolio.
1. Abbott Laboratories
Abbott Laboratories isn't just a medical devices specialist. The company's diversified operations, including its established pharmaceutical, nutritional products, and diagnostics segments, are a major strength that will help it continue beating the market. Within its established pharmaceuticals division, Abbott Laboratories offers a suite of branded generic pharmaceutical products. This business is particularly geared toward "emerging markets," including China, Brazil, and India.
Image source: Getty Images.
Abbott's nutritional products segment benefits from strong name recognition thanks to brands such as Ensure, Pediasure, and Similac. The perks of Abbott's diversified business were on full display last year, thanks to its diagnostics division. While the company's medical devices business hit a major snag due to the pandemic, Abbott developed and marketed several COVID-19 diagnostics test kits, which helped the company's revenue and earnings stay afloat -- and then some.
Still, Abbott's medical devices business is its most important, and it will likely remain the key growth driver moving forward. The company's "structural heart" segment, which deals with defects in heart valves or tissues, and its diabetes care segment are particularly worth noting. Abbott launched the Tricuspid Repair System, which repairs the tricuspid valve without open-heart surgery, last year, and it currently has an annual run rate of $100 million.
The company's MitraClip, which treats a heart condition called mitral regurgitation, continues to make headway. Sales for this device jumped by 88% year over year in the second quarter ending June 30. In the quarter, the MitraClip was used in its highest number of procedures ever. Then there is Abbott's continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) device, the FreeStyle Libre, sales of which soared by 52.5% year over year to $904 million during Q2.
The CGM market is projected to continue growing rapidly, and with an established base of 3.5 million users worldwide (and growing), Abbott's FreeStyle Libre is poised to benefit. With these opportunities at its disposal, Abbott is more than likely to continue beating the market for the next 10 years (and beyond), making this healthcare stock worth buying right now.
Image source: Getty Images.
2. Match Group
Match Group is the leader in online dating thanks to its namesake website, as well as Tinder, Plenty of Fish, OkCupid, Hinge, and more. As evidence of the company's dominance within this market, consider that roughly 60% of relationships in the U.S. that began on a dating website or app started on one of the company's products. Also, in Q4 2020, Tinder alone held a 53.8% market share in the online dating space.
Match Group's dominance is the first reason to seriously consider buying its shares, as the company has managed to build a competitive advantage in the form of the network effect. That is to say, the value of Match Group's portfolio of websites and apps increases as more people use it. Those turning to online dating will often want to maximize their chances of finding a mate. What better way to do that than to sign up for those apps with the greatest number of potential suitors?
And as more people sign up for each of Match Group's services, the more attractive those services become to those who will want to join in the future. With the online dating market set to continue growing, so will Match Group's network of users, including paying users. This bodes well for the company's future.
But Match Group is also looking to expand its offerings beyond dating. The tech company took a major step toward that goal earlier this year with its acquisition of Hyperconnect in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at $1.725 billion. The deal closed in June.
Hyperconnect offers two apps: Azar and Hakuna Live. The former allows users to connect with people via video chat. It comes equipped with a feature that can instantly translate voice and text messages from one language into another, allowing users to meet new friends from all over the world. Hakuna Live, meanwhile, is a social media live streaming platform, allowing users to connect through video broadcasts. According to management, the "social discovery market" in which Hyperconnect operates is an even larger and faster-growing market than dating.
This will help drive Match Group's stock in the right direction, and while this tech giant has comfortably beaten the market over the past five years, don't bet against it to continue doing just that for the next decade.
