2 Top Stocks to Buy No Matter What the Market Does Next

If you're worried about the state of the stock market right now, you might be considering the best stocks to buy that can keep your portfolio on track, whether another correction happens in the near or distant future. In this segment of Backstage Pass, recorded on Nov. 3, Fool.com contributors Brian Withers and Trevor Jennewine share the companies they would buy if they could only invest in a single stock for the next 5 to 10 years. 

Brian Withers: You asked some hard questions today, Trevor. [laughs] I'm going to go with a software company. Not surprised there, maybe not the one you think. I am going to go with Atlassian (TEAM 0.03%). Atlassian's mission is to help teams around the world unleash their potential. If there's anything that is going to be a constant over time, it's teams getting together, figuring out stuff and getting stuff done, and having software that enables that and those teams to be more productive.

We're really just seeing the beginning of collaboration-type software, and Atlassian is one of the first ones that has come around to focus on software that helps teams. They had a great quarter this quarter, but I look at them, I think I've owned them for about five years now. They've been just amazing execution and continuing to spread their umbrella over the products that they can offer their customers. I'm going with Atlassian, ticker symbol T-E-A-M.

Trevor Jennewine: I like both of those picks, Brian. Atlassian is a company I have not spent a lot of time following, but given your pick, I'm going to have to change that. [laughs] I'm going to take a closer look at Atlassian. My pick is going to be Shopify (SHOP -0.20%) for similar reasons to what Rachel [Warren, Fool.com contributor] mentioned. E-commerce spend is still growing quickly at about 11% per year. Then if you look at the whole world, global e-commerce retail sales are expected to hit $7.4 trillion in 2025, and I think Shopify's business plays into that perfectly.

Its platform provides merchants with the tools that they need to sell across brick-and-mortar stores, as well as a bunch of different digital storefronts, like online marketplaces like Walmart or Amazon, social media like Instagram, Pinterest, or Facebook, and then their own personalized website as well. It supplements that software with services like payment processing, discounted shipping, and financing, and it's really growing that list of services. In the last year or so, it added buy now, pay later, and then it recently started rolling out Shopify Balance, which is a money management solution that essentially helps business owners separate their personal and business expenses. They get an account with a linked debit card. They have visibility to cash flow related to their business without merging it with their other finances.

The company's also building up a Shopify fulfillment network, and this is going to be a robot-powered network of warehouses across the United States. It'll use artificial intelligence to allocate inventory intelligently, and that will make the fulfillment process faster and more efficient for merchants. That's better for sellers, it's better for buyers, and it should help Shopify's merchants compete more directly with companies like Amazon. Amazon has an incredible logistics infrastructure.

Those are some of the reasons I like Shopify. I think the company maybe long term has an advantage over Amazon, at least in the commerce segment. Rather than pulling all the merchants onto a marketplace like Amazon does, Shopify helps brands promote themselves, grow their own brand. When you visit a Shopify powered website, you don't see Shopify's logo sprawled across the top of the page. They empower brands, and they don't use the data that they collect to turn around and sell similar products at a lower price. They're not competing with their own customers.

Then one final thing I like about Shopify is they're taking Shop Pay, which is their accelerated checkout solution, off-platform. Non-Shopify merchants on Google, Facebook, and Instagram, by the end of the year, will have access. They'll be able to accept payments through Shop Pay.

That reminds me of what MercadoLibre did with Mercado Pago. I like the way management is making decisions. I think they have a massive market opportunity. I think they're making all the right moves. I like their business model. I think it's very merchant- and customer-centric. If I could only own one stock over the next 5 to 10 years, it would be Shopify. Obviously, we want to have a diversified portfolio, but I thought it would be a fun thought exercise.