If you're weary of constantly hunting hot-story stocks and would rather just simplify your stock picking, you're in luck. You don't have to sacrifice performance by minimizing your trading activity, you only have to pick the right stocks to buy and hold for the long haul.
Three familiar stock names fit this bill quite well. Here's a closer look at Edwards Lifesciences (EW +0.56%), Texas Instruments (TXN +1.69%), and Nike (NKE +0.96%), each of which is an unstoppable stock in its own unique way.
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1. Edwards Lifesciences
Edwards Lifesciences has much to offer the medical community, from heart valves to blood management solutions to oxygen sensors to vessel repair patches (and more). And the medical community continues to buy the company's goods in a big way. In only one quarter since 2006 has Edwards posted lower year-over-year quarterly revenue, and that was in the second quarter of 2020, the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
And yet that headwind was still overcome beginning the very next quarter. Operating income growth has been almost as reliable. These aren't petty improvements either. Double-digit growth is the norm here and expected to remain the norm for the foreseeable future. Analysts collectively expect top-line growth of nearly 11% for 2022, pumping up what will likely be 2021 per-share earnings of $2.26 to $2.58, a 14% increase. Chalk it up to a combination of the nature of the business and Edwards Lifesciences' know-how.
See, consumers may skip a shopping trip or postpone a vacation, but they typically don't put off medical care, particularly when an insurance company is footing the bulk of the bill (as is typically the case with Edwards' products). The company is also more than able to hold its place as a go-to name in the business as well, with lots of innovation and ongoing improvements of its existing product portfolio.
For instance, it recently won the FDA's approval for the use of its SAPIEN 3 transcatheter valve with its Alterra adaptive pre-stent for patients with severe pulmonary regurgitation. In short, the combination will allow the SAPIEN 3 to be utilized in pulmonic heart valve replacement procedures.
The company's recently published growth strategy suggests its business could double in size by 2028. And, given its growth trends to date, there's little reason to doubt that outlook.
2. Texas Instruments
Most people probably know Texas Instruments as a brand name for basic office electronics like calculators, while a few investors may also recognize the company makes a wide range of electronic components used by higher-profile manufacturers. But it's not known as a cutting-edge company itself.
That perception, however, is mostly misguided. Texas Instruments is doing some impressive R&D work of its own that will ultimately drive additional revenue. Case in point: In early December, the organization unveiled a new analog-to-digital converter that's 50% smaller than competing converters, can process 50% more bandwidth, and do it all 25% faster than comparable technology. It also does all of this using less power. In a world that's increasingly digitized as well as minimized, it's a leap that makes a big difference in areas like mobile health monitoring and industrial measurement.
At the same time Texas Instruments is figuring out how to better serve its high-tech manufacturing clients, it's also still delivering the basics like LED controllers, Wi-Fi components, display solutions, and audio hardware that are always in demand, regardless of the economic environment.
While TI's top line doesn't improve each and every year, the combination of high-tech and low-tech product lines has made it a reliable long-term holding. It's not a bad dividend payer in the meantime either, currently sporting a yield of 2.4%.
3. Nike
On the surface, Nike is an athletic wear company, accounting for nearly half of the athletic shoe market, as well as a respectable chunk of the athletic apparel arena's revenue. The brand name and Nike's logo are also among the world's most recognized, speaking volumes about its reach into consumers' psyches -- and purchasing habits.
If you think Nike's continued growth is the result of just being a great athletic wear manufacturer though, think again. Nike is a great company -- and a great investment -- because it's a great lifestyle company.
Think about it: Nike's sneakers aren't just functional footwear; they're collectors' items. The Nike app isn't merely a means of buying athletic apparel with a mobile device; it's a means of cultivating a community and even allowing app users to build a community of their own. For instance, the Nike Run Club introduces runners in a particular geographic area to one another so they can run together. The company's omnichannel efforts are considered to be one of the world's most impressive combinations of online and offline selling. Consumers can even customize their own, one-of-a-kind pair of athletic shoes. No competitor is nearly as well-grounded or well-equipped.
It's this combination of factors that's allowed Nike to log a full decade's worth of quarterly year-over-year revenue growth, with the exception of the headwind of COVID-19 making landfall in the United States and elsewhere outside of China. Profit growth has been almost as consistent but perhaps even more impressive on an absolute basis. The $3.68 per share analysts expect the company to earn in the current fiscal year is more than three times better than the $1.21 per share it earned 10 years back, in fiscal 2012. And there's no reason to expect the next 10 years' growth to look dramatically different.
