It's not all that hard for most investors to figure out which stocks are apt to be big winners within the next year or so. Looking further down the road, however, is a bit trickier.
Too many growth stocks are lifted by their compelling stories instead of by their fiscal results, but those bullish stories eventually fizzle out. A long-term winner has to have long-term staying power.
Here's a rundown of three solid growth stocks with just this sort of staying power. These are businesses built to last -- and even thrive -- beyond the next 10 years.
Image source: Getty Images.
1. Qualcomm
Most consumers know the name of their wireless service companies. What they may not know, however, are the names of all the other organizations involved in keeping their smartphones connected to the rest of the world. From towers to the circuitry of their mobile phones to the back-end hardware operated by mobile phone service providers, a lot of companies play integral roles. One of the bigger ones is Qualcomm (QCOM -0.20%).
Many investors may remember it as a major mobile phone brand before smartphones from Apple and Samsung took over the business. It no longer makes branded phones but is still in the phone business. Its so-called Snapdragon system offers incredible (yet affordable) computing power for use in tech ranging from smartphones to headphones to cameras to VR headsets; most of the recent Samsung Galaxy 5G smartphones utilize the platform. Snapdragon's tech is even capable of performing artificial intelligence work needed by self-driving automobiles. Outside of Snapdragon's capabilities, Qualcomm can help businesses build their own WiFi networks, allow consumers to turn their houses into smart homes, and assist developers looking to create new types of wearables, just to name a few. You never see this technology, but you'd certainly notice its absence if Qualcomm's intellectual property suddenly vanished.
No business is bulletproof. Unless the world suddenly decides to give up all of its mobile devices though, Qualcomm is positioned to remain an unseen mainstay in most of the wireless tech most consumers continue to clamor for. In this vein, wireless technology company Ericsson estimates the number of worldwide fixed wireless connections will nearly triple by 2027, driven mostly by the explosion of 5G connectivity that Qualcomm does so well.
2. C3.ai
C3.ai (AI -0.85%) isn't a household name. But there's a good chance you or someone in your household benefits from its service, or soon will. The oddly named outfit offers a variety of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions to the private, as well as the public, sector.
It's interesting. Most investors know that all sorts of enterprises are using AI to do things that weren't possible before it became accessible. And, most investors understand that names like Nvidia are supplying the purpose-built hardware capable of doing the intense number-crunching required in artificial intelligence apps. What most investors may not fully appreciate, however, is how often AI work is being outsourced to better-equipped third parties like C3.ai. Utility company Consolidated Edison, for instance, tapped C3.ai to improve its customer service, and the U.S. Air Force is leveraging the company's C3 AI Readiness platform to predict when it's most likely for a particular aircraft part to fail. One of the program's end results has been a 40% decrease in unscheduled maintenance time.
While the entire artificial intelligence movement is off to a great start, it's also only scratched the surface of its potential. Mordor Intelligence forecasts that the software-as-a-service AI market will grow at an annualized clip of nearly 50% through 2026. C3.ai may well be able to swing to a profit during that time and continue growing its bottom line well after that.
3. Palo Alto Networks
Finally, add Palo Alto Networks (PANW -1.71%) to your list of growth stocks with big potential for at least the next decade.
If you think data breaches, hacking, and cybercrime are a problem now, just wait. Experian's 2022 data breach forecast suggests the so-called cyberdemic (hacking made possible by the rushed response to continue doing business in the midst of the pandemic) will remain alive and well this year, an assessment that cybersecurity software outfit Check Point Software Technologies seconds. It seems unlikely all those vulnerabilities will be shored up in 2023 either, or even after that.
It's a big problem because it's an expensive one. Cybersecurity Ventures estimates cybercrime cost the world $6 trillion in 2021. That's only the beginning though. If the world doesn't do any more than it's doing now to prevent these data breaches and hacks, cybercrime could cost the world more than $10 trillion in 2025 alone, Cybersecurity Ventures claims.
The world's doing what it can to prevent that from happening, of course, since it's cheaper to avoid such a problem than fix one. Cybersecurity Ventures suggests the world spent on the order of $260 billion on cyberdefense in 2021. Moreover, that spending is projected to swell to nearly $460 billion by 2025. Palo Alto Networks is positioned to capitalize on at least its fair share of that growth.
The thing is, as long the world relies on computers and remote connectivity to the cloud, hackers will be looking for a way to exploit security flaws. Cybersecurity is a recurring revenue service that will be needed 10 years from now as much as it's needed 10 minutes from now.
