3 Best Dow Stocks to Buy and Hold Forever

"Buy and hold" is great investing advice but with a few caveats. For starters, aim to buy and hold, for decades, but keep up with your holdings, lest one or more of them deteriorate without your noticing. And also, don't just buy and hold anything; seek out high-quality, healthy and growing companies.

Here are three to consider, all of which hold a berth on the Dow Jones Industrial Average index, which only features 30 companies.

1. Apple

It's probably easy to see why buying and holding shares of Apple (AAPL -0.35%) would be a good idea. Once nearly left for dead, with a small share of the personal computer market, Apple has grown into an electronic juggernaut. Its market value was recently $2.1 trillion -- and that was after the stock had fallen some 29% from its 52-week high.

Apple's business model is compelling. It has built a very sticky electronic ecosystem, so that someone with an iPhone who wants a smart watch will likely be pulled toward the Apple Watch as it will sync with other Apple offerings. The ecosystem features not only smartphones, smart watches, desktop computers, laptops, and tablets, but also a music streaming service, an app store, a TV streaming service, digital payment systems, and much more. Apple has inked a streaming deal for Major League Baseball, and if it signs up other sports, it could start dominating in that area, as well.

Another advantage for Apple is its very solid brand, recently valued at $947 billion and top-ranked in the 2022 Kantar BrandZ Most Valuable Global Brands list. That strong brand means that if Apple debuts a new kind of product or service, it will likely be checked out by many people and assumed to be of good quality. With a massive multibillion-dollar cash hoard, Apple has the wherewithal to develop and introduce many new offerings.

Apple's future seems quite promising, and it pays a dividend, too, recently yielding 0.7%. In its second quarter, revenue grew 9% year over year to a record $97 billion, demonstrating that this giant can grow even bigger.

2. Nike

Nike (NKE 0.19%) is also a dominant force in its field, specializing in athletic footwear and apparel. In the 2020 brand-value ranking noted above, Nike held  the top ranking for apparel businesses, with a brand value estimated at $110 billion, up a hefty 31% from the year before. Note, too, that Nike not only has its own flagship brand name, but it's now also home to the Converse and Jordan names.

Nike's strong brand power confers some pricing power: When a company has a strong brand, it's more able to raise prices, because many consumers favor its offerings over others. Raising prices, meanwhile, can help a company fight inflation. In its third quarter, Nike reported revenue growth of 5% year over year, to nearly $11 billion. On a currency-neutral basis, that growth would be 8%. The company is having particular success with its direct sales, which rose 15% (17% on a currency-neutral basis), while digital sales surged 19% (22% on a currency-neutral basis).

Clearly, this company with a recent market value near $170 billion is likely to keep growing. Its shares were recently down 40% from their 52-week high, with a forward-looking price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio recently near 24 -- well below the five-year average of 33. That decline pushed its dividend yield up to a recent 1.1%. Nike is a Dow stock well worth considering for any long-term portfolio.

3. UnitedHealth Group

UnitedHealth Group (UNH 0.30%) is another Dow component worth considering for your long-term portfolio, with its shares recently down 18% from their 52-week high. It's not quite in screaming-bargain territory, though, as its forward-looking P/E ratio was recently 21, above the five-year average of 19.

UnitedHealth is a massive company, with a recent market value of $424 billion, some 350,000 employees, and close to $300 billion in annual revenue. (Fully 85,000 members of its workforce is made up of doctors and nurses.) It serves around 100 million people and counting. Its first quarter featured revenue up 14% year over year, to $80 billion.

UnitedHealth also pays a dividend. Recently yielding 1.5%, it may not look tempting, but the payout has been increased by nearly 800% over the past decade. Healthy and growing dividend payers tend to increase their payouts over time.

These are just three of many attractive companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Most, if not all, of the 30 companies should be of interest, as the index only includes companies that have performed very well to become large and dominant businesses in their field.