A stock market sell-off in 2022 has put multiple growth stocks on sale. The Nasdaq 100 index is down 31% year to date, with the tech industry primarily suffering the brunt of that. Tech companies have long been associated with reliable long-term growth, making now an excellent time to pick up stocks to hold indefinitely.
Microsoft (MSFT 0.58%) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD 0.46%) have each seen their share prices skyrocket in the past five years despite a slowdown in consumer spending this year. They are reliable growth stocks you can confidently buy now and hold forever. Here's why.
Microsoft
Microsoft has seen its stock rise 171% in the past five years thanks to its growing market share and dominance in multiple industries.
The company's Intelligent Cloud segment, composed of earnings from its cloud services, has been the fastest-growing part of Microsoft's business in recent years. The cloud computing platform Azure is the segment's primary source of revenue, which rose 35% in its latest quarter. Investors have grown weary of the business in 2022, as Azure's growth has steadily slowed in the past few months.
In the first quarter of 2022, Microsoft reported a 50% increase in Azure revenue, decreasing to 40% in Q4 2022. However, its slowed growth is largely due to macroeconomic factors affecting dozens of companies and is unlikely to last forever. According to Fortune Business Insights, the cloud market will see a compound annual growth rate of 17.9% between 2022 and 2028.
Microsoft's Azure holds the second-largest market share in cloud computing at 21%, only behind Amazon Web Services. As a result, the Windows company will likely see significant gains from the booming industry for years to come.
Moreover, one of Microsoft's biggest strengths is its diversification. In addition to a large market share in cloud computing, the company is the most valuable video game company by market cap, boasts a dominating 76.33% market share of desktop PC operating systems, and expects its advertising business to grow to $20 billion a year.
Microsoft stock has fallen 31% since January, primarily due to rising inflation tanking consumer spending. While the company may suffer short-term declines, Microsoft remains a robust business that will likely continue to grow for decades. The company is home to potent brands such as Windows, Xbox, Office, and Azure, making it an excellent investment to buy and hold forever.
AMD
Advanced Micro Devices is one of the world's fastest-growing companies, seeing its stock rise 436% in the past five years despite steep declines in 2022. In fact, a $200,000 investment in AMD stock in 2017 would be worth $872,000 today.
The company has had a rough year, with a weakening PC market causing its stock to plummet 60% year to date. However, AMD remains a promising business with its growing market share in lucrative industries such as data centers, game consoles, and client processors.
According to BlueWeave Consulting, the data center market alone will see a compound annual growth rate of 10.20% until at least 2028. AMD released preliminary results for its Q3 2022 on Oct. 6, showing that the market's consistent growth is paying off as the company's data center segment rose 45% and generated $1.61 billion.
Additionally, AMD's gaming pursuits have helped boost its business exponentially and steal market share from Intel over the past few years. AMD's focus on gaining consumer loyalty from gamers through its line of Ryzen processors since 2017 has helped it to parlay that loyalty into mainstream consumer hardware such as Microsoft's Surface line and other PC hardware manufacturers' offerings.
Furthermore, AMD was chosen by both Sony and Microsoft to power the new generation of PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series game consoles. The partnerships guarantee stable income and room for potential hardware refreshes for at least the next five years.
Despite short-term headwinds in the stock market, AMD offers investors a robust, reliable business with plenty of room for growth over the coming decades.
