These 3 Companies Rank Highest on Customer Loyalty: Are Their Stocks No-Brainer Picks to Buy and Hold?

A company without customers will always go out of business. A company with loyal customers will usually perform well for a long time.

Which companies have the highest customer loyalty? DesignRush, which operates an online business-to-business platform for connecting businesses with professional agencies, evaluated large companies using several metrics. These three ranked highest on customer loyalty.

1. Alphabet

You might have expected Apple to be at the top of DesignRush's list. It wasn't. Instead, the iPhone maker came in at No. 4. However, another big tech company did take the top spot -- Google parent Alphabet (GOOG 9.96%) (GOOGL 10.22%).

Many of Alphabet's products are household names, including Google Search, Google Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Android, and Chrome. That makes sense considering that the company has nine products with more than 1 billion users worldwide.  

Alphabet claimed the No. 1 position on DesignRush's ranking in part due to positive customer reviews. The company also boasted the second-highest popularity rating on market research website YouGov of any member of the Fortune 100.

2. Lowe's

Lowe's (LOW -0.04%) came in at No. 2 on DesignRush's list of companies with the highest customer loyalty. The home improvement giant operates over 1,700 stores in the U.S.

The company is focusing heavily on improving its customer experience -- and it shows. Lowe's executive vice president of stores, Joseph McFarland, said in the quarterly update in August that the company saw "a 200 basis point improvement in both our [do-it-yourself] and Pro customer service scores."

DesignRush's report appeared to confirm the success of those efforts. It stated that Lowe's scored the highest on YouGov popularity of any company included in its analysis.

3. Intel

Intel (INTC -9.20%) ranked third on DesignRush's rankings. It's arguably the biggest surprise considering that customers typically don't even see the company's products -- namely, the chips inside their computers.

However, Intel began its "Intel Inside" marketing campaign back in 1991. Through the subsequent decades, its brand became well known to end customers.

What propelled Intel to the No. 3 spot on the list of companies with the highest brand loyalty? DesignRush's report said that the huge chipmaker had "some of the lowest volumes of customer service and complaint-related searches." 

No-brainer stocks to buy and hold?

Are Alphabet, Lowe's, and Intel stocks no-brainer picks to buy and hold based on their impressive customer loyalty? Yes and no. 

Customer loyalty by itself isn't enough to justify buying a stock. Sometimes the shares of great companies can be priced at too high of a premium. However, I think long-term investors should like all three of these stocks.

Some view artificial intelligence (AI) as a potential threat to Alphabet. I believe that AI will instead provide a major tailwind for Google Cloud and will enhance Google Search. I also predict that quantum computing could present a big new opportunity for Alphabet over the next several years.

Lowe's should benefit from the ongoing growth in home improvement. Once interest rates begin to decline (which will happen sooner or later), the company could see a surge in revenue as homeowners fix up their houses to sell.

Nvidia has been the biggest winner in the chip market from the AI-fueled boom. However, Intel has profited as well to a lesser extent. The company recently released updated benchmarks for its Gaudi2 accelerators that underscored their solid performance in powering AI apps. I won't be surprised if Intel continues to make inroads in the AI market in the coming years.