3 Growth Stocks to Buy and Hold Forever

The best method to grow your wealth over the long term is to invest in promising growth stocks. These companies should have the capability to continue growing their revenue, profits, and free cash flow over years, if not decades. By doing so, their share price should steadily track the upward trajectory of the business, rewarding you with attractive capital gains and boosting the value of your retirement fund.

Here are three stocks with the right attributes to make you want to hold them for the rest of your life.

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Interactive Brokers

Interactive Brokers (IBKR -0.49%) is a brokerage firm operating a platform for the buying and selling of securities, commodities, foreign exchange, and other contracts in more than 160 markets. The company has grown its revenue, net income, and free cash flow by leaps and bounds over the years, as shown in the table below. The improving performance can be attributed to more account openings over the years along with a higher volume of trades.

Data source: Interactive Brokers. Fiscal years end Dec. 31.

Interactive Brokers saw continued growth in the first quarter of 2025 as revenue climbed 18.6% year over year to $1.4 billion. Net profit shot up 21.7% year over year to $213 million. The business enjoyed higher executed order volumes of 239.5 million, a 57% year-over-year jump and a 9% improvement over the previous quarter. Total customer accounts for the quarter rose 32% year over year to 3.6 million, with a total of $573 billion parked on Interactive Brokers' platform, representing a 23% year-over-year increase. A quarterly cash dividend of $0.32 was declared, 28% higher than the $0.25 paid out a year ago.

The company looks set to continue this growth as its platform offers a low-cost, convenient, and seamless global access to a wide variety of financial products. At the end of 2024, Interactive Brokers offered financial products in more than 150 financial centers in 36 countries and 28 currencies. In addition, sustained increased interest in financial markets and growing interconnectedness of investors worldwide are catalysts that will drive continued client account growth.

Just last month, the company expanded cryptocurrency trading with the addition of new tokens such as Avalanche and Sui onto its platform, broadening investor access to a large suite of digital assets. Earlier this month, Interactive Brokers' Forecast Contracts expanded its trading hours to 24 hours, six days a week, providing more flexibility to clients to manage their portfolios. These trends, along with the company's efforts to increase the slate of securities and products available for trade, should help the business continue growing.

Howmet Aerospace

Howmet Aerospace (HWM 0.97%) produces aero engines and turbine components, structures for aircraft, and aerospace fastening systems. Around 85% of the company's revenue comes from its four key divisions, which occupy either the No. 1 or No. 2 market position. This market dominance enabled Howmet Aerospace to post higher revenue, net income, and free cash flow over the years as shown in the table below.

Data source: Howmet Aerospace. Fiscal years end Dec. 31.

The aerospace specialist continued its strong performance into the first quarter of 2025 with revenue growing 6.5% year over year to $1.9 billion, a new quarterly record. Operating income climbed nearly 34% year over year to $494 million while net income surged 41.6% year over year to a new high of $344 million. Howmet Aerospace continued its track record of free-cash-flow generation by churning out $134 million of free cash flow for the quarter, up 41% year over year. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.10 in April, double that of the $0.05 that was paid out in the previous year.

Howmet Aerospace's CEO and Chairman John Plant believes that the commercial aerospace market is poised for further growth, with air passenger traffic increases led by Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. The company is seeing a record backlog supported by the under-investment in aircraft and the need for newer and fuel-efficient aircraft. The business guided for a baseline 2025 revenue of $8.03 billion, representing an 8% year-over-year growth. Free cash flow is projected at around $1.15 billion, higher than the previous year's $977 million.

Lennox International

Lennox International (LII -0.96%) manufactures and sells climate control products for heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration. The company has seen growing revenue and net income over the past three years. Free cash flow has also grown alongside net profit, as shown in the table below.

Data source: Lennox International. Fiscal years end Dec. 31.

The climate control company handed in a mixed report card for the first quarter of 2025 as expenses rose higher than revenue. Revenue inched up 2.4% year over year to $1.1 billion, but operating income fell 6.7% year over year to $155.6 million. Net income stood at $120.3 million, down by a gentler 3.2% year over year. Despite the lower profit, Lennox International still declared a quarterly dividend of $1.15 per share, up from $1.10 a year ago.

Management has set a long-term target of achieving between $5.4 billion and $6 billion of revenue by 2026. The company expects to convert more than 90% of its net income into free cash flow, thereby continuing its solid track record of free cash flow and dividend growth. To grow, Lennox International intends to strengthen its distribution network, refresh and improve its brand perception, and build enduring customer loyalty.

The business is also in a good position to harness the power of generative artificial intelligence to manufacture intelligent products aided by smart sensors. The company is also working on creating a unified digital data platform with an extensive data repository for all its applications. Back in December 2022, Lennox International estimated that it had less than a 10% market share in a total addressable market worth $50 billion, giving the business ample opportunities to continue growing and expanding in the future.