10 Stocks That Make Great Holiday Season Gifts

If you’re searching for the perfect present to place under the Christmas tree or in a loved one’s stocking, why not put that special someone one step closer to achieving financial freedom? These days, it’s easy to buy a stock gift card through online brokerage firms or even a certificate for a single share of the stock of your choice.

The following 10 companies include an assortment of blue chip, dividend, and growth stocks. Any of these stocks could form the foundation of a brand new stock portfolio, or add value to an existing one.

Without further ado, let’s jump right in.

5 Winning Stocks Under $49
We hear it over and over from investors, “I wish I had bought Amazon or Netflix when they were first recommended by the Motley Fool. I’d be sitting on a gold mine!” And it’s true. And while Amazon and Netflix have had a good run, we think these 5 other stocks are screaming buys. And you can buy them now for less than $49 a share! Simply click here to learn how to get your copy of “5 Growth Stocks Under $49” for FREE for a limited time only.

The coronavirus pandemic certainly hasn’t left mass media and entertainment giant Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) unscathed, but that doesn’t mean that the nearly century-old company can’t overcome these short-term headwinds. Shares of the company slumped significantly in March but rebounded to the stock’s January trading price in the months following. Investors’ high hopes about the imminent release of a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine have reverberated throughout the wider market, causing shares of Disney to propel upward by roughly 22% in November.

Despite the adverse effects of widespread park closures due to the coronavirus pandemic, Disney managed to pull through fiscal 2020 with only a 6% decrease in overall revenue compared with fiscal 2019. CEO Bob Chapek stated the following about the company’s overall financial performance in fiscal 2020: “Even with the disruption caused by COVID-19, we’ve been able to effectively manage our businesses while also taking bold, deliberate steps to position our company for greater long-term growth.”

In the final quarter of fiscal 2020, Disney’s parks, experiences, and products segment took a significant hit along with its studio entertainment segment, with revenue in these areas dropping 61% and 52%, respectively, year over year. In contrast, revenue derived from the company’s media networks and direct-to-consumer/international divisions surged by 11% and 41%, respectively, during the three-month period compared with the same stretch in 2019.

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Shares of electronic payments stock PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) have surged since the pandemic began and are up nearly 100% year to date. During the third quarter ended on Sept. 30, PayPal reported the highest surge in revenue and total payment volume on its platform since the company was founded.

PayPal accrued more than 15 million net new active accounts during the third quarter and boosted total payment volume on its platform by 38% on a year-over-year basis. The company’s third-quarter net revenue of $5.5 billion represented 25% growth compared with Q3 2019. Management has projected that the company will achieve between 20% and 21% revenue growth for the full year 2020.

Tech stock Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) has consistently proven a surefire winner of the coronavirus stock market, and it shows no signs of slowing down in the near future. The company grew its revenue by 22% in the third quarter ended on Sept. 30. During this period, Facebook also increased its daily active users and family daily active people (users on the various platforms owned by and including Facebook) by 12% and 15% on a year-over-year basis. However, there was a slim drop in daily and monthly active users from the previous quarter.

Although management is projecting “a significant amount of uncertainty” heading into the new year, it does expect ad revenue for the final quarter of 2020 to surpass the company’s third-quarter performance. Facebook closed the third quarter with $55.6 billion in cash and cash equivalents. Its total assets ($146.4 billion) also far eclipse its total liabilities ($28.7 billion). The company appears to be in a good position to weather any impact that a modest decline in daily or monthly active users might have in the near term.

If you’re looking for another reliable stock to add to your Christmas gift list, it doesn’t get much more traditional than PepsiCo (NASDAQ: PEP). The Dividend Aristocrat has increased its payout every year for nearly five decades. It currently yields roughly 2.8% for investors.

The company grew its revenue by more than 5% year over year in the third quarter and boosted its earnings per share by double digits (10%). During the first nine months of 2020, PepsiCo saw revenue shoot up by 3% compared with the same period in 2019. Although PepsiCo isn’t a get-rich-quick kind of stock (management is anticipating single-digit revenue growth for the full year 2020), its slow but steady returns make the company a worthy addition to a variety of portfolios and a particularly attractive choice for the more risk-averse investor.

ALSO READ: 3 Top Food Stocks to Buy Now

As the pandemic has propelled e-commerce sales to all-time highs, companies like Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) have stayed at the top of the pile. The company grew its operating cash flow 56% during the 12-month period ending on Sept. 30 from the same window in 2019. Amazon’s launch of new Echo devices, surges in shopping and entertainment segment revenue, and important growth in its Web Services division caused third-quarter net sales to grow 37% year over year.

5 Winning Stocks Under $49
We hear it over and over from investors, “I wish I had bought Amazon or Netflix when they were first recommended by the Motley Fool. I’d be sitting on a gold mine!” And it’s true. And while Amazon and Netflix have had a good run, we think these 5 other stocks are screaming buys. And you can buy them now for less than $49 a share! Simply click here to learn how to get your copy of “5 Growth Stocks Under $49” for FREE for a limited time only.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to drive new and developing trends in how consumers shop, financial services stocks like Mastercard (NYSE: MA) have stepped up to the plate. The company hasn’t been immune from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic -- it reported a 19% year-over-year revenue decline in the second quarter, while revenue plunged 14% in the third quarter compared with the year-ago period.

However, both purchase volume and gross dollar volume were up in the third quarter, at 2% and 1%, respectively. According to CEO Ajay Banga, “Mastercard has been focused on helping merchants, banks, fintechs, governments and consumers with products and services to navigate the pandemic...Meanwhile, we are winning new business in core payments and are making real progress with our digital solutions, differentiated service offerings and multi-rail capabilities.”

It may take some time, but there’s no reason Mastercard can’t recover from the immediate impact of the pandemic. The company has been working to increase its available liquidity, closing the third quarter with $10.2 billion in cash and cash equivalents.

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) closed fiscal 2020 (ending on Sept. 26) with total net sales up nearly 6% on a year-over-year basis. The company hit multiple earnings milestones in the final quarter of the fiscal year. CFO Luca Maestri stated, “Our outstanding September quarter performance concludes a remarkable fiscal year, where we established new all-time records for revenue, earnings per share, and free cash flow, in spite of an extremely volatile and challenging macro environment.”

Apple’s Mac and services division also hit “new all-time records” in the final stretch of the 12-month period. The company disbursed roughly $22 billion to its investors in the form of repurchases and dividend payouts during the last three months of the fiscal year. That the company’s commitment to its shareholders remains unaffected by any economic impact from the ongoing pandemic should ease the minds of investors worried about the safety of their dividend payments.

ALSO READ: 3 Top Large-Cap Stocks to Buy in December

If you’ve ever considered investing in the real estate sector, you may want to take a look at Realty Income (NYSE: O). Realty Income is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that has achieved a compound average annual total return of more than 15% since it first listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) 26 years ago. The REIT, which boasts a portfolio of more than 6,500 commercial properties across over five dozen industries, pays out a monthly dividend to its shareholders that yields a robust 4.6% at the time of this writing.

Realty Income is also known for raising its dividend on a quarterly basis and has done so 92 times in its history. The top dividend stock is still down by 18% year to date, so now could be a good time to scoop up shares at a discount.

Asana (NYSE: ASAN) only just went public in September, but the hot IPO stock could be a valuable long-term play over the next several years. The workflow-management company grew its revenue by 57% in the second quarter of fiscal 2021 (ending on July 31), and it had more than 82,000 paying customers on its platforms by the end of that three-month period.

The company’s balance sheet still needs some work. It posted operating losses that accounted for nearly 65% of its total second-quarter revenue, while cash flow from operating activities was in negative territory. However, this isn’t unusual for a newly public stock, and the value of the company’s services should continue to benefit from both remote and in-office workforces in the coming years. Investors willing to handle some volatility in the near term may want to take a second look at this cheap but promising stock. Asana reports its Q3 fiscal 2021 results on Dec. 9.

Like Amazon, Wayfair (NYSE: W) has also been able to ride the heightened e-commerce boom that has occurred since the pandemic began. Wayfair had caused some concern for investors in recent years due to its lack of profitability and fluctuating share price, although the company closed 2019 having achieved double-digit net revenue growth of nearly 35%.

However, the company really seems to be turning things around for its current and future growth story. During the first three quarters of 2020, its revenue grew 19.8%, 84%, and 67%, respectively, on a year-over-year basis. As of the end of the third quarter, Wayfair had nearly 30 million active customers on its platform, a 51% surge compared with the same period last year. Wayfair’s third-quarter gross profits represented 30% of its total net revenue, and the company closed the period with cash, cash equivalents, and investments nearing the $3 billion mark.

5 Winning Stocks Under $49
We hear it over and over from investors, “I wish I had bought Amazon or Netflix when they were first recommended by the Motley Fool. I’d be sitting on a gold mine!” And it’s true. And while Amazon and Netflix have had a good run, we think these 5 other stocks are screaming buys. And you can buy them now for less than $49 a share! Simply click here to learn how to get your copy of “5 Growth Stocks Under $49” for FREE for a limited time only.

By gifting single or multiple shares of your favorite stock, you can play an integral role in helping your family member or other loved one build a better financial future. These 10 stocks could also make great additions to your own Christmas wish list.

It’s been a nail-biter of a year for investors, and while hopes of an efficacious vaccine appear to be nearly realized, experts aren’t ruling out another market crash. Regardless of what the coming months hold, keep sticking to your core investment philosophy.

Focus on stocks that have continued to offer value to investors throughout the pandemic or have other key fundamentals to support a strong recovery once the storm subsides. In the words of the great Warren Buffett, “Time is the friend of the wonderful company, the enemy of the mediocre.”

John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Rachel Warren has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Mastercard, PayPal Holdings, Walt Disney, and Wayfair and recommends the following options: long January 2021 $60 calls on Walt Disney, short January 2022 $1940 calls on Amazon, long January 2022 $1920 calls on Amazon, long January 2022 $75 calls on PayPal Holdings, and short January 2021 $135 calls on Walt Disney. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.