The stock market may be a wild ride, especially if you invest for years. You'll be ready to profit from the market's greatest days if you hang onto equities through thick and thin, but you may experience turmoil. Great companies are waiting to be bought if you have $1,000 to invest in stocks. You can acquire and keep these two companies for a decade or more.
1. MS Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) exemplifies "if it ain't broke don't fix it." After decades of industry leadership, the tech giant continues to grow with its innovative products and services.
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The company's diversified business areas generate revenue from its trademark office productivity software, cloud services, hardware items like gaming consoles and tablets, advertising, LinkedIn, and more. Microsoft holds 30% of the multibillion-dollar office productivity software market. Microsoft accounted for 24% of cloud infrastructure spending, which was worth $74 billion globally last year.
The company's AI investments are well-known. Microsoft invests billions in OpenAI and Mistral AI and integrates AI into Bing, its office software tools, and Azure to prepare for the future of its industries and stay competitive.
Microsoft Copilot and other newer products employ generative AI to summarize sessions and improve PowerPoint presentations. CEO Satya Nadella stated in the company's fiscal second quarter earnings call that early Copilot deployment for Microsoft 365 subscribers increased writing and summarizing productivity by 29%. Honda and Pfizer use similar procedures to improve employee productivity.
Microsoft bought GitHub, a coding project storage and collaboration site, several years ago. On that platform, AI developer tool GitHub Copilot helped boost revenue 40% year-over-year in the last quarter. At quarter's conclusion, management announced 1.3 million paying GitHub Copilot subscribers, up 30% sequentially. Dell, Etsy, and Goldman Sachs use Github Copilot.
Microsoft's latest quarter (ending Dec. 31, 2023) sales was $62 billion, up 18% year over year, while net income was $22 billion, up 33%. The corporation ended that era with $81 billion in cash and investments. This company is a no-brainer pick for long-term investors, whether you're a seasoned investor or just starting out.
2. PayPal PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) has had a rough few years after its pandemic success and the internet retail boom that brought new customers. Due to a slowdown in growth, users, and the global economy, the stock's performance has been mediocre, and some investors are less optimistic about the company's long-term prospects.
That assessment seems short-sighted. First, PayPal remains the leading global payment processor, an achievement given the fast-growing competition. Last count, the business held 45% of the worldwide payment processing market.
PayPal's growth is tied to discretionary expenditure, especially in e-commerce. E-commerce expenditure is fluctuating as global consumer wallets remain constricted, but these are short-term obstacles for a 10-year investment window. By 2030, global e-commerce spending could reach $50 trillion. Despite additional payment processors entering the market, there's still possibility for growth. Even with its issues, PayPal's finances are looking well.
PayPal earned $30 billion in 2023, up 8% from 2022. Comparing that to the company's 2020 sales of $22 billion shows a 36% three-year growth rate. Transaction margin dollars and active accounts fell 1% and 2% in 2023, however PayPal's payment volume rose 13% to $1.5 trillion from 2022.
PayPal reported 12% growth in payment transactions to $25 billion in 2023, and 14% growth per active account. In 12 months, the corporation generated $4.8 billion in operating and $4.2 billion in free cash flow. PayPal's GAAP earnings rose 76% to $4.2 billion in 2023. The stock's price-to-sales ratio is roughly 2.4, so it may be a good time to buy some shares at a discount.
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