7 Must-Have Stocks to Buy and Hold for a Secure Future

One reason we invest in the stock market is that we’re all looking to secure our financial futures. We want to be comfortable in our retirements and provide for our families and even future generations. Getting there means finding reliable buy and hold stocks for long-term portfolios.

Warren Buffett, of course, is the acknowledged king of buy and hold stocks, or long-term investing. The Oracle of Omaha makes his fair share of trades, but his famed portfolio also includes many stocks he’s held for a long time.

The best buy-and-hold stocks will help you take advantage of the power of compounding investing. That’s the process of your stock generating a profit both on your initial principal and on its accumulated gains.

You’ll also significantly reduce your investing fees by avoiding frequent trading, and you can also reduce your tax burden by not having to worry about capital gains.

The Portfolio Grader identified several of the best buy-and-hold stocks you can buy now. Let’s focus on these seven.

Netflix (NFLX)

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) is one of the most established streaming services. It dates back to when it competed with Blockbuster by shipping videos by mail to its customers. This fall, Netflix is finally ending its mail service after shipping more than 5.2 billion DVDs.

Of course, the vast majority of Netflix’s 232.5 million subscribers are getting their entertainment on streaming services these days. Plus, you can watch Netflix on a tablet, smartphone, computer or TV with an internet connection. And Netflix is taking steps to monetize its user base.

The company announced that it’s finally ending free password sharing – something that about 100 million of Netflix’s customers are currently doing. Netflix says that if you want to continue sharing an account with someone outside your home, you’ll have to pay an extra $8 for your subscription.

That could be huge, roughly $1 billion a year if it can get at least 10% of its password-sharing customers to pay. No wonder that Netflix stock is up more than 30% this year.

NFLX stock has an “A” rating in the Portfolio Grader.

Nvidia (NVDA)

What else can you say about Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA)? The chip maker’s seen its stock jump by 180% this year on the strength of a rebound in semiconductor stocks, coupled with startling advances in artificial intelligence and growing demand to incorporate the technology into more processes.

Nvidia didn’t even have a great first quarter, but it was good. Investors still went bonkers over Nvidia’s second-quarter guidance, for which the company announced that it raised its expected sales from $7.2 billion to $11 billion.

Now Nvidia’s market cap is over $1 trillion, and the stock is up 180% since January 1.

Is the run-up too much, too fast? A couple of analysts are starting to express concerns. And if you’re a short-term investor, then it’s possible that you could see NVDA drop a bit in the coming weeks from its lofty perch.

But if you are a buy-and-hold investor, there’s nothing wrong with getting Nvidia here and keeping it in your Portfolio for a long time. Nvidia just topped $1 trillion in market cap, and I think that’s just the beginning for this semiconductor play.

NVDA stock has an “A” rating in the Portfolio Grader.

Nivida is a leading provider of graphics processing units and accelerated processing systems. It posted an adjusted gross margin of 67% in the first quarter, but it expects that to increase to 70% in Q2.

Analysts have a consensus price target of $460, representing a 12% upside. NVDA stock has a “B” rating in the Portfolio Grader.

Oracle (ORCL)

If you’re a buy-and-hold investor who dabbles in technology stocks, you likely already know about Oracle (NYSE:ORCL).

Seemingly a granddaddy compared to other computing companies, Oracle dates back to 1977, so it will be celebrating its 50th year soon.

I think Oracle is a safe bet for investors because it’s continuing to bring in revenue at an impressive clip. Earnings for the fiscal fourth quarter, ending May 31, showed revenue up another 17% from a year ago. Cloud services and license support revenue was $9.37 billion, up 23%.

Overall, Oracle showed quarterly revenue of $13.84 billion, better than the $13.74 billion that Wall Street expected. Oracle reported earnings per share of $1.67, which was 9 cents per share better than expectations.

Oracle also announced plans to introduce a generative AI cloud service tied to a partnership with startup Cohere, which uses Oracle’s cloud infrastructure.

ORCL stock has an “A” rating in the Portfolio Grader.

Bellerophon Therapeutics (BLPH)

Not every reliable buy-and-hold stock is a large-cap pick. Bellerophon Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BLPH) only has a market capitalization of $7 million, and the stock price is roughly 70 cents.

But don’t overlook this micro-cap stock, which represents a clinical-stage therapeutics company focused on treating cardiopulmonary diseases.

Bellerophon is working on several product candidates under its INOpulse program, a proprietary pulsatile nitric oxide delivery system.

The stock was up over $12 earlier this year, but unfortunately, it had a disastrous Phase 3 trial of INOpulse to treat fibrotic Interstitial Lung Disease (fILD). Company officials admitted the placebo performed better than the drug, and Bellerophon announced it ended the trial.

The company still has Phase 2 trials for INOpulse to treat pulmonary hypertension associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and sarcoidosis.

At this point, the stock is extremely cheap and undervalued. Analysts at H.C. Wainwright have a price target for BLPH stock at $2, which is more than a 180% upside.

BLPH is a tempting pick for long-term investors at this price. It still has an “A” rating in the Portfolio Grader.

Ferrari (RACE)

Italian automaker Ferrari (NASDAQ:RACE) is a throwback. It’s all about flash and performance with its supercars when investors look for ways to get into electric vehicles and lower their carbon footprint.

But Ferraris have undeniable appeal. Its shipments were up 10% in the first quarter, helped by releasing its new high-performance Roma Spider, which is a bargain (compared to other Ferraris) at $243,000. Earnings for Q1 were $1.43 billion, or 20% better than the year before.

People will pay the price for a Ferrari, and the company enjoys a long order backlog that will help it withstand any short-term headwinds.

And if you are worried about EVs, rest assured that Ferrari plans to unveil its line of EVs next year. While the first vehicle won’t be ready until late 2025, and mass production isn’t expected until 2026, the company isn’t in any hurry.

Ferrari is already assuring investors that its EVs will have the same profit margin as the gas-powered supercars.

RACE stock has an “A” rating in the Portfolio Grader.

Celsius Holdings (CELH)

It may be fitting that Celsius Holdings (NASDAQ:CELH) is a maker of energy drinks because investors have been getting a charge of out CELH stock in recent years.

The company’s line of energy drinks, powders, and protein bars led to revenues of $259.94 million in the first quarter – a gain of 94% from a year ago.

Celsius also has a relationship with PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) to distribute its products in the U.S., with plans to expand internationally.

Celsius stock is up nearly 40% in 2023 and by 120% over the last two years.

Analysts are climbing on board, with Bank of America, Piper Sandler and Stifel all raising their price targets recently. CELH stock has an “A” rating in the Portfolio Grader.

Gaotu Techedu (GOTU)

Gaotu Techedu (NYSE:GOTU) is an online tutoring platform in China, serving students from kindergarten to grade 12. It features live classes, on-demand content and interactive tools, test preparation and language courses in English and Japanese.

Earnings for the first quarter were $93.26 million, a drop from $101.69 million a year ago. But income was up, at $15.98 million versus $7.54 million a year ago.

GOTU stock is up 52% in 2023 and has an “A” rating in the Portfolio Grader.

On the date of publication, Louis Navellier had a long position in NVDA. Louis Navellier did not have (either directly or indirectly) any other positions in the securities mentioned in this article.

The InvestorPlace Research Staff member primarily responsible for this article did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article.