7 Long-Term Stocks To Buy You’ll Want To Hang Onto

When you start hearing about day trading at volume, you know the markets have gotten frothy and buying and holding long-term stocks isn’t a top priority for investors. But times like these are precisely when it should be. Trying to time trades is tricky business, even for Wall Street bigshots who have been trading for decades with state of the art equipment and a lifetime of institutional knowledge – and occasionally an advanced degree in mathematics. Trying to outsmart these people or play their game over the long term might be entertaining, but if your goal is to make money, I wouldn’t bother. Finding companies with solid fundamentals in key industries and buying for the long-term might be boring, but it makes money.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips 9 Stocks That Investors Think Are the Next Amazon Here are 7 long-term stocks to buy you’ll want to hang onto: Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) Clorox (NYSE:CLX) JD.com (NASDAQ:JD) PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) Shopify (NASDAQ:SHOP) Sony (NYSE:SNE) These companies deserve your attention for the future because of how well they’ve handled the past. Long-term Stocks To Buy: Amazon (AMZN) Source: Sundry Photography / Shutterstock.com There are few companies that can turn into a global retail brand the way AMZN has done. From a humble online bookseller in the 1990s to market juggernaut in just three decades, Amazon has been on quite the journey. Now it’s hard for most Americans to imagine a day that doesn’t somehow involve an Amazon product. Whole Foods for grocery shopping (if you’re not buying supplies off its website). Prime for watching shows and movies. Of course, its bread-and-butter retail and logistics operations. And of course, cloud computing behemoth Amazon Web Services provides plenty of cash to keep all its new and existing ventures running. When the pandemic hit, everyone realized how valuable AMZN had become. But its value is much more now, as it holds a nearly $1.6 trillion market cap. It is kind of a one-stock index of the entire modern economy. If you’re a long-term bull on the U.S., AMZN is a long-term stock for you. Up 70% in the past year, its pace may vary but its continued growth isn’t in question. Clorox (CLX) Source: TY Lim / Shutterstock.com This company’s beginnings stand almost in direct opposition to that of AMZN. CLX made one product, bleach, for nearly 50 years and built a big business out of it. Now more than 100 years old, CLX has diversified its product line a bit, though not significantly. Now it has a portfolio of around 50 brands that are sold in over 100 countries. Reliable names like Glad, Handi Wipes, Liquid-Plumr, Pine-Sol and Tilex along with its titular Clorox line. This is a classic long-term US stock. During the pandemic, cleaning and disinfecting products have been in high demand at home and abroad. CLX stock remains rock solid. And that’s to be expected after growing through two World Wars, the Great Depression and everything else that has come its way. 9 Stocks That Investors Think Are the Next Amazon Up 24% in the past 12 months, it’s still trading at a P/E of 21 — below the average forward P/E of the S&P 500 — with plenty of growth ahead. JD.com (JD) Source: Sundry Photography / Shutterstock.com The growth of digital channels in the U.S. is mirrored in China, where its domestic market is almost an order of magnitude larger than U.S. market. The potential is huge. Also, the Chinese market operates a bit differently than the U.S. Large companies tend to work with each other to leverage their most important assets rather than try to compete head to head. But they also diversify. For example, JD is like the AMZN of China (and other Asian nations). It has expanded into logistics, AI, fintech and other sectors. Yet for all of its strength, it trades at one-tenth the market cap of AMZN and that’s after a 127% run in the past 12 months. Certainly there’s some trade risk here, as the U.S. threatens to delist Chinese firms from U.S. exchanges, but JD is far down that list. This is a top long-term stock for the China’s and Asia’s consumers. PayPal (PYPL) Source: JHVEPhoto / Shutterstock.com This is the company that launched Elon Musk before he became the maverick CEO we all know today. Even back then Musk was a handful, getting deposed as CEO after a couple years but still holding more stock than anyone else when eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) purchased PYPL in 2002. That became the seed capital for Musk’s later ventures. But beyond the personality, PYPL is a pioneer in electronic payments and now in peer-to-peer (P2P) payments with its Venmo app. Time and again Wall Street has dismissed PYPL as not having the kind of financial reputation or muscle to take on the big financial institutions in the digital space. And time and again, PYPL has proven them wrong. The past year has been a boon for PYPL’s model and has showed that big banks weren’t altogether ready for the quick and massive shift to digital. And PYPL now has credit services as well as other payment platforms. 9 Stocks That Investors Think Are the Next Amazon The stock is up over 113% in the past 12 months and it’s now here to stay. Qualcomm (QCOM) Source: jejim / Shutterstock.com We’re well ensconced in the Mobility Age at this point. By that I mean what started as the digital revolution has now moved to the point where wireless networks keep us connected nearly all the time, much to some people’s chagrin. But the fact is, despite the downsides, there are plenty of upsides too. And now that 5G telecom tech is upon us, data will be flowing even faster than before. One the beneficiaries and leaders in pushing digital mobility further is QCOM, one of the world’s leading telecom companies. Its business model is unique because it develops chips and telecom equipment but makes money licensing the technology for others to manufacture and also taking a cut of sales. Both U.S. and Chinese (and others) phone makers rely on state of the art QCOM chips, especially for 5G. QCOM just signed a new deal to rekindle relations with Chinese phone makers earlier this week. As long as mobility is a thing, this is a long-term stock to own. The stock is up 75% in the past 12 months, yet the stock is trading at a P/E of 35. Shopify (SHOP) Source: Paul McKinnon / Shutterstock.com With unemployment nearing 6.7% and many states admitting that the pandemic has hampered their ability to accurately count the unemployed, there are a lot of Americans trying to figure out how to bring in a paycheck. Many have turned to driving Uber or Lyft, although passenger numbers are down significantly now as well. And taxis are even worse. That has led many to try their hands at turning their hobbies into businesses. And that’s where SHOP comes in. It’s a cloud-based platform that helps small and mid-sized business build out professional websites. The stock is up nearly 1000% over the past three years, and much of that has come in the past two years, as the economy has slowed. Vaccines may be on the way, and the government is working through another stimulus package, but the damage done to the economy has yet to be seen clearly given all the other issues facing the nation. 9 Stocks That Investors Think Are the Next Amazon This stock is up 167% in the past year and has plenty of potential growth ahead. Sony (SNE) Source: Girts Ragelis / Shutterstock.com Launched in 1946 in Japan, SNE has been known to every generation since for various electronics. For decades, SNE made the best televisions in the world after launching the first all-transistor television in 1959 and taking the global television market by storm. Then came the video generation. Then the Walkman generation, when SNE defined personal, portable music. And now, it’s the PlayStation videogame system. Along the way, it has moved into the entertainment industry, on both the content and equipment sides. Its contributions to our electronic era are practically too numerous to list and Sony continues to be a formidable player. The thing is, it generally cuts a low profile. SNE stock is currently up more than 43% in the past 12 months, yet trades at a P/E below 15. This durable, quality electronics firm may not garner headlines, but it still is a revered and important brand, generation after generation. Disclosure: On the date of publication, Louis Navellier had positions in AMZN, CLX, JD, PYPL and SHOP in this article. 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. Louis Navellier had an unconventional start, as a grad student who accidentally built a market-beating stock system — with returns rivaling even Warren Buffett. In his latest feat, Louis discovered the “Master Key” to profiting from the biggest tech revolution of this (or any) generation. More From InvestorPlace Why Everyone Is Investing in 5G All WRONG Top Stock Picker Reveals His Next 1,000% Winner It doesn’t matter if you have $500 in savings or $5 million. Do this now. The post 7 Long-Term Stocks To Buy You’ll Want To Hang Onto appeared first on InvestorPlace.

3 tax breaks included Biden's economic 'rescue plan'

President-elect Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion “rescue plan” released on Thursday calls for three key tax improvements for 2021 that would help Americans across the income spectrum.

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  Here's how Biden's rescue plan expands affordable health care

  Yahoo Money
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  American Rescue Plan: Inside Biden’s $1.9 Trillion Stimulus

  SmartAsset

FuelCell Energy’s Got a $1.5 Billion Problem

I recently suggested that if you could only invest in one clean energy stock — FuelCell Energy (NASDAQ:FCEL) or Plug Power (NASDAQ:PLUG) — I would go with PLUG over FCEL stock. Source: Kaca Skokanova/Shutterstock That was before I even realized that Plug Power had snagged a $1.5 billion investment from SK Group, one of South Korea’s largest conglomerates. A week on from Plug Power’s announcement, which saw PLUG jump 33% on the news, I don’t think there’s any question it’s the better buy.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips That said, FCEL stock has benefited from Plug Power’s good fortune. It’s up 43% since the Jan. 6 announcement. 7 Dividend Stocks That Are Growing Their Payouts If you’re thinking about riding FuelCell’s momentum, you might want to consider what Plug Power’s financial windfall means for both companies before jumping on the FCEL bandwagon. FCEL Stock Is Up 591% Since Mid-November In two months, owners of FCEL stock have the equivalent of an annualized return of 3,500%. I don’t think there’s any way to sugar coat this other than to say that buyers of its stock have done unbelievably well for such a short investment period. While you’ll have to pay regular income-tax rates on your short-term capital gains if you were to sell at this point, you’ll still make out like a bandit. There’s no shame in taking profits. You might also want to consider that Jefferies analyst Laurence Alexander initiated coverage of the provider of fuel cell solutions on Jan. 7 with a hold rating and an $11 target price. “The ‘stars aligned for FuelCell Energy’ in 2020, given favorable policy shifts in favor of renewables and hydrogen production, progress on the company’s own growth pivot and ESG fund flows, Alexander tells investors,” The Fly.com reported. “However, now the strong secular trends, ‘tighter operating culture’ and ‘war chest’ for longer-term growth appear largely discounted in the stock price, Alexander argues.” InvestorPlace’s Matt McCall recently discussed the so-called war chest that Alexander wrote about in his FuelCell stock assessment. In December, FuelCell sold 25 million shares at just $6.50 per share, raising $162.50 million in the process. More important than the company’s willingness to sell shares at $6.50, a 36% discount to its Nov. 30 share price, is the fact that Orion Energy Partners, who owned 5.9% of FCEL stock before the offering, were willing to sell down 84% of their position at the discounted price. While it’s not unheard of for a company such as Orion, which lends and makes investments to the energy industry, to want to exit its position, to do so at such a discount ought to make you scratch your head a little. Even more so now that FCEL is trading above $18 as I write this, up more than 15% on the day. I would not be surprised if we were to experience an exhaustion gap in the second half of January. Plug Power Has Stronger Backing If Plug Power didn’t have a better roster of shareholders than FuelCell Energy before its announcement that SK Group was taking a 9.9% stake in the company, it certainly does now. SK Group had revenue in 2019 of $119 billion, making it the 73rd largest company in the Fortune Global 500. In 2019, Plug Power had revenues of $230 million. Of SK Group’s total revenue, its energy and chemicals business accounts for almost half the conglomerate’s total. The company is in the process of moving away from a reliance on fossil fuels. “Mr. Chey has ordered a sweeping readjustment of SK’s portfolio to be completed within the next three years. This will include carving off carbon-intensive businesses and doubling down on the company’s multibillion-dollar bets across EVs, computer chips, biotechnology and renewable energy,” the Financial Times reported in November 2020. “‘The era of competing for scale is now behind us . . . We want to be the best company in the ESG realm,’ Jang Dong-hyun, president of SK Holdings, which helps oversee SK’s 125 affiliates, told the Financial Times in an interview.” This was before the Plug Power investment that will also see the two companies form a strategic joint-venture partnership to hydrogen fuel cell systems and hydrogen fueling stations to the Asian market. As I stated in my latest article about Plug Power, it plans to hit $1 billion in revenue by 2024. With $2.1 billion in a backlog and SK Group in tow, I see the odds of success getting higher by the day. This doesn’t even consider that Plug Power could soon have Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Walmart (NYSE:WMT) as shareholders and not just customers. By comparison, FuelCell’s largest shareholders are CVI Holdings at 5.9%, BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) at 4.4%, and Lawrence I. Rosen at 3.7%. I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather have Plug Power’s trio of shareholders backing up its share price than what FCEL brings to the table. The Bottom Line The latest deal with SK Group is proof that CEO Andy Marsh’s plans to grow Plug Power are working. While both stocks are exceedingly expensive, PLUG is the growth stock you should opt for. On the date of publication, Will Ashworth did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. Will Ashworth has written about investments full-time since 2008. Publications where he’s appeared include InvestorPlace, The Motley Fool Canada, Investopedia, Kiplinger, and several others in both the U.S. and Canada. He particularly enjoys creating model portfolios that stand the test of time. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia. At the time of this writing Will Ashworth did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. More From InvestorPlace Why Everyone Is Investing in 5G All WRONG Top Stock Picker Reveals His Next 1,000% Winner It doesn’t matter if you have $500 in savings or $5 million. Do this now. The post FuelCell Energy’s Got a $1.5 Billion Problem appeared first on InvestorPlace.

5 Electric Vehicle ETFs Getting a Big Biden Boost

With stocks such as Nio (NYSE:NIO) and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) in the midst of seemingly undaunted ascents, electric vehicle ETFs are among the examples of thematic exchange traded funds stepping into the spotlight. For many investors, particularly those priced out of Tesla or those new to this space, electric vehicle ETFs make a lot of sense. The funds remove the need for investors to identify the best individual names, over diversity and many lack significant exposure to some of the more challenged EV stocks. Additionally, these thematic ETFs make for ideal plays on the Biden Administration’s renewable energy priorities, including the president-elect’s goal of building 550,000 EV charging stations over the next decade, which would reduce concerns about time in between charges, likely boosting EV demand in the process.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips 9 Stocks That Investors Think Are the Next Amazon The new president probably won’t be able to put an EV in every driveway, at least not anytime soon, but this administration and Congress are viewed as hospitable to the auto industries electric evolution and that could benefit the following electric vehicle ETFs. Global X Autonomous & Electric Vehicles (NASDAQ:DRIV) KraneShares Electric Vehicles & Future Mobility ETF (NYSEARCA:KARS) SPDR Kensho Smart Mobility ETF (NYSEARCA:HAIL) iShares Self-Driving EV and Tech ETF (NYSEARCA:IDRV) Global X Lithium & Battery Technology ETF (NYSE:LIT) Electric Vehicle ETFs: Global X Autonomous & Electric Vehicles ETF (DRIV) Source: Grisha Bruev / Shutterstock.com Expense ratio: 0.68%, or $68 annually on a $10,000 investment The Global X Autonomous & Electric Vehicles ETF is reflective of the newness of the EV investing concept. DRIV turns three years old in April and is one of the oldest ETFs in this category. With $311.20 million in assets under management, it’s also one of the largest. DRIV holds 76 stocks, which is a fairly deep bench for an electric vehicle ETF and none of its holdings exceed a weight of 5.16%. Tesla and Nio are DRIV’s largest and third-largest holdings, respectively, combining for about 8% of the ETF’s roster. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) are also found among the fund’s top 10 holdings. Exposure to those two traditional tech names is another indication of DRIV’s depth – the ETF features exposure to five sectors led by consumer cyclical and technology. DRIV is also geographically diverse as stocks from a roughly a dozen countries are represented in the fund. Positioned as an EV ETF, DRIV offers surprising depth into the broader renewable energy ecosystem and is a credible avenue for EV derivatives (think semiconductors). KraneShares Electric Vehicles & Future Mobility ETF (KARS) Source: Shutterstock Expense ratio: 0.72% KraneShares is usually known for its nifty lineup of China and emerging markets funds, but investors shouldn’t sleep on the KraneShares Electric Vehicles & Future Mobility ETF. KARS turns three years old next week and has $101.40 million, confirming there’s room for competition in the electric vehicle ETF arena. KARS tracks the Solactive Electric Vehicles and Future Mobility Index and similar to the aforementioned DRIV, the KraneShares fund goes beyond vehicle manufacturers to touch multiple corners of the EV landscape. In fact, Tesla isn’t a KARS component and five of its top 10 holdings, including Nvidia, are semiconductor equities. KARS capitalizes on KraneShares strong China competency as many of the ETF’s holdings, including Nio, are Chinese companies. That’s relevant to investors because the world’s second-largest economy is the biggest EV market. SPDR Kensho Smart Mobility ETF (HAIL) Source: xiaorui / Shutterstock.com Expense ratio: 0.45% The SPDR Kensho Smart Mobility ETF isn’t a dedicated electric vehicle fund. Rather, it’s a broad based play that’s arguably the most futuristic transportation ETF on the market. Looking for old guard airlines, freight haulers and railroad operators? Look elsewhere because HAIL delivers transportation’s tomorrow today. The underlying benchmark, the S&P Kensho Smart Transportation Index, provides exposure to “the areas of autonomous and connected vehicle technology, drones and drone technologies used for commercial and civilian applications, and advanced transportation tracking and transport optimization systems,” according to State Street. Home to 59 stocks, HAIL offers an expansive lineup that features EV manufacturers, such as Nio and Tesla, charging station operators, auto parts makers and semiconductor producers. Overall, more than 20 industry groups are represented in this SPDR ETF and its 0.45% expense ratio is among the lowest in the category. iShares Self-Driving EV and Tech ETF (IDRV) Source: pio3 / Shutterstock.com Expense ratio: 0.47% The iShares Self-Driving EV and Tech ETF follows the FactSet Global Autonomous Driving and Electric Vehicle Index and is one of the more basic EV ETFs on the market, but that’s not a slight because the iShares fund is higher by 67.4% over the past year, IDRV’s roster makes for an easy comp with the aforementioned DRIV as the iShares fund features allocations to Tesla and Nio as well as Apple and Nvidia. However, the rivals aren’t mirror images of each other because the Global X fund sharply outperformed its iShares competitor over the past year while IDRV offers a much lower fee. IDRV offers a bit more depth with 100 components, but the bottom line in this mini rivalry is that investors shouldn’t not hold both ETFs at the same time because there’s too much overlap. Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF (LIT) Source: Lightboxx/ShutterStock.com Expense ratio: 0.75% The Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF was an EV ETF before there were real EV ETFs, which is to say the $2.63 billion four-star rated fund turned 10 years old last July. At that age, it’s also fair to say LIT is one of the pioneers of the thematic ETF movement. LIT’s success attributable to several factors, not the least of which are early adopters’ willingness to bet on increased demand and Global X seeing past near-sighted critics that, a decade ago, call LIT too focused a fund to gain widespread acceptance. These days, LIT ranks as one of the premier avenues for accessing the “ingredients” side of the EV story and the fund is higher by 158% over the past year – a stellar showing considering Tesla isn’t even 6% of the fund’s weight. “At a high level, the industry’s ecosystem starts upstream with lithium miners that extract the metal from the earth,” according to Global X research. “These raw materials then move into the chemical conversion process to produce lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide. Battery producers combine carbonate or hydroxide with materials to form a cathode and an anode, together forming an individual battery cell. Thousands of cells may be combined to create a battery pack for an EV.” On the date of publication, Todd Shriber did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. Todd Shriber has been an InvestorPlace contributor since 2014. More From InvestorPlace Why Everyone Is Investing in 5G All WRONG Top Stock Picker Reveals His Next 1,000% Winner It doesn’t matter if you have $500 in savings or $5 million. Do this now. The post 5 Electric Vehicle ETFs Getting a Big Biden Boost appeared first on InvestorPlace.