It requires some risk to get a meaningful reward in the stock market. Some investors accumulate promising stocks and build their portfolios around them for the chance of outperforming the market.
While it’s hard to time entries and exits, an approach grounded in fundamental analysis puts time on your side. You don’t have to worry about how the stock price moves in one month or one year. Buying long-term stocks and holding onto them for several years can generate exceptional returns.
Investors looking for top investment stocks may want to consider these picks.
Pinterest (PINS)
When most investors think of social media stocks, they immediately gravitate toward Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META). While the company proved many bears like myself wrong in 2023, I will be setting my sights on another social media stock that hasn’t received as much attention.
Pinterest (NYSE:PINS) feels like an under-the-radar stock due to falling by roughly 80% from peak to trough from 2021 to 2022. However, the stock has staged a 34% rally over the past year. The stock also has an average price target of $44/share on TipRanks, implying a 17% upside.
Ad revenue acceleration and profitability are two key drivers for the company. Pinterest reported 11% year-over-year (YoY) revenue growth in the third quarter and increased its monthly active users by 8% YoY. Over 482 million people now use Pinterest at least once per month.
Bill Ready, CEO of Pinterest offered some exciting remarks in the press release:
“As we lean into Pinterest’s unique differentiators as a visual search, discovery, and shopping platform, we’re finding our best product market fit in years. Our users are engaging deeply and we’re delivering better results for advertisers through improved measurement and innovation across the full funnel.”
Things seem to be looking up for Pinterest, and the stock price may go along for the ride.
Celsius Holdings (CELH)
Celsius Holdings (NASDAQ:CELH) is a sports beverage company exhibiting tremendous growth over the years. The stock has gained over 3,700% over the past five years as the company plots out an international expansion.
The firm is still expanding at a fast pace in North America. Sales increased by 107% YoY in the region during the third quarter of 2023. That is almost the same growth rate as the North American growth rate in Q3 2022. North American revenue increased by 112% YoY during that period.
Looking at North American and overall revenue numbers, we can deduce international revenue. In Q3 2022, the company generated $8.7 million in revenue outside North America. In 2023, the company reported $14 million in revenue outside of North America. That’s a 61% YoY growth rate in international revenue.
Celsius Holdings is in the early innings of penetrating international markets. The growth rate is already high, but it can get much higher in future quarters as brand adoption grows. Meanwhile, high growth rates in North America have proven to be sticky.
Watsco (WSO)
Watsco (NYSE:WSO) has amassed a $15.4 billion market cap by distributing air conditioning, heating and refrigeration equipment. Shares are up by 30% over the past year and have gained 168% over the past five years. WSO stock trades at a 25 P/E ratio, and has a 2.50% dividend yield.
Watsco has a superb dividend history and hiked its quarterly dividend per share from $2.20 to $2.45 in 2023. That represents an 11.4% YoY increase. The corporation actually jumped the gun and increased its dividend after three quarters instead of four quarters.
The company has maintained $2.45/share for five consecutive quarters, which means another hike is likely to come in the next quarter. Watsco has paid dividends for 50 consecutive years.
Watsco is staying strong with a record-breaking third quarter. The firm reached record levels for sales, operating income, net income and earnings per share. Despite a busy 2022, Watsco delivered 4% YoY sales growth and an 8% increase in net income.
A total of 70% of Watsco’s sales came from its HVAC equipment segment, while 26% of sales came from the other HVAC products segment. Commercial refrigeration products are attributed to the remaining 4% of total sales.
On this date of publication, Marc Guberti held a long position in CELH. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.