Image source: Getty Images The S&P 500 is full of world-class companies that have been brilliant long-term investments. In this index, it’s not hard to find companies that have returned 20% or more per year for investors over the last decade. Here, I’m going to highlight two high-quality S&P 500 companies I’ve been building positions in recently and plan to hold for the long term. These stocks have been excellent investments lately and I’m backing them to boost my retirement portfolio significantly over the next decade. A global transportation powerhouse First up, we have Uber (NYSE: UBER). It’s the world’s…
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Image source: Getty Images Food retailers and producers like Tesco (LSE:TSCO) can be the most reliable shares out there for passive income. As with any stock, they face internal and external threats that can impact profitability. Yet, the stable nature of food demand — we all need to eat regardless of any economic, political, or social crisis that comes along — means dividends on such shares can be far more resilient over time. That said, this FTSE 100 operator’s dividend record has been chequered over the last decade, as the chart below illustrates: Source: dividenddata.co.uk Plunging sales, balance sheet repairs,…
Image source: Rolls-Royce plc There’s really no contest — Rolls-Royce (LSE: RR.) shares have been the best FTSE 100 stock to hold in recent times. We’re talking about a 1,500% gain in just five years. But if history is any guide, every party must come to an end at some point. No share price heads upwards in a straight line, at least for very long. Does it make sense to say that investors are now holding a ticking time bomb? The only way is up (again)? At face value, the answer seems clear. Momentum is a powerful force in investing…
Image source: Getty Images Ceres Power Holding (LSE: CWR) topped the FTSE 250 in October with a storming 90% price jump. Most of the gain even came before the company rejoined the FTSE 250 on 30 October. What a way to make a comeback! Ceres develops fuel cell technology, and has had a few false starts so far. The share price is still down about 80% since its five-year high in early 2021. So what’s behind this new potential kickstart? It’s the same thing that’s powered Nvidia to a $5trn market-cap. We’re talking artificial intelligence (AI). Fuel cell boost Ceres’…
There has not been a stock like Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) in history. That may sound like a bold claim, even given the chip company’s 1,294% gain in value on the stock market over the past five years. But it is true: Nvidia is the first listed business ever to achieve a market capitalisation of $5trn. That has been the stuff of dreams for many long-term Nvidia stockholders, I am sure. But could there be a catch? Is this a bubble set to implode? First, consider the Nvidia price itself, aside from the wider market (though in reality they are connected…
Over recent days, Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) stock hit a new all-time high. In fact, Amazon’s long-term performance has been nothing short of spectacular. Its share price gain means that $1 invested in Amazon when it listed in 1997 is now worth over $2,800. Sure, there are still no dividends. With that sort of price gain, though, I doubt many shareholders are bothered. In fact, they may well prefer Amazon to keep doing what it has been doing with its spare cash: investing it in further business growth, rather than using it to fund dividends. Having recently hit an all-time high,…
Image source: Britvic (copyright Chris Saunders 2020) Diageo (LSE:DGE) shares have lost more than half their value since the turn of 2022. Not only is this bad in itself, but during this time the FTSE 100 index has jumped around 30%. In other words, investors could have made far better returns elsewhere in the FTSE 100 over this period. And for the record, I’m speaking from (painful) experience, as I owned Diageo in my own Stocks and Shares ISA until the start of this year. However, since I pulled the plug, shares of the spirits giant have fallen another 27%.…
Private markets, once outlier investments with a manageable set of underlying financial instruments, are growing more complex with each passing quarter. These markets now sit at the center of institutional portfolios and have evolved into a sprawling ecosystem of private credit, continuation funds, royalties, and infrastructure with assets exceeding $17 trillion. The breakneck pace of new strategies and new structures has created a deluge of information and data even the best-resourced limited partner (LP) teams struggle to process. Amid this scale and complexity, most LP teams still rely on fragmented workflows: spreadsheets, PDFs, scattered notes, and disjointed data platforms. Decisions…
Image source: The Motley Fool Warren Buffett is into his final quarter as CEO at Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B). And Berkshire’s third-quarter update shows its cash climbing to a record $382bn. The cash mountain has been growing for some time, as Buffett has been a net seller of stocks. It seems that continued into Q3, and we should have details of the quarter’s major trades by 14 November. An easier natural disaster season than last year helped the insurance sector. And underwriting income climbed 216% from the same quarter a year ago, to $2.37bn. Once again, Berkshire didn’t buy back…
Image source: Getty Images With so many things — including our very own FTSE 100 — hitting fresh record highs in 2025, it was inevitable that concerns about markets overheating would arise. So, I decided to ask ChatGPT which stocks are the most vulnerable to a crash. The AI bot’s top four suggestions were as follows: Royal Dutch Shell Glencore Barclays Melrose Industries But I think the fifth name put forward is particularly interesting. Surely some mistake? British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines (LSE: IAG) shares have taken off in 2025. We’re talking about a gain of 40%. It’s not…