3 Growth Stocks You Should Buy and Hold Forever

It’s not easy for investors to say they will hold a stock forever. But that’s exactly what you should do if you want to grow your wealth over many years or decades. Holding onto supremacy growth stocks In the long term, you can witness phenomenal growth in your investment portfolio, allowing you to retire comfortably. The key, of course, is identifying the right stocks that can help you achieve this goal.

Characteristics to look for include a solid business model accompanied by a leading market position in its industry, a history of consistent growth, and catalysts that can help move the business forward. The combination of such qualities should qualify a stock for long-term ownership, but as an investor, you should periodically review the business to ensure it still possesses these characteristics.

Here are three growth stocks you can buy and hold forever.

Celsius

Celsius (CELH 1.59%) is an energy drink company that has been around for 20 years but has only recently achieved phenomenal growth. The company produces and markets four major product lines and has risen to become the third-largest energy drink company in the United States.

Revenue more than quadrupled from $314.3 million in 2021 to $1.3 billion in 2023. During this period, operating income grew from negative $4.1 million to positive $266.4 million, and net income grew from $3.9 million to $226.8 million. Operating cash flow turned positive in 2022, and Celsius moved from negative free cash flow flow of approximately $100 million in 2021 to positive free cash flow of $123 million in 2023.

This is an impressive record that continued into the first half of 2024. Revenue grew 29.3% year over year to $757.7 million, with operating income up 61.7% year over year to $177.4 million. Net income rose 82% year-on-year to $131.5 million. Celsius also saw its free cash flow more than quadruple year-on-year, from $38.4 million to $160.6 million, giving the business greater financial leverage for further expansion.

In the most recent quarter, Celsius increased its retail shelf space by 35% and the average number of stocking units increased from 15 to 20, thereby strengthening its presence in the retail channel. Amazon’s sales were also up 41% from last year, and the company introduced three new flavors for the summer.

Celsius’ momentum is gathering pace as it expands internationally, with sales starting in Canada, the UK and Ireland in the first half of this year. The company is scheduled to begin selling its drinks in Australia, New Zealand and France in the second half of 2024.

In keeping with the company’s goal of expanding its product portfolio, Celsius launched two new flavors under its Celsius Essentials product line in early October, bringing the total number of flavors to eight. The company also said the energy drink market will continue to grow between 2022 and 2024, even as overall beverage sales fell from last year.

This continued growth should bode well for the company’s plans to grow sales and profits in the long term.

Roper Technologies

Roper Technologies (ROP 0.91%) is a software company that designs and develops application and network software for various sectors. The company also has a history of reallocating capital into acquisitions that help grow the business through an analytical and disciplined process. The business has seen steady growth in revenue and profit over the past few years. Revenue grew from $4.8 billion in 2021 to $6.2 billion in 2023, while net income (from continuing operations) increased from $805 million to $1.4 billion over the same period. The business also generates large amounts of operating cash flow, averaging $1.5 billion over the past three years. Capital expenditures are low at less than $100 million annually, allowing Roper Technologies to generate stable free cash flow. In 2023 alone, the company’s free cash flow margin exceeded 30%. This consistency has allowed the company to pay increasing quarterly dividends since 2009, with quarterly dividends rising nearly tenfold over the past 15 years from $0.07 to the current $0.75.

Roper Technologies continued to demonstrate healthy growth through the first nine months of 2024. Revenue grew 13% year-on-year to $5.2 billion and operating income rose 14.8% year-on-year to $1.5 billion. Net income was $1.1 billion, up 9% year-on-year. , and the business continued to generate positive free cash flow of $1.6 billion during the period. Management also raised its guidance and expects full-year revenue to grow 13% year over year, with organic revenue growth expected to be around 6%.

The company was also active in acquisitions in 2024. In January, it acquired Procare Solutions, a leading provider of cloud-based early childhood education center management software, for approximately $1.75 billion. Roper Technologies followed this up with a second acquisition of Transact Campus in August for $1.5 billion. Transact Campus provides innovative campus technology and payment processing and will be absorbed into one of the company’s business units, CBORD, which provides campus commerce solutions to higher education institutions. Management expects the transaction to deliver long-term, single-digit organic revenue growth. With a strong track record of acquisitions and consistent organic revenue growth, Roper Technologies is poised to report stronger revenues and profits in the coming years.

Parsons

Parsons Corporation (PSN 0.07%) provides technology solutions for the defense, intelligence and critical infrastructure sectors. The company has achieved impressive growth in both revenue and earnings and appears well positioned to continue. From 2021 to 2023, revenue grew from $3.7 billion to $5.4 billion, and net income more than doubled from $64.1 million to $161.1 million. Free cash flow generation also increased: from $184.4 million in 2021 to $367.3 million in 2023.

The company’s revenue, earnings and free cash flow continued to grow during the first three quarters of this year on the back of organic and sales growth. Revenue grew 26.7% year-on-year to $3.2 billion, and operating income rose 67% year-on-year to $213.3 million.

Parsons suffered a net loss of $38.2 million due to debt repayments. But if this item is excluded, the company should receive significantly higher net income on an annualized basis. Free cash flow remained strong at $79.1 million through the first nine months of 2024, reversing a free cash outflow of $4 million in the previous corresponding period.

Like Roper, Parsons tends to grow through acquisitions. In July, Parsons acquired digital signal processing and cybersecurity provider BlackSignal Technologies for $200 million. This acquisition will not only help expand Parsons’ customer base, but will also help add new capabilities in the counterspace RF vertical.

Most recently, the company acquired BCC Engineering, a transportation engineering company headquartered in Florida, for $230 million. The acquisition should help strengthen Parsons’ infrastructure position; Both acquisitions are high-growth companies with projected year-over-year revenue growth of more than 10%. During last year’s Investor Day, management identified a total addressable market of approximately $150 billion across six verticals, ensuring Parsons will continue to grow in the years ahead.