Buy-and-hold investing strategies are less stressful than timing the market, looking at technical charts and battling the emotions that go along with second-by-second price movements. Accumulating retirement stocks and letting time work magic can help you achieve your financial goals sooner.

However, picking the wrong stocks can set you back on your goals. While the stock market has an upward trajectory in the long run, some stocks lose value over time and don’t recover. These retirement stocks will likely reward shareholders in the long run while delivering steady cash flow.

Walmart (WMT)
Retirement stocks can withstand many economic cycles, and few companies do that better than Walmart (NYSE:WMT). Walmart can thrive during the good times as its stock is up 75% over the past five years. However, it also has an advantage during slower economic conditions.

People go to Walmart to save money on groceries and other goods. Walmart is one of the best retailers for low prices and quality goods. The retailer lived up to its reputation in Q4 FY24 by growing its revenue by 5.7% year-over-year. The 23% year-over-year growth in e-commerce is a positive development that will help the corporation accelerate revenue growth.

Advertising revenue is another positive development for the retailer. Full-year global advertising revenue grew by 28% year-over-year to reach $3.4 billion. It’s a small part of the business, but Walmart’s acquisition of Vizio should speed up growth in the industry. Ads have higher profit margins than retail which can help Walmart reward long-term shareholders.

Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL)
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL) is an advertising juggernaut that helps businesses reach potential customers. Millions of businesses will want to get in front of their ideal prospects at any given moment, and that dynamic gives Alphabet plenty of room to run.

Google and YouTube are the two most popular websites. These advertising platforms have top-tier targeting capabilities, allowing advertisers to get high-quality leads while saving money. This value proposition helped Alphabet deliver 15% year-over-year revenue growth in Q1 2024. The company also expanded its net profit margins and announced its first dividend, $0.20 per share.

Most big tech companies that issue dividends also have impressive double-digit year-over-year growth rates. Investors should expect Alphabet to hike its dividend each year meaningfully. Luckily, Alphabet isn’t only making money from ads. Google Cloud makes up more than 10% of total revenue and delivers strong revenue growth rates and profit margins. Google Cloud can help Alphabet reach new heights.

American Express (AXP)
American Express (NYSE:AXP) is attracting younger consumers. Over 60% of the company’s new cardholders in Q1 2024 were Millennials and Gen Z consumers. In addition, American Express has a financial product that people will use during any economic cycle. While people change what they buy over time and modify their budgets, they always use credit and debit cards for most purchases.

The influx of younger consumers helped American Express deliver 11% year-over-year revenue growth in Q1 2024. Net income soared by an even more impressive 34% year-over-year. Those types of results have helped American Express outperform the stock market. Shares are up by 23% year-to-date and have gained 95% over the past five years.

American Express also has a decent 1.20% dividend yield and a 19 P/E ratio. It’s reasonably priced and offers incredible dividend growth. The fintech firm has maintained an annualized 10.51% dividend growth rate over the past decade. American Express outpaced this annualized growth rate when it announced a 17% dividend hike earlier this year.

— Marc Guberti

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Source: Investor Place