A Top Dividend Stock for Long-Term Investors
Explore the exciting world of Realty Income (NYSE: O) with our expert analysts in this Motley Fool Scoreboard episode. Check out the video below to gain valuable insights into market trends and potential investment opportunities!
*Stock prices used were the prices of March 19, 2025. The video was published on April 29, 2025.
Should you invest $1,000 in Realty Income right now?
Before you buy stock in Realty Income, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Realty Income wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $598,818!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $666,416!*
Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor 's total average return is872% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to160%for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.
See the 10 stocks »
*Stock Advisor returns as of April 28, 2025
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7 hours ago
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If I Could Only Buy and Hold a Single Stock, This Would Be It.
Let's make this clear from the start: I would never recommend owning just one stock for the long haul. A proper nest egg needs some variety, either in a carefully assembled basket of diverse stocks or focused on a broad market-tracking exchange-traded fund (ETF). For the sake of argument, however, I could imagine buying some Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A)(NYSE: BRK.B) stock and just letting it roll. The usual suspects aren't diverse enough for this challenge I know, I know. You wanted me to double down on Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), whose stock has absolutely crushed the general market in the long run. Or I could have picked Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX), the media-streaming pioneer that's created most of my wealth so far and that might join the trillion-dollar market cap club in a few years. Perhaps you expected Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), with its unmatched five-year returns and huge long-term future in the artificial intelligence (AI) industry. These stocks sure tick a few of the right boxes, but none of them are as naturally diversified as Berkshire Hathaway. That's really what I'm looking for in a "single stock for all ages." Why my biggest winners don't make the cut I own all three of the suggested Berkshire alternatives above, by the way. Netflix Netflix was an early name in my portfolio, inspired by fellow Fool Rick Munarriz's in-depth analysis of the company in the mid-2000s. When Netflix went through the Qwikster-branded separation of DVD and streaming services, I doubled down on my investment at a fantastic price. That particular Netflix stake has gained 10,350% in less than 14 years. But that's just my favorite play on the future of digital media services. I would never dare to make Netflix my only holding, just in case somebody builds a better media-streaming mousetrap. Amazon I wish I had pounced on Amazon much earlier, like Motley Fool co-founders Tom and David Gardner did. But I dragged my feet, and watched the online bookstore become an e-commerce buffet with a highly profitable side of cloud computing services. My oldest Amazon investment is only up by 430% since January 2017. Still, Amazon only operates in a couple of business sectors. The company (and stock) could be vulnerable to a sudden sea change in cloud computing, possibly led by Microsoft 's (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows Azure. And how well would Amazon's dominant e-commerce business perform if global rivals such as Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) or MercadoLibre (NASDAQ: MELI) found some traction in the American market? Amazon is not a one-trick pony, but the company should pick up a few more skills before entering this single-stock discussion. Nvidia I'm especially worried about Nvidia's long-term tenacity. The early leader in AI accelerator hardware could very well run into a superior alternative in the next few years. The risk only grows larger if you stretch the timeline out over decades. Rivals like Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) and Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) control tiny slices of the AI chip opportunity so far, but that could change. The next market-defining AI winner could be some upstart I haven't heard of yet. Moreover, leading cloud computing experts such as Microsoft and Amazon already design AI accelerators of their own, hoping to meet their exact needs at a lower cost. Nvidia's big growth spurt might have a few years left in it. I'm just not convinced that the stock will continue to rise after that. My largest Nvidia purchase has posted a 780% gain since June 2022, but I cashed in on those paper gains and sold most of my Nvidia shares earlier this year. This pony needs to learn a few more tricks, too. Berkshire is the Swiss Army knife of stocks So diversity sets Berkshire apart from the biggest success stories of this era. Sure, Warren Buffett's stock-picking and wealth management expertise deserves tons of respect. 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The largest investments include a $60.7 billion stake in Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), a $45.1 billion position in American Express (NYSE: AXP), and a $28.5 billion holding of Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO). That's consumer electronics, financial services, and beverage distribution. Apple's gigantic presence may look risky, but the danger looks smaller when you also consider Berkshire's epic collection of fully owned businesses. Do you see a theme here? I do, but it's not a single industry. Berkshire is all about diversity, shielding the company and its investors against the temporary ups and downs in any one particular industry. Full disclosure: I don't own Berkshire (yet) I don't actually own any Berkshire Hathaway stock yet. I get my portfolio diversification kicks in other ways, with several dozen hand-picked stocks and a couple of broad index funds serving this purpose. That's arguably a mistake, since Berkshire's stock tends to outperform the S&P 500 in the long run, and I can't compete with the Buffett team's stock-picking skill. So if you're starting a new portfolio today, or just looking for an alternative to the common S&P 500 index funds, you should give Berkshire Hathaway a serious look. It's definitely a safer long-term bet than Nvidia, Netflix, or even Amazon. Should you invest $1,000 in Berkshire Hathaway right now? Before you buy stock in Berkshire Hathaway, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Berkshire Hathaway wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $669,517!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $868,615!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor 's total average return is792% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to171%for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 2, 2025 John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. American Express is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Anders Bylund has positions in Alibaba Group, Amazon, Intel, Netflix, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices, Amazon, Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, Intel, MercadoLibre, Microsoft, Netflix, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends Alibaba Group and recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft, short August 2025 $24 calls on Intel, and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Globe and Mail
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Why an Investment in This Index Can Be the Best Gift You Give New Grads This Year
May and June are graduation season, and if you haven't decided what to get for the new grad in your life, you may want to consider gifting them an investment. It may not be as flashy as a car or trip abroad, but that investment is likely to grow over time. In the process, it can not only underscore just how valuable investing can be but also how simple it can be as well. Beginners often believe successfully investing in the stock market must be a complex undertaking that requires years of experience and countless hours of research. But picking a good investment can be much easier than that. Tracking a broad market index such as the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) is arguably the simplest way for anyone to get started, and your gift can put the new grad you know on the right path. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Learn More » Why an investment in the S&P 500 makes sense for new grads The biggest advantage young investors have is time. The problem is that many students and young professional aren't thinking about saving for retirement. Even if they are, they're often financially unable to do so as they grapple with student debt, rent payments, and other adult responsibilities. Or worse, they're most interested in finding the next big growth stock or chasing meme stocks. Investing in the safe and dependable S&P 500 probably doesn't rank too highly in any of these scenarios. But with decades ahead of them, new grads will benefit immensely from the effects of compounding. The S&P 500 has grown an average of 10% per year in its history, enough to mint a sizable nest egg for patient investors (more on this below). And beyond this attractive rate of return, the index is made up of 500 of the largest U.S. companies with exposure to all of the major sectors, industries, and geographic markets. Here's how much your gift could grow over time Though I've been talking about the benefits of investing in the S&P 500, you can't just buy a piece of the index. Instead, you can invest in an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks it and offers very similar returns. A popular option is the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: SPY). This low-cost fund has an expense ratio of just 0.0945%, so for every $1,000 you have invested in the ETF, you lose less than $1 per year to management fees. When investing over the long term, high expense ratios can add up to hundreds and thousands of dollars. Over the past decade, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF has grown more than 180%. Including dividends, its total return climbs above 230%. Data by YCharts. That works out to a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.7% over the past 10 years, which is higher than the S&P 500's historical average. But taking a slightly more conservative approach and assuming the index and ETF will deliver a 10% annual return long term, here's how different sized gifts -- all invested in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF -- could grow for a new grad: Gift Amount 20 Years 30 Years 40 Years 50 Years $100 $673 $1,745 $4,526 $11,739 $200 $1,345 $3,490 $9,052 $23,478 $500 $3,364 $8,725 $22,630 $58,695 $1,000 $6,727 $17,449 $45,259 $117,391 $2,000 $13,455 $34,899 $90,519 $234,782 $3,000 $20,182 $52,348 $135,778 $352,173 Table and calculations by author. Your gift could become a five or even six-figure sum if its recipient is patient enough to let compounding do its magic. Though inflation will diminish the purchasing power of the estimates above, this is still a great example of how a simple investment in the stock market can become a major windfall for young grads, even if retirement planning is the last thing on their minds. Should you invest $1,000 in SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust right now? Before you buy stock in SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $669,517!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $868,615!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor 's total average return is792% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to171%for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 2, 2025
Globe and Mail
14 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
Is American Express Worth Buying Right Now?
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