If I Could Only Buy and Hold a Single Stock, This Would Be It

There’s no doubt that finding the highest quality stocks to buy and hold for the long haul is the single most important thing you can do as an investor.

Trying to time the market, chase hot momentum names, or flip stocks short-term is far more difficult to do consistently than it seems, and usually ends up costing people money instead of making it.

In hindsight, market sell-offs or recessions can make sense, but in the moment, they often come without warning, which is why owning a portfolio of high-quality stocks for years is so essential. The best of the best businesses continue executing through the good times and the bad.

They’re constantly growing earnings year after year, raising dividends consistently, and continuing to protect and compound your hard-earned capital. Plus, when you buy these kinds of stocks and hold them for decades, not only do they protect and grow your capital, but you mitigate against short-term market risk.

So what makes a company a high-quality stock? Often, these names are businesses with wide economic moats that protect them from competition, predictable cash flows from essential operations that don’t vanish in downturns, strong balance sheets, and management teams that allocate capital.

Diversification still matters and is one of the easiest ways to reduce risk in your portfolio. However, if I had to choose just one single name, Brookfield Corporation (TSX:BN) would be my top pick since it offers both built-in resilience and multiple growth drivers.

Brookfield’s massive diversification makes it the closest thing to a one-stock portfolio

Brookfield is one of the best stocks to buy and hold because it’s a high-quality global alternative asset manager with a massive portfolio of assets spread across multiple sectors and geographies.

That built-in diversification across industries and regions is one of the biggest reasons Brookfield would work so well as the only stock in your portfolio.

Diversification is essential when it comes to investing. And most individual stocks carry too much risk because they’re usually tied to one sector, one country, or one economic cycle that can significantly impact profitability if things go wrong.

Brookfield handles a lot of that risk internally. It has regulated and contracted cash flows for stability, inflation-linked revenues in many areas, exposure to powerful long-term trends like the renewable energy transition and AI/data centre demand, plus active capital recycling whereby management consistently sells off mature assets at premium multiples and then reinvests into higher-growth opportunities.

Furthermore, Brookfield is also diversified globally with assets across North America, Europe, Asia, South America, and more. That’s crucial because when one region slows down, another part of the portfolio often keeps performing.

Proven long-term compounding and management quality

In addition to a diversified portfolio of reliable operations, another reason Brookfield is one of the top stocks to buy and hold for years is that it also, unsurprisingly, has a long track record of delivering strong returns.

Management has consistently grown shareholder value through smart capital allocation, disciplined acquisitions, and operational improvements. The company benefits from a permanent capital base that lets it take a long-term view without pressure from short-term investors, one of the most important reasons it’s such a high-quality long-term holding.

Furthermore, that long-term approach has allowed it to consistently compound investors’ capital at rates well above market averages while keeping leverage manageable for its asset-heavy model

Therefore, because of that impressive track record, simple and repeatable investment strategy history and the built-in diversification, Brookfield is easily one of the best Canadian stocks to buy now and hold for years.

So, although diversification is essential and you’ll want to spread risk out among many stocks, if I had to choose just one stock to own for the long haul, Brookfield would be a no-brainer.

The post If I Could Only Buy and Hold a Single Stock, This Would Be It appeared first on The Motley Fool Canada.

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• If I Could Only Buy and Hold One Stock, This Would Be It

Fool contributor Daniel Da Costa has positions in Brookfield. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Brookfield. The Motley Fool recommends Brookfield Corporation. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.