A business can dominate today’s headlines and still lose its edge before the next decade ends. Finding the best stocks to buy for the next 20 years means examining which companies can adapt, protect their profits, and keep serving customers as industries change. Artificial intelligence and cloud computing offer substantial opportunities, but healthcare, financial services, consumer spending, and energy infrastructure also belong in the conversation about long-term stocks.
The Digital Economy Still Needs Physical Infrastructure
Behind every AI application sits a network of chips, servers, cooling systems, and electricity connections. The International Energy Agency’s 2025 outlook projected that global data center electricity consumption would more than double to around 945 terawatt-hours by 2030, roughly matching Japan’s electricity use at the time. For investors researching stocks for long-term growth, that links the technology boom to opportunities in power generation and supporting infrastructure. www.iea.org
Healthcare follows another powerful trend. The World Health Organization projects that one in six people worldwide will be at least 60 years old by 2030, suggesting greater needs for treatment, diagnostics, and care. Meanwhile, businesses providing everyday goods, waste collection, and financial services serve recurring needs that can endure through successive technology cycles. The investment challenge is identifying which providers can turn that demand into sustainable earnings. www.who.int
Twenty Years Gives Compounding Room to Work
The mathematics explains the appeal of buy-and-hold stocks. At a hypothetical annual return of 8%, an investment would grow to approximately 4.7 times its starting value over 20 years, before taxes and fees. Real markets follow a bumpier path, and holding an investment longer cannot rescue a deteriorating business.
Strong long-term candidates need competitive advantages, sound finances, and opportunities to reinvest cash profitably. The purchase price also matters because even impressive growth can disappoint investors when expectations are already stretched. A decades-long horizon rewards patience most effectively when it comes with careful valuation and regular checks that the business still deserves its place in the portfolio.
Waste Management Inc. (NYSE:WM) ranks 9th in our list of 10 Best Stocks to Buy for the Next 20 Years. Click HERE to find out other stocks on the list.
Waste Management Inc. (NYSE:WM)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 64 | Market Capitalization: $90.7 billion
An Essential Service With Additional Revenue Opportunities
Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE: WM) offers a straightforward investment premise: households and businesses need their waste collected through changing economic conditions. Collection routes, disposal facilities, and recycling infrastructure support a service that remains necessary even when consumer spending slows.
The competitive advantage extends beyond owning trucks. Dense collection routes can improve operating efficiency, while securing and operating disposal capacity requires capital, permits, and regulatory compliance. Those requirements make replicating an established network more complicated than simply entering a neighborhood with lower prices.
Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE: WM) is also developing businesses around the material it already handles. Recycling investments aim to recover more usable resources, while renewable natural gas facilities capture and process landfill methane. Its acquisition of Stericycle expanded its exposure to medical waste services, adding another regulated service category.
The long-term opportunity is to earn more from existing infrastructure while improving operating efficiency. However, renewable fuel credits, commodity prices, environmental liabilities, and acquisition integration can affect results. For investors considering defensive stocks to buy and hold, cash generation after maintenance spending and growth investment deserves close attention.
Ranking Rationale
Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE: WM) takes ninth place with 64 hedge fund holders. Essential waste collection services, established disposal infrastructure, and opportunities in recycling and renewable natural gas support its inclusion among long-term investment candidates.
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Disclosure: No material interests to disclose. This article was originally published on Global Market Bulletin.
