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Additional Reading from MarketBeat Media 3 "Forever Stocks" to Hold When the Market Won't Sit StillWritten by Chris Markoch. Posted: 1/19/2026. 
Key Takeaways - Chevron provides long-term income potential through disciplined buybacks, a growing dividend, and exposure to global energy markets.
- Colgate-Palmolive delivers consistency with a diversified brand portfolio and more than six decades of annual dividend increases.
- Merck combines near-term cash flow from Keytruda with a late-stage oncology pipeline aimed at sustaining future growth.
In volatile markets, it's wise to consider stocks you can hold for the long haul. These compounders don't need to dominate your portfolio, but they can be valuable for investors who prefer to step away from their screens and rely on durable businesses to generate long-term returns. Owning "forever stocks" is about more than chasing the next hot trade. It means building around companies with durable competitive advantages, resilient cash flows, and shareholder-friendly capital allocation. Such businesses tend to weather economic cycles, adapt to industry shifts, and reward investors through dividends and long-term appreciation. A former hedge fund manager known for cutting through market noise is briefly opening access to his flagship trading strategy. In a short demo, he explains how his "One Ticker" approach works — and how readers can access the full service for a year at a steep discount. Watch the brief demo here Large-cap leaders with global footprints often fit this profile. They benefit from scale, strong brands, and balance sheets that let them invest through downturns while returning capital to shareholders. While even the best companies can underperform for periods, history shows that patience is often rewarded when the underlying business remains strong. Chevron: Energy Income With Long-Term Staying Power Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) is a large-cap integrated oil major with operations in the Permian Basin, several deep-water projects, and investments in renewables. CVX's stock price is sensitive to oil-price fluctuations, which helps explain the stock's modest total return of 5.1% over the past three years. Although production is near record levels, crude prices lingering in the high $50s to low $60s have weighed on earnings. That said, this piece focuses on owning durable businesses. Over the last 10 years, CVX has delivered a total return of more than 200%. The company has a history of share buybacks and a stable, growing dividend, currently yielding about 4.12%. More notable is the annualized dividend payout of $6.84 per share and Chevron's status as a dividend aristocrat, with 38 consecutive years of dividend increases. Colgate-Palmolive: A Dividend King Built for Consistency Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL) is a stalwart in the consumer staples sector, with a deep portfolio of brands sold worldwide. The bullish case echoes Peter Lynch's advice to "own what you know": demand for Colgate's products is steady and predictable. Investors who bought CL in recent years have had to be patient. The stock has produced roughly a 15% total return over the past five years, which includes the company's dividend at about a 2.47% yield (source). Over longer horizons, however, CL has been a reliable compounder and is classified as a dividend king, having increased its dividend for 63 consecutive years. At about 22 times earnings, the stock also appears reasonably valued relative to its history and the broader market. Merck: Pipeline-Driven Growth Beyond Keytruda Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) experienced a rough 2025, hitting a low around $72 — roughly a 45% drop from its June 2024 high. Like the other names here, MRK has been a challenging hold recently, delivering a total return of just over 10% in the past three years. Merck currently derives just under half of its revenue from its blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda. Keytruda won't face major patent erosion until 2028, but institutional investors are already focused on how Merck will replace or extend that revenue stream. This is similar to the challenge AbbVie Inc. (NYSE: ABBV) faced with Humira and ultimately overcame. Merck's roadmap to doing the same is its pipeline: the company is pursuing additional indications for Keytruda and has about 16 oncology candidates in late-stage trials. If one or two of those receive approval in the coming years, Merck's revenue gap could be substantially closed. Each of these companies illustrates qualities that make a stock a reasonable "forever" holding: durable franchises, reliable cash generation, and a commitment to returning capital. They aren't without risks — commodity cycles, changing consumer habits, and drug-patent timelines matter — but for investors focused on long-term compounding, they merit consideration within a diversified portfolio.
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