The nifty nine: a portfolio of stocks to buy and hold forever

A diverse range of stocks you can buy and keep forever should be a core part of any equity portfolio, says Dr Mike Tubbs. He selects his nine favourites from sectors ranging from agriculture to scientific instruments.

Whisky barrels
Almost a quarter of drinks giant Diageo’s sales come from Scotch whisky
(Image credit: © Diageo)

Warren Buffett famously said that his favourite holding period for equities was “forever”. Some of your equity investments will be short- or medium-term plays; you hope they appreciate, but you will need to monitor them regularly in case they do not develop as you hoped. Longer-term investments, by contrast, should be “forever companies”: those you can hold indefinitely because they will be so reliable that you will barely have to keep an eye on them at all.

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Row 0 - Cell 0 Revenue GrowthForward p/eDividend yield
Row 1 - Cell 0 GrowthPeriodRow 1 - Cell 3 Row 1 - Cell 4
Alphabet102%2016-2020260%
AbbVie79%2016-20208.44.4%
Thermo Fisher76%2016-202027.60.16%
Halma66.9%2017-2021230.6%
John Deere33.7%2016-202015.51.1%
Merck20.6%2016-202012.33%
S&P Global12.8%2016-202028.20.7%
Diageo2.7%2017-2021282%
Medtronic1.4%2017-2021212.1%
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Dr Mike Tubbs

Highly qualified (BSc PhD CPhys FInstP MIoD) expert in R&D management, business improvement and investment analysis, Dr Mike Tubbs worked for decades on the 'inside' of corporate giants such as Xerox, Battelle and Lucas. Working in the research and development departments, he learnt what became the key to his investing; knowledge which gave him a unique perspective on the stock markets.

Dr Tubbs went on to create the R&D Scorecard which was presented annually to the Department of Trade & Industry and the European Commission. It was a guide for European businesses on how to improve prospects using correctly applied research and development. He has been a contributor to MoneyWeek for many years, with a particular focus on R&D-driven growth companies.