Wouldn’t it be nice if you could buy just one Stock, watch it grow and pay dividends? Wouldn’t it be nice if you had picked Microsoft when it went public and had seen your investment grow more than a hundred fold? But, is there a best stock to own? You want growth and you want security. Where can you find that today? The Motley Fool asked three of their contributors for their choice of the single best stock to own today. Here are their choices.
Under Armour C Shares
Under Armour shareholders are still reeling from the athletic apparel and footwear specialist’s disappointing fourth-quarter 2016 results. The stock is down more than 40% over the past six months, including a more than 20% single-day plunge in late January after that report revealed slowing growth in the company’s core North American apparel business.
But I think the sell-off is overdone now. And Under Armour still has a long runway for growth both overseas and in other segments.
For example, Under Armour’s footwear revenue climbed 36% year over year last quarter, to $228 million, or just 17% of total sales. And international revenue climbed 55.2% – 60% at constant currency — to $215.3 million, or 16.5% of total revenue.
Here you are betting that the company will adjust and continue to grow, ending up as the next Nike.
Disney
With Disney shares trading at prices that aren’t far removed from lifetime highs, suggesting that the stock is still one of the best buys on the market is a bold statement. However, even with the challenges facing its media networks due to cord-cutting, the company has never looked stronger.
Between theme parks, television channels, films, and consumer-products segments, Disney is well-diversified, and it creates synergies across its businesses that give the company great growth potential. Its stable of entertainment franchises is incredibly potent.
Its huge properties, including Star Wars and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, are evidencing tremendous draw, and its animation studios are consistently turning out massive hits.
Disney has intellectual properties that it can continue to recycle basically forever.
Apple
It may seem like Apple’s best days are behind it, but the company reported its best quarter ever in the first fiscal quarter of 2017, which coincides with the calendar fourth quarter of the year. Revenue hit $78.4 billion, and net income was a whopping $17.9 billion, or $3.36 per share. The $246.1 billion cash and marketable securities hoard is also a comforting backstop for the company.
What makes Apple the best stock to own today is that it’s become such an indispensable part of hundreds of millions of people’s lives. And people are willing to pay a premium to stick with Apple products.
The iPhone is the center of the ecosystem, and for those of us who have them, they’re rarely more than a few feet away.
What sold Warren Buffett on Apple was the intense customer loyalty to Apple products. They, like Disney, have a place in our national consciousness that will be hard for competitors to displace making them contenders for the best stock to own.
Is There a Best Stock to Own? PPT
