It's hard to beat stocks when you're looking to build wealth over many years. Per the research of Wharton professor Jeremy Siegel, stocks have outperformed bonds, gold, and the dollar over more than 200 years.
Bonds were the closest competitor, but stocks beat bonds over relatively shorter periods, too; over the 75 years between 1946 and 2021, stocks grew at an average annual rate of 11.3%, versus 5.8% for long-term government bonds. (The long-term annual average return of the S&P 500 is around 10%.)
If you're looking for very promising stocks that can help you build wealth in the years ahead, here are three to consider. See which ones interest you.
1. Pfizer
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer (PFE 0.23%) is a familiar name. Not only has it recently been trading at attractive levels, it's also currently sporting a fat dividend yield of 5.8%. (That's no accident, because a falling stock price will boost a dividend yield, and vice versa, and Pfizer's stock was recently down 29% from its 52-week high.)
Pfizer's first-quarter report featured revenue of $14.9 billion, down some 20% from the year before. But that was largely due to flagging sales of its COVID-19 vaccine and Paxlovid treatment for COVID-19. Excluding those sales, revenue was actually up 11%.
CEO Albert Bourla credited "revenue from several of our recent commercial launches and acquired products, as well as robust year-over-year growth for several key in-line brands, namely the Vyndaqel family, Eliquis, and the Prevnar family. In addition, we had strong oncology revenue contributions from Ibrance, Xtandi, Padcev and Adcetris."
Pfizer's recent price-to-sales ratio of 2.9 is below its five-year average of 3.4, suggesting an appealingly valued stock. Indeed, some see it as "one of the biggest bargains" in the stock market.
2. Veeva Systems
It's often a smart move to buy into a strong performer when it hits a slump -- as long as its growth prospects remain solid. That seems to be the case with Veeva Systems (VEEV -0.40%), a company that serves mainly the life sciences industry with cloud-based services. (For example, it helps drug companies manage their clinical trials.) Its myriad customers include Lilly, Merck, Pfizer, and Moderna.
In its fourth quarter, growth stock Veeva posted 12% year-over-year revenue growth, and revenue from subscription services is up 13%. The company also added 44 new customers, bringing its recent total to 1,432. Once it nets a new customer, that customer is likely to stick around, because after the customer starts using Veeva's services, it can be costly and a hassle to switch to a different provider. (That's the "switching cost" competitive advantage.)
Veeva's price-to-sales ratio and forward-looking price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio are both well below their five-year averages, reflecting a significantly lower value than it's had in the recent past. It's also worth noting that Veeva is one of the relatively few "public benefit corporations," having committed to "balancing the interests of all stakeholders, including customers, employees, shareholders, and the industries it serves."
3. Vanguard S&P 500 ETF
This last "stock" to consider isn't exactly a stock, at least not in the sense that Pfizer and Veeva Systems are. It's an exchange-traded fund (ETF) -- which is very much like a mutual fund but which trades like a stock, allowing you to buy one or many shares through your brokerage account. Specifically, it's the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO -1.04%).
How can this ETF help you get rich in 2025 and beyond? Well, because it's an index ETF, it tracks the S&P 500 index, which is full of 500 of America's biggest and best companies, including all of the "Magnificent Seven" stocks, lots of dividend-paying companies, and most major companies that you might wish you owned. Investing in it is like investing in the future of America, and it saves you the trouble or worry of having to select the most promising individual stocks you can find (though you can always do that, as well).
The ETF charges a minuscule annual fee of 0.03%, and over the past decade, it has delivered average annual gains of 13%. It recently sported a dividend yield of 1.4%, as well.
Any or all of these investments can build your wealth over time. They're not guaranteed to surge in value this year or next, but they're likely to do quite well over many years.
