3 Growth Stocks to Buy and Hold Forever

The best way to grow your wealth and better prepare yourself for retirement is to accumulate shares of solid growth stocks to own for the long term. As these companies steadily grow their revenue and profits, they become more valuable, and investors will be willing to pay more for them. As time goes by, their share prices will continue rising, thereby netting you attractive capital gains as you witness a consistent increase in the value of your investment portfolio.

Better yet, you should select companies that are not only suitable for owning over years, but for life. Such businesses need to have a few important defining characteristics. They should exhibit a strong track record of growth, possess a recognizable brand that can command loyalty, and enjoy catalysts that can allow the business to grow steadily over time.

With these crucial ingredients in place, here are three solid growth stocks that you can contemplate buying.

Image source: Getty images.

1. Skechers

Skechers (SKX 0.24%) designs, manufactures and markets a range of performance apparel and footwear for men, women, and children. The company sells its products through approximately 5,300 retail stores worldwide in more than 180 countries. Skechers has successfully grown its revenue and net income over the years, as shown in the table.

Data source: Skechers. Fiscal years end Dec. 31.

At the same time, the performance apparel company also saw its operating cash flow surge from $212.2 million in 2021 to $1.2 billion by 2023. The business began generating a positive free cash flow of $998 million in 2023, reversing two straight years of free cash outflow.

Skechers recently released its 2024 earnings and demonstrated continued top- and bottom-line growth. Revenue rose 12.1% year over year to $9 billion, while operating income climbed 15.2% year over year to $904.3 million. Net income stood at $639.5 million, up 17.2% year over year.

Chief operating officer David Weinberg attributed the performance to Skechers' strong product line, which emphasizes comfort, style, and quality at an affordable price. CEO Robert Greenberg added that Skechers' wide portfolio of products appeals to different ages and genders, and its performance division targeting sports such as basketball, soccer, and gold still has significant global growth potential.

Skechers outlined its growth plan to hit $10 billion in sales by 2026. The plan involves three key pillars of international expansion: direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales growth, and domestic growth. The company is aiming for low-to-mid-teens international sales growth through the expansion of its e-commerce platforms in new markets while diversifying its product offering.

For DTC, Skechers will expand its physical store footprint while enhancing its omnichannel presence. Domestic wholesale growth will be supported by broadening its product array into technical performance solutions and comfort offerings to target a wider range of customers.

Skechers is also working on the expansion of three distribution centers in California, China, and Belgium; the first two will be completed by the end of 2026 ,while the Belgian one should be completed by 2028.

Investors can take heart in knowing that management has outlined an effective multiyear growth plan and has made appropriate investments to handle stronger demand in the future.

2. Stryker

Stryker (SYK 0.44%) is a medical technology company offering products and services for the medical and surgical equipment, neurotechnology, and orthopedics segments. Stryker has reported consistent growth in revenue and net income over the years, as shown in the table. Note that investors should pay attention to net income excluding exceptional items to get a better sense of the growth of the company's core business.

Data source: Stryker. Fiscal years end Dec. 31. EI stands for "exceptional items."

Apart from growing its profits, Stryker's free cash flow profile is also improving. Free cash flow generation went from $2 billion in 2022 to $3.5 billion by 2024. This consistent free cash flow generation allowed the medical technology company to increase its dividend without fail since 2009. Stryker's most recent quarterly dividend stood at $0.84, a 5% year-over-year increase over the $0.80 paid out a year ago.

The company looks set to continue growing, with strong demand reported for its products in the markets it is present in. The business expects organic sales growth in the range of 8% to 9% for 2025 and has a long-term organic sales growth target of around 11% per annum, as announced during its 2023 Investor Day.

The business is also growing through acquisitions that help to bolster its portfolio of products and services. Last year, Stryker carried out two acquisitions -- that of care.ai, a virtual care and ambient intelligence solutions platform; and Vertos Medical, a company providing minimally invasive solutions for treating chronic back pain. In January this year, Inari Medical was acquired for approximately $4.9 billion. Inari has an innovative peripheral vascular portfolio that is complementary to Stryker's neurovascular segment, and this business combination can help to deliver solutions to patients that result in better clinical outcomes.

The 2023 Investor Day also highlighted steady operating margin expansion of around two percentage points this year and around 0.3 percentage points annually, with adjusted earnings per share registering double-digit growth. Management also targets to convert around 70% to 80% of its adjusted net earnings into free cash flow, which should help to power the continued increase in Stryker's annual dividend.

3. DexCom

DexCom (DXCM -1.72%) is a medical device company that utilizes technology to help diabetes patients track their glucose levels. DexCom manufactures continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) that offer personalized solutions to its customers.

With diabetes numbers increasing globally at an alarming rate and projected to hit 783 million by 2045 for adults aged 20 to 79, DexCom has witnessed increasing demand for its CGM solutions. The company reported consistent revenue and net income growth from 2022 to 2024, as shown in the table.

Data source: DexCom. Fiscal years end Dec. 31.

The business has also churned out higher levels of free cash flow as its profits increase. Free cash flow more than doubled from $304.7 million in 2022 to $630.7 million in 2024. For 2025, DexCom is projecting total revenue of $4.6 billion, which will represent 14% year-over-year growth.

It's still early days for the company as it drives CGM to become the standard of care for all stages of insulin use. DexCom grew its user base by around 25% in 2024 to approximately 2.8 million to 2.9 million customers globally, but management believes that this is just the tip of the iceberg.

In the U.S. alone, there are more than 4.5 million people on insulin who have reimbursement (i.e., they can claim insurance) but are not on CGM. In addition, the US market size for Type 2 Non-Insulin patients is greater than 25 million, of which the current CGM penetration rate is just 5%. And we are not even talking about the prediabetes market which is estimated at around 98 million people with a less than 1% CGM penetration.

Based on these numbers, it's clear that DexCom still has a long growth runway to tackle the diabetes scourge.

The company's Stelo product was approved back in March 2024 and is the first glucose biosensor in the U.S. cleared for use without a prescription. Since its launch in August last year, the product now has 140,000 users, with the majority signing up for a subscription. This successful launch shows the power of innovative solutions that are helping to boost DexCom's customer base. The company is also extending its international growth by doing direct in one to two markets per year by leveraging strategic distributors in select markets.

DexCom's pipeline of products is powered by innovation, and its large total addressable market will ensure that the business enjoys steadily rising revenue and profits for many more years.