Over the past decade, growth stocks have been the go-to for many investors. A period of extremely low interest rates, investor optimism, and a booming tech sector made growth stocks some of the market's top performers and increased their appeal.
If you're a long-term investor who is looking for growth stocks you can feel comfortable holding on to for the next decade, the following two are great options.
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1. CrowdStrike
CrowdStrike Holdings (CRWD -6.44%) has been a premier growth stock, but an outage of historical proportion that the cybersecurity company caused in July 2024 has put a microscope on it and turned some investors' sentiment sour. As of March 6, CrowdStrike shares were down 4% over the past three months, including a 26% drop from their Feb. 14 record high.
Investors seem to be jumping ship because of a weaker-than-expected outlook for fiscal year 2026 (the current fiscal year it's in) that the company gave in early March, but I believe abandoning the company is shortsighted. If you're looking for a growth stock you can hold on to for the next decade, it checks many of the needed boxes.
NASDAQ: CRWD
Key Data Points
The one thing people can't take away from CrowdStrike is that its cybersecurity solutions work very well. It is consistently recognized as one of the top cybersecurity platforms. But even outside of the awards, its finances, customer growth, and retention back up the claims.
In its fiscal fourth quarter (ended Jan. 31), the company struck more than 20 deals worth over $10 million each and more than 350 deals worth over $1 million each. Given how crucial cybersecurity is, that indicates strong customer support.
CrowdStrike's dollar-based net retention was 112% in its fourth quarter, meaning existing customers spent 12% more with the company than they did last year. That's key to its strong revenue growth, including surpassing $1 billion in subscription revenue in a fiscal year for the first time in its history.
CRWD Revenue (Quarterly) data by YCharts.
If you're looking for factors that make a company a good investment over the next decade and beyond, large deals, customer retention, and a large total addressable market (TAM) are keys.
Management expects Crowdstrike's total addressable market to reach $250 billion in 2029 for its AI-native platform, up from an estimated $116 billion this year. As cybersecurity becomes more important, CrowdStrike Holdings is positioned to be a major player for a long time.
2. Amazon
With a market cap of over $2 trillion at the time of this writing, Amazon (AMZN -8.89%) may not seem like your typical growth stock, but the company checks all the boxes of one.
NASDAQ: AMZN
Key Data Points
The company became the Amazon we know today because of its booming e-commerce business, but my optimism for the next decade lies in its cloud computing segment, Amazon Web Services (AWS).
AWS is the market leader in cloud services and has become a true cash cow. Its revenue grew 19% year over year in 2024 to $107 billion, more than Target's revenue over the past four quarters combined. Its operating income was $40 billion, up from $24.6 billion.
Although AWS revenue was only around 17% of Amazon's total revenue in 2024, its operating income was 58% of the company total. E-commerce keeps the money flowing in; AWS drives profitability.
AMZN Revenue (Annual) data by YCharts.
Every major cloud platform stands to improve with the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI), but AWS has been taking a slightly different approach that should help it maintain its top spot in the industry.
It has been focusing on building and providing the foundational AI infrastructure that customers can use to build their own AI tools. Take its Bedrock and SageMaker platforms, for example, which allow users to develop and deploy their own generative AI apps and machine learning models, respectively.
Amazon had nearly $83 billion in capital expenditures in 2024, with the company saying that most of it supported AWS growth (with data centers, AI capabilities, and the like). The company understands that e-commerce revenue is needed to fund its various ventures, but AWS is key to its long-term growth. In 2025, it plans to spend around $100 billion.
Amazon is a stock I feel comfortable buying and holding on to for the long haul, even with the inevitable ups and downs.
