Picking the best stocks to buy now for long-term investing is trickier than it looks, because a great company can still be a poor purchase at the wrong price. The S&P 500's forward P/E sits around 19, just under its five-year average, so the index itself isn't stretched, though individual names vary.
Anyone holding for years has plenty to choose from among the best stocks to invest in 2026, and these top 10 stocks to buy now mix blue-chip stalwarts with faster growers. Prices and multiples are as of the October 28, 2026 market open, and earnings figures link to the companies' own releases and filings.
How to choose stocks for long-term investment
Long-term investment stocks tend to share a few traits, and most of them are unglamorous.
What a durable business looks like
A moat is the structural reason rivals can't easily take customers, such as switching costs or a brand people pay extra for. Revenue should keep growing without margins sliding. Free cash flow should cover spending, and debt shouldn't become the story. Management's real test is what it does with spare cash.
Why a great company can still be expensive
A share price already bakes in expectations. Pay 45 times earnings for a business growing 10% and flawless execution may still deliver a mediocre return. So each pick below gets two verdicts, one on the company and one on the price.
Best long-term stocks: the 10 picks
These stocks with long-term potential each have a market value above $350 billion and positive free cash flow, with a moat that's easy to explain.
Microsoft (MSFT)
The question hanging over Microsoft is how much AI infrastructure it must build before the payoff arrives. The June quarter brought $90.0 billion in revenue, up 18%, with Azure past $100 billion in annual sales for the first time and 30 million paid Copilot seats. Moving a business off its cloud provider means rebuilding systems it runs on daily, which keeps customers in place. The forward P/E is 26.7 at $528.11.
Alphabet (GOOGL)
Search still pays the bills, but Google Cloud stole the quarter. Cloud revenue hit $24.8 billion, up about 82%, and its operating income more than tripled to $8.8 billion. Don't trust the 16.3 trailing P/E, since investment gains inflated it. The forward P/E of 24.3 at $324.79 is the better yardstick. Antitrust remedies and AI chatbots nibbling at search are the real worries.
Nvidia (NVDA)
Nvidia looks cheaper than the business suggests: a forward P/E of 18 at $218.05 for a company that booked $96.2 billion of revenue last quarter, $89.0 billion of it from data centers, at a 75% gross margin. The catch is that forward numbers assume the AI buildout keeps going. Management guides to roughly $108 billion next quarter without counting any China data center sales, and customer concentration or export rules could change the picture quickly.
Broadcom (AVGO)
Broadcom is the quieter AI chip story, supplying custom accelerators and networking gear to big cloud buyers. Fiscal third-quarter revenue rose 86% to $29.6 billion, and AI chip sales reached $16.7 billion. Free cash flow came in at $13.7 billion. The 44 trailing P/E at $346.20 drops to about 20 on forward estimates. A pause in orders from a few huge customers would show up quickly.
Visa (V)
Visa takes a small cut of every swipe without ever lending a dollar. Fiscal third-quarter net revenue rose 14% to $11.6 billion. The forward P/E is 26.7 at $401.91, so the market already prices it fairly for its growth. Interchange litigation (Visa booked a $237 million provision) and regulators eyeing card fees are the ongoing risks.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM)
JPMorgan's profit leans on interest rates, so lower rates or a turn in the credit cycle are what to watch. Third-quarter net income was $15.3 billion with a 20% return on tangible equity, and net interest income climbed 13%, though expenses rose 12%. At $336.60 it trades near 13.4 times forward earnings and yields 1.96%, the closest thing to a value pick here.
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)
Talc litigation is the first thing to understand about J&J. A one-time charge pushed the trailing P/E to 41, so the forward P/E of 24.3 at $270.01 is more useful. Underneath, third-quarter sales rose 5.9% to $25.4 billion and 2026 adjusted EPS guidance moved up to $11.05 to $11.15, even with Stelara declining.
Eli Lilly (LLY)
Lilly's second-quarter revenue jumped 48% to $23.0 billion, led by Mounjaro at $9.9 billion and Zepbound at $4.9 billion, and the company raised 2026 revenue guidance to $85 billion to $87 billion. The $1,292.05 price and 33.5 forward P/E already assume the growth continues. Falling realized prices and heavy reliance on two products are the downside.
Costco (COST)
Costco's fiscal 2026 sales reached $297.2 billion, up 10%, and membership fees added $5.9 billion. Low prices bring members back, and their fees pay for those low prices, so the model feeds itself. At $983.61 and 43 times forward earnings, though, the stock leaves little room for a stumble.
Procter & Gamble (PG)
P&G's latest quarter delivered 4% sales growth to $23.3 billion, with EPS up 1%. Not thrilling, and that's the point. It paid $2.6 billion in dividends and bought back $1.3 billion of stock in one quarter. At $158.74, the forward P/E is 22.4 and the yield 2.75%. Commodity costs and low single-digit growth limit the upside.
Best stocks to buy now at a glance
The table lines up the picks side by side, with forward P/E as of October 28, 2026.
Growth, value and defensive stocks compared
Each style behaves differently when markets get rough. Nvidia and Broadcom are the pure growth bets, with Lilly close behind. Such names deliver fast earnings gains but can fall hard when expectations slip. Among the best value stocks here, JPMorgan trades at a lower multiple and tends to move with the economy. Defensive picks such as P&G and J&J sell things people buy in any year, so they swing less and climb less. Microsoft, Alphabet, Visa and Costco sit between the camps as the best blue-chip stocks on the list.
Best dividend stocks for long-term income
P&G and J&J lead on yield, with JPMorgan right behind, while the tech names pay under 1% and rely on price gains and buybacks. Reinvesting payouts at a 2% yield quietly adds shares year after year.
How to tell if a stock is priced fairly today
Ignore analyst price targets. A forward P/E only means something next to expected growth, and price to free cash flow is harder to dress up than earnings. Visa's is 33 while Lilly's is 63, so two quality names can carry very different bills. A stock can also look cheap against the market and still be pricey for itself, so check each multiple against the company's own history.
Stocks vs broad-market ETFs
Ten stocks is still a concentrated bet, however good the companies are.
When an index fund makes more sense
A broad-market ETF owns hundreds of companies, so one bad quarter at Lilly barely registers. You also own the expensive and the cheap together, and that's the trade-off. Investors who want less company-specific risk can hold an index fund as the core and add a few of these stocks on top.
Habits that matter more than the pick
Dollar-cost averaging, meaning a fixed amount invested on a schedule, takes the guesswork out of entry points. Keep any single stock to a small slice of your portfolio and reinvest dividends. Patience matters more than timing for the best stocks to hold for 10 years, and for any stocks to buy and hold.
Which stocks suit which investor
The sturdiest core among the best stocks for long-term investment here is P&G, J&J, JPMorgan, Microsoft and Alphabet. As an illustration only, a cautious investor might keep about 70% of a stock allocation in that group and hold the best growth stocks, such as Nvidia and Lilly, near 30%, because those can drop sharply. Visa and Costco fit either side, depending on the price you'll pay.
Whatever you hold, track free cash flow, operating margins, debt, and forward P/E against growth every quarter. None of these top stocks for long-term growth is a guaranteed winner, and several are expensive today. This article is informational and isn't personalized financial advice.
