3 Stock Picks for a 'Buy and Hold' Approach

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- By Alberto Abaterusso

The GuruFocus business predictability rating ranks companies on a five-star scale, defining the more predictable companies as enterprises whose revenue per share and Ebitda per share are growing steadily and who have produced a strong long-term performance of their stock prices.

Thus, an investment strategy based on a "buy and hold" approach could be more successful if applied to stocks with a high GuruFocus business predictability rating. Value investors may be interested in the following three companies, as they have high business predictability ratings from GuruFocus.


Accenture PLC

The first company that makes the cut is Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN), a Dublin, Ireland-based supplier of professional services to businesses worldwide.

Accenture's business has the highest score of 5 stars for its predictability rank. The company saw the revenue per share grow by 7.9% and the Ebitda per share grow by 10% on average every year over the past 10 years.

3 Stock Picks for a 'Buy and Hold' Approach
3 Stock Picks for a 'Buy and Hold' Approach

The share price ($254.77 at close on Friday) has risen 395% over the past 10 years for a market capitalization of $168.80 billion.

3 Stock Picks for a 'Buy and Hold' Approach
3 Stock Picks for a 'Buy and Hold' Approach

GuruFocus assigned a financial strength rating of 8 out of 10 and a profitability rating of 9 out of 10 to the company.

The price-earnings ratio is 31.38 versus the industry median of 32.33, the enterprise-value-to-Ebitda ratio is 18.56 and the price-sales ratio is 3.69 versus the industry median of 3.02.

As of January, Wall Street sell-side analysts recommend seven strong buys, nine buys, 12 holds and one underperform rating for the company for an average target price of $280.28 per share.

Costco Wholesale Corp

The second company that holds the criteria is Costco Wholesale Corp (NASDAQ:COST), an Issaquah, Washington-based operator of warehouse discount stores.

Costco's business has the highest score of 5 stars for its predictability rank. The company saw the revenue per share grow by 7.1% and the Ebitda per share grow by 8.7% on average every year over the past 10 years.

3 Stock Picks for a 'Buy and Hold' Approach
3 Stock Picks for a 'Buy and Hold' Approach

The current share price ($362.30 as of Friday) has risen by nearly 400% over the past 10 years for a market capitalization of $160.48 billion.

3 Stock Picks for a 'Buy and Hold' Approach
3 Stock Picks for a 'Buy and Hold' Approach

GuruFocus assigned a financial strength rating of 7 out of 10 and a profitability rating of 8 out of 10 to the company.

The price-earnings ratio is 37.2 compared to the industry median of 18.59, the enterprise-value-to-Ebitda ratio is 20.7 and the price-sales ratio is 0.93 versus the industry median of 0.46.