3 Unstoppable Dow Stocks to Buy in November and Hold for the Next Decade

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES:^DJI) is up about 9% this year through Nov. 9. The index tracks 30 of the largest U.S. companies, picked by a committee that typically adds a stock only if the company has an excellent reputation and sustained growth. That makes the Dow a great place to hunt for truly unstoppable stocks that have the financial strength and business durability to keep growing over the long term.

Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)(NASDAQ:GOOG), and Home Depot (NYSE:HD) fit that description. Here's why these Dow stocks are worth buying in November and holding for the next decade.

Image source: Getty Images.

1. Amazon

Amazon shares are up about 17% year to date through Nov. 9, beating the Dow. Its cloud computing arm, Amazon Web Services (AWS), grew sales 39% year over year to $46 billion last quarter, and CEO Andy Jassy believes AWS can become "a trillion-dollar revenue business in the next five to 10 years."

AWS alone could justify holding the stock, but Amazon still has significant growth in its online retail business. Nearly 80% of retail still happens in physical stores. That provides a long runway of growth for Amazon's online store.

Its artificial intelligence (AI) expertise from AWS can help it unlock that opportunity. U.S. shoppers who use Alexa for Shopping, Amazon's AI assistant, spend 50% more per order than non-users. And it's still seeing growing usage, with customer interactions up 570% year over year in Q3.

Amazon is pursuing these opportunities while becoming more profitable. Trailing-12-month operating cash flow rose 29% to $168 billion. Amazon also holds about $114 billion in cash and marketable securities, providing ample resources to invest in AI and expand its e-commerce business.

At 28 times forward earnings, Amazon trades at a premium to the S&P 500's (SNPINDEX:^GSPC) 19x forward P/E, but that is supported by surging profitability and market dominance across cloud and e-commerce. Jassy sees a path to reaching $2 trillion in annual revenue over time across the AWS and retail businesses, making Amazon a quality growth stock to buy and hold.

Image source: Getty Images.

2. Alphabet (Google)

Shares of Alphabet, the owner of Google and YouTube, are down about 7% year to date. The recent dip followed third-quarter results showing search ad revenue came in below Wall Street's expectations. However, total revenue grew a solid 25% year over year, with AI serving as the main catalyst. The dip is a chance to buy a dominant tech company at a lower price.

AI is making search more useful. Search query growth hit a five-year high last quarter, while the Gemini app has reached 1 billion users.

Meanwhile, Google Cloud may become the company's biggest growth engine over the next 10 years. Cloud revenue soared 103% over the year-ago quarter to nearly $31 billion, now making up 24% of total revenue.

Alphabet ended the September quarter with $265 billion in cash and marketable securities against $125 billion of long-term debt. Year to date, it also generated $127 billion of operating cash flow. These resources are funding infrastructure investments that can fuel more AI innovations, making its services more useful to billions of users.

At 22 times forward earnings, Alphabet stock offers a reasonable valuation that can support excellent returns as the business grows over the next 10 years.

Image source: Getty Images.

3. Home Depot

Home Depot shares are up about 1% year to date, as of Nov. 9, trailing the Dow, as customers worried about inflation and interest rates put off large projects. But this is the best time to buy shares of the world's largest home improvement retailer, as the stock will likely trade at a higher premium when the housing market recovers.

The retail chain is going after a $1.2 trillion opportunity, including an estimated $700 billion addressable market for professional contractors. A key advantage for Home Depot is its large real estate footprint, which CFO Richard McPhail says "will never be replicated." Its large store base allows for faster delivery, helping drive second-quarter online sales up 11% -- the fifth straight quarter of double-digit growth.

Overall, second-quarter sales rose about 6% year over year to $48 billion -- solid, given the weak spending environment. Home Depot is still a very profitable business, with trailing-12-month operating income of $21 billion through the fiscal second quarter, a roughly 12.4% margin on revenue.

The risk is that the housing market could stay soft. Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies expects home improvement spending to remain relatively flat through late 2027. Still, at 23 times forward earnings and an attractive 2.7% dividend yield, I believe Home Depot will be a rewarding investment once the housing market rebounds.

John Ballard has positions in Amazon. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, and Home Depot. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.