Got $5,000? 3 Tech Stocks to Buy and Hold for the Long Term

Investors often face the question of where to deploy cash in the stock market, and they may feel they have more options. Due to recent stock splits, many investors will probably find it easier to buy some stocks that they once perceived as too pricey.

Moreover, between the Nasdaq Composite bear market and the massive decline in many tech stocks, investors can buy more with that $5,000. Thankfully, the opportunity appears to abound in Amazon (AMZN 0.73%), PayPal Holdings (PYPL 1.24%)and Alphabet (GOOGL 0.96%) (GOOG 0.99%). Let’s take a closer look at these three tech stocks you might want to consider buying and holding for the long term.

1. Amazon

Investors should consider Amazon, but not because one-third of a $5,000 investment would buy 12 shares at current prices. While e-commerce drives most of its revenue, the low margins for this segment of Amazon’s business will likely not excite investors. Additionally, its rumored bid to purchase Signify Health will probably attract more interest than revenue.

Instead, its tech-oriented segments will likely serve as its drivers. The company’s primary source of profit is its cloud segment, led by Amazon Web Services (AWS). Even though AWS has only provided 16% of the company’s revenue so far this year, it has produced all of its 2022 profit. Moreover, its advertising business continued to grow even as the U.S. economy contracted. Ad spend at Amazon rose by more than 20% year over year in each of the last two quarters.

For Amazon overall, in the first six months of 2022, net sales grew 7% year over year to $238 billion. However, e-commerce sales only grew by 3%. AWS sales, though, increased by 35% to $38 billion. This resulted in an overall loss of $6 billion during that period due to rapidly rising operating expenses.

Despite the company’s struggles, analysts forecast its revenue will grow by 11% this year and 16% in 2023. Also, even with the stock price down by 18.9% over the last year, it has recovered by more than 32% from the low it touched in June. This indicates Amazon can continue to prosper even if its retail growth takes time to recover.

2. PayPal Holdings

PayPal is a fintech industry pioneer, and its first-mover status made it a transaction platform of choice in 202 countries. Consequently, digital transactions continue to drive the majority of its revenue. PayPal and Venmo generated around $660 billion in total payment volume in the first two quarters of 2022 alone.

PayPal also holds considerable potential that analysts cannot measure. One is PayPal Ventures, which invests in fintech start-ups. PayPal’s situation has also attracted an investment from activist firm Elliott Management, a move that could bring changes that may send the stock higher.

PayPal stock could use the boost. The stock is trading down by about 67% from its 52-week high. Slowing account growth and a post-pandemic decline in online activity weighed on the stock.

Revenue for the first two quarters of 2022 came in at $13 billion, up 8% from the prior-year period. Still, transaction expenses and investment losses weighed on its bottom line: The $168 million it earned during 2022’s first half period was far below its $2.3 billion profit during the same period of 2021.

Still, the company expects about 10% revenue growth for 2022. Also, its price-to-sales ratio is now 4 — near a record low for PayPal. One-third of a $5,000 investment would buy 18 shares, and as more transactions continue to occur online, PayPal could get its mojo back.

3. Alphabet

With a third of a $5,000 investment, one could buy about 15 shares of Google parent Alphabet. And investors should consider that move because the company has evolved well beyond its origins as a search engine provider. Its dominance of search and its ownership of YouTube made it an advertising powerhouse, bringing in cash that it has invested in numerous other businesses. Also, its $125 billion in liquidity gives it one of the strongest balance sheets among public companies.

It has drawn considerable attention with its artificial intelligence and machine learning applications. It has also applied these innovations to Google Cloud, a segment so successful that the company breaks out its revenue stream separately. Over the last two quarters, Google Cloud generated $12.1 billion in revenue, up 39% year over year.

In the first half of 2022, the overall company generated $138 billion in revenue — 17% higher than the same period in 2021. Advertising made up about 81% of that revenue.

Still, Alphabet is not without its struggles, and its net income dropped 13% over the same period to $32 billion. Fast-rising costs and expenses and investment losses caused its profits to fall.

However, with the stock price down by less than 20% over the last 12 months, it has only experienced minimal effects from the broader market sell-off. Additionally, it’s trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 21 — a valuation near its multi-year low. As its cloud segment continues to grow and Alphabet deploys more of its resources, the company will likely head higher sooner rather than later.