You don’t have to time the market to achieve long-term financial goals. Letting time and compounding do their magic can lead to substantial returns, but you have to pick the right stocks to be rewarded for your patience.

Investors should look for corporations that exhibit financial strength and have vast leads over their competitors. You don’t have to find hidden gems and hope that they exceed your wildest expectations. These long-term stocks can generate steady returns for patient investors.

Meta Platforms (META)

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) has been on a tear. The stock is up by 35% year-to-date and has soared by 149% over the past five years. Investors can scoop up shares at a 27 P/E ratio and receive a 0.43% yield. Meta Platforms’ dividend is in the middle of its first year and currently stands at $0.50 per share.

The dividend isn’t the only thing that’s getting investors excited. Meta Platforms reported 27% year-over-year revenue growth in Q1 2024 while net income more than doubled compared to the same period last year. Despite having billions of users, more people continue to create accounts on Meta Platforms’ family of apps. Total users increased by 7% year-over-year which will help the company generate additional advertising revenue.

Meta Platforms has done a good job of growing its revenue while trimming its costs. The company reduced its headcount by 10% year-over-year and currently has 69,329 employees.

Duolingo (DUOL)

People want to learn new skills, and many of them try to master new languages. Learning a new language can help someone communicate with their friends or prepare for an upcoming vacation. Millions of consumers have turned to Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) to learn new languages, and it’s certainly been a boon for investors.

The educational tech company is up by 89% over the past year. While there are reasonable valuation concerns — the stock has a P/E ratio north of 700 — rising profit margins and continued financial growth can minimize those concerns for long-term investors.

Beyond the valuation, Duolingo looks compelling, especially when looking at Q4 2023 results. Revenue grew by 45% year-over-year while net income turned positive. Duolingo has been expanding its profit margins considerably in recent quarters, and that trend should continue.

High user base activity accompanied stellar revenue growth. The app closed the quarter with 26.9 million daily active users and 88.4 million monthly active users. These figures were up by 65% and 46% year-over-year respectively. 

ServiceNow (NOW)

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) is a cloud platform that helps enterprise clients create workflows and offer better experiences for their customers. Many clients come to rely on ServiceNow due to its incredible features and the difficulty of switching to an alternative. These factors have resulted in a 98% renewal rate for the firm.

Generative AI has been fueling more demand for ServiceNow’s platform. Existing customers are also leaving up their subscriptions. This development has resulted in 1,933 customers with annual contract values that exceed $1 million. The firm also has a few contracts that exceed $5 million per year. 

Financial growth has been a constant for the company. Revenue increased by 24% year-over-year in Q1 2024 while net income jumped by 131% year-over-year. Profit margins are expanding, and so is the stock. Shares are up by 62% over the past year and have soared by 159% over the past five years. The stock currently trades at a 76 P/E ratio. 

Elf Beauty (ELF)

Elf Beauty (NYSE:ELF) is a rising beauty brand that continues to win over Gen Z consumers and millennials. The company uses cruelty-free ingredients in its beauty products which has attracted socially conscious consumers. However, the company doesn’t sacrifice quality either. Elf Beauty has found a way to make quality products that don’t involve animal cruelty for ingredient sourcing.

Shares are up by 17% year-to-date and have gained more than 1,000% over the past five years. Revenue growth hasn’t been a problem as the company recently reported 85% year-over-year sales growth in Q3 FY24. GAAP net income came to $26.9 million in the quarter which was 41% higher than the same period last year.

Beauty products can continue to perform well during economic slowdowns. People often tend to smaller luxuries during recessions to forget about their financial struggles for a little. This phenomenon is known as the lipstick effect. Q3 FY24 marked Elf Beauty’s 20th consecutive quarter of sales growth, and it’s likely that this streak continues into several years.

American Express (AXP)

American Express (NYSE:AXP) combines a reasonable valuation with compelling long-term growth prospects. The stock trades at a 19 P/E ratio and offers a 1.19% yield. Growing interest from Millennials and Gen Z consumers should help the stock gain more ground. In Q1 2024, more than 60% of American Express’ new customers were from one of those two cohorts.

That wasn’t the only highlight from the firm’s first quarter results. Revenue increased by 11% year-over-year while net income jumped by 34% year-over-year. These metrics support the company’s multi-year growth plans. American Express aims to achieve 9% to 11% year-over-year revenue growth and mid-teens EPS growth beyond 2026. Those reasonable growth objectives can point to big gains due to the low valuation.

American Express trades at a discount relative to its peers. Most credit card giants trade at P/E ratios above 30%. Smart money is flowing into the stock, and it may be a good idea to join them before the next rally.

Walmart (WMT)

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) has been around for more than 60 years. The corporation has withstood oil shocks, the Great Recession, and other economic challenges. Walmart also has a competitive moat in the retail industry and is well-known for offering affordable products. 

Those advantages translated into 5.7% year-over-year revenue growth in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024. E-commerce was up by 23% year-over-year while the budding advertising segment reported 33% year-over-year revenue growth. Walmart CEO Doug McMillon expressed excitement about the company’s e-commerce sales. He mentioned that the company improved its customer experience metric during its highest volume days leading up to the holidays.

The stock has outperformed the broader market with a 14% year-to-date gain. Shares are also up by 78% over the past five years. Analysts like what they’re seeing and have rated the stock as a “Strong Buy.” The average price target suggests that the stock has a projected 9% upside.

Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL)

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL) offers a valuable advertising channel that many businesses rely on to reach new customers. Google and YouTube are two of the most popular websites that regularly generate billions of visits each month. 

This attention resulted in solid financials for the first quarter of 2024. Revenue increased by 15% year-over-year while net income jumped by 57% year-over-year. Google Cloud is becoming a bigger contributor and now makes up more than 10% of the company’s total revenue.

Analysts are getting bullish in a hurry, especially with the new dividend. The stock is rated as a “Strong Buy” with a projected 11% upside. Some price targets suggest Alphabet can comfortably exceed $200/share within a few months. The highest price target of $225 per share suggests a 31% upside from current levels.

Alphabet has been outpacing for market for several years. Shares are up by 24% year-to-date and have nearly tripled over the past five years.

On this date of publication, Marc Guberti held long positions in NOW, ELF, and GOOG. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.