Set it up and forget about it. There are many stocks that young investors should buy and keep for the long term without needing to trade them via buy and sell orders. Some stocks are so valuable and offer such consistent returns that all investors should take advantage of them to keep them in their portfolios.

This is especially true for young investors who have long term horizons for their investments. Recent college graduates, and even high school graduates, should look to buy and hold the following stocks for the long haul without needing to sell stocks.

In this article, we take a look at seven of the best stocks for future graduates to buy and hold forever:

• Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)
• General Motors (NYSE:GM)
• Home Depot (NYSE:High Definition)
• Coca Cola (NYSE:KO)
• Walt disney (NYSE:Dis)
• Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN)
• MasterCard (NYSE:MY)

Buy and Hold Stocks: Apple (AAPL)

CNBC host and commentator Jim Cramer likes to say that investors should “Own Apple, don’t trade it.” This is good advice. A $ 100 investment made to Apple on the day of its initial public offering (IPO) on December 12, 1980 would be worth more than $ 70,000 today. A single share of Apple bought on the day of its IPO would be worth more than $ 15,000 today. Either way you slice and dice it, Apple is a great long term investment and a person should buy and hold forever.

Today, Apple is a diverse conglomerate and the world’s largest publicly traded company. The iPhone maker was the first company to have a market capitalization over $ 2 trillion. When the APPL stock moves, the whole market turns. And the company continues to find innovative ways to infiltrate our lives.

Today, Apple is involved in everything from streaming and online payments to artificial intelligence and lingering rumors of self-driving car development. And that’s in addition to the company’s MacBook and iPad computers.

General Motors (GM)

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Detroit-based automaker General Motors continues to be a leading example of American industry, both at home and abroad. For more than 100 years, GM has remained at the forefront of the global automotive industry. And although there were many bumps along the way (the current semiconductor shortage being the last hiccup), GM is in an ideal position today as the company aggressively moves towards electric and autonomous vehicles and away from the internal combustion engine upon which the entire auto industry has been built.

Current CEO Mary Barra gets much of the credit for pushing GM into innovative new areas and for pushing the company’s stock price higher. Last November, GM announced that it spend $ 27 billion on all-electric and autonomous vehicles until 2025, and that the automaker will launch 30 new electric vehicles around the world by 2025, including more than 20 in North America. In addition to electric and self-driving cars, GM is also entering the urban air mobility sector, where he sees a $ 1 trillion market opportunity.

Year-to-date, GM stock is up 45% from its current price of $ 60 a share.

Buy and Hold Stock: Home Depot (HD)

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Home Depot is the type of stock that can transport investors through good times and bad. America’s leading home improvement retailer, The Home Depot is now worth $ 140 billion annual sales in nearly 2,300 stores. A cyclical stock that tends to move in tandem with the economy (the housing market in particular), The Home Depot has delivered stable and reliable profits to shareholders since its stock market debut on September 22, 1981.

Healthy dividend payouts and strong stock price appreciation have benefited investors over the years. Over the past decade (since 2011) HD stock has grown by 778%, more than triple the cumulative gain of 213% for the S&P 500 stock market index over the same 10-year period. Dividends, since 2011, have increased to $ 1.65 a quarterly share of only 25 cents. Strong returns make The Home Depot a buy and hold stock forever.

Since March 4 of this year, HD stock has climbed 24% and now stands at $ 318.74 a share. Home Depot has been both a solid restitution and reopening stock.

Coca-Cola (KO)

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Coca-Cola is as American as apple pie and baseball. The Atlanta, Georgia-based company that has been manufacturing soft drinks since 1892 and today has a market cap of $ 237 billion. Not sophisticated, forward-thinking or exciting, KO stock nonetheless has a delivery track record. regular and reliable returns to investors. The main advantage of the stock comes from its high dividend yield of 3.05%, which is among the best of the blue chip companies.

Last February, Coca-Cola announced its 59th annual dividend increase. In 2021, Coca-Cola will pay 42 cents per share per quarter in dividend payments. This is an increase of 18 cents at the start of 2007 before the global financial crisis and nearly double the 22 cents per share the company paid out in dividends each quarter in 2011. In fact, Coca-Cola has managed to increase its dividends since the beginning. from the 1960s until the current pandemic. Now this is a stock worth keeping.

KO stock has risen 13% since January of this year and is currently trading at $ 55.06 a share.

Buy and Hold Stocks: Walt Disney (DIS)

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Walt Disney has been a leading American entertainment company since its first animated short, which was only eight minutes long and was called “Steamboat Willie” debuted in 1928. Today, Disney is so diverse that the company has been able to smoothly weather the Covid-19 pandemic. While the company’s theme parks and cruise lines were closed, its Disney + streaming service and sports television channel ESPN performed gangbusters.

Like all stocks, DIS stock has its ups and downs. And while Mouse House’s share price has been lower in recent weeks, at 14% from its 52-week high of $ 203.02, the correction comes after a surge. Over the past 12 months, Disney’s stock price has risen 47% and now stands at $ 177.67. Over the past decade (since 2011), the share price has risen by 324%. Investors should be attracted to Disney’s diversification and the popular brands he owns, ranging from Marvel and Star Wars at National Geographic and Pixar.

Disney is the world today second biggest entertainment company.

Amazon (AMZN)

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$ 9 billion from Amazon acquisition of MGM Studios is the latest example of how the online retailer is taking over the world. The Seattle, Wash., Based company that started life as a small business that only sold books online, is now emerging from the global pandemic generating more than $ 100 billion in sales each quarter. Amazon is now involved in everything from groceries to aerial drones.

The acquisition of MGM Studios aims to strengthen the company’s Prime Video streaming service with properties ranging from the James Bond film franchise to reality shows such as “Survivor” and “The Voice”. This is the company’s largest acquisition since Amazon entered the grocery store in 2017 with its $ 13.7 billion purchase of Whole Foods.

AMZN stock has been a perennial winner for shareholders, up 34% from last year to $ 3,249.14 per share. Over the past 10 years, the share price has risen a narcotic 1552%.

Buy and hold stocks: Mastercard (MA)

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Mastercard has been a leading credit card company for 55 years and has always been a great investment. Today, Mastercard is an international financial services company with operations in all corners of the world. The Harrison, New York-based company processes $ 6.3 trillion in transactions each year and has a market capitalization $ 362 billion. At the end of 2020, 2.8 billion Mastercard credit cards were in circulation around the world. In the same way Visa (NYSE:V), Mastercard remains the world’s largest financial payments company.

MA stock can be cyclical in nature, meaning that its performance closely tracks the performance of the economy. But in the long run, Mastercard’s share price has proven to be a winner. Since last October, Mastercard stock has risen 25% to $ 365.74 a share. Mastercard only went public in 2006. Since its IPO, the stock price has risen by more than 8,000% and suffered a 10-to-1 stock split in 2014. Investors who bought $ 10,000 worth of Mastercard shares on the date of its IPO he would have today nearly a million dollars. This is a good investment!

At the time of publication, Joel Baglole held long positions in APPL and DIS. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to InvestorPlace.com Publication guidelines.

Joel Baglole has been a business journalist for 20 years. He spent five years as a Wall Street reporter Journal, and has also written for The Washington Post and Toronto Star newspapers, as well as for financial websites such as The Motley Fool and Investopedia.