There are several stocks that investors can buy today for big long-term gains and profits. These aren’t the usual names tied to artificial intelligence (AI) or weight loss drugs that have enjoyed big runs year-to-date. Instead, these companies might be flying under the radar despite significant catalysts forming around them and the reporting of better-than-expected financial results. Investors with the foresight to take a position in these securities today will be rewarded over the long term as their share prices steadily compound. The current market selloff has only made many attractive stocks more affordable and improved their valuations, making now the time to pounce. Here are three millionaire-maker stocks to buy before everyone else does.
Chevron (CVX)
There’s a nice set-up forming around oil major Chevron (NYSE:CVX) right now. The company is growing thanks to its $53 billion acquisition of former rival Hess Corp. (NYSE:HES). The all-stock deal with a value of $60 billion, included some Hess debt Chevron has agreed to take on. John Hess, the CEO of Hess Corp., will join Chevron’s board of directors once the deal is final. Chevron and Hess have complementary businesses. Each company is an oil and natural gas explorer and producer with land and assets that should provide beneficial synergies.
At the same time as it grows through its purchase of Hess, Chevron should also benefit from elevated crude oil prices following the war breaking out in the Middle East between Israel and Hamas. After falling below $70 a barrel this spring, crude prices have rebounded sharply to trade above $90 per barrel. The cost of crude could go higher should the situation in the Middle East continue to deteriorate. Chevron just came off a year of record profits in 2022 after crude oil peaked at $122 a barrel.
CVX stock is down 11% year to date and looks undervalued, trading at less than 10 times future earnings and offering a dividend yield of nearly 4%.
IBM (IBM)
After years in the wilderness and perceptions that the company had become a value trap, technology giant IBM (NYSE:IBM) looks to be on the comeback trail. The company just reported third-quarter financial results that beat Wall Street forecasts on both the top and bottom lines. For the quarter ending Sept. 30, IBM reported earnings per share (EPS) of $2.20, ahead of the analysts’ forecast of $2.12. Revenue in Q3 totaled $14.75 billion, up 4.6% from a year ago and better than the $14.73 billion anticipated.
Possibly more impressive than the Q3 numbers was that company executives said the success of their AI strategy drove the solid quarterly results. IBM has been making a big push into AI, and customers are adopting the company’s “Watson X AI” platform quickly. IBM executives said they earned “low hundreds of millions of dollars” from generative AI projects in Q3. Growth in software and a better-than-expected performance from the mainframe business also helped the print. IBM stock has gained 7% in the last 12 months and offers a dividend yield of 4.62%.
Visa (V)
There are many reasons to like Visa (NYSE:V). The credit card company announced an increase in its dividend payment to stockholders by 16%. Going forward, the company will pay its shareholders a quarterly dividend of 52 cents per share, giving it a yield of 0.90%. Additionally, Visa bought back $4.1 billion of its stock in this year’s third quarter, and the company announced a new $25 billion share buyback program. The dividend increase and stock buybacks come after Visa reported fiscal fourth-quarter results that were driven higher by strong spending on international travel.
Visa reported EPS of $2.33, better than the $2.25 consensus estimate among analysts and up 21% from the same quarter of 2022. Revenue in the quarter amounted to $8.6 billion, up 11% from a year ago and matching Wall Street estimates. Visa also reported a free cash flow of $6.6 billion, which was above the anticipated $4.7 billion. Visa’s cross-border payment volume increased 21% year-over-year in the quarter, and the company processed $3.2 billion worth of credit and debit card transactions in the period. V stock is up 12% so far in 2023.
On the date of publication, Joel Baglole did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.