Technology stocks helped lead the market higher in the past decade and there is no reason to think that they won’t help lead stocks higher in the next decade. Technology continues to bring change, and right now it looks like the early innings of the next big technological wave with artificial intelligence (AI).
That said, technology moves quickly, so investors need to find stocks that have shown to be market leaders, as well as innovative and adaptable over time. Let’s look at two technology stocks that fit this mold that investors can buy and hold for the next decade.
1. Meta Platforms
After being written off by investors a few years ago, Meta Platforms (META 2.08%) has shown why it’s both the leader in social media and messaging apps as well as one of the top digital advertising platforms in the world. The company’s platforms — which include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads — are among the best at engaging users while also allowing advertisers to reach targeted audiences.
The company does a great job of building audiences for social media platforms and then later monetizing its users. Facebook was its initial platform. Its original audience was college students but now the platform’s largest demographic is younger adults, especially parents. Meanwhile, the company bought Instagram for $1 billion in 2012.
While Meta doesn’t break out revenue by platform, it is estimated Instagram generated close to $71 billion in advertising last year. Meta’s newest platform, Threads, meanwhile, has been growing its user base quickly, reaching 275 million daily users last quarter while adding about 1 million users a day.
Meta’s success in digital advertising, meanwhile, can be seen in its family average revenue per person (ARPP) metric, which rose 12% last quarter to $12.29. This metric was well above the average revenue per user (ARPU) of other social media platforms last quarter, such as Snap ($3.10 global ARPU per daily user) and Pinterest ($1.70 ARPU per global monthly user).
Meta is also investing heavily in AI with its Llama large language model (LLM). Currently the company is using AI to help improve user engagement so that users will spend more time on its platforms. It said last quarter that AI-improved recommendations led to an 8% increase in time spent on Facebook and a 6% increase on Instagram.
Meta is also using AI to help advertisers by giving them access to AI-enabled ad creative tools to improve their ads and increase conversions. It said last quarter that businesses using image generation were seeing a 7% increase in conversions. Longer term, its vision is to create AI assistants for both individuals and businesses and integrate them into future computing devices like smart glasses.
With its leadership position in social media and AI investments Meta looks set to be a long-term winner.
Image source: Getty Images.
2. Microsoft
One company that has proven to be very adaptable over the years is Microsoft (MSFT 0.11%). The company has long been the leader it worker productivity tools and personal computer operating systems. It was able to make a big shift several years ago when it transitioned to a subscription-as-a-service model by bundling its offerings into Microsoft 365 and selling it through a monthly subscription.
Throughout the years, Microsoft also started a number of other successful businesses including the Azure cloud computing business and the Xbox video game system. It’s also acquired a number of solid businesses including job website LinkedIn, video game maker Activision Blizzard, software development platform GitHub, and speech recognition company Nuance, among others.
Microsoft has also been at the forefront of AI through its investment and partnership with OpenAI. Microsoft has seen a big jump in its cloud computing revenue as a result, with Azure revenue up 33% last quarter. It has credited this strong growth to customers building their own AI assistants and applications, while noting that Azure OpenAI usage doubled in the last six months. Microsoft sees this as a continued huge opportunity moving forward and as a result will spend a whopping $80 billion developing new AI-powered data centers this year.
In addition, the company also has a big opportunity with AI-assistant copilots. The company has already seen success with AI copilots with its GitHub business, although the bigger opportunity is with Microsoft 365. For individual plans, the company recently announced it will include copilots with subscriptions, while increasing monthly prices by 43% from $6.99 a month to $9.99. However, users will have the option to downgrade the plan to one without copilots. For enterprise users, copilots remain a $30 per user per month add-on solution.
While the new individual plans will help boost revenue, the enterprise market is the real key. Microsoft’s copilots can greatly help increase worker efficiency, save time, and even give workers skills they may not already have (such as the use of Python in Excel without needing to know the programming language). While it may take organizations and workers time to embrace this technology, its positive impact is real and it should be a big growth driver for Microsoft moving forward.
Overall, Microsoft looks to be a long-term winner given its big investment in AI and leadership positions in cloud computing and worker productivity tools.
Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Geoffrey Seiler has positions in Pinterest. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and Pinterest. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.