Colgate-Palmolive Company (CL), PepsiCo, Inc. (PEP), 3M Co (MMM): Three Stocks to Own Forever

Finally, 3M Co (NYSE:MMM) is a company that weekend investors can buy today and own forever knowing that it will continue to create value for decades to come. 3M Co (NYSE:MMM)’s brands include Scotch Tape and Post-It Notes, among other products with applications in energy, healthcare, office, and industrial settings.

Although 3M Co (NYSE:MMM) must continually innovate in order to generate additional value, the company’s massive scale and fortress balance sheet will allow it to develop or acquire innovative products for decades to come. The company is ramping-up research and development, which is expected to reach 6% of sales in 2017 compared to 5.5% in 2012 — a difference of hundreds of millions of dollars. This shows management’s commitment to long-term value creation rather than short-term window dressing.

Meanwhile, the company seeks to accelerate its international expansion to further capitalize on existing products. In 2003, developing markets accounted for just one-fifth of sales. In 2012, that number reached 34%. By 2017, management expects up to 45% of sales to come from developing markets. So, while 3M Co (NYSE:MMM)’s position in developed economies like the U.S. and Western Europe seems to be stagnant, growth in developing economies offers long-term growth potential.

Bottom line

Nobody can know what a company’s earnings will be in any one year, but we can have a pretty good idea which firms will have high earnings in any given decade. Wide-moat companies like Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL), PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE:PEP), and 3M Co (NYSE:MMM) will continue to generate shareholder value for decades to come, no matter what next year may hold. Therefore, investors who wish to spend just five minutes per month investing for retirement should focus on buying wide-moat companies like these.

The article Three Stocks to Own Forever originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Ted Cooper.

Ted Cooper has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends 3M and PepsiCo. The Motley Fool owns shares of PepsiCo. Ted is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network — entries represent the personal opinion of the blogger and are not formally edited.

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