My Top 2 Stocks: Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) and Oracle Corporation (ORCL)

As a result, Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ:ORCL) has completed billions of dollars in acquisitions during the past few years. The company continually receives criticism for its spending spree. But I think most of the acquisitions have dovetailed nicely into the rest of the company’s products, augmented profits, and increased shareholder value.

For example, last month, Oracle announced it would acquire communications tech firm Acme Packet, Inc. (NASDAQ:APKT), a leader in next-generation networks. With this acquisition, Oracle will complete a missing link of its overall solutions. Because the company offers an entire solution suite, it’s likely the newly acquired customers will add even more of Oracle’s software and services.

I rode Oracle through the tech bubble, suffered through the tech bust, and have held on to it ever since. While the stock has brought on a few headaches over the years, I believed in its long-term prospects. And I like the direction Oracle seems to be heading in. From the time I bought the stock nearly 15 years ago, it’s returned 17% on average annually. It pays to buy and hold, even when holding is tough to do.

Foolish bottom line
In addition to being leaders in their respective fields, these industry titans enjoy enormous scale and true staying power. Both Caterpillar and Oracle remain companies that I like for investors today and that I intend to hold for many years.

The article My Top 2 Stocks: Caterpillar and Oracle originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Nicole Seghetti.

Fool contributor Nicole Seghetti owns shares of Oracle, Caterpillar, and BHP Billiton. The Motley Fool recommends Acme Packet. The Motley Fool owns shares of Oracle.

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