2 Magnificent Seven Stocks to Buy and Hold for the Rest of the Decade

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) closed at $777.59 on Sept. 24, its highest close since September 2025. As I write, the stock's roughly $731 -- about 6% lower, and over 7% under its record close of $790 in August 2025.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)(NASDAQ:GOOG) is farther from its peak. At about $351, the Google parent is roughly 13% under the record close of $402.62 it set on May 13.

Both are Magnificent Seven members, and both grew revenue over 20% in their last quarter, an impressive clip for their size. But for a buy-and-hold investor, a dip only matters if the business underneath can keep growing through the end of the decade.

I think each of these has one business that can do it. Here's a look at each, plus the risk that might break the case.

1. Meta's ad engine

Advertising made up $59.4 billion of Meta's $60.8 billion in second-quarter revenue. Holding Meta through 2030 is, above all, a bet on its ads.

And these ads are growing more valuable. Meta's average price per ad rose 12% from a year ago, which management partly credited to stronger ad performance, while ad impressions climbed 14%. Together, they boosted advertising revenue 27%. Meta also said upgrades to the artificial intelligence (AI) models that rank its ads raised conversions on Facebook by 15.7% in the quarter.

"On a dollar basis, our ads business is reporting faster year-over-year revenue growth than any other company's reported ad business -- so these AI investments are paying off," CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Meta's second-quarter earnings call in July.

Muse, the personal AI agent Meta released on Sept. 8, adds a far smaller second line from its $20 and $100 monthly plans. Of course, these subscriptions will likely land in a revenue line (shared with WhatsApp paid messaging) that pulled in about $1 billion in the April-to-June quarter -- still below 2% of Meta's total.

But the ads business is slowing while spending isn't. Revenue growth eased from 33% in the first quarter to 28% in the second, and Meta's third-quarter outlook of $61 billion to $64 billion implies 19% to 25%. Meanwhile, second-quarter expenses grew 55% (including around $3.6 billion in legal and severance charges), so operating income fell 8% and earnings per share dropped 13%.

Meta plans capital expenditures of $130 billion to $145 billion this year, and its second-quarter free cash flow was just $784 million. If ad growth keeps slipping while that spending climbs, Meta's profits could shrink for longer than investors think.

2. Google Cloud keeps speeding up

Alphabet's search business still brings in over half its revenue. But the one I'd bet on through 2030 is Google Cloud.

Showing how fast that business is moving, Google Cloud's revenue jumped 82% from the year-ago quarter to $24.8 billion in Q2, accelerating from 63% growth in Q1 and 48% in the fourth quarter of 2025. Better still, its operating income more than tripled to $8.8 billion as its operating margin climbed from 20.7% a year before to 35.6%. Cloud now makes up around 21% of Alphabet's revenue, versus 14% in the second quarter of 2025.

Much of the future growth is already under contract, too. Google Cloud's backlog (contracted revenue it hasn't booked yet) came to $514 billion at the end of June, and management expects to recognize just over half of it within 24 months. Split evenly, that would be more than $125 billion in revenue a year, versus around $99 billion at the segment's second-quarter rate.

But all that capacity is costly. Alphabet now expects 2026 capital expenditures of $195 billion to $205 billion. And CFO Anat Ashkenazi said on the July call that the company expects that spending to "increase significantly in 2027." The spending already sent second-quarter free cash flow to negative $5.9 billion.

As the equipment comes online, depreciation expense rises with it. If Cloud's growth slows before the backlog becomes revenue, Alphabet's profits could get squeezed.

Worth holding through 2030?

Going by analysts' 2027 estimates, Meta's shares cost around 21 times earnings, and Alphabet's cost about 23 times earnings. For companies growing so fast, I think both prices look fair.

I'd say Alphabet's case is the stronger one, because a $514 billion backlog backs its spending. Meta's second-quarter profits, in contrast, dropped even as its revenue rose 28%.

But I'd consider buying both at these prices, maybe adding shares bit by bit. The heavy spending by each company could make the next few quarters rocky.

Daniel Sparks and his clients do not have positions in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet and Meta Platforms. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.