Two Resilient Tech Stocks to Hold Through 2026 and Beyond, Of Course: Nvidia and MercadoLibre

The investment landscape rewards patience and conviction. For those building a long-term portfolio, certain companies demonstrate the characteristics that separate enduring wealth creators from flash-in-the-pan performers. These characteristics typically include structural competitive advantages—such as powerful brand recognition and high switching costs for customers—combined with strategic flexibility to pursue multiple profitable avenues. This piece explores two such opportunities worth serious consideration.

Building Long-Term Wealth: Why These Companies Matter

When evaluating stocks for buy-and-hold strategies, investors should focus on companies with proven expansion trajectories, meaningful room for continued growth, and valuations that don’t require paying premium prices. Of course, finding companies that meet all three criteria simultaneously remains challenging. Yet the two firms examined here navigate this intersection with relative ease. Both have demonstrated powerful growth momentum, both operate in sectors poised for structural tailwinds, and both are trading at prices that reward patient capital allocation.

MercadoLibre: Tapping into Latin American E-Commerce’s Growth Potential

MercadoLibre merits serious attention as a structural play on emerging market digital transformation. With a market capitalization of approximately $116 billion, this NASDAQ-listed company (ticker: MELI) operates as a hybrid platform combining the marketplace characteristics of Amazon with the fintech capabilities of PayPal. The company maintains an operational footprint across 18 countries, providing an integrated ecosystem where individuals and businesses can engage in commerce, secure financing, access insurance products, and manage digital payments—both online and offline.

The growth metrics tell a compelling story. The platform recently served 77 million unique active buyers, alongside 72 million monthly active users on its fintech services—both metrics expanded at rates exceeding 25% year-over-year. Third-quarter performance reflected this momentum, with net revenues climbing 39% compared to the prior year, supported by a net profit margin of 5.7%.

Yet perhaps most intriguingly, MercadoLibre’s addressable market remains largely underpenetrated. E-commerce adoption in Latin America recently registered around 15% of retail transactions. This figure pales in comparison to North American and European penetration rates, suggesting enormous expansion potential as digital commerce becomes mainstream across the region. For investors seeking exposure to emerging market digitalization, the thesis here extends well beyond cyclical recovery—it represents secular structural change.

Valuation-wise, the stock trades at a forward price-to-earnings multiple of 31, substantially below its five-year average of 64. This disparity suggests the market may be underpricing the company’s growth runway, of course, particularly given Latin America’s e-commerce tailwinds.

Nvidia: Leading the AI Infrastructure Evolution

Nvidia commands a dominant position in the global semiconductor landscape. The company recently boasted a market capitalization exceeding $4.6 trillion—a remarkable valuation reflecting its central role in artificial intelligence infrastructure. Once primarily known for gaming graphics processors, Nvidia has successfully pivoted toward supplying the graphics processing units (GPUs) that power the massive data centers where AI development and deployment occur.

The company’s transformation accelerated dramatically as enterprises globally mobilized capital toward AI implementation. Third-quarter results showcased this momentum: revenues climbed 62% year-over-year while net income surged 65%. These growth rates, achieved at a company already valued in the multi-trillions, suggest Nvidia continues outpacing broader semiconductor industry expansion.

Looking ahead, the company appears positioned to deepen its competitive moat through vertical integration—expanding beyond pure chip manufacturing into software solutions and networking equipment required for comprehensive AI ecosystem deployment. One bullish analyst sees potential for the company’s valuation to approach $10 trillion by 2030, contingent upon successfully executing this ambitious integration strategy.

For investors bullish on artificial intelligence’s transformative potential and expecting continued proliferation of data center infrastructure globally, Nvidia represents core exposure to AI’s hardware buildout phase. The stock’s forward price-to-earnings ratio of 24 sits well below the five-year average of 37, suggesting current valuations may not fully reflect the company’s structural growth advantages.

Valuation Signals: Why Entry Points Look Attractive

One distinguishing feature of both recommendations involves their current valuations. In markets where growth companies frequently command premium multiples—sometimes approaching 50+ times forward earnings—both Nvidia and MercadoLibre trade at meaningful discounts to their historical averages.

This valuation backdrop matters considerably. When purchasing growth stocks, paying reasonable prices for quality compounds wealth more effectively than chasing companies regardless of entry point. The current market environment offers what disciplined investors might characterize as an attractive risk-reward setup: reasonably priced access to structural growth beneficiaries.

A Portfolio Consideration for Patient Investors

These two companies share an important commonality beyond their attractive valuations and growth profiles—they require the perspective of a long-term investor. Markets occasionally subject both stocks to near-term volatility driven by sector rotations, macro concerns, or sentiment shifts. Such fluctuations represent opportunities for patient capital rather than reasons for concern.

The investment community contains numerous additional compelling growth opportunities worth evaluating. However, for those constructing enduring portfolios positioned to capture secular technological and economic transformation, Nvidia and MercadoLibre deserve consideration. Each possesses the durable competitive advantages, strategic flexibility, and growth runways characteristic of generational wealth creators. Of course, individual circumstances vary, and thorough personal evaluation remains essential before committing capital.