Large-cap stocks are known for their staying power and ability to weather market storms better than smaller competitors. However, their sheer size makes it more challenging to maintain high growth rates as they’ve already captured significant portions of their markets.
This dynamic can trouble even the most skilled investors, but luckily for you, we started StockStory to help you navigate these trade-offs and uncover exceptional companies that break the mold. That said, here are two large-cap stocks with attractive long-term potential and one that could be stalling.
One Large-Cap Stock to Sell:
Vulcan Materials (VMC)
Market Cap: $35.1 billion
Founded in 1909, Vulcan Materials (NYSE:VMC) is a producer of construction aggregates, primarily crushed stone, sand, and gravel.
Why Is VMC Not Exciting?
- Flat sales over the last two years suggest it must find different ways to grow during this cycle
- Sluggish trends in its tons shipped suggest customers aren’t adopting its solutions as quickly as the company hoped
- Free cash flow margin dropped by 5.6 percentage points over the last five years, implying the company became more capital intensive as competition picked up
Vulcan Materials’s stock price of $265.67 implies a valuation ratio of 31.7x forward P/E. Dive into our free research report to see why there are better opportunities than VMC.
Two Large-Cap Stocks to Watch:
The Trade Desk (TTD)
Market Cap: $34.96 billion
Founded by former Microsoft engineers Jeff Green and Dave Pickles, The Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD) offers cloud-based software that uses data to help advertisers better plan, place, and target their online ads.
Why Should You Buy TTD?
- Billings growth has averaged 26.1% over the last year, indicating a healthy pipeline of new contracts that should drive future revenue increases
- Fast payback periods on sales and marketing expenses allow the company to invest heavily and onboard many customers concurrently
- Disciplined cost controls and effective management resulted in a strong trailing 12-month operating margin of 17.6%, and it turbocharged its profits by achieving some fixed cost leverage
The Trade Desk is trading at $70.78 per share, or 12.1x forward price-to-sales. Is now the right time to buy? See for yourself in our in-depth research report, it’s free.
Lam Research (LRCX)
Market Cap: $108.6 billion
Founded in 1980 by David Lam, the man who pioneered semiconductor etching technology, Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) is one of the leading providers of wafer fabrication equipment used to make semiconductors.
Why Are We Positive On LRCX?
- Healthy operating margin of 29.6% shows it’s a well-run company with efficient processes, and its profits increased over the last five years as it scaled
- Robust free cash flow margin of 26.6% gives it many options for capital deployment, and its growing cash flow gives it even more resources to deploy
- Stellar returns on capital showcase management’s ability to surface highly profitable business ventures
At $84.91 per share, Lam Research trades at 22.5x forward P/E. Is now a good time to buy? Find out in our full research report, it’s free.
High-Quality Stocks for All Market Conditions
Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election sent major indices to all-time highs, but stocks have retraced as investors debate the health of the economy and the potential impact of tariffs.
While this leaves much uncertainty around 2025, a few companies are poised for long-term gains regardless of the political or macroeconomic climate, like our Top 5 Growth Stocks for this month. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 183% over the last five years (as of March 31st 2025).
Stocks that made our list in 2020 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,545% between March 2020 and March 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-micro-cap company Tecnoglass (+1,754% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today for free.