This week, I sat down with new friends and colleagues to discuss the makeup of great public businesses. I’m talking about the companies that continue to grow their book value, increase their earnings, and expand into new markets successfully.

If we look out into the ether of the financial publishing world, there are many different metrics that analysts will point to as a great starting point to assess an opportunity.

Perhaps it’s Price to Earnings.

Maybe it’s using the F-score to analyze financial discipline at the board level. Perhaps the company can grow its book value over several years… Others might look to Peter Lynch models, insider buying activity, or activist screeners.

But don’t overlook one metric that stares you in the face: Longevity.

If you’re like me, you remember opening the business section of a newspaper decades ago. There, you’d find many of America’s unstoppable businesses that have endured not just years… not just decades…. but in some cases, centuries.

That’s why the founding date of a public company is a very important number when looking for long-term investments that can meet the standards of many of the metrics listed above.

Great businesses thrive not for a short time. They thrive for a long time.

It’s easy to fall in love with the latest IPOs and the tech darlings… to get swept up in the latest trend or reverse merger.

But if you’re serious about long-term investing, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel.

You should look to companies like John Deere (DE) (founded in 1837), Coca-Cola (KO) (1892), McDonald’s (MCD) (1940), and Proctor & Gamble (PG) (1837).

I know this might sound like the most obvious thing in the world – but it’s true. And too often, this simple fact goes ignored by investors.

These companies have endured for a reason – they are great businesses selling great products with robust demand. They have thrived in good times like the 1990s and 2010s.

But they’ve also endured tough times: global wars, 1970s inflation, market crashes, and that era of the Spice Girls.

Such historical resilience is an attractive asset, as are the qualities that tend to come with growth over time: long-term brand recognition, global footprints, strong cash flow, quality management, technology/innovation, growth potential, and a legacy and heritage that aligns investors with core values.

Time is a quantifiable measure.

Don’t be afraid to use it before qualifying every investment opportunity.

Stay positive,

Garrett Baldwin

Source: Money Morning