Many factors have gone into Costco's (NASDAQ: COST) success as a business and as a stock investment. The warehouse giant has been picking up market share for decades, for one, mainly thanks to its popular price leadership selling approach.

Yet, the real engine behind its positive financial returns is Costco's incredibly predictable profit growth. Rather than generating most of its earnings through product markups like other retailers do, Costco's profits flow from its steadily rising membership fees. As a result, annual earnings don't swing wildly with shifting sales trends.

Investors can get exposure to this kind of predictable income in other, more profitable industries. In fact, there's a huge tech company doing something similar with its software-as-a-service selling approach. Let's look at why you might want to add (NASDAQ: MSFT) stock to your portfolio today.

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Source Fool.com