The market is roaring back this year following a paltry performance in 2022. Growth-oriented companies that were hammered during the bear market have been performing especially well. That has been the case with tech giants (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Shopify (NYSE: SHOP), which are up by 40% and 70% year to date, respectively. Despite these massive gains, Apple and Shopify remain excellent stocks for investors focused on the long game. Let's consider why.

At first glance, Apple might be a bad business to put one's hard-earned money into in the current environment. We are still dealing with economic problems and the possibility of a recession. Apple's products aren't necessary goods, and many have clear substitutes that are generally cheaper. The conventional wisdom holds that consumers would substantially reduce spending on Apple's gadgets in this environment.

And although we are seeing some of that, the tech giant continues to perform well considering the challenging economy. In the company's second quarter of its fiscal year 2023 -- which ended on April 1 -- Apple's net sales declined by a little under 3% year over year to $94.8 billion. The company's earnings per share remained flat at $1.52. But Apple's most important product, the iPhone, delivered March quarter record sales of $51.3 billion, up 1.5% compared to the year-ago period.

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Source Fool.com