Given all the market uncertainty this year and the downward trend of the major indices, it's no surprise that some investors are hesitant to buy right now. Knowing the right time to pull the trigger on a stock purchase (or a sale) is often one of the hardest parts of being an investor.

What long-term investors should remember is that when you buy (or sell) is far less important than what you buy. If you are buying with the idea of holding the stock long-term, buying now or waiting until next year becomes much less important than making sure you pick a quality company. Still, this current market situation has created some buying opportunities at the moment that might not be as opportunistic next year if a market recovery takes hold.

Three such buy-now opportunities are Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX), Mattel (NASDAQ: MAT), and Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA). All three are solid businesses with attractive growth prospects that can make them ideal buy-and-hold stocks. Let's take a closer look at their operations and see why these might be good investments to load up on right now.

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Source Fool.com