The stock market's short-term twists and turns are almost impossible to reliably predict with meaningful consistency. But history has shown that taking a buy-and-hold approach to high-quality companies is a dependable path to building wealth. Even a $1,000 initial investment can turn into a much larger sum if you back the right businesses and give them time to flourish. 

If you're on the hunt for great stocks that are worth owning for the long term, read on to see why two Motley Fool contributors identified these industry-leading giants as fantastic investment opportunities right now. 

Keith Noonan: Thanks to its successful push into the cloud infrastructure services space and transitioning key software offerings to subscription-based models, (NASDAQ: MSFT) has been posting fantastic business results. Even in the face of macroeconomic headwinds, the company's revenue increased 7% annually to hit $211.9 billion at the end of its most recently concluded fiscal year, which wrapped June 30. Meanwhile, its non-GAAP (adjusted) net income rose 6% to hit $72.4 billion, and the tech giant closed out the year with a stellar profit margin of 34.1%.

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Source Fool.com