3 Great Stocks for the Next Decade: Netgear, Inc. (NTGR), Ford Motor Company (F), Yum! Brands, Inc. (YUM)

Driving long-term gains
Finally, why not hitch a 10-year ride with Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F)? After all, thanks largely to the adept leadership of CEO Alan Mulally, the 109-year-old automaker managed to successfully weather our most recent brutal recession while its primary American competitors Chrysler and General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) ended up in bankruptcy. When all was said and done, then, Ford had earned itself significant long-term consumer goodwill, the importance of which can’t be overstated.

And while Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F)’s epic recovery may seem old hat, the company now stands as strong as ever in North America and continues to build momentum in Asia’s massive auto market — where competitors like GM and Volkswagen are already deeply entrenched — thanks to investing more than $5 billion to date to build operations in the region. Luckily, Ford’s efforts seem to be bearing fruit as evidenced by last week’s announcement that Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) China sales are up 46% for the year. In the end, Ford management still has no intentions of resting on its laurels as it continues to reiterate its aggressive goal of introducing 15 new vehicles to China by 2015, with further plans to double retail and production capacity there.

One note of caution, however: As fellow Fool Blake Bos pointed out last week, in addition to the obvious threats posed by broad auto industry weakness in Europe as well as Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F)’s rejuvenated (read: no-longer-bankrupt) American competition, long-term investors will still want to keep an eye on the company’s massive pension obligations to be sure they won’t become a problem over the next several years.

The article 3 Great Stocks for the Next Decade originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Steve Symington owns shares of Ford. The Motley Fool recommends Ford, General Motors, and Netgear. It also owns shares of Ford.

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