Large-cap stocks are known for their staying power and ability to weather market storms better than smaller competitors. However, their sheer size makes it more challenging to maintain high growth rates as they’ve already captured significant portions of their markets.
This dynamic can trouble even the most skilled investors, but luckily for you, we started StockStory to help you navigate these trade-offs and uncover exceptional companies that break the mold. Keeping that in mind, here are two large-cap stocks whose competitive advantages create flywheel effects and one whose momentum may slow.
One Large-Cap Stock to Sell:
Waste Connections (WCN)
Market Cap: $43.31 billion
Operating a network of municipal solid waste landfills in the U.S. and Canada, Waste Connections (NYSE: WCN) is North America's third-largest waste management company providing collection, disposal, and recycling services.
Why Does WCN Give Us Pause?
- Absence of organic revenue growth over the past two years suggests it may have to lean into acquisitions to drive its expansion
- Efficiency has decreased over the last five years as its operating margin fell by 5 percentage points
- ROIC of 6.6% reflects management’s challenges in identifying attractive investment opportunities, and its decreasing returns suggest its historical profit centers are aging
At $169.91 per share, Waste Connections trades at 31.1x forward P/E. Dive into our free research report to see why there are better opportunities than WCN.
Two Large-Cap Stocks to Buy:
MercadoLibre (MELI)
Market Cap: $103.2 billion
Originally started as an online auction platform, MercadoLibre (NASDAQ: MELI) is a one-stop e-commerce marketplace and fintech platform in Latin America.
Why Is MELI a Top Pick?
- Unique Active Buyers are rising, meaning the company can increase revenue without incurring additional customer acquisition costs if it can cross-sell additional products and features
- Platform’s growing usage and its ability to increase user spending by 13.9% annually showcases its high switching costs
- Strong free cash flow margin of 32.7% enables it to reinvest or return capital consistently, and its improved cash conversion implies it’s becoming a less capital-intensive business
MercadoLibre is trading at $2,022 per share, or 20.9x forward EV/EBITDA. Is now the time to initiate a position? Find out in our full research report, it’s free.
ADP (ADP)
Market Cap: $94.21 billion
Processing one out of every six paychecks in the United States, ADP (NASDAQ: ADP) provides cloud-based human capital management solutions that help businesses manage payroll, benefits, talent acquisition, and HR administration.
Why Do We Love ADP?
- Annual revenue growth of 7.8% over the last five years beat the sector average and underscores the unique value of its offerings
- Robust free cash flow margin of 20.6% gives it many options for capital deployment, and its recently improved profitability means it has even more resources to invest or distribute
- Returns on capital are growing as management capitalizes on its market opportunities
ADP’s stock price of $234.55 implies a valuation ratio of 20.4x forward P/E. Is now a good time to buy? See for yourself in our full research report, it’s free.
Stocks We Like Even More
Your portfolio can’t afford to be based on yesterday’s story. The risk in a handful of heavily crowded stocks is rising daily.
The names generating the next wave of massive growth are right here in our Top 5 Growth Stocks for this month. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 244% over the last five years (as of June 30, 2025).
Stocks that made our list in 2020 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,326% between June 2020 and June 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-micro-cap company Tecnoglass (+1,754% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today.
