Fortune, along with Great Places to Work, released its 2024 list of the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For. Often, but not always, the best companies to work for are also the best stocks to buy.
“Using our proprietary Trust Index™ survey, we measure the core of what we know creates great workplaces—key behaviors that drive trust in management, connection with colleagues and loyalty to the company,” Fortune wrote on April 4 about its methodology.
Great Places to Work bases the rankings on employee feedback from young and old, new hires to company veterans, part-timers and full-timers and every other demographic imaginable.
The one statistic that should jump out at investors is the stock performance of the 100 Best Companies. These companies outperformed the market average by nearly 4x.
Here are the three best stocks to buy from this list.
Hilton Hotels (HLT)
Hilton Hotels (NYSE:HLT) is ranked first on the 2024 list. HLT stock is up 13% year-to-date, slightly higher than the S&P 500, and 118% over the past five years, 33% better than this index. All this make it a stock to buy.
“The company goes above and beyond to recognize and celebrate team members and I have never experienced anything like it at any other workplace. I can confidently share my ideas and they are taken seriously even as an hourly employee,” states the Great Places to Work rankings site.
Approximately 95% of its employees say it’s a great place to work, compared to 57% in the typical U.S.-based company. Hilton has made the top three the past five years.
Interestingly, the employees are very happy with their jobs despite the fact CEO Christopher Nassetta earned 549x the median employee’s annual total compensation in 2023. Nasseta’s pay ratio last year was 2.8x the median (196x) for S&P 500 CEOs.
I guess money isn’t the only thing that American workers value.
Nvidia (NVDA)
Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) is ranked third on the 2024 list. NVDA stock is up 144% year-to-date and 3,279% over the past five years. No need to make any comparisons. Nvidia’s performance won hands down, making it a stock to buy.
The company has become known by names like “AI Champion” and “AI King.” I’ve been a fan of CEO Jensen Huang for several years. He was pushing the company into AI more than a decade ago. That foresight has made him a very rich person. He is now the 14th wealthiest person in the world with a worth of $106 billion, much of it gained in 2024.
Although it has been adding employees like weeds growing in a sidewalk, 18% of the company’s employees have worked at Nvidia for at least 11 years. According to Great Places to Work, 97% of employees say Nvidia is a great place to work, even higher than Hilton’s employees.
“As someone who’s not a director or exec, I’m still made to feel important, and in conversations with execs I’m treated with respect and my ideas are heard. It’s a very horizontal culture, rather than hierarchical,” states the What Employees Are Saying section of the report.
Despite Huang’s total compensation in 2023 being $34.2 million, the median employee pay ratio was reasonable at 128:1.
Intuit (INTU)
Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU), also a stock to buy, is ranked 23rd on the 2024 list. INTU stock is down 9% year-to-date, about 22% less than the index on a relative basis. However, it’s up 123% over the past five years, 37 percentage points higher than the index.
Good companies provide good benefits. It seems Intuit employees like their benefits.
“Our childcare provider is going on a month-long vacation. I had no idea what to do; then I found out about our Backup Care benefit. I love working here and am proud to wear our Intuit gear!” states the What Employees Are Saying section.
Ranked 23rd, it’s bound to have some scores that are lower. Approximately 90% of Intuit employees say it’s a great place to work, well ahead of the 57% average for U.S.-based companies.
A full 42% of its employees have worked for the company less than two years. Another 36% have worked between two and five years. Part of this newness has to do with acquisitions in recent years — it acquired SeedFi in 2022, Mailchimp in 2021 and Credit Karma in 2020 — a change which risks affecting the corporate culture as new employees are brought on board.
Alternatively, this change could ensure the company and its employees continue to grow and learn as the integrations provide new people and viewpoints.
So far, so good.
On the date of publication, Will Ashworth did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.