It’s one of the most important pieces of research we do all year — and it just went “live” this week.

If you’ve been a StreetAuthority reader for a while, then you probably know each year we release a report on the best stocks to own for the coming year. Hundreds of thousands of investors have read — and profited — from this advice.

Since we started issuing our forecast, we’ve beaten the market more times than Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. And we’ve even had years where the picks in our Top 10 Stocks report delivered average gains of 37%… 38%… even 39%.

By comparison, the S&P 500 has only posted 37% annual gains once in the past 40 years.

We don’t tout these numbers to simply brag. There’s a reason our annual report — The Top 10 Stocks For 2016 — is one of our most important and popular pieces of research.

You see, one of the things we believe in as a company is that investors too often get caught up in the market’s wild swings, the machinations of the Federal Reserve and the daily market chatter. And while there are many ways to do well in the market, the true key to long-term success boils down to this:

Find a world-dominating stock you would feel comfortable owning “forever”… buy it for a reasonable price… and then never sell.

You see, after years of research, we’ve found that more often than not, companies with a few basic characteristics are the ones that consistently beat the S&P.

Here’s what we look for:

Companies that own irreplaceable assets: Things like pipelines, hydroelectric dams and utility services all have one thing in common… They’re irreplaceable. Another company can’t simply come along and build a competing asset. They aren’t about to be replaced by new technology. But when you find a stock that owns irreplaceable assets, it often ends up being one of the most lucrative investments to own for the long term.

Companies that have excellent customer loyalty: The ability to build and retain a loyal customer base and keep them coming back for your products year after year is a hallmark of the world’s best businesses. This leads to strong free cash flows and hefty profit margins.

Stocks that reward shareholders with generous dividends and buybacks: When a stable company generates dependable cash flows, it enables them to shower shareholders with increasing dividends year after year. Not only that, but it also enables a company to build up large cash reserves and enables management to aggressively buy back shares when it believes the stock is undervalued. Together, we believe these two shareholder-friendly moves are one of the most powerful indicators of whether a company will outperform the market over the long haul.

When you find a stock with all three of these traits combined, you have a company that’s worth owning “forever.” And when you own stocks you’d feel comfortable owning forever, you no longer need to worry about things like bear markets, flash crashes or rising interest rates.

That’s exactly what our Top 10 Stocks For 2016 report brings to the table. The companies in this list have incredibly wide moats that fend off competition, own irreplaceable assets that deliver eye-popping returns and are some of the most shareholder-friendly companies in America.

We’ve been issuing this annual report since 2003 — and it is without a doubt one of our most popular (and profitable) pieces of research in company history. You’ve likely heard the names of some of the stocks in this year’s report before, but there are others that I’d be surprised if even 1 in 20 investors are familiar with. To access this year’s report, simply visit this link.