Which Is the Better Stock to Buy and Hold Forever: Amazon or Costco?

You couldn't have gone wrong buying shares of Amazon (AMZN -0.73%) or Costco Wholesale (COST -0.47%) in the two companies' early days. A $10,000 investment in Costco when the giant wholesaler went public in 1985 would be worth almost $11.9 million today. If you had bought $10,000 of Amazon's shares after its IPO in 1997 and held them, you'd now have nearly $23.4 million. Both Amazon and Costco have delivered exceptional gains over the last 12 months, too. But which is the better stock to buy and hold foreve ...