Investors spending hours looking for the next hidden gem should look around, as many of the world’s best businesses are already part of our daily routines.
We use their products, subscribe to their services, and rely on their ecosystems without much thought.
These familiar names – many of which trade in the US – can offer Singapore investors a great starting point.
After all, a business that has become part of everyday life is likely to possess powerful competitive advantages.
Here are five to consider.
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) – The Smartphone Giant
There are 2.8 million iPhone users in Singapore, many spending hours on their devices, multiple times a day.
Apple is also home to a deep ecosystem of related products and services: from hardware such as MacBook laptops and the Apple Watch, to services such as Apple Music and Apple Pay.
While Apple still relies on the iPhone for around 56% of its sales, these additional products and services provide Apple with a more diversified revenue stream, while also making it more likely that users will choose to remain within the iPhone ecosystem when selecting a new smartphone.
This multi-faceted ecosystem has created a cash flow machine, which minted over US$140 billion in operating cash flow in the 12 months ending March 2026.
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) – The E-Commerce Leader
Amazon is one of the world’s leading e-commerce platforms, although its market share in Singapore is a relatively small 6%, trailing Sea Limited’s (NYSE: SE) Shopee and Alibaba’s (NYSE: BABA) Lazada.
However, Amazon has expanded far beyond e-commerce, with offerings that interact with our lives in many ways.
For example, we may watch shows on its streaming service Prime Video, or, less visibly, use online services powered by AWS, its cloud services platform.
AWS is increasingly driving growth in the company’s overall top line.
In 2015, the first year Amazon broke out AWS as a separate line item in its financial statements, it accounted for just 7% of Amazon’s total revenue.
By 2025, this had risen to 18%.
Looking ahead, rising demand for AI services means that AWS is likely to grow faster than the ecommerce business.
In 2025, it sported year-on-year sales growth of 20%, compared to 12% for the whole company.
Faster growth in AWS will mean that profitability of the overall company should also rise, since the former boasts higher margins.
In 2025, AWS’s operating profit margin was 35%, compared to the overall company’s 11%.
Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) – The Streaming and Entertainment Powerhouse
Netflix is one of the few companies whose name has become a verb.
It has 325 million paying subscribers globally (with nearly 2 million in Singapore), and claims a global audience approaching 1 billion.
However, the company’s subscriber growth is slowing.
It added around 24 million subscribers in 2025, compared to 41 million in 2024.
Still, the company intends to keep growing its top line by focusing on advertising and live content.
Ads revenue is growing faster than the rest of the company, and is expected to reach US$3 billion by 2026, up 2x from 2025.
This compares to its overall revenue growth of 16% in the first quarter of 2026.
During the quarter, Netflix aired more than 70 live events, including the World Baseball Classic – which sparked the largest day of sign-ups in Japan – and BTS The Comeback Live which attracted 18.4 million viewers globally.
Meta (NASDAQ: META) – The Search and Digital Advertising Leader
Singaporeans use Meta’s products daily: From browsing Stories on Instagram, to messaging friends and family on Whatsapp.
The company has, together with Alphabet’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) Google, long dominated online advertising.
This year, however, marks a significant milestone: for the first time, Meta is expected to overtake Google in digital ad revenue, both within the US and globally.
Meta’s adroit use of AI is one reason for this continued growth.
The company recently unveiled updated AI-powered ad creation tools that can create a portfolio of different advertisement types based on up to 10 image or video uploads.
Meanwhile, Meta can rely on a buffer of around US$81 billion in cash and equivalents, and marketable securities, to support its business, although the company is reportedly considering raising tens of billions of dollars to fund its AI initiatives by selling more stock.
Visa (NYSE: V) – The Everyday Payments Giant
Visa, along with Mastercard (NYSE: MA), is one of the two dominant global payment card services companies, and is also ubiquitous in Singapore.
In its fiscal 2Q2026, Visa said it processed 66 billion transactions, a 9% increase over the previous year.
Its business is highly profitable – the most recent quarter saw a net income margin of 54%.
Although the market for processing card transactions might seem saturated, Visa is looking at other avenues to continue growing.
This includes the launch of its Agentic Ready program in Asia and Latin America, to help its customers prepare for commerce initiated by AI agents.
The payments giant is also trying to benefit from the rise in demand for experience-driven travel, with its launch of Visa Destinations, which will offer cardholders access to curated experiences.
Get Smart: Start Looking Around More
While these brand names are a part of our everyday lives, investors who simply buy based on what might admittedly be a great product or service may be purchasing shares that are overvalued, or overlooking competitive threats.
For example, Netflix is facing competition not just from other streaming services, but also other sources of video entertainment such as TikTok and YouTube.
Similarly, there are worries that Visa’s payments business will be displaced by stablecoins – recently, annual stablecoin transaction volume reached US$33 trillion, exceeding Visa and Mastercard combined.
By all means, start with businesses you understand, but it’s still important to follow a company’s earnings and other major developments.
The performance of these companies over an extended time shows that great investments can be found in the companies around us.
This familiarity provides Singapore investors with a strong foundation from which to make good investments.
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Disclosure: Silas owns shares in Sea Limited and Alibaba.
