For many investors it may seem like Altium Limited (ASX: ALU) shares have suddenly emerged out of nowhere.
But in actual fact, Altium listed on the Australian share market over 19 years ago in August 1999. This was 14 years after the company was founded as Protel Systems in Tasmania in 1985.
While it hasn't always been plain sailing, investors that bought shares in the company 10 years ago have done exceptionally well.
During that time its shares have provided an average annual total return of 46%. Which means that if you had bought $10,000 worth of Altium shares 10 years ago, they would be worth over $440,000 today. I believe this demonstrates just how rewarding buy and hold investing can be.
Also, it is worth remembering that its shares have fallen 25% from their 52-week high, so this return would have been even greater just a few weeks ago.
While returns of this magnitude are admittedly rare, I think if you choose wisely you have a good chance of achieving market-beating returns.
Two top shares that I'm betting on providing market-beating returns over the long term are listed below. Here's why I think they are worth investigating:
Citadel Group Ltd (ASX: CGL)
Citadel is a growing software and services company behind the popular Citadel-Information Exchange (Citadel-IX) cloud-based enterprise information management platform. This platform allows its users to securely access and transfer proprietary and sensitive information remotely. Given the importance of data security, I feel it is well-positioned to grow over the long-term.
Volpara Health Technologies Ltd (ASX: VHT)
Volpara is a breast imaging analytics and analysis software specialist which grew its annual recurring revenues by a massive 223% in FY 2018. This was driven by the growing adoption of its offering and a sizeable jump in its share of the U.S. breast screening market. Pleasingly, this year management aims to grow its share from 3.7% to 9% and I believe it has a great chance of achieving this.
