After a fairly steady first two months of the calendar year, ASX 200 stocks have already faced volatility in March.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) fell almost 2% yesterday.
Markets have been all over the place as the conflict in Iran has escalated quickly.
It has already had a big impact on energy, materials and commodities markets.
Image source: Getty Images
Trusting the long game
As much as we can preach the long game, there's no doubt that watching your portfolio swing significantly in just two days can induce panic.
Much of the momentum my own portfolio had gained across 2026 was wiped out in just a couple of days.
But it's times like these we need to zoom out a little and focus on the fundamentals.
Here at The Motley Fool, we're long term focussed.
As Warren Buffett once said, "we continue to make more money when snoring than when active."
That means trusting the reason we invested in certain stocks in the first place, and not try to beat the market by buying and selling as stocks crash and soar on a daily basis.
Unless something in the company has fundamentally changed, you'll probably be happy you held it in a year, five years or even twenty.
ASX 200 stocks to hold
With that long term focus in mind, there are some ASX 200 stocks that might have dropped over the last couple days, that investors should hold for the long term.
The first is Nextdc Ltd (ASX: NXT).
Yesterday it fell 3.7%, and is down almost 10% over the last week.
The company operates data centres in Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia. It focuses on co-location services to local and international organisations as well as interconnectivity between enterprises, global cloud, ICT providers, and telecommunication networks.
In the long-term, this ASX 200 company is likely going to play an important role in Australia's growing data centre and cloud infrastructure market as the rise of AI requires more and more storage and processing.
This positions it to benefit from accelerating demand driven by AI, cloud adoption and digital transformation, with strong contracted revenue visibility and expansion potential.
Right now, Macquarie has a price target of $22.30 on this ASX 200 stock, which is an upside of 71% from yesterday's close.
Stick with the flying kangaroo
Another ASX 200 stock worth holding for the long run is Qantas Airways Ltd (ASX: QAN).
The airline has seen its share price tumble more than 15% over the past couple of weeks.
That includes 4.46% this week.
UBS recently said the negativity surrounding the company has been overblown, and I tend to agree.
The next months could be bumpy due to headwinds from a higher oil/fuel price amid the events happening in the Middle East.
But the fundamentals are still strong, as is its market position in Australia.
The current share price target from UBS of $11.60 is 29% higher than yesterday's closing price.
