After a strong rebound from the pandemic last year, the economy is slowing, inflation is still at its highest in decades, and interest rates are rising. Many stocks have been beaten this year as a result. At the time of this writing, the S&P500 and Nasdaq Compound are down 10% and 17% respectively so far in 2022.

However, the hustle and bustle of the market need not keep you up at night. When the going gets tough, don’t be fancy. Invest in proven businesses that continue to grow at a healthy pace. Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)(NASDAQ:GOOG), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN)and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) aren’t the most exciting stocks these days, but these three top tech stocks are great buys right now. Here’s why.

1. Alphabet: Deep pockets are a safe haven in these uncertain times

Let’s start our discussion of the enemies of the tech titans with Alphabet, parent of the ubiquitous Internet search engine Google. About 80% of Alphabet’s revenue is still ad-related, and 70% of that ad revenue comes specifically from Google search ads. Advertising is sensitive to macroeconomic economic health. In difficult times, many companies reduce their marketing expenses. So the market fears that Alphabet’s empire could be heading into decline if a recession hits this year or next.

But Alphabet has been through a few recessions (2008 and 2020) and its search ads are flexible. It’s easy for companies to disable and re-enable these ads. In the event of a recession, any decline in advertising spending would be very short-lived for Alphabet. And in the meantime, the company has proven its resilience even in the face of a sharp economic downturn. Google’s advertising revenue increased 11.6% year-over-year in the second quarter of 2022 to $56.3 billion.

Digital ad services are also very profitable, and Alphabet is using those margins to invest in new ventures (like Google Cloud and self-driving car startup Waymo) that have the potential to become big one day. But even after supporting these promising segments, Alphabet still has room to return plenty of excess cash to shareholders. It repurchased $28.5 billion of its own shares in the first half of 2022 (1.9% of the company’s current enterprise value).

This cash return creates a nice cushion for Alphabet’s shareholders in turbulent times, and the company has plenty of room to continue rewarding owners of its shares. The company had $125 billion in cash and short-term investments on its balance sheet at the end of June (plus another $30.7 billion in long-term investments), offset by just $14.7 billion in debt. In terms of cash net of debt, that not only makes Alphabet the wealthiest tech giant, but one of the wealthiest organizations on the planet. Trading at 23x enterprise value for 12 months free cash flow, Alphabet is a fantastic buy right now.

2. Amazon: the cloud is an irresistible force

After two decades of rapid growth, e-commerce is finally taking a breather. In the first two years of the pandemic, online shopping activity exploded. Now, households are once again making more in-person trips to the store. This is not good news for Amazon. The company’s “product sales” segment fell 2% year-over-year in the first half of 2022, driven by a decline in its online store (and partially offset by healthy increases in its physical stores, such as Whole Foods).

This big downturn in e-commerce led to a massive drop in the stock earlier this year. At one point, Amazon was down more than 40% from its all-time highs set at the end of 2021. The shares are back, however, thanks in large part to Amazon Web Services (AWS), the massive segment cloud computing. In fact, AWS has been one of the main reasons to invest in Amazon for the past few years. Why? Because although AWS only represents a fraction of Amazon’s total revenue, it generates the bulk of the e-commerce leader’s operating profit. In the first half of this year, AWS accounted for only 16% of sales, but generated all of the total operating profit (while product sales generated an operating loss).

Granted, that doesn’t mean Amazon’s online retail juggernaut is worthless. Rather, shopping is a sticky experience that has led to other revenue streams for the company — like its Prime Video TV streaming service, or a booming online advertising business that has generated nearly $8. $8 billion in revenue in the second quarter of 2022 alone, up 18% from the previous year.

Nonetheless, AWS is an incredible business model that helped launch cloud computing in the first place, and it continues to grow rapidly. AWS sales jumped 33% in the second quarter. The cloud is rapidly overtaking traditional IT infrastructure in the wake of the pandemic and is expected to reach $1 trillion in annual spending by the end of this decade. AWS is at the forefront of this movement and should remain so for years to come. Amazon is currently operating in the red on a free cash flow basis as it spends to further support cloud growth and other businesses. However, although the stock is still dwindling, it is far from exhausted. Amazon will return to profitability at some point. The company also had $61 billion in cash and short-term investments, offset by $49 billion in debt, and currently has an enterprise value of $1.5 trillion. This rock-solid company is a fantastic buy right now after receiving more than its fair share of market punishment.

3. Apple: The iPhone is going slow and steady to win the race

Apple fans, especially iPhone fans, are a unique group of consumers. While the global smartphone industry is poised for a major setback in the second half of this year (after a solid two-year run of 5G network device upgrades), Apple sees very little disruptions in iPhone demand at this point. This speaks to the power of the Apple brand as iPhone adoption continues rapidly, especially in emerging markets like Indonesia, Vietnam and India.

In Apple’s first three quarters of fiscal year 2022 (fiscal year ends September 24), iPhone sales hit a staggering $163 billion, up 6.5% from to last year. It’s a slow and steady pace compared to times gone by, but an impressive number nonetheless. The iPhone business is strong enough to offset weakness in other areas (like Mac and iPad sales) and is very profitable. Apple used those margins (plus some cash on the balance sheet, which had $179 billion in cash and investments and $120 billion in debt) to return $28 billion to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks. in the last trimester only.

Although Apple is no longer the fastest-growing tech giant, there’s a lot to like about its sheer scale. The company now has several hundred million devices in active use worldwide, and it maintains tight control over its hardware and software ecosystem. Thus, Apple can gradually release new features on the iPhone to generate additional revenue growth, primarily from its service segment. These services (like the App Store and digital payments) generated $19.6 billion in sales last quarter, a 12% year-over-year increase.

With other device sales faltering this year, Apple is still moving forward at a steady pace. It’s proof that this giant $2.8 trillion company still deserves a place in investors’ portfolios. Apple shares are currently trading at 26 times company value for 12 months free cash flow. It’s a steep price, but worth every penny in times of uncertainty.

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John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a board member of The Motley Fool. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a board member of The Motley Fool. Nicholas Rossolillo and his clients have positions in Alphabet (C shares), Amazon and Apple. The Motley Fool has positions and recommends Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), Amazon and Apple. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long calls $120 in March 2023 on Apple and short calls $130 in March 2023 on Apple. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.