Crocs will be the next Nike. It's a bold statement, I realize, but if any footwear/apparel maker has the chance to become relevant, sustainable and as near-dominating as Nike (NYSE: NKE) has been these past 25 years, it's Crocs (NASDAQ: CROX). Understandably Crocs has a long way to go and a lot of heavy lifting in front of it before it can claim a seat at the mountaintop, like Nike. But the potential is very good as Crocs is emerging as a category-dominant player. Let's do a bit of a review to understand why.

I wrote in my book Stop Losing Money Today that Nike began in the 1970s as a fad/niche play. Nike sold its functional running shoes to the jogging set, but then quickly expanded its offerings to include all athletes in virtually every sport. The shoes were customized to handle the rigors of the individual sport. Nike also expanded its line to be fashionable and cool to wear even when its wearers weren't sweating. The company went north of the ankle to include a full line of T-shirts, warm-up suits, shorts and hundreds of other products. In essence, Nike graduated from a fad/niche player to become a full-blown global phenomenon. The company went public in 1980, and currently has a market capitalization of $27.5 billion and distributes its products through thousands of retail stores, as well as 418 of its own NikeTown stores. Revenues are running at a $17-18 billion run-rate with healthy operating margins of 14%. Nike is truly a great American success story.

Crocs has the same opportunity and it may even be larger.

If you've ever looked at a stock chart and thought, "if only I'd bought it 10 years ago!", well, you're not alone. I've kicked myself any number of times for having passed up on the opportunity to buy Apple/Microsoft/eBay when I was just graduating from college and learning the ways of the financial world.

But your chances for hitting the buy-and-hold jackpot haven't all been used up. We've scoured the companies of today to find the blue chips of the future.

• The Next IBM: Georges Yared says you can find it in Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL). But he goes even further and states that Apple will come out the bigger of the two. He writes, "I'm sure Apple will overtake IBM in value over the next two years ... Apple has the advantage over IBM with the powerful retail distribution stores ... [and] wins the margin game as well." Read more...
• The Next Google: You won't have to look far. Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), says many of our writers, is a force in and of itself and if you want to make money on the company destined to be the next Google? Invest in Google.
  
• The Next McDonald's: Yared points out that Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX) has a long way to run, and believes "Starbucks will hit the magical $100 billion market capitalization long before McDonald's does." The key, he says, is the fact that the company is just entering the breakfast sandwich market and still already has almost half of McDonald's market capitalization -- despite a 27-year head start. Read more...
  
• The Next Nike: Lots of people made big bucks investing in Nike, Inc. (NYSE: NKE) when it was just a little shoe company in the sticks. Well, there's another little shoe company from a different rugged hometown (Niwot, Colorado?) that seems to be lighting up the charts. Everyone seems to be advising us to get in now before Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX) does become the next Nike... and it's too late. Read more...