Time For Defensive Stocks? (PEP, KO, BUD, TAP, KFT, CAG, CPB, HRL, MCD, MO, VGR, RAI, PG, CL, MRK, JNJ)

Investing

Published: May 7, 2010 11:47 am

Last Updated: April 28, 2020 7:42 am

There are three things investors traditionally want after making huge gains when they still want to hold stocks. They want stocks that have dividends and may want ‘value stocks.’ But the largest safety net of where to hide almost boils down to defensive stocks. Our go-to universe is certainly not a complete list as it is the top sixteen we look at: PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE: PEP) and The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) for beverages, and Anheuser-Busch Inbev SA (NYSE: BUD) followed by a distant second Molson Coors Brewing Company (NYSE: TAP) for beer. You have to eat, so we look at Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT), ConAgra Foods, Inc. (NYSE: CAG), Campbell Soup Co. (NYSE: CPB), and Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE: HRL). For the big-spenders and going out to eat, the only true defensive stock is McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD). And those smokers just won’t give it up, so we look at Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE: MO), Vector Group Ltd. (NYSE: VGR), and Reynolds American Inc. (NYSE: RAI). Then, despite the huge SNAFU yesterday, there is Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE: PG) and a distant second Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE: CL). In drugs and then diversified medical and consumer there is Merck & Company, Inc. (NYSE: MRK) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ).

We have broken each out by a snapshot at 11:21 this morning, then added in a price, 52-week range, change on the day, a forward P/E ratio based upon Thomson Reuters estimates, and a dividend yield.

Company	Price	$Change	%Change	Forward P/E	52-Week	Yield
PepsiCo	$64.92	Up 0.22	Up 0.34%	13.93	48.82 – 67.00	2.8%
Coco-Cola	$52.36	Up 0.06	Up 0.11%	13.9	42.51 – 59.45	3.3%
BUD	$46.57	Down 0.27	Down 0.58%	N/A	36.95 – 53.70	0.9%
Molson Coors	$42.38	Down 0.42	Down 0.98%	11.38	38.44 – 51.11	2.6%
Kraft Foods	$29.82	Up 0.61	Up 2.10%	12.85	24.40 – 31.09	3.9%
ConAgra	$23.71	Down 0.10	Down 0.42%	12.3	17.40 – 26.32	3.3%
Campbell	$35.16	Up 0.09	Up 0.26%	13.27	26.13 – 36.25	3.1%
Hormel	$40.62	Up 0.39	Up 0.97%	14.15	31.26 – 42.68	2.1%
McDonald’s	$69.18	Down 0.24	Down 0.35%	14.03	52.94 – 71.84	3.1%
Altria	$20.56	Down 0.19	Down 0.91%	10.25	16.10 – 21.61	6.6%
Vector	$15.61	Down 0.11	Down 0.70%	N/A	13.50 – 16.73	9.8%
Reynolds	$51.81	Up 0.28	Up 0.54%	10.04	36.32 – 56.23	6.7%
P & G	$60.60	Down 0.15	Down 0.25%	15.02	39.37 – 64.58	3.1%
Colgate	$80.00	Down 1.77	Down 2.16%	15.02	61.00 – 87.39	2.6%
Merck	$33.92	Down 0.35	Down 1.03%	8.65	24.28 – 41.56	4.3%
J & J	$63.25	Down 0.15	Down 0.24%	11.95	53.54 – 66.20	3.3%

JON C. OGG

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