Looking for stable dividend stocks to ride out the ups and downs of the market in the last half of the year? The final 6 months, especially October, are often more volatile than the 1st half of the year.
Historically, October has had 40% more volatility than the 11 other months.
Couple that with October and September having the lowest average historical returns, and you can see why investors seek out defensive stocks to hide behind during the last 2 quarters.
In spite of its negative health and moral issues, the tobacco industry continues to serve income investors well in the market. While many high dividend stocks sectors and industries have been under pressure over the past 10 months, (such as Utilities, REIT’s and Energy-related LP’s), the tobacco industry has held up well.
In fact, these 2 well-known tobacco stocks, Altria (NYSE:MO) and Philip Morris (NYSE:PM), have outperformed the S&P 500 over the past month, quarter, and year-to-date. MO has a much lower Beta than PM, indicating more resiliency in adverse markets:
Profiles: Altria Group, Inc., (MO), through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells cigarettes, cigars, smokeless products, and wine in the United States and internationally.
Altria’s wholly-owned subsidiaries include Philip Morris USA Inc., U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company LLC, John Middleton Co., Nu Mark LLC, Ste. Michelle Wine Estates Ltd., and Philip Morris Capital Corporation. Altria holds a continuing economic and voting interest in SABMiller plc.(LONDON:SAB).
The brand portfolios of Altria’s tobacco operating companies include Marlboro®, Black & Mild®, Copenhagen®, Skoal®, MarkTen® and Green Smoke®. Ste. Michelle produces and markets premium wines sold under various labels, including Chateau Ste. Michelle®, Columbia Crest®, 14 Hands® and Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars™, and it imports and markets Antinori®, Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte™, Torres® and Villa Maria Estate™ products in the United States.
Philip Morris International Inc., (PM), through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells cigarettes, other tobacco products, and other nicotine-containing products. Its portfolio of brands comprise Marlboro, Merit, Parliament, Virginia Slims, L&M, Chesterfield, Bond Street, Lark, Muratti, Next, Philip Morris, and Red & White. The company also owns various cigarette brands comprising Sampoerna (JK:SGRO), Dji Sam Soe, and U Mild in Indonesia; Fortune, Champion (TW:1806), and Hope in the Philippines; Diana in Italy; Optima and Apollo-Soyuz in Russia; Morven Gold in Pakistan; Boston in Colombia; Belmont (TO:BEA), Canadian Classics, and Number 7 in Canada; Best and Classic in Serbia; f6 in Germany; Delicados in Mexico; Assos in Greece; and Petra in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It sells its products in approximately 180 countries in the European Union, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Canada. The company was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in New York, New York.
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