5 Low-Beta Stocks That Can Surge: Altria Group, Inc. (MO), Markel Corporation (MKL)

With a market cap around $640 million, China-based Nam Tai Electronics has soared some 150% over the past year, in part due to providing manufacturing services for tablets such as the iPad mini. In its stellar fourth quarter, the under-the-radar company reported sales up 263% over year-ago levels and noted that it’s boosting its profit margins by shedding less profitable operations.

Two Harbors Investment is a hybrid mortgage REIT (real estate investment trust) that recently yielded an eye-popping 17.6%%. It focuses on residential mortgage-backed securities and has begun renting out some of its delinquent properties. It spun off Silver Bay Realty Trust Corp (NYSE:SBY) last year. The company cut its quarterly dividend from $0.40 to $0.36 last year and then hiked it up to $0.55 as the year ended. Interested investors should read up on special considerations related to mortgage REITs.

Don’t dismiss low-beta stocks as they may reward you well over time. You might even consider ignoring a stock’s beta entirely, as there are plenty of more informative numbers to examine, such as simply revenue growth and profit margins.

The article 5 Low-Beta Stocks That Can Surge originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Selena Maranjian.

Longtime Fool contributor Selena Maranjian, whom you can follow on Twitter, owns shares of Berkshire Hathaway and Cliffs Natural Resources. The Motley Fool recommends and owns shares of Berkshire Hathaway and Markel.

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