Headlines from across the globe are rattling the markets again, a trend that seems to resurface every few months. This time, uncertainty regarding an election in Italy has market bulls on their heels. On February 25, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 216 points and the S&P 500 lost 1.8% on concerns that an election gridlock would harm Italy’s ability to deal with its debt crisis. Worries surrounding Europe’s debt problems seem to shake the market’s confidence on a regular basis. If you’re sick and tired of having to keep up with international headlines, there is a way to escape. Here are a few highly profitable U.S.-based stocks that derive all of their revenues from the United States.
Retailer Walgreen Company (NYSE:WAG) operates drugstores across the United States. It provides consumer goods and services, pharmacy, and health and wellness services. Walgreen has been on quite a tear, as the stock has climbed more than 20% over the past year. In 2012, Walgreen Company (NYSE:WAG) provided investors with the 37th consecutive annual dividend increase. Furthermore, the dividend raise marked the largest increase in the company’s history. Walgreen Company (NYSE:WAG) has shoved cash back to investors. The stock has raised its shareholder distribution at a compound annual growth rate of 24% over the past five years. Walgreen Company (NYSE:WAG) is surely one of the most shareholder friendly companies in existence, and offers investors a solid dividend yield of 2.8% at recent prices.
Utility stocks such as The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) provide electricity for customers based in the southeast United States. Investors can sit back and enjoy a 4.5% dividend yield without the fear of an unraveling European economy. The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) has demonstrated a clear pattern of rewarding its shareholders, since the company has raised its dividend for 11 straight years. Even more impressive, Southern has paid uninterrupted dividends to shareholders every quarter since 1948. Southern probably isn’t cheap at 16 times trailing twelve month earnings per share, but investors could certainly do worse than a reliable utility with a market-trouncing dividend yield.
The Foolish takeaway
The European debt crisis has reared its ugly head once again. Along with the stock market’s beating on February 25, the Volatility Index soared more than 30% on the day. Seen as the market’s ‘fear gauge’, the VIX is a telling indication that the market is far from resting easy about what’s happening across the globe. However, you don’t need to lose sleep about the seemingly never-ending string of worries coming out of Europe. It’s certainly possible to insulate your portfolio against international headline risks. These three stocks generate all their sales within the United States, which certainly isn’t an economy experiencing runaway growth, but is at least measurably better off than the economies in Europe.
The article Avoid International Headaches With These Stocks originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Robert Ciura.
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