Household Stocks: Not Exciting, but Necessary: Colgate-Palmolive Company (CL), The Clorox Company (CLX)

The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Pine-Sol, Fresh Step, Glad bags and, of course, Clorox bleach. You see why I caution you not to ignore boring stocks? They’re boring for a reason. Clorox hit two 52-week highs in the last two weeks and could go much higher. The firm’s stock is headed upwards, just as it has for most of the last year. All told, it’s gained about 16% since February and been paying a dividend of 3.30% as well. There’s a lot to like here, and a lot that’s investable. Add this to your stable, if you have the money.

Kimberly Clark Corp (NYSE:KMB)

At last we come to one that I’m not that wild about. Kimberly Clark makes some very famous products, Scott, Huggies, Pull-ups…heck, even Kleenex, for heaven’s sake. If that’s not a product that’s become a part of the environment, I don’t know what is! Still, a 1% growth rate, lowered profits (even if they beat expectations, and a stock that’s been flat since July makes me standoffish. Not so much that it might not be a good play, but others on this list will be better, safer long-term stocks for your portfolio. Take a wait-and-see with KMB. Maybe next time.

Household stocks. Each of these firms, even KMB, beat the S&P in the last year AND paid a good dividend. Remember this, the more boring a firm is, the less it seems to need to push its name out there, the more solid it likely is. No one can argue that these firms couldn’t hire a great PR firm and get themselves out there on all the talk shows. It’s just that they don’t have to. The customer base for each of these firms is established and growing as the population grows. Far better you see their commercials and displays in grocery stores, than see some yammering cable television guy talking them up.

Good luck!

The article Household Stocks: Not Exciting, but Necessary originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Nate Wooley.

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