McDonald’s Corporation (MCD), Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT) & The Procter & Gamble Company (PG): Increase Your Returns With These Cash Cow Stocks

The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

source: Yahoo Finance

The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) is the maker of various household brands such as Bounty, Crest, Dawn, Charmin, Duracell, Gain, Gillette, Vicks, and many more. Almost all of their brands are considered “staples” that consumers will buy in any economic environment. Their house hold brands dwarf their competition in reputation, as they have 24 billion dollar brands. This type of niche that The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) operates in ensures that their profits will be consistent over the long term. This is evident in their streak of 57 straight annual dividend increases and their beta of 0.44. Procter & Gamble is also looking to emerging markets to find further revenue growth possibilities. The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) trades at 19.9 times earnings, and sports a dividend yield of 3.10%. Investors shouldn’t worry about any potential dividend decline – Procter & Gamble commits only 48% of their cash flow to dividends.

Bottom line

These 3 stocks provide some common characteristics. They all have a long history of consistent dividend increases. They all have a low beta to survive the volatile trends of the recent market environment. They also all have less then half of their cash flow committed to dividends. this is important as it leaves room to grow the dividend down the road, as well as fund growth opportunities. Perhaps the most important characteristic: all of the above companies are considered “best of breed.” They have business models that establish them at the top of their industries, and in turn can be counted on to give your portfolio the spark it needs regardless of your time frame.

The article Increase Your Returns With These Cash Cow Stocks originally appeared on Fool.com.

Justin Pope has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends McDonald’s and The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG). The Motley Fool owns shares of McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD). Justin is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network — entries represent the personal opinion of the blogger and are not formally edited.

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