The country is in a recession, unemployment is at its highest levels since the Great Depression, and it's an election year with a great deal of political uncertainty. I don't need to read you the headlines -- you live it every day. The stock market, in turn, has been highly volatile.
While many investors have taken advantage of lower prices, many are also looking to ground their portfolios with stable, low-risk stocks. It's a smart strategy to have a mix of growth and value stocks, aggressive as well as conservative. Here are three excellent low-risk stocks that you can count on to deliver through the ups and downs.
McCormick (NYSE: MKC) makes spices and flavorings that you probably have in your kitchen right now. This stock has been the model of consistency through every type of market. The company hasn't posted a negative annual return since 2008, which means it has seen its stock price grow each year for the past 12 years. Not many companies can say that. Even this year, with the S&P 500 down about 4% and the food products industry down roughly 6%, McCormick keeps chugging along, up about 6%. On June 25, the company delivered more solid results for the second quarter of its fiscal 2020, posting an 8% increase in revenue year over year and a 27% gain in profits. The increases were due in part to people staying home and cooking more.