If you cant rely on the Bank of England, who can you rely on? Those who took governorMark Carneys contradictory pronouncements too seriously will be all of a tizzy today. The unreliable boyfriend has struck again. Weeks after dropping seductive hints about a base rate hike in the near future, Carneyhas backed away from any immediate commitment, the little tease. Savers hoping to get a better rate on cash have once again been left standing embarrassed at the altar.
Cut And Run
Of course you cant put all your faith in FTSE 100 stocks either. As investors in companies as varied as Aviva, BP, Centrica, Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, Standard Chartered, Tesco and others have discovered to their cost, profits can fall, and dividendscan be cut or cruelly dumped. There are no guarantees in life, or investing. But some companies are more reliable than others.
Im particularly thinking of household goods giants Reckitt Benckiser Group(LSE: RB)andUnilever(LSE: ULVR). Their 10-year performance charts both show a steady upward sweep, with only a few brief hiccups along the way. Over five years, they have grown80% and 50% respectively. The FTSE 100 as a whole is upjust about 10% over the same period.
Household Favourites
Thats a heady combination of defensive investment and stock market out-performance, a combination that isnt easy to find. My major quibble when examining these two stocks over the years is that they are typically expensive, often trading at more than 20 times earnings. But as these past performance figures show, that was a price worth paying.
Both stocks are still pricey today, with Reckitt Benckiser perhaps a little too expensive, even for avid fans like me, at 27 times earnings. Forecast earnings per share growth of 7% in 2016 only partly justify that. The rest is down to its reputation in an uncertain world, the companys vast and growing array of solid everyday brands are the old reliables. You may give brands such as Durex, Clearasil, Dettol, Harpic, Scholl andVanish little conscious thought, but they have been part of your life for as long as you can remember.
The downside is that Reckittsyield is a disappointing 2.2% at atime when many stocks are yielding 6%or 7%, or even more. It is certainly reliable, but if that doesnt quite tempt you,Unilever looks comparatively cheap at 17.7 times earnings and yields a more generous 3.13%.
Competitive, profitable, consistent
Unilevercould easily be more expensive, given that, like Reckitt, its sales have survived the emerging market slowdown, helped by double-digit growth in China and Latin America. It is even growing sales in recession-hit Brazil. Chief executivePaul Polman hasneatlysummed up what investors like about Unilever:Our model of competitive, profitable, consistent and responsible growth is built on sustained investment in our brands, infrastructure and people.
Nobody buys Reckitt Benckiser orUnilever in the hopethat they willshoot the lights out, but over the last five years thats exactly what they have done, in relative terms. Steady, reliable growth should be the order of the day from now on. But given recent sparkling outperformance, who knows? If you think Reckitt Benckiser looks pricey, for once, at least, Unilever does not.
More juicy dividends
If you are hunting for juicier dividends there are plenty more opportunitieson the FTSE 100.
Thelatest Motley Fool FREE wealth creation report canshow you the way to earning higher dividend income by picking out5 of the best FTSE 100 stocks you can buy today.
All five stocks are ideally placed to deliver a heady combination of generous dividend payouts and long-term share price growth over the years ahead.
To find out their names and see how they could help you secure a comfortable retirement, simply download the documentThe Motley Fool’s 5 Shares To Retire On. The report won’t cost you a penny, soclick here now.
Harvey Jones has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK owns shares of and has recommended Unilever. The Motley Fool UK has recommended Barclays and Centrica. We Fools don’t all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.
