S&P 500: Looking For Safety? Only One Stock Rises Every Year

Looking for a safe S&P 500 stock to protect you from anything the market throws at you? Just one stock qualifies.

One lonely stock in the S&P 500, Church & Dwight (CHW), has risen each and every year since 2008, says an Investor’s Business Daily analysis of data from S&P Global Market Intelligence and MarketSmith. And the maker of everything from Arm & Hammer baking soda to Trojan condoms is a market leader, too. Its shares are up more than 667% in the past 15 years (including this year so far). That blows away the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust’s 193% gain in that time.

Even the S&P 500 has its ups and downs. The S&P 500 dropped five years in the past decade and a half — or a third of the time. Just this year, the S&P 500 is down nearly 10%. And it plunged more than 38% in 2008.

Church & Dwight, though, sailed through all this drama.

Profit Control With Church & Dwight

Church & Dwight’s stock market run is so stunning because it’s so unusual. Some investors like to buy tech giants thinking they’re like money in the bank. But none of them have anything on Church & Dwight when it comes to steady outperformance.

Just look at 2008 — the year the S&P 500 lost more than a third of its value. In that same year, shares of Church & Dwight jumped nearly 4%. Same goes for this year. The S&P 500 is also down this year. Church & Dwight on the other hand? It’s up more than 1%. No, that’s not much, but it sure beats being down by double digits like the S&P 500. Additionally, Church & Dwight yields 1% annually.

You might also think the gains are small. But that’s not the case, either. Shares of Church & Dwight gained 15.9%, on average, annually since 2008. That tops the S&P 500’s 10.4% average annual gain in that time. And again, it never fell even once.

Compare that with Apple (AAPL), which is many people’s idea of a safe stock. Shares of Apple dropped in four of the past 15 years. It’s down nearly 9% just this year. And it lost more than half its value in 2008.

Looking At The S&P 500’s Protector’s Fundamentals

What kind of revenues and profits backs up Church & Dwight’s run? Consistently growing ones.

Church & Dwight’s revenue has risen every year since 2008. Sometimes growth is modest, like it was with 2.7% top line growth in 2009. But it can be much higher, too, including a more than 12% jump in 2020. Profit growth is just as dependable, but can rise even more. The company’s adjusted profit jumped more than 15% in 2008, 2009 and 2011.

What about this year? Analysts think the company’s profit will gain more than 5% to $3.18 a share. And revenue is expected to rise more than 6% to $5.5 billion. Analysts also think the stock will be worth 97.12 a share in 12 months, up roughly 1% from where it is now.

But with a track record like Church & Dwight’s, who dares to doubt it?

Teflon Stock? Church & Dwight Rises

It’s the only S&P 500 stock to rise every year since 2008

Year	Church & Dwight stock gain %	S&P 500 % ch.
2008	3.8%	-38.3%
2009	7.7	23.5
2010	14.2	12.8
2011	32.6	-0.2
2012	17.1	13.5
2013	23.7	29.7
2014	18.9	11.3
2015	7.7	-0.8
2016	4.1	9.6
2017	13.5	19.4
2018	31.1	-6.3
2019	7.0	28.8
2020	24.0	16.2
2021	17.5	27.0
YTD	1.5	-9.8