The world can be a scary place to invest these days. Greece can’t pay its debts, Russia is a mess, China’s stock market is quickly falling back to earth after a meteoric run-up and Brazil is still dealing with the fallout of a massive corruption scandal involving dozens of politicians and its state-controlled oil company Petrobas S.A. (NYSE: PBR). The global challenges are leading many investors to seek out the relative safety and stability that large North American companies offer, especially those that have a primarily domestic focus. Here are three companies that operate almost entirely in the United States… Read More
The world can be a scary place to invest these days. Greece can’t pay its debts, Russia is a mess, China’s stock market is quickly falling back to earth after a meteoric run-up and Brazil is still dealing with the fallout of a massive corruption scandal involving dozens of politicians and its state-controlled oil company Petrobas S.A. (NYSE: PBR). The global challenges are leading many investors to seek out the relative safety and stability that large North American companies offer, especially those that have a primarily domestic focus. Here are three companies that operate almost entirely in the United States that provide stability, yield and growth. The Hershey Co. (NYSE: HSY) is almost certainly familiar to nearly every U.S. consumer as a leading purveyor of chocolate and other snacks. The company has been in business since 1894 and does 82% of its business in the United States. Hershey is at the top of the U.S. confectionary market with 31% market share. Despite operating in a slow-growth market, Hershey is able to leverage its tremendous brand loyalty and pricing power into a compounded annual earnings growth rate of more than 7% per year over the past 10 years. In that time,… Read More