10 best defensive stocks

This article was originally published on Canadian Business.

Defensive stocks were put to the test in 2015.

Last year’s top defensive stocks, ranked by Canadian Business in its annual Investor 500 survey of all major Canadian stocks, softened the blow of market declines over the past 12 months, but still ended down 5.2%. (The S&P/TSX composite index, for comparison, fell 7.8% over the same period.) One stock in particular undermined the group’s performance. Without Potash Corp. and its 44% drop from a year ago, those using this screen would have finished the year more or less whole.

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Typically, the large, dividend-paying companies that aren’t over-leveraged are the ones that hold their value in down markets. For this reason, we look for companies with a minimum market capitalization of $1 billion, with healthy dividend yields and A+ ratings from at least one debt-rating agency. For the second straight year, this criteria proved too big a hurdle. In order to come up with 10 names, we included six stocks with debt ratings as low as BBB+, which is still investment grade, albeit at the lower end of the scale. Finally, our defensive stocks must have a return on equity of 12% or more and a beta below one, indicating they are less volatile than the market average.

Only four companies from 2015 make this year’s list—a surprisingly high turnover rate. But perhaps that’s not such a bad thing. The 2016 list is composed entirely of financial and telecom stocks, which historically have been reliable performers, including last year’s top performer, CIBC.

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It’s worth noting that the 2015 defensive picks that struggled were also the ones with lower debt ratings. If that pattern continues this year, you may want to focus your attention on the big bank stocks, like TD and CIBC, and show some caution around insurance and telecoms. All of these companies should be able to weather a down market, but some will provide a little more protection should you actually run into something damaging.

Look at Canadian Business’s Investor 500 to learn how to position your portfolio for the rest of 2016.

Also read: Expect 1.4% real GDP growth in 2016: RBC

Staff

The staff of Advisor.ca have been covering news for financial advisors since 1998.