The safest stock you can invest in shares of companies whose share price is represented in large part by hard assets. Gencor (GENC) is a good example. The company is selling for $89 million. (That is the value of all shares of the company's stock.) The company has cash and investments of $90 million. The companies operations are effectively valued at negative $1 million.
If the company closed down shareholders would receive more money that the company currently trades for. The company is worth more dead than alive.
The operation provide a wild card or a lottery ticket if you like. The company manufactures asphalt plants. If highway spending rises the company will see increased sales. There is very little risk investing in a company like this and the potential for a nice upside.
In my twenty plus years experience in the stock market I have seen this story before and it usually has a happy ending.
Think large companies with long track records like GE, McDonalds, Proctor and Gamble, etc.....
But FYI - - If "safety" in stocks is what you are looking for, then purchasing shares in individual stocks is very risky. No investor would consider this "safe".
If you want to invest in the stock market "safely", then you should purchase a balanced Mutual Fund or a variety of Index ETFs.
Safest stocks also means ones that wont move much. So when the market is up 3% you might be up 0.03%
The so called "Blue Chips", the best of the best. Many of the Dow-Jones components.
e.g. PG, JNJ, XOM, T,
The problem is things change.
Ever heard of AIG, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Enron, Kodak, Sears, Polaroid, Xerox, Washington Mutual, GM, among many others? They had their day in the sun, and billions of dollars of stockholder equity was lost.
You might consider ETF's such as DVY or VIG.
Or Vanguard 2045 Target Fund (or something similar)
You're on the right track. Most beginners focus on profits first. With one simple question, you have hit the nail on the head of what most successful investors/traders focus on: risk first. It is the "a priori." First things first.
You must define risk, then you can control it and choose your level of risk.
Definition of 'Beta'
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/beta...
Low volatility stocks with a low Beta are considered "safer", but generally have less potential. You can find beta for any stock on the right side of this screen by clicking on Key Statistics of the company on the left sidebar. A beta of less than 1 means that the security will be less volatile than the market. JNJ has a beta of just 0.57
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=JNJ+Key+...
4 Income Stocks Safer than Treasuries
http://www.investopedia.com/stock-analys...
4 Cheap And Safe Stock Picks
http://www.investopedia.com/stock-analys...
More Cheap And Safe Stocks
http://www.investopedia.com/stock-analys...
http://www.investopedia.com/stock-analys...
If by "safest" you mean companies that won't go out of business (and are not concerned with volatility risk), look to the biggest and oldest companies that make up the Dow & S&P 500. These are also the "safest" stocks in terms of liquidity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dow_Jones_I...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_S%2...
The stock marekt is generally NOT where one would go for "safety." But with risk in mind, if you define your terms and your risk specifically, that will clear up the confusion and allow better decisions concerning safety and which stocks to choose.
Yhere are none. They all involve some risk.
You might try large company growth stocks.
what are safest stocks to put money into?
