If a Bear Market Is Coming, History Says These Stocks Could Be the Smartest to Own
Bear markets are a normal part of investing in the stock market. Nobody knows when the next one will arrive, but it will eventually arrive with 100% certainty. The time to prepare is before you face the fear that comes with big market downturns. That’s why you should consider owning companies like Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), Medtronic (NYSE: MDT), Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO), and Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG).
But there are two pieces to the story here. First, they all operate in economically resilient industries. Second, they all have incredible dividend track records. Here’s a quick look at each one.
Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a “Double Down” signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same “Total Conviction” signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »
Image source: Getty Images.
You will pay to live a longer, healthier life
To be fair, you may not be happy about paying for healthcare, since it can be expensive. But you will still pay for it because, in the most extreme cases, it can be the difference between life and death. In less extreme cases, the difference is between a better and worse quality of life, and you’ll still probably pay up. The risk of not paying simply isn’t worth it.
Johnson & Johnson is a good choice if you are worried about a bear market and are looking for a safe-haven investment. It is a major player in both the pharmaceutical and medical device sectors, providing diversification. It is a Dividend King, having rewarded shareholders with more than 50 consecutive annual dividend increases. And while its yield isn’t exactly huge at 2%, it is roughly twice what you’d collect from an S&P 500 index (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) fund. J&J isn’t exactly an exciting company, but it is a reliable one.
Medtronic is “only” on the cusp of becoming a Dividend King, but it offers a much larger 3% yield. Collecting an attractive quarterly dividend like that can give you something to watch while you try to avoid looking at the impact a bear market is having on your portfolio. Medtronic isn’t as diverse, focused exclusively on the medical device sector. However, it has new products, such as its Hugo surgical robot, that are likely to spur near-term and long-term growth. In fact, revenues grew nearly 14% in the first quarter of fiscal 2027, prompting the company to increase its full-year revenue and earnings targets after just one quarter.
You won’t stop buying food and soap
Consumer staples are relatively low-cost products that are bought regularly. Think food and toiletries. A bear market or recession, even a deep one, isn’t going to stop you from buying either. And if you really consider your own spending, you’ll likely find you are very brand loyal. That’s why companies like Coca-Cola and Procter & Gamble have such impressive histories. Both, for reference, are Dividend Kings and rank among the world’s largest consumer staples businesses.
Coca-Cola is a globally diversified beverage maker with a portfolio of iconic brands. The beverages it sells aren’t exactly necessities, since you could just drink water. However, they are affordable luxuries to which consumers are highly attached. That’s actually been showing up in recent results, with Coca-Cola managing to grow organic sales by 6% in the second quarter of 2026, with case volume up 5%. That’s particularly impressive, since customers are tightening their belts amid rising costs. If you are worried about a bear market, Coca-Cola and its well-above-market 2.2% yield should probably be on your short list.
Procter & Gamble sells toiletries including toilet paper, toothpaste, and over-the-counter medications. Organic sales rose 4% in the first quarter of fiscal 2027, indicating the business is holding up well even as consumers pull back on spending. The dividend yield is 2.7%, which is likely to make it more attractive to income investors than Coca-Cola. However, the really interesting thing about Procter & Gamble is its long-term focus on innovation, as it seeks to drive demand by offering products that deliver real benefits to consumers. The focus on leading the industry in this way should give you extra confidence in buying it ahead of a bear market, as “new” and “improved” are two of the most powerful words in the consumer staples sector.
The chart above shows the Great Recession and associated bear market. It was a time when investors were legitimately concerned that the global financial system might collapse. The chart shows clearly that the consumer staples and healthcare sectors didn’t get hit as hard as the broader market during the downturn, making them safe-haven investments.
But the graph also highlights another important fact. Both healthcare and consumer staples recovered more strongly than the broader market after the bear market had run its course. While past performance is no guarantee of future results, history is pretty clear that companies like J&J, Medtronic, Coca-Cola, and Procter & Gamble are probably smart to consider if you are worried that another deep bear market is on the way.
Should you buy stock in Johnson & Johnson right now?
Before you buy stock in Johnson & Johnson, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Johnson & Johnson wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $334,793!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,257,420!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 874% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 209% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.
Reuben Gregg Brewer has positions in Medtronic and Procter & Gamble. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Medtronic. The Motley Fool recommends Johnson & Johnson. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
(As a reminder, you can sign up for our email list here…) This article is an update to a piece we originally penned in 2020. It was the third article in a four part series written during the pandemic. Part I: “The Get Rich Portfolio” Part II “The Stay Rich Portfolio“ Part III: “How I
This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT), the construction-equipment and power-systems manufacturer, is delivering stronger profits, but investors want a clearer road ahead. Shares fell 3.09% to $627.39 at 1:10 p.m. ET on October 30 as attention shifted toward fourth-quarter expectations and the outlook for 2027. RBC cut its price target to $722 from
CNO Financial Group (CNO) put fresh numbers on the table with its third quarter 2026 report, pairing higher net income with raised full year operating earnings guidance and an updated capital deployment story. The reaction has been swift. CNO Financial Group’s 1-day share price return of 4.53% and 7-day share price return of 7.47% suggest
Hershey stock snapped higher, climbing 3.3% to US$165.61 by Friday’s close, even though the past week had been tough with the share price down over 2%. Traders latched onto one thing in the fresh Q3 2026 release: profit power. Basic earnings per share came in at US$2.89 on revenue of US$3.28b, pointing to a quarter
Why Arbor Realty Trust (ABR) stock is trading lower today What happened? Shares of real estate investment trust Arbor Realty Trust (NYSE:ABR) fell 27.3% in the afternoon session after the company reported a GAAP net loss for the third quarter of 2026, missed estimates for revenue, net interest income, and adjusted earnings, and suspended its
PCAR Q3 deep dive: margin gains offset supply chain and revenue challenges Trucking company PACCAR (NASDAQ:PCAR) fell short of the market’s revenue expectations in Q3 2026, but sales rose 19% year on year to $7.94 billion. Its non-GAAP profit of $1.61 per share was 7.4% above analysts’ consensus estimates. Is now the time to buy
WKC Q3 deep dive: marine volatility and land transformation drive results, outlook remains measured Energy management company World Kinect (NYSE:WKC) reported Q3 2026 results exceeding the market’s revenue expectations , with sales up 41.3% year on year to $13.27 billion. Its non-GAAP profit of $0.99 per share was 3.5% above analysts’ consensus estimates. Is now
Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX -6.37%), or SpaceX for short, was the largest IPO in history. Despite going public at a $1.8 trillion valuation, the stock surged from its IPO price of $135 to as high as $225 per share. However, since then, it’s been mostly downhill. The stock plunged to $105 just weeks after going
BlackRock has recently launched the iShares Future Robotics and Related Technologies Active ETF, expanded its presence in model portfolios through 55ip’s UMA platform, and seen subsidiary Preqin publish a forecast pointing to sizeable growth in global private capital assets under management by 2031. The mix of a new robotics and AI focused active ETF, broader
When St. Louis Fed chief Alberto Musalem and Dallas Fed’s Lorie Logan both pointed to more rate hikes ahead, the message was simple. Money is not cheap and capital will stay picky. That puts more focus on real infrastructure behind AI, like the switches, routers and server builders that keep model training running. This article
AI is the biggest story in the market this year, this decade and probably this century. Predicting the boom-bust nature of how this cycle will play out is impossible. That won’t stop people from trying, of course. The funny thing is you see people are making predictions years out into the future with certainty when
The positive sentiment engendered by Merck‘s (NYSE:MRK) solid third-quarter results posted on Thursday carried over into the following trading session. It wasn’t only the vibes; several analysts tracking the durable pharmaceutical company raised their price targets on its equity. The stock climbed more than 2% as a result, in contrast to the S&P 500 index’s
NBR Q3 deep dive: international expansion and technology drive growth despite Middle East headwinds Drilling services company Nabors Industries (NYSE:NBR) reported Q3 2026 results beating Wall Street’s revenue expectations , with sales up 6.6% year on year to $872.2 million. Its non-GAAP loss of $1.24 per share was significantly below analysts’ consensus estimates. Is now
Intel’s data center business just grew almost 80% in a year. Its outlook for the fourth quarter just handed the stock its worst day in more than half a century, erasing nearly $140 billion in market value Friday. Intel (INTC) stock closed down nearly 29% Friday after the chipmaker’s forecast for the final three months
Investors looking to diversify beyond the struggling artificial intelligence trade should consider consumer staples stocks, CNBC’s Jim Cramer said Friday. The Nasdaq-100, which tracks the biggest tech stocks, ended October down almost 7%. Investors rotated into other more defensive areas of the market. The S&P 500 Equal Weight gained roughly 5% for the month. (The
The stock market is turning its back on Big Tech. Google just had its worst day ever. Intel tumbled more than any day since the Nixon administration. Amazon and Meta both had significant declines this week, too. The Nasdaq tumbled and is just over a percentage point away from a correction (a 10% decline from
Big Tech’s brutal week had one clear epicenter. Alphabet (GOOGL) lost $468 billion in market value this week, more than SpaceX, Intel and Nvidia combined. That was the Google parent’s worst week ever and the second-biggest weekly wipeout for any US-listed stock, by Yahoo Finance calculations. Only Nvidia (NVDA) has lost more, about $552 billion
IonQ (NYSE: IONQ), a developer of quantum computing systems, went public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) five years ago. Its stock started trading at $10.60 and eventually hit an all-time high of $82.09 on Oct. 13, 2025. Today, IonQ trades at about $29. Let’s see why it dropped 65% from
With its market-leading $5.2 billion valuation, Nvidia (NVDA -4.22%) isn’t sneaking up on anybody these days. The poster child of the AI revolution is the largest provider of accelerators and other chips and hardware solutions fueling the AI boom. It has come a long way from its early days, when it largely served gaming enthusiasts.
Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., Oct. 30, 2026. Brendan McDermid | Reuters Market professionals are sounding worried about the artificial intelligence trade after a big week of data points in the technology sector. Investors are focused on the scale of the AI build-out
