Defensive dividend stocks can outperform the market

Sam Stovall is the chief investment strategist for Standard & Poor's. Stovall found that a stock portfolio that shifted to defensive sectors such as consumer staples / health care stocks from May through October had outperformed the S&P 500 Index by several percentage points a year over the past 15 years.

Defensive stocks are typically the best performers during the often-weak summer months. They outperformed the market 65% of the time during the past 20 years, with the best average advance of any group says a study released in 2010 by Sam Stovall, Standard & Poor's.

Source: Zacks

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