Key Points

• Dividend stocks are a useful source of extra income.

• The best dividend stocks, however, also increase payouts over time and can build you a fortune.

• The S&P 500 index has some top-notch dividend stocks, some of which are no-brainer buys now.

• 10 stocks we like better than Medtronic ›

Dividend stocks are one of the most powerful wealth compounders. The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) index offers the perfect example. Over the past 25 years, while the S&P 500 rose by over 300%, its total returns crossed 550% thanks to reinvested dividends.

As you may guess, the S&P 500 comprises some of the best dividend stocks out there, many of which have been multibaggers and have the potential to continue being so. Here are 10 such magnificent S&P 500 dividend stocks -- trading at least 10% below their all-time highs -- to buy now and hold forever.

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Learn More »

Image source: Getty Images.

Johnson & Johnson: down 11.5%, yield 3.4%

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) is a cash-flow machine. It generated $95 billion in free cash flow (FCF) over the past five years and returned 60% of it to shareholders. The stock is also a dividend powerhouse, increasing its dividend for 62 consecutive years. Johnson & Johnson has robust financials, invests heavily in research and development, and has big plans for both its businesses, pharmaceuticals and medical technology, making it a top S&P 500 dividend stock to buy and hold.

ExxonMobil: down 11.6%, yield 3.7%

ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) is one of the world's largest oil and gas companies. In 2024, the oil and gas giant generated $55 billion in cash flow from operations, compared to $30 billion in 2019. ExxonMobil is a dividend behemoth with a 42-year streak of consecutive dividend increases. After its $60 billion acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources in 2023, ExxonMobil has been targeting higher production at even lower costs and focusing on boosting its cash flows, all of which makes this magnificent S&P 500 dividend stock a buy at every dip.

Procter & Gamble: down 14%, yield 2.7%

Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) owns over 60 brands, most of which are household names today. Although its organic sales growth has slowed due to higher costs and weak consumer sentiment, it's just a short-term blip. Procter & Gamble is restructuring operations and targeting core earnings per share by mid- to high-single-digit percentages in the long term by exiting low-margin brands and markets. Above all, Procter & Gamble has a strong balance sheet and is a Dividend King, having increased its dividend for 69 consecutive years.

NextEra Energy: down 19%, yield 3.3%

NextEra Energy (NYSE: NEE) operates the largest electric utility in America (Florida Power & Light), which generates steady cash flows. It is also the world's largest producer of wind and solar energy, as well as a key player in battery storage, all of which are growth drivers. NextEra Energy stock has increased its dividend for over 20 years and has generated humongous returns for investors who reinvested the dividends. The global shift to renewables and a massive pipeline make NextEra Energy a no-brainer S&P 500 dividend stock to buy and hold forever.

NEE data by YCharts.

Chevron: down 19%, yield 4.8%

Chevron (NYSE: CVX) is one of the largest integrated oil companies, operating across the entire value chain, from exploration and production to pipelines, refining, chemicals, and marketing. Chevron has massive oil and gas reserves but is also growing new low-carbon businesses, such as hydrogen and renewable fuels. Chevron has increased its dividend for 38 consecutive years, making it one of the best oil dividend stocks within the S&P 500. Chevron also just won a dispute with ExxonMobil and has acquired Hess in a massive $53 billion deal.

American Water Works: down 24%, yield 2.4%

American Water Works (NYSE: AWK) is the largest regulated water and wastewater utility in the U.S., serving over 14 million customers and 18 military bases.

AWK data by YCharts.

While generating stable cash flows from these regulated and contracted businesses, American Water Works' regular investments in its infrastructure help it secure base rate hike approvals, which continue to drive its earnings, cash flows, and dividends higher. American Water Works is targeting 7% to 9% annual dividend growth for the long term, making it an incredibly safe S&P 500 dividend stock to buy now and hold forever.

Realty Income: down 29%, yield 5.6%

Realty Income (NYSE: O), a real estate investment trust (REIT), pays a dividend every month and has increased it for 110 consecutive quarters now. The company owns over 15,000 properties globally and leases them under triple-net leases, where the tenants bear most of the costs. So, Realty Income enjoys high margins, and its diverse portfolio enables the company to navigate economic challenges. Realty Income's commitment to paying a monthly and growing dividend makes it one of the top 10 dividend stocks to double up on now and hold.

Oneok: down 29%, yield 5%

Oneok (NYSE: OKE) is one of the largest energy infrastructure companies in the U.S., with a network of pipelines spanning 60,000 miles. Three big acquisitions over the past couple of years or so, including that of Magellan Midstream Partners, combined with organic expansions, should help Oneok steadily grow earnings and meet its goal of increasing the annual dividend by 3% to 4%. When coupled with a 5% yield, Oneok makes for an appealing S&P 500 dividend stock to buy and hold.

Nucor: down 30%, yield 1.7%

Nucor (NYSE: NUE) is America's largest and most diversified steel company. It is also vertically integrated, meaning it sources the bulk of its raw material in-house. That's a huge competitive advantage to have in a commodity business and one of the key factors behind Nucor's strong financials and dividend growth. Nucor aims to return at least 40% of its earnings to shareholders, has increased its dividend for 52 straight years, and is primed to benefit from President Donald Trump's steep tariffs on steel imports.

NUE data by YCharts.

Medtronic: down 33%, yield 3.3%

With revenue of $33.5 billion for the fiscal year that ended April 25, 2025, Medtronic (NYSE: MDT) is the world's largest medical device manufacturer. It offers a wide range of products across cardiovascular, neuroscience, medical-surgical, and diabetes care and uses artificial intelligence and robotics technologies to build better products. Medtronic plans to divest its diabetes business into a separate company to unlock more value for shareholders. Meanwhile, it is only two dividend raises away from becoming a Dividend King, making this S&P 500 dividend stock a solid buy.

Should you invest $1,000 in Medtronic right now?

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Neha Chamaria has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Chevron, NextEra Energy, and Realty Income. The Motley Fool recommends Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, and Oneok and recommends the following options: long January 2026 $75 calls on Medtronic and short January 2026 $85 calls on Medtronic. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) has almost fully recovered from its recent 19% drop, which was triggered by President Donald Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs in April. But not every stock is following along -- in fact, many enterprise software stocks still haven't reclaimed their record highs from 2021.

Datadog (NASDAQ: DDOG) and Workiva (NYSE: WK) are two of those stocks. They were incredibly overvalued when they peaked a few years ago, and they are still down by 36% and 57%, respectively, from those lofty levels. But they're starting to look quite attractive.

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The majority of the analysts tracked by The Wall Street Journal who cover Datadog stock and Workiva stock have assigned them the highest possible buy rating. Here's why their optimism might be justified.

Image source: Getty Images.

The case for Datadog

Datadog developed an observability platform that monitors cloud infrastructure around the clock, alerting businesses to technical issues and outages which they might not have discovered until customers were affected or sales were lost (at which point it's too late). Over 30,500 businesses are using Datadog, and they operate in many different industries, including gaming, manufacturing, financial services, retail, and more.

Last year, Datadog expanded into artificial intelligence (AI) observability with a new tool that helps developers troubleshoot technical issues, track costs, and assess the outputs of their large language models (LLMs). During the recent first quarter of 2025 (ended March 31), the company said that the number of customers using this new tool more than doubled compared to just six months earlier, which suggests it's gaining serious traction.

Datadog also offers other AI products, like a monitoring solution for businesses using ready-made LLMs from OpenAI, and an AI-powered virtual assistant for its flagship observability platform. Overall, the company said that 4,000 customers were using at least one of its AI products in Q1, which also doubled year over year.

On the back of a strong first-quarter result, Datadog raised the high end of its full-year revenue forecast for 2025 to $3.235 billion, up $40 million from management's original guidance. It would represent growth of 21% from the company's 2024 result, but it would still be a drop in the bucket compared to the $53 billion addressable opportunity in the observability space alone.

Datadog was trading at a price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of around 70 when it peaked in 2021. But the 36% decline in the stock since then, in combination with the company's revenue growth, has pushed its P/S ratio down to 15.5. It's still elevated compared to many other enterprise software stocks, but it's much closer to the cheapest level since Datadog went public than it is to its lofty 2021 peak.

DDOG PS Ratio data by YCharts.

The Wall Street Journal tracks 46 analysts who cover Datadog stock, and 31 have assigned it the highest possible buy rating. Seven others are in the overweight (bullish) camp, and the remaining eight recommend holding. No analysts recommend selling. Their average price target of $140.72 implies a potential upside of 15% over the next 12 to 18 months, but investors who hold the stock for the long term could do far better as Datadog's AI products gather momentum.

The case for Workiva

Modern businesses often use dozens, or even hundreds, of digital applications to run their day-to-day operations. This is a nightmare for managers who are tasked with tracking workflows across all that software, but Workiva built an elegant solution to ease the burden.

Workiva's platform integrates with most storage applications, systems of record, and productivity software, allowing managers to pull data from all of them onto one dashboard. This saves them from having to open hundreds of individual applications, and it also reduces human error, which is common when copying mountains of data manually. Once data is loaded into Workiva, managers can select from several different templates so they can rapidly compile regulatory filings or reports for senior executives.

Workiva is also becoming a key player in the ESG (environmental, social, and governance) reporting space, offering a product that allows businesses to track their effect on all key stakeholders, not just those with a financial interest. With Workiva's ESG platform, organizations can create frameworks, track data, and compile reports on everything from their carbon emissions to the diversity of their workplace.

Workiva had 6,385 total customers at the end of Q1 2025, which was a 5% increase from the year-ago period, but its highest-spending cohorts are growing significantly faster. For example, the number of customers with annual contract values of at least $100,000 grew by 23%, and those with annual contract values of at least $500,000 soared by 32%. In other words, larger organizations with more complex operations seem to be flocking to Workiva.

The company expects to generate up to $868 million in total revenue in 2025, which would be a 17.5% increase compared to 2024. That would be a modest acceleration from the 17.3% growth it delivered last year.

As is the case with Datadog, Workiva's P/S ratio is currently down significantly from its 2021 peak. It's at 4.8 as of this writing, which is near the cheapest level since the stock went public.

WK PS Ratio data by YCharts.

The Wall Street Journal tracks 13 analysts who cover Workiva stock, and 11 of them have given it a buy rating. The remaining two are in the overweight camp, with none recommending to hold, let alone sell. Simply put, the analysts have reached a very bullish consensus.

Their average price target of $97.64 implies an eye-popping potential upside of 44% over the next 12 to 18 months. But the stock could do even better over the long term, since Workiva has barely scratched the surface of its $35 billion addressable market.

Should you invest $1,000 in Datadog right now?

Before you buy stock in Datadog, consider this:

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Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $658,297!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $883,386!*

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*Stock Advisor returns as of June 9, 2025

Anthony Di Pizio has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Datadog and Workiva. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

• NATO member Poland has put on hold plans to buy 32 Black Hawk helicopters.
• It suggested that Russia's invasion of Ukraine shows they're not the right weapon to focus on.
• It's not abandoned helicopters, but they have proven vulnerable in Ukraine.

NATO member Poland has postponed its purchase of 32 S-70i Black Hawk helicopters, with military officials there suggesting the way Russia is fighting in Ukraine shows they're not the right equipment for it to focus on.

General Wieslaw Kukula, the Polish armed forces chief of staff, said at a Friday press conference that "we have decided to change the priorities of the helicopter programs" in order to "better adapt to the challenges of future warfare," Reuters reported.

Poland's deputy defense minister, Pawel Bejda, said on X that his country's military, pilots, and experts were analyzing the geopolitical situation, as well as "the war in Ukraine" and what Russia is buying and equipping its military with.

Poland shares a land border with Ukraine.

Grzegorz Polak, a spokesman for Poland's Armament Agency, which buys equipment for its military, told Reuters that its priorities needed "some correction" and that it might be necessary to buy other equipment instead of the helicopters, "such as drones, or tanks, or some kind of communication."

He also told Polish outlet Defence24 that the armed force's priorities have changed amid evolving threats.

Poland, like other European countries, has warned that Russia could attack elsewhere on the continent.

Its prime minister, Donald Tusk, warned in March that Russia's big military investments suggest it's readying for a conflict with someone bigger than Ukraine in the next three to four years.

Poland is already the highest spender on defense in NATO, as a proportion of its GDP, and has been a major ally of Ukraine throughout the invasion.

Helicopters over Ukraine

Helicopters have played a role in Russia's invasion, with both sides using them to counter drones, offer air support, and launch attacks.

They were particularly effective for Ukraine against Russia's attempts to seize a key airfield shortly after the invasion began in February 2022, and for Russia during Ukraine's 2023 counteroffensive.

But they have also proved vulnerable.

The proliferation of air defenses has meant that they, like other aircraft, have had to hang back from frontline fighting more than in past conflicts, making them far less useful.

Ukraine's success at taking down Russia's Ka-52 helicopters in 2023 meant Russia started using them less. Many were hit by US-provided M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS.

Reports suggest that Russia lost more than 100 helicopters in the first two years of the war.

Ukraine has also destroyed some Russian helicopters at bases far from the front lines.

Even so, losses could have been higher. Mark Hertling, a former commander of United States Army Europe, told BI in January that Russia has been "very poor" in the way it used helicopters and other air assets, but also that Ukraine's air-defense shortages have protected them.

Andrew Curtis, an independent defence and security researcher who spent 35 years as a UK Royal Air Force officer, told BI last year that one lesson Western countries could take from the war is "about the vulnerability of helicopters in the modern battlefield where hiding and seeking is not a child's game, it's a matter of life and death."

A helicopter strategy

The S-70i is a variant of the UH-60 Black Hawk made by PZL Mielec, a Polish company owned by the US's Lockheed Martin.

Poland's plan to buy them began in 2023, under a previous government. The aim was for the helicopters to be used for combat and logistics, and to work with AH-64E Apache Guardian attack helicopters ordered from the US.

Bejda, the deputy defense minister, said the latest move did not involve terminating a contract, as one was never signed.

But it has still led to some domestic issues.

Mariusz Blaszczak, Poland's former defense minister, described the decision as a disgrace in a post on X, saying it would lead to job losses, delays in replacing the country's helicopter fleet, and a loss of interoperability because Poland's military already uses some Black Hawks.

The postponement comes after Poland spent years investing in helicopter technology, including ordering 96 Apache Guardians in a deal signed last year, and 32 Leonardo AW149s in a deal signed in 2022.

Bejda said Poland would still prioritize some helicopters, including training and combat helicopters, a heavy transport helicopter, and search and rescue helicopters.

But the government, which took office at the end of 2023, clearly views increasing the fleet as less important than investing in other military assets.

The war in Ukraine has led Western countries to boost their own defense spending and to change their priorities, including through buying more air defenses and drones, investing more in tanks, and even bringing back old types of training like trench warfare.

Workiva (NYSE: WK) developed a unique software platform that helps organizations bring their data together so they can create detailed reports for executives, investors, and even regulators like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The company just reported its financial results for the first quarter of 2025 (ended March 31), and it beat expectations on the top and bottom line.

Despite continued strength across its business, Workiva stock remains 55% below its record high set during the tech frenzy in 2021. It was overvalued back then (as were many enterprise software stocks), but it looks like a relative bargain at the current level.

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Wall Street seems to agree. The Wall Street Journal tracks 13 analysts who cover Workiva stock, and the overwhelming majority assigned it the highest-possible buy rating. Plus, not a single analyst recommends selling. Here's why investors might want to add Workiva to their portfolio.

Image source: Getty Images.

A critical platform for increasingly complex organizations

Technologies like cloud computing allow companies to operate online, where they can reach a much larger customer base and tap into a global workforce. But it also creates challenges for managers that have to monitor employees who are often working across dozens of different digital applications, especially if they are located on the other side of the world.

Workiva's platform eases that burden by integrating with most cloud storage solutions, systems of record, and accounting software, so managers can pull all of the organization's data onto one dashboard. That means they don't have to open each individual piece of software to find the information they need, which saves a significant amount of time and also prevents human errors associated with manually copying data into reports.

Once data is aggregated into Workiva, managers can choose from hundreds of different templates to help accelerate their reporting workflows. This is great for managers who regularly present key information to their executive teams, or those who are responsible for submitting filings to regulatory agencies.

Workiva is seeing rapid growth in its highest-spending customer cohorts

Workiva generated $206 million in revenue during the first quarter of 2025. It was a 17% increase compared to the year-ago period, and it was also above the high end of management's guidance of $205 million.

Workiva had a total of 6,385 customers at the end of the quarter, representing a modest year-over-year increase of 5%. However, the company experienced significantly faster growth among its highest-spending customer cohorts, namely those with annual contract values of $100,000; $300,000; and $500,000:

Image source: Workiva.

Workiva also beat expectations on the bottom line. While it lost $0.38 per share during the quarter on a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) basis, that was better than management's forecasted loss of $0.45 per share.

The company was actually profitable to the tune of $0.14 per share on a non-GAAP basis, which excludes one-off and non-cash expenses like stock-based compensation, and that was double management's forecast of $0.07 per share.

However, it's worth noting that both Workiva's GAAP loss and its non-GAAP profit were worse than the year-ago results, primarily because the company ramped up its operating expenses. It was a clear attempt to drive growth, because sales and marketing costs saw the biggest jump. CEO Julie Iskow said she continues to see broad demand across Workiva's product portfolio, so management might be leaning into that trend to capture as many new customers as possible.

Trying to acquire new customers is an especially good strategy right now, because Workiva's net revenue retention rate dipped to 110% during the first quarter (from 111% in the year-ago period), suggesting existing customers weren't increasing their spending as quickly as they have in the past. This might be one of the reasons Workiva stock declined following the release of its Q1 report.

Investors were also somewhat disappointed with Workiva's forward guidance. Although management expects revenue growth to hold steady at 17% in the second quarter, the company's bottom-line results appear set to worsen on both a GAAP and non-GAAP basis. Workiva has a solid balance sheet with $767 million in cash, equivalents, and marketable securities on hand, so it can comfortably continue to invest in growth, but investors would still prefer to see the company trending toward profitability.

Wall Street is bullish on Workiva stock

As I mentioned before, analysts who cover Workiva stock are bullish on its prospects. The analysts have an average price target of $102, which implies a potential upside of 54% over the next 12 to 18 months. The Street-high target of $112 suggests Workiva stock could deliver an even greater return of 70% instead.

The 55% decline in the stock from its 2021 high, combined with the company's consistent revenue growth since then, has pushed its price-to-sales (P/S) ratio down to just 4.9. It's close to the cheapest level in five years, and it's also a 49% discount to its average P/S ratio of 9.6 over that period:

WK PS Ratio data by YCharts

Over the longer term, it's possible Workiva stock delivers even more upside than Wall Street expects. The company values its addressable market at $35 billion, so it has barely scratched the surface of that opportunity based on its current revenue. Plus, considering Workiva's market capitalization is just $3.7 billion, that leaves a lot of room for growth.

As a result, this stock could be a great long-term addition to any portfolio.

Should you invest $1,000 in Workiva right now?

Before you buy stock in Workiva, 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 Workiva 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 $623,685!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $701,781!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 906% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 164% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of April 28, 2025

Anthony Di Pizio has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Workiva. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

The risk has been increasing that the United States will have a recession in 2025 or within the next year, according to top Wall Street firms and economists. Recession risk has risen sharply over the last few months, largely due to the trade war and the potential for tariffs to hurt U.S. (and global) economic growth and ignite inflation.

Below I'll explore the current probability of a near-term recession and what stocks could hold up best during the next recession.

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue »

What's the probability of a near-term recession in the United States?

Many of the probability estimates from experts that the U.S. will have a recession in 2025 or within one year fall within the 40% to 60% range, though there are some credible sources with estimates that are lower and higher. In early April, Wall Street company Goldman Sachs boosted its one-year recession-risk probability to 45% from 35%, which it had previously increased from 20% in late March.

Also in early April, JPMorgan pegged the odds of a U.S. recession in 2025 at 60%, up from its early March forecast of 40%. In mid-April, the investment bank reiterated its 60% probability. It said that President Donald Trump's 90-day pause on his April 2 country-specific so-called reciprocal tariffs "reduces the shock to the global trading order, but the remaining universal 10% tariff is still a material threat to growth, and the 145% tariff on China keeps the probability of a recession at 60%."

Which categories of stocks should hold up best during the next recession?

Certain categories of stocks tend to perform better than others during economic downturns. These mostly include what are called "defensive stocks" that tend to pay dividends.

Defensive stocks include several broad classes, including:

• Stocks of companies that make products or provide services that people need no matter the economic climate.
• Gold and silver mining stocks. Precious metals are considered hedges on inflation and the relative value of the U.S. dollar, which generally weakens during recessions.

Examples of the first group listed above include:

• Consumer staples: Food and beverage makers, personal and home care products manufacturers.
• Utilities: Water, electric, and gas utilities.
• Healthcare: Pharmaceutical makers, medical-device makers.
• Discount retailers: In tough economic times, many consumers tend to be more price-conscious.

There are other types of stocks that tend to weather recessions well. You can think of one group as "small indulgence stocks."

During economic downturns, many people will feel uncertain about their job security. As a result, they'll put off large expenditures, such as homes and new vehicles, and cut back their spending on discretionary items, such as clothing.

However, many folks will keep spending on what they consider relatively inexpensive "treats." Some might even increase their spending on such products or services to reward themselves for putting off spending on big-ticket items.

Examples of "small indulgence" products and services include relatively inexpensive:

• Entertainment, such as video-streaming
• Comfort foods (such as chocolates), meals out (fast-food restaurants)

What stocks gained or held up relatively well during the Great Recession?

All recessions are somewhat different, so it's not possible to say that just because select stocks held up well during prior recessions, they'll hold up well in future ones. That said, in general, certain types of stocks tend to perform better than others during tough economic climates, as discussed above, so investors can learn valuable lessons by looking at past recessions.

The Great Recession was a deep economic downturn that officially lasted for 18 months from Dec. 2007 through the end of May 2009. It's widely considered the most severe U.S. economic downturn since the Great Depression, which began following the stock market crash in 1929 and didn't end until the start of World War II in 1940.

During the one-and-a-half years of the Great Recession, the S&P 500 index, including dividends, plunged 35.6%.

Table 1: Stocks that gained during the Great Recession

These stocks and one exchange-traded fund (ETF) are listed in order of descending performance during the Great Recession. This list isn't all-inclusive.

Data sources: Yahoo! Finance, finviz.com and YCharts. Data to Friday, April 25, 2025. EPS = earnings per share. *Bold-faced returns = stock has beaten the S&P 500.

• Netflix: Video-streaming pioneer that's the world's leading video-streaming company.
• iShares Gold Trust ETF: Exchange-traded fund that aims to track the price of gold.
• J&J Snack Foods: Produces niche snack foods and frozen beverages.
• Walmart: World's largest retailer by revenue, focuses on low prices.
• McDonald's: World's largest fast-food restaurant chain by revenue.

Table 2: Stocks that held up relatively well during the Great Recession

The following stocks declined during the Great Recession but held up much better than the broader market, which dropped nearly 36%. This list isn't all-inclusive.

Data sources: Yahoo! Finance, finviz.com, and YCharts. Data to Friday, April 25, 2025. EPS = earnings per share. *Bold-faced returns = stock has beaten the S&P 500. **Company went public in April 2008, a few months after the recession started.

• Newmont: World's largest gold mining company, which also mines other metals.
• Hershey: Largest chocolate company in the U.S. by market share, also sells salty snack foods.
• Church & Dwight: Home and personal-care product maker, best known for its iconic Arm and Hammer brand baking soda.
• American Water Works: The largest and most geographically diverse regulated U.S. water and wastewater utility.
• NextEra Energy: Largest electric utility in the U.S. by market cap and the world's largest generator of renewable energy from wind and sun.

Key takeaways from the above 2 tables

1. Gold mining stocks (Newmont, Table 2) and gold ETFs (iShares Gold Trust ETF, Table 1) might hold up well or even make strong gains during tough economic climates, but they rarely perform well during booming economic times. Therefore, they tend to underperform the market over the long term. These investments are highly volatile and cyclical and best left to short-term traders.

2. Netflix and Hershey are good examples of "small indulgence stocks," as described above. Moreover, Netflix has an added benefit that wasn't an issue during the Great Recession: It should be little affected by the raging tariff war, as U.S tariffs on imports and other countries' retaliatory tariffs are on goods, not services. This is an important distinction that investors should keep in mind when selecting stocks.

3. Top utility stocks can outperform the market over the long term, despite conventional wisdom to the contrary. (Cases in point: American Water Works and NextEra Energy, Table 2.) These stocks aren't just "widow and orphan stocks," as stockbrokers, in general, have long characterized them. A statistic that might surprise many investors: As of April 25, shares of Google parent Alphabet have performed only slightly better than shares of American Water since the latter's initial public offering (IPO) 17 years ago in April 2008: GOOGL has returned 1,090% to AWK's 953%.

4. There are some top-performing stocks that get very little coverage in the financial press. (Case in point: Church & Dwight, Table 2). One takeaway here is that investors shouldn't conflate the amount of coverage a stock gets in the financial press with its desirability as an investment, especially a long-term investment.

Review your stock holdings -- but stay in the market

As noted in this article's opening, top Wall Street banks and economists generally give odds ranging from 40% to 60% that the U.S. will have a recession in 2025 or within the next year. These are quite high odds, so it makes sense that investors review their stock portfolio and perhaps tweak it to make it more recession-resistant.

That said, if you're a long-term investor, it's not a good idea to get out of the stock market entirely or make huge changes, such as selling all of your growth stocks. It's extremely difficult to time the market. If you sell your growth stocks that don't tend to do well during recessions (such as tech stocks), you'll risk missing the early stages of their upturns during the next bull market -- and the early stages of a sustained upturn tend to be strong.

Time is a long-term investor's friend. Over the long term, the direction of the U.S. stock market has been decisively up. The longer your investing time frame, the less concerned you need to be about recessions causing market downturns.

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Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. JPMorgan Chase is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Beth McKenna has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Goldman Sachs Group, Hershey, JPMorgan Chase, Netflix, NextEra Energy, and Walmart. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.