Darden Restaurants, Inc. (DRI), Oracle Corporation (ORCL): These 4 Companies Just Became More Attractive

If you are an investor who seeks a safe secular investment, these little distinctions are what you seek; as Target offers an edge in both valuation and dividend yield versus the broader market. Also, might I add long-term growth trends that exceed the overall market – thus, Target is an attractive stock.

Temporary Weakness Creates Deep Value

Caterpillar has had a rough year, losing 8% of its value in 2013. Unlike the others, Caterpillar is cyclical and needs a strong global economy in order to produce strong fundamental gains. During its last quarter, total sales fell 17%. As a result, expectations for Caterpillar are low, and the stock is very cheap at just 11 times earnings due to its fundamental performance.

The goal of most value investors is to buy when stocks are cheap and then sell when they are expensive. Caterpillar is cheap, and although it has experienced some fundamental weaknesses, it has the presence in construction, mining, and equipment to see fundamental gains once the market improves. Until then, a 2.88% dividend yield won’t hurt your portfolio.

Final Thoughts

As a collection, we have a leading restaurant, a necessary technology company, a large retailer, and an industrial stock. Most would consider this a very diversified, safe, high-yield portfolio.

In my opinion, each of these companies are among the very best in their respective industries, and the fact that each is raising its dividend proves that each company is confident in its future. As a result, I would further explore each stock, as one, if not all, might make a good addition to your portfolio.

The article These 4 Companies Just Became More Attractive originally appeared on Fool.com.

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