Serious Money: Five stable stocks for troubled times

The following five companies made the grade.

1) Johnson and Johnson (NYSE: JNJ): This one is probably not any surprise. There was no money to be made here but you would not have lost any either. Year to date it has traded between $68 and $64 and that is about where it has been for quite some time. It does pay almost a 3% dividend yield and that's mighty fine these days.

2) Teva Pharmaceuticals ADR (NASDAQ: TEVA): Pharmaceuticals have long been a safe haven in troubled times and the world's largest maker of generic drugs is sitting pretty these days with expanding markets everywhere it looks. This Israeli company has traded roughly between $43 and $47 for quite some time, pays a 1% yield and looks to have plenty of upside going forward.

3) Chubb Corp (NYSE: CB) the conservative insurance company has held up better than most of its peers. Over the past six months and going back two years it has hovered between $49 and $54, all the time paying about a 2.6% yield.

4) Xcel Energy (NYSE: XEL) is a holding company for numerous utilities. Over the course of the past twelve volatile months it has been trading in a 10% range between $20 and $22 while paying a huge yield, which today stands at 4.8%.

5) Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) may be a great place to hide if you want to forget your troubles, whether you chose the new Pixar movie hit WALL-E or Disneyland, or a trip down memory lane renting or downloading any one of its countless hits from its film library. The stock is currently trading in the neighborhood of $30.62, mid-point in its 52 week range. Over the past six months it has spent most of the time drifting between $30 and $33 per share with a few drops and pops here and there. The 1.1% yield is not as generous as the others but it I would be happy to take it.

What do they have in common? They are diversified among their industries, have growth horizons, and of course they all pay dividends. But the standout at this juncture seems to be that they all have shrewd conservative management teams -- and they have been in the right place, at the right time, and prepared.