[ad_1] The post 3 Low-Risk Stocks to Buy If You’re Worried About a Stock Market Crash appeared first on Millennial Money. The stock market is on a tear. The S&P 500 — an index tracking the 500 largest stocks in the U.S. — has recorded 60 all-time high closing prices so far this year. Businesses are posting strong earnings on the back of price increases. And consumers are flush with cash and ready to spend. Economically, the job market remains robust, with lower-income workers receiving generous wage increases. At first glance, this appears to be a great environment for stocks. But is the market too bullish? As famed investor Warren Buffett once said, “Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.” And taking a look just beneath the surface, we can see there are reasons to be fearful. Spiraling inflation… supply constraints for nearly every item… millions of people left out of the workforce… Against this backdrop, it’s understandable if you’re looking to lower your investment portfolio risk. If that sounds like you, here are three lower-risk stocks that should be on your watchlist. Johnson and Johnson has better credit than the government Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Price: $163.43 (as of close Nov 5, 2021) Market Cap: $430.245B document.addEventListener(“DOMContentLoaded”, function(event) { Highcharts.stockChart(“stockChart-96df6554515e9c0b3dda458afb663c68”,{rangeSelector:{selected:1},title:{text:”Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)Closing Stock Price”},subtitle: {text: “Historical Data”},navigator: { enabled: false },scrollbar: { enabled: false },credits: { enabled: false },xAxis: { type: “datetime”, labels: { formatter: function() { return Highcharts.dateFormat(“%m %d, %Y”, this.value); }}},colors: [“#118b4e”],rangeSelector : { enabled: false 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“%A, %B %e, %Y”}}]}); }); Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) is considered one of the safest stocks in the world and for good reason. The multinational conglomerate was established in 1886 and has grown to one of the largest companies in the world. If you’re looking for a company with a safe and conservative balance sheet, look no further. In fact, Johnson and Johnson is one of only two companies with a triple-A (AAA) bond rating from Standard & Poor’s. That means J&J has a better credit rating than the U.S. government! J&J’s diversification will keep it safe There are multiple reasons for Johnson & Johnson’s strong credit rating. In addition to low debt levels and high cash generation, the company is well diversified across the healthcare industry. This industry adds another layer of security, because even if there’s an economic slowdown, people will still buy healthcare products. J&J’s beloved brands such as Tylenol, Johnson’s, and Band-Aid command premium pricing to generics, and many customers refuse to trade down. And with the median age in developed countries continuing to rise, J&J’s medical device and pharmaceutical businesses are well-positioned for future success. In the next few years, J&J’s Janssen Pharmaceuticals segment will continue to benefit from its COVID-9 vaccine. That’s because of high demand in developing countries for a single-shot dose. Get in while J&J is cheap Analysts consider a stock’s beta when determining its risk level. A beta reading under 1 indicates that the stock is less reactive to market volatility. J&J’s beta is 0.72. This combination of a conservative balance sheet and economically stable business operations makes J&J a strong candidate for investors looking to balance out the high-risk and high-beta investments that have come to define the market in recent years. Remember, the trade-off for lower-risk stocks is the potential for lower returns. That’s been true for Johnson & Johnson stock, and the company has underperformed the broader market in the last five years, gaining 43% versus the S&P 500’s 120%. The upside is Johnson & Johnson is now cheap by traditional investing metrics. Currently, shares trade at 15 times expected earnings, lower than the greater market’s multiple of 22.4 times. Additionally, Johnson & Johnson’s stock pays a robust dividend yield of 2.6%, two times the S&P 500’s 1.3% payout. And the company has increased its dividend by 35% during that five-year period. Johnson & Johnson may no longer be the growth juggernaut it was years ago, but the company can be used to add value, increase yield, and lower your overall portfolio risk. Microsoft provides growth and quality Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price: $336.99 (as of close Nov 5, 2021) Market Cap: $2.523T document.addEventListener(“DOMContentLoaded”, function(event) { Highcharts.stockChart(“stockChart-a2516848749b6b5c5bd9d48cb79e037a”,{rangeSelector:{selected:1},title:{text:”Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)Closing Stock Price”},subtitle: {text: “Historical Data”},navigator: { enabled: false },scrollbar: { enabled: false },credits: { enabled: false },xAxis: { type: “datetime”, labels: { formatter: function() { return Highcharts.dateFormat(“%m %d, %Y”, this.value); }}},colors: [“#118b4e”],rangeSelector : { enabled: false 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“%A, %B %e, %Y”}}]}); }); It’s not often you see a growth stock on this list, which is why Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is a rare find. Microsoft might have missed out on the smartphone craze (unlike rival Apple). But under current CEO Satya Nadella, the company has transitioned into next-gen computing and services. If you’d have purchased Microsoft when Nadella became CEO in 2014, you’d now be sitting on 810% gains. Recently, Microsoft eclipsed Apple to become the largest company in the world by market capitalization. Naturally, you’d expect Microsoft to become riskier as a consequence. But that just hasn’t been the case. Like Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft’s beta is 0.80, lower than the overall market. And in the most recent quarter, Microsoft fired on all cylinders, smashing earnings and revenue estimates. Despite having top-line revenue of more than $168 billion last fiscal year, the company continues to post year-over-year growth rates of 22%. Last quarter, Microsoft’s biggest growth driver was its Azure cloud computing business, which is increasing at a 50% clip. Look for this strong growth to continue. Microsoft’s growth is in the cloud Cloud computing might seem like a mature industry at this point, but there’s still significant room for growth. Self-driving cars and the internet of things will require a significant ramp-up in computing and storage functionality. At present, the only infrastructure providers in the cloud ready to meet this challenge are Microsoft’s Azure and Amazon Web Services. That’s unlikely to change anytime soon. Earlier, we noted that Johnson & Johnson was one