Every portfolio needs a stock – or a few – which you can hopefully set and forget, and which earn decent total shareholder returns over the longer term. There are some stocks on the ASX which have been doing this for decades, and some newcomers which are a bit more spicy, but in some cases have been consistently delivering better returns. Here are five stocks I'd put into a portfolio if I were looking for both safety and performance.
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Argo Investments Limited (ASX: ARG)
The venerable Argo Investments is one of Australia's oldest and largest listed investment companies. Established in 1946, it has delivered consistent returns to shareholders. The firm now invests about $8 billion on behalf of more than 89,000 shareholders and has delivered an annualised total shareholder return of 6.2% over the past decade.
Australian Foundation Investment Company (ASX: AFI)
AFIC's 10-year returns are almost a carbon copy of Argo's, coming in at 6.5%, and the similarities don't end there. AFIC is even older than Argo, established in 1928, and similarly looks to invest over the long term, focusing on safety and dividend payments. Investing in AFIC gives exposure to Australia's top blue-chip shares, with its largest holdings in stocks such as BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP), Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), and CSL Ltd (ASX: CSL).
Washington H Soul Pattinson & Company (ASX: SOL)
Soul Patts, as this investment outfit is generally known, has hit it out of the park over the past 12 months, delivering shareholders a return of 31.7%, and 14.4% over the past decade. The fund boasts that it has not missed a dividend payment since it was listed in 1903 and has increased dividend payments in each of the past 24 years.
WAM Leaders (ASX: WLE)
This fund looks to invest in large-cap companies "with compelling fundamentals, a robust macroeconomic thematic and a catalyst''. It claims to have returned 12.5% per annum since May 2016 and now manages just under $2 billion, so it must be doing something right. Currently, the fund's fully-franked dividend yield is sitting at 7%.
Ophir High Conviction Fund (ASX: OPH)
This fund looks to find high-quality companies which are generating good cash returns before the rest of the market catches on, or in their own words, when they are "typically under-researched and undervalued by the investment market''. The fund has notched up more than 300% in total net returns since inception in August 2015 and an impressive 26.7% over the past 12 months.
