Just thought I’d share an interesting email:

Jim Grant noted in his recent Interest Rate Observer that eight blue-chip companies now meet or exceed Ben Graham’s strictest criteria for defensive investors: Pfizer, Nucor, Cooper Industries, Cintas, Tiffany, Archer Daniels Midland, Molex, and RadioShack.

These are like superhero investments. Each has

• 10 consecutive years of net profits
• 20 consecutive years of uninterrupted dividend payments
• earnings growth in the past decade of at least 33%
• price-to-earnings and price-to-book multiples of less than 15

For perspective, Grant notes that at the bottom of the Nasdaq bust in 2003, only two stocks met all those criteria. At the bottom of the market in 1991, only six qualified. (Since 1991, those six produced average annual returns of almost 19%.) If you bought just these eight stocks and forgot about them for a decade, chances are better than 90% you’ll make a substantial return and beat the market. Usually, that’s a lot harder to do.

Note: These, are not my personal recommendations to buy. Do your own Due Diligence.