
HighTower's David Bahnsen -- P&G, Clorox Are Defensive Stocks to Grab Now
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Procter & Gamble (PG) - Get Report has seen its shares sink over 21% so far in 2015 due to currency headwinds and a shifting strategy for its brand portfolio. But David Bahnsen, chief investment officer for the Bahnsen Group at HighTower, said the tide will soon turn for the maker of Tide and other household products.
"Always we think forex is a short term phenomenon and ultimately value trumps out," said Bahnsen. "These are strong brand names. It's a highly defensive stock. We want it to protect against broader macro risk and it is well managed."
Staying in the consumer staples sector, Bahnsen is also bullish on Clorox (CLX) - Get Report , which has seen its shares rise over 10% year to date, partly because it is more domestically oriented than its rivals. Clorox pays a dividend of 2.8%.
"Clorox provides the same type of thing that P&G does in terms of brand leadership. It is not capex intensive and it does not rely on debt markets," said Bahnsen, adding that it is also not affected much by fears of a China slowdown.
Bahnsen is a fan of master limited partnerships as well, saying the worst is over for many of the pipeline players after significant declines in the share prices. For example, Bahnsen is bullish on Enterprise Products Partners (EPD) - Get Report , even though the natural gas distributor has seen its stock drop over 31% this year, driving its yield up to 6.5%.
"They just announced their 45th consecutive dividend increase yesterday. The insiders who own 34% of the company are adding another $50 million dollars, so it's $200 million that they have bought this year," said Bahnsen. "This is not acting like a company that is in any need at all of cutting their dividend."
Elsewhere in the oil patch, Bahnsen is a fan of Plains All American (PAA) - Get Report , which has seen its shares drop 36% thus far in 2015. The Houston-based pipeline operator pays a 10.3% dividend.
"They may not grow the dividend as aggressively as some of the other names in the space, but the dividend as it is now is very safe," said Bahnsen.








