Five Stocks to Fight The Recession

The nation may be facing a long, deep recession, but Kiplinger's Personal Finance says some companies are positioned to survive and thrive. The publication has singled out the stocks of five such companies.

"These are all 11-digit cash stashes," executive editor Manuel Schiffres explained to CNBC. "At least $10 billion in cash; that's after debt."

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Topping the list is Exxon Mobil.

"Exxon's shares are off only 22 percent from their 52-week high," Schiffres pointed out. "Exxon is a stable company, $37 billion in cash...it's very well managed."

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Then there's CiscoSystems, with $19 billion in cash reserves.

"Clearly, there are concerns that sales of routers and switchers will suffer in a weaker economy," he said, but added, "This is about as cheap as you can get for Cisco; one fund manager described this as 'a no-brainer.'"

Apple is another standout.

"Obviously, you know the story: iPod, iPhone, Macs, a great innovator, tremendous earnings growth in recent years," he said. "Apple could announce a major buyback program sometime in the next year or so."

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The most controversial stock on the list could be drugmaker Pfizer.

"The stock has been as dull as aspirin for the last eight years," he said. "The case for Pfizer is it's dirt-cheap...it's not going out of business...its pipeline of new drugs is probably stronger than most people give it credit for, and it could well announce another big cost-reduction program."

Rounding out the list is Google.

Disclosures:

Disclosure information for Manuel Schiffres was not immediately available.

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