Some stocks are sleepy but could wake up

GOT your reclining chair? Comfortable spring clothes? Good. It’s time for a meeting of the Do-Nothing Club, a club for stocks that have hardly budged from where they were a month ago and a year ago. Such stocks are often neglected.

Allstate

Allstate Corp. (ALL) is the fourth-largest property and casualty insurance company in the U.S. by premiums written. Its shares doubled from 2013 to 2017 but have languished since.

Allstate has been increasing its dividend payments by an average of 12 percent per year over the past five years.

Bristol-Myers

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY) stock peaked at about $75 in 2016 and has drifted down to about $47.

There are several positives. At 15 times recent earnings, Bristol-Myers is reasonably priced.

Lam Research

Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) makes equipment that sculpts semiconductor chips with precision on a microscopic level.

In the past 12 months, Lam earned a 44 percent return on equity.

Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) has shown a profit each of the past 15 years, even in recession-ravaged 2008.

Revenue rose a little more than 10 percent last year, close to the 10-year average of nearly 11 percent.

Prudential

Selling for only eight times analysts’ guess at next year’s earnings, Prudential Financial Inc. (PRU) leaves investors yawning. The stock sits at about $101, which is where it was in late 2016.

Disclosure: One of my firm’s clients owns shares of Lam Research.