Do you consider yourself to be a conservative investor?

If you don’t check your account every day and don’t make frequent trades reacting to news, you should check out Mark Hulbert’s 10 boring stocks that will beat your portfolio.

He discusses ”the low-volatility effect,” which shows that a portfolio comprising 10% of U.S. stocks with the least volatility over a trailing 24-month period performed 19.9 percentage points better than a high-volatility portfolio from 1990 through 2013. He goes on to highlight exchange traded funds following low-volatility strategies and listed 10 low-volatility stocks recommended by investment advisers.

To broaden the list of low-volatility stocks that might be considered, we’ve used data from FactSet to put together this list of S&P 500 stocks showing the lowest monthly price volatility over the past five years. The price-volatility figure is the standard deviation of the average of monthly price changes for the period.

10 S&P 500 stocks with lowest monthly price volatility

Company Ticker Monthly price volatility - 5 years Total return - 5 years PepsiCo Inc. PEP 3.072 81% U.S. Bancorp USB 3.221 109% Praxair Inc. PX 3.258 86% McDonald’s Corp. MCD 3.371 99% Colgate-Palmolive Co. CL 3.396 95% Dominion Resources Inc. D 3.455 151% Stericycle Inc. SRCL 3.471 141% Automatic Data Processing Inc. ADP 3.537 149% Sempra Energy SRE 3.573 146% Southern Co. SO 3.573 72% Total returns assume the reinvestment of dividends. Source: FactSet

Those companies have all made money for investors over the past five years, with four beating and one tying the 109% total return for the S&P 500 Index SPX, -1.11% , assuming dividends were reinvested.

The best performer is Dominion Resources Inc. D, -2.33% of Richmond, Va., one of the largest utility holding companies. The stock is up 11% this year through Monday’s close at $68.58, exceeding the S&P 500’s 8% gain.

The second-best performer is Automatic Data Processing Inc. ADP, -2.01% of Roseland, N.J. This is a familiar name, even to non-investors, considering just how dominant ADP is in its core payroll-administration business. For fiscal 2014 ended June 30, the company grew its revenue by 8% to $12.2 billion, while sales per share rose 9% to $5.27, and earnings per share climbed 9% to $3.14. The stock has returned 5% this year through Monday’s close at $83.02.

Sempra Energy SRE, -0.86% of San Diego ranks third, with a five-year total return of 146%. The stock is up 20% this year through Monday’s close at $103.61. The gas and electric utility increased second-quarter sales per share by only 1% to $10.69, but EPS advanced 10% to $1.08, reflecting $200 million in plant closure and adjustment costs during the second quarter of 2013.

Let’s see how the S&P 500 stocks with the highest monthly price volatility over the past five years have fared:

10 S&P 500 stocks with highest monthly price volatility

Company Ticker Monthly price volatility - 5 years Total return - 5 years Netflix Inc. NFLX 20.878 918% First Solar Inc. FSLR 19.008 -50% Keurig Green Mountain Inc. GMCR 18.758 512% Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. VRTX 13.291 149% Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. REGN 14.452 1,527% Seagate Technology PLC STX 14.334 340% Best Buy Co. Inc. BBY 13.128 1% Nabors Industries Ltd. NBR 12.946 22% Tesoro Corp. TSO 12.369 330% Peabody Energy Corp. BTU 11.809 -62% Total returns assume the reinvestment of dividends. Source: FactSet

Six have beaten the index, let by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. REGN, -1.72% , with a mind-boggling 1,527% return.

Netflix Inc. NFLX, -0.05% is the most volatile S&P 500 stock over the past five years. The stock has surged 918%.

At first glance, it might appear that an investor is better off focusing on high-volatility shares. Then again, that approach requires you to pick winners, which is something even professional money managers have a hard time doing.

And the winners among the high-volatility stocks haven’t necessarily performed well for the entire five-year period. Netflix fell 61% in 2011, for example.

Going back to the low-volatility list, six underperformed the index, but the worst performer, Southern Co. SO, -1.32% , had a total return of 72%. That’s an average annual return of 14% for the five-year period. Yes, that trails the S&P 500’s average annual return of 22%, but it’s still an increase.

And that brings us back to the first question: Are you a conservative investor? If you really are, and combine that attribute with patience, the low-volatility approach might be the best way to go.

Here’s another interesting bit of information on the least volatile S&P 500 stocks. Most feature attractive dividend yields.

Dividends

Company Ticker Closing price - Sept. 15 Quarterly dividend Yield PepsiCo Inc. PEP $90.87 $0.655 2.88% U.S. Bancorp USB $42.20 $0.245 2.32% Praxair Inc. PX $131.63 $0.650 1.98% McDonald’s Corp. MCD $93.34 $0.810 3.47% Colgate-Palmolive Co. CL $64.48 $0.360 2.23% Dominion Resources Inc. D $68.58 $0.60 3.50% Stericycle Inc. SRCL $117.11 0.00 0.00% Automatic Data Processing Inc. ADP $83.02 $0.48 2.31% Sempra Energy SRE $103.61 $0.66 2.55% Southern Co. SO $43.36 $0.525 4.84% Source: FactSet

Based on forward price-to-earnings ratios, the 10 S&P 500 stocks with lowest monthly price volatility over the past five years aren’t cheap. The index itself trades for 15 times aggregate consensus 2015 earnings estimates, according to FactSet.

Price to forward earnings

Company Ticker Closing price - Sept. 15 Consensus 2015 EPS estimate Forward P/E PepsiCo Inc. PEP $90.87 $4.96 18.3 U.S. Bancorp USB $42.20 $3.33 12.7 Praxair Inc. PX $131.63 $7.15 18.4 McDonald’s Corp. MCD $93.34 $6.01 15.5 Colgate-Palmolive Co. CL $64.48 $3.27 19.7 Dominion Resources Inc. D $68.58 $3.77 18.2 Stericycle Inc. SRCL $117.11 $4.78 24.5 Automatic Data Processing Inc. ADP $83.02 $3.93 21.1 Sempra Energy SRE $103.61 $4.86 21.3 Southern Co. SO $43.36 $2.86 15.1 Source: FactSet

These relatively high forward P/E ratios show how much the market values stability.

The cheapest among the low-volatility group on a forward P/E basis is U.S. Bancorp USB, -0.71% of Minneapolis, which closed at $42.20 Monday and trades for 12.7 times the consensus 2015 EPS estimate of $3.33.