This 171-Year-Old Stock Would Make Mom Proud

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We've compiled a special series that puts Mom first! Discover more stocks you can bring home to Mom.

Mom, I've been looking for a stock I can be proud to bring home to you -- a solid company, one that's dependable, generous, interesting, and keeps growing. I think I found one. You might say it's too old for me. OK, I'll concede that at 171 years, our age difference is more than 100 years. But come on, age isn't everything: It still has a lot going for it. See if you can identify it from this "Name That Company" question I prepared for our newspaper feature:

I was born in 1837 in Cincinnati to two soap- and candle-making brothers-in-law. My celestial logo dates back to the 1850s. I recorded $1 million in sales in 1859, which is up to around $76 billion annually now. Review my financial reports and you'll see lots of Cheer and a Zest-y Bounce in my step. Want to know my Secret of my Bounty, and why I'm Head & Shoulders above many competitors? It's partly my Scope. I Gain by offering everything from Gillette razors to Duracell batteries to Folgers coffee to Oral-B toothbrushes, and much more. Who am I?

While you're thinking, permit me to say more:

• It's solid, with 23 brands generating more than $1 billion in revenues annually apiece. Most companies would love to have just one billion-dollar product. (It also sports 18 brands that bring in between $500 million and $1 billion.)
• Per the data I found via our Motley Fool CAPS service, its revenues and earnings per share have grown by more than 13% over the past five years -- impressive for a company its size. (Its market cap is around $205 billion.) Its net earnings have tripled over the past decade, and its net profit margin has risen, too, from less than 10% to more than 13%.
• It pays a 2.4% dividend and has upped its dividend by an annual average of 12% over the past 10 and 20 years.
• It's women-friendly, spending nearly $2 billion with minority- and women-owned suppliers. It has been praised as a great company for executive women and working mothers, and for being a good corporate citizen.
• It competes with companies such as Kimberly-Clark (NYSE: KMB), Clorox (NYSE: CLX), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), and Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL).

I'm talking about Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), Mom. The word "gamble" might make you uncomfortable, but trust me, this company sure doesn't seem like a gamble.