The Best and Worst Plays in This Sector

The following video is part of our "Motley Fool Conversations" series, in which consumer goods editor and analyst Austin Smith and industrials editor and analyst Brendan Byrnes discuss topics across the investing world.

In today's edition, Austin discusses a recent earnings miss by a major consumer goods company. As a sector, consumer goods is a great place for investors to park their money, but that doesn't mean they should frivolously buy shares of whatever company they see. Instead, Austin and Brendan talk through some of the stronger and weaker plays in this space.

While consumer goods companies have provided consistent returns in the past, sometimes it can be hard to get excited by time. Their large size often restricts them from huge gains in the stock price. That's not the case for one still-under-the-radar pick. In fact, we love it so much we've dubbed it: "The Motley Fool's Top Stock for 2012." We've created a special free report for investors to uncover this soon-to-be rock star. The report highlights a company that is revolutionizing commerce in Latin America, and you can get instant access to the name of this company by clicking here to download it now.