Great Call on General Electric! What's Next?

The fourth-quarter earnings announcement from General Electric (NYSE:GE) was like a cup of lukewarm coffee -- it got the job done but wasn't anything to get excited about. However, the fact that results weren't worse than expected, and that CEO Jeff Immelt is dedicated to keeping the company's dividend payout and AAA credit rating, may be cold comfort to investors who have seen the stock tumble 68% from its peak.

Not everyone has been disappointed by GE's stock, though. On Motley Fool CAPS, MarketBottom is one of the 12,000-plus members who have weighed in on GE, having made six calls on the stock's direction. All six of those calls -- four of which, including the most recent, have been bearish -- were right on the money and have scored a total of 52 points for MarketBottom.

MarketBottom is one of CAPS' All-Stars -- players with a rating of 80 or greater -- and has managed an impressive stock-picking accuracy of 71% while racking up more than 1,500 points. GE isn't this member's only great call. Here's a look at a few of the other prescient picks:

Data from CAPS. Points is by how many percentage points the call has beaten the S&P 500 from the time of the pick.

So what is this investor looking at these days? Here are a few recent calls on CAPS:

Data from CAPS.

While not all of these picks may pan out, they could be a good place to start some further research. I decided to take a closer look at Johnson & Johnson.

A payout that pays
If your financial house is going to be built with stocks, then you're going to want a foundation of strong, reliable companies that are good about divvying up their profits with shareholders. This is important in bull markets and bear markets alike, but with companies like Citigroup -- which many saw as a rock-solid company at one point -- torpedoing many investors' portfolios, choosing wisely is more important than ever.

As Johnson & Johnson's fourth-quarter earnings report showed, the company won't bring skyrocketing growth to your portfolio, but it can help you get some shut-eye in times of serious economic distress. With a portfolio that ranges from consumer products such as Listerine and Tylenol to life-saving medical devices and prescription drugs, J&J promises to perform even when the rest of the market is melting down. In fact, although J&J's 22% fall from its 52-week high has stung investors, it pales in comparison with the S&P's plunge.

Even better, investors should be able to count on Johnson & Johnson's dividend payout -- with a payout ratio of just 40% of earnings -- even as other companies are cutting dividends at the fastest pace we've seen in decades.

CAPS member billy22g recently gave J&J's stock a thumbs-up:

Easily the safest best investment in today's market, with diversified and growing businesses, steadily increasing dividend, very small payout ratio indicating ability to continue to grow dividend, and recession resistant with pharma and consumer staples.

But here's the important question: What's your take on Johnson & Johnson? Will it continue to be an ironclad investment? Get in on the action by clicking over to CAPS. CAPS is absolutely free and already has 125,000 members chipping in to find the best stocks out there.

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