By Matt Connor · The Lowest-Volatility Stocks
The calmest large-cap stocks ranked by realized volatility. See which single names swing least over the past year and why the index still sits at the floor.
The lowest-volatility stocks are the large caps whose daily price swings are the smallest, measured as realized (historical) volatility. Over the past year the calmest single names are utilities and consumer staples: the electricity and household-goods companies whose sales barely move with the economy. This page ranks a basket of 30-plus household large caps by annualized volatility, calmest first, and shows one more thing worth internalizing: a diversified index fund sits at or below the steadiest single stock in the group.
What does low volatility mean for a stock?
Realized volatility is the standard deviation of a stock's daily returns, scaled to a yearly figure. A name at 15% has historically moved about 15% around its trend over a year; a name at 40% has swung nearly three times as hard. It is a backward-looking measure of how bumpy the ride has been, not a forecast and not a return. Two stocks can post the same 12-month gain while one crawls there and the other lurches. Volatility captures the difference in the ride.
The table below ranks a basket of well-known large caps by annualized volatility over the trailing year, using each stock's daily closing price. The lowest number is the calmest name.
The exact SQL behind every number
WITH d AS (
SELECT ticker,
toDate(toTimeZone(window_start, 'America/New_York')) AS dt,
argMax(toFloat64(close), toTimeZone(window_start, 'America/New_York')) AS c
FROM global_markets.delayed_stocks_minute_aggs
WHERE ticker IN ('SPY','KO','JNJ','PG','PEP','WMT','MCD','MO','VZ','T','XOM','CVX','JPM','HD','COST','UNH','ABBV','MRK','PFE','LLY','CAT','HON','LMT','IBM','ORCL','CSCO','TXN','SO','DUK','NEE','NVDA','TSLA')
AND window_start >= now() - INTERVAL 400 DAY
AND (toHour(toTimeZone(window_start, 'America/New_York')) * 60 + toMinute(toTimeZone(window_start, 'America/New_York'))) BETWEEN 570 AND 959
GROUP BY ticker, dt
),
r AS (
SELECT ticker, dt,
c / lagInFrame(c) OVER (PARTITION BY ticker ORDER BY dt) - 1 AS ret
FROM d
)
SELECT ticker,
round(stddevSamp(ret) * sqrt(252) * 100, 1) AS annual_vol_pct
FROM r
WHERE ret IS NOT NULL AND dt >= today() - 370
GROUP BY ticker
ORDER BY annual_vol_pct ASC
LIMIT 15The calmest name in the basket is SPY, the S&P 500 index fund itself, at 12.5% annualized. The steadiest single stock is DUK at 15.5%, and the rest of the low end reads like a defensive shopping list: regulated utilities, a beverage maker, a burger chain, a soap-and-detergent company. At the top of this calm-only slice, VZ still comes in near 24.2%, roughly double the index. High-flyers like NVDA and TSLA sit far off this list entirely, several times noisier than the names shown.
Why utilities and staples sit at the bottom
The pattern is not random. A regulated electric utility earns a rate-of-return set by a public commission, and demand for power barely flexes with the business cycle. A consumer-staples company sells things people buy in every economy: toothpaste, soda, cigarettes, dish soap. Their revenues are steady, their dividends are long and dependable, and their share prices move in small steps most days. That steadiness is exactly what the volatility number is picking up. For the income side of the same coin, dividend yield explained and the upcoming ex-dividend dates cover the payouts these names are known for, and the ex-dividend date covers the mechanics of collecting them.
Nothing here says a low-volatility stock cannot fall. It says the fall tends to be shallower and slower. The next panel makes that concrete.
How far do the calmest stocks fall?
Volatility measures the everyday jitter. Maximum drawdown measures the single worst peak-to-trough decline over the same window: the deepest hole a holder would have sat in before recovering. A calm stock and a violent one can share a headline return while offering completely different worst moments. This panel takes the steadiest names from the table above and shows each one's largest drawdown over the past year.
The exact SQL behind every number
WITH d AS (
SELECT ticker,
toDate(toTimeZone(window_start, 'America/New_York')) AS dt,
argMax(toFloat64(close), toTimeZone(window_start, 'America/New_York')) AS c
FROM global_markets.delayed_stocks_minute_aggs
WHERE ticker IN ('SPY','KO','JNJ','PG','MCD','COST','SO','DUK')
AND window_start >= now() - INTERVAL 400 DAY
AND (toHour(toTimeZone(window_start, 'America/New_York')) * 60 + toMinute(toTimeZone(window_start, 'America/New_York'))) BETWEEN 570 AND 959
GROUP BY ticker, dt
),
m AS (
SELECT ticker, dt, c,
max(c) OVER (PARTITION BY ticker ORDER BY dt ROWS BETWEEN UNBOUNDED PRECEDING AND CURRENT ROW) AS peak
FROM d
WHERE dt >= today() - 370
)
SELECT ticker,
round(min(c / peak - 1) * 100, 1) AS max_drawdown_pct
FROM m
GROUP BY ticker
ORDER BY max_drawdown_pct DESC
LIMIT 15The shallowest drawdown in the group belongs to KO at -8.5%, and the index, SPY, sits right beside it at -9.1%. Even the deepest hole here, MCD at -22.4%, is a fraction of what a volatile growth name gives up in a bad stretch. Low realized volatility and shallow drawdowns line up in the same names: the ride is smoother and the worst day is milder.
Why the index beats every single stock
The most useful lesson on this page is the position of SPY in both tables. The index fund is the calmest thing in the volatility ranking and among the shallowest in the drawdown ranking, quieter than any individual company in the basket. That is the mathematics of diversification at work. When one holding drops on a bad earnings report, hundreds of others in the fund are flat or up that day, and the offsetting moves cancel. A single stock has no such cushion. One product recall, one lawsuit, one guidance cut, and the whole position moves at once.
This is the flip side of concentration risk: the more of a portfolio rides on one name, the more of that name's raw volatility the portfolio inherits. Spreading across an index trades the chance of a single stock's home run for a far steadier line. For a holder who simply wants their cash to stop lurching, that trade is the whole appeal, and short of an index fund, parking idle cash in truly stable instruments covers the calmer-still end of the spectrum.
FAQ
What are the lowest-volatility stocks right now?
Over the trailing year, the calmest large caps are regulated utilities and consumer staples. In the basket ranked above, the steadiest single stock is DUK at 15.5% annualized volatility, with names like Coca-Cola, McDonald's, and Procter & Gamble clustered nearby. The list refreshes as new price data arrives.
Is low volatility the same as safe?
No. Low volatility means smaller day-to-day swings and, historically, shallower drawdowns, which many holders experience as a calmer ride. It is not a guarantee against loss: even the steadiest name in the drawdown panel above still fell from its peak. Volatility describes past bumpiness, not future safety.
Why is an index fund less volatile than a single stock?
An index fund holds hundreds of companies, so a bad day at one is diluted by flat or rising days at the rest. Those offsetting moves cancel out and the fund's overall swing shrinks. A single stock carries the full force of its own news with nothing to offset it, which is why SPY sits below every individual name in the table.
How is realized volatility calculated?
It is the standard deviation of a stock's daily returns, multiplied by the square root of 252 (the number of trading days in a year) to put it on an annual scale, then shown as a percent. A larger number means larger typical daily moves. The queries on this page compute it directly from daily closing prices.
Every panel above ships with the exact SQL that produced it. Expand any one to audit the numbers, or rank the calmest names yourself on the Strasmore terminal.