1 Reason to Buy This Dividend King Stock Before It Reports Earnings on July 29

Watch enough football games, and you'll eventually hear the saying, "Defense wins championships." It's an overused line, but one with practical applications in sports.

In investing, well, that's a different ball game. If a "championship" means generating the highest returns, investors can lose points for an overly heavy allocation to defensive names, such as consumer staples stocks.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), maker of popular household staples like Gillette, Tide, and Dawn, certainly fits the defensive mold. And with the stock up a mere 4% year to date, no one is confusing it with the glamorous growth names of the moment.

This Dividend King is worth buying ahead of its July 29 earnings update. Image source: Getty Images.

With so many investors captivated by the artificial intelligence (AI) trade and tech stocks, P&G's earnings report on July 29 may be flying under the radar. Still, there's at least one good reason to consider buying shares before then.

Defense and diversification make P&G worth it

While defense and diversification are actually two reasons, here they're linked. A JPMorgan Chase study released earlier this year indicates that the majority of the stocks purchased by retail investors in 2026 are AI-adjacent and semiconductor names. That implies that many everyday market participants are heavily invested in tech, and that's understandable. It's the trade that's working, and the one commanding the headlines.

But that doesn't mean investors should be all-in on one corner of the market. Nor does it mean that market participants should gloss over the perks of defensive stocks, such as Procter & Gamble. Defensive equities offer benefits like dependable income, diversification, and capital preservation.

Then there's the matter of volatility. Over long holding periods -- relevant for P&G because it's best for long-term investors -- equities with less volatile traits deliver superior risk-adjusted returns relative to their more volatile counterparts. In other words, investors with portfolios heavy in high-beta growth stocks can benefit from sprinkling in some defensive exposure.

The company's defensive posture is attractive for other reasons. First, in recent years, equities in the U.S. have been more volatile than in other markets. Second, deep drawdowns are damaging to long-term returns, but fewer defensive stocks succumb to them.

And, of course, there's the dividend

As noted above, defensive stocks often come with dependable dividends. When it comes to income consistency, it's tough to beat Procter & Gamble. This isn't merely a blue chip dividend stock. It's a Dividend King -- one of the public companies that has a streak of payout increases spanning at least 50 years.

To be more exact, P&G is one of five American companies that have boosted dividends every year for 71 consecutive years. (Just one company has reached 72 years, American States Water.) Plus, the stock yields 2.2%, implying it's not a yield trap.

The payout looks safe, as analysts expect it to increase by a high-single-digit percentage in the coming years. At the same time, the consumer-staples giant reduces its share count by a low-single-digit percentage annually. Maybe defense does win championships after all.

JPMorgan Chase is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Todd Shriber has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends JPMorgan Chase. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.