In my portfolio structure there’s absolutely a place for stability. To be clear, I’m of an age with a portfolio size that leads me to lower risk. YMMV.
With my portfolio I’m looking for the magic ‘4%’ rule to provide cash flow to make work optional. That might be a bad rule, and I’m not looking to quit working yet even as I find options.
Example, I’ve held NFLX for a decade or more, since my last bad experience at Blockbuster. NFLX, a company dismissed in the discussions here. It’s too big, growing too slow. Yet up ~86% in the first half of last year. I got lucky with that as one of my five or six ‘stable’ companies. Of course if you own NFLX it’s not really luck, it’s belief in a world-beating business, regardless of size.
I’ve been in and out of ANET a couple times in the last year. Options included, I’m up ~2%. Not that much different from ANET overall (with the friction costs of options and my learning another OT thread).
I’ll pick my ‘ballast’ and stability somewhere else from ANET. Again, my choices are mine.