Top Picks: 10 great stocks for the long haul

If you're an investor looking for action -- for that tiny stock with lots of volatility and white-hot upside potential -- read no further. But if you're fed up with the volatile U.S. equity market over the last couple of years, have we got some long-term, stable value stocks for you.

Throughout the market's remarkable rally off the March low, more volatile, lower-quality stocks (of smaller companies with weaker balance sheets and less certain prospects) have outperformed less volatile, higher quality stocks (generally those of bigger companies with stronger balance sheets in more mature industries).