3 Innovative Stocks for September

When you think of stocks and innovation, most of the time a technology company comes to mind. However, almost every successful company has to prove that it has the ability to innovate at some point, often in surprising and unexpected ways. That can be just as true of a century-old food company as of a Silicon Valley start-up.

We asked three of our contributing investors to offer up a company that they think could make for a solid investment right now that's also showing its innovation chops. They gave us two that may surprise you -- 125-year-old food purveyor Hormel Foods Corp (NYSE: HRL) and low-cost retail behemoth Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) -- and one that's more of a typical innovator in First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR).

Innovation can come from surprising places. Image source: Getty Images.

Source: Fool.com