Last week the markets continued their roller coaster ride, sending most investors accounts to new five year lows. On Thursday the S&P 500 broke through its October lows and reached its lowest level since 2003, before recovering the very same day.

In an utopian world, the perfect dividend stock would be one that is both high-yield and provide a high dividend growth rate. Its share price would appreciate ratable with its increasing dividend. All of this would be driven by increasing earnings and cash flow.

Most investors were scared from the severe drops in global stock markets last week, caused by the freezing of the debt markets and the global recession fears which the tightening of the credit markets might cause. Most stocks have suffered double digit percentage losses since the start of the year, even after yesterdays record rally. It’s no place to panic however.

The typical dividend aristocrat is a mature company with wide moat that has weathered the storms of many boom and bust cycles while continuing to increase dividend payments to shareholders. These companies as well as the dividend champions are the cornerstone to my dividend strategy.

Air Products and Chemicals Inc. produces industrial gases and specialty and intermediate chemicals and also has interests in environmental and energy-related businesses. Linked here is a detailed stock analysis and commentary.

Automatic Data Processing is a dividend aristocrat as well as a component in the S&P 500 index. It has been increasing its dividends for the past 33 consecutive years.

This post contains a review of a portion of the most recent quarterly financial results for 3M (MMM), Anheuser-Busch (BUD) and Automatic Data Processing (ADP). As noted in the table, Anheuser-Busch reported a 2.3% increase in 2nd quarter operating earnings versus the same period a year earlier. Earnings per share growth increased 7.32%...

Value Discipline looks at a (very) recent spin-off, Broadridge Financial Solutions (BR). Spin-offs are often an excellent place to look for bargains. But, they require you to do some homework to come up with a reasonable estimate of the value for the newly independent unit - this post is a good place to start on Broadridge.