Value Investing News

Most CEOs give lip-service to their commitment to shareholders, but what happens when times are hard. When the economy turns down and the future looks bleak, will the company hoard cash and stop its dividend or put action behind its words? The key to successfully selecting dividend growth stocks is the ability to identify companies that will not only maintain but grow their dividend.

The Basic Materials Sector includes companies involved with the discovery, development and processing of raw materials. This week week, I screened my dividend growth stocks database for Basic Materials companies with a yield above 3.0% and that have increased their dividends for at least 20 consecutive years. The results are presented below:

The Industrials Sector is one of the largest sectors in my dividend growth database. Of the 209 stocks that I track, it currently is represented by 44 stocks (21%). This is not a sector I am in a position to buy often, but when the time is right, I plan on taking full advantage of the opportunity.

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Over the last several years many companies have chosen to not raise their dividend, while some decided to cut their dividend and some even decided to stop paying a dividend. In some cases their financials did not warrant the change. As investors in dividend growth stocks, we want to look for companies with a positive dividend culture.

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Payback is the amount of time needed for an investment to earn its cost, undiscounted. Though not very sophisticated, payback can still help you screen for good, solid dividend growth stocks. Once you earn back your investment, some might say you are in a no-lose situation.

This is the third installment in a multi-part series that looks at different sectors that have traditionally been very friendly to dividend investors. Last week we looked at Financial Services Sector. This week we are looking at Industrial Materials…

Dividend sustainability is paramount for the high-yield investor. Having a stock cut its dividend could potentially crush their income. A high-yield investor is less concerned about dividend growth than maintaining the current high-yield.

Twelve companies raised distributions last week. I have highlighted each company below with brief information as a starting point for further research. Stocks that raise distributions have managed to outperform the S&P 500 over the past four decades, which is one of the many reasons to consider them for my dividend portfolio.

Dividend growth investing in its classic form focuses on identifying solid companies with a long record of growing their dividends each year; and an expectation that they will continue to do so into the future. The focus is not solely on yield but a combination of yield and dividend growth. Often it is the lower yield, higher growth, security that will provide the best return over time.

Over the last couple of years we have seen companies fail to raise their dividend, cut their dividend and some even decided to stop paying their dividend. In some cases their financials did not warrant the change. So, how do you fin companies with a positive dividend culture?

The dividend aristocrats list includes companies which have increased dividends for over 25 years in a row. It is equally weighted and re-balanced once an year. Over the past 3,5 and 7 years the index of elite dividend stocks has managed to outperform the S&P 500 by 5%, 3.7% and 4.40% respectively.