Dividend Paying Stocks For The Long Haul

Every Dividend Investor I know expects to own the stock they buy for at least 5 years. This is true because of the investment rules that most of these investors follow. Strong cash flow, income growth, dividend growth and a bright looking future are just a few of the components of the best dividend paying stocks. When things go our way these types of companies continue to boost dividends which in turn drives up stock prices and dividend income for shareholders. Total return and compounding growth is what we are all about.

There is always a lot of attention paid to the Dividend Aristocrats and rightly so. Any company that can increase its dividend for 25 consecutive years deserves praise. But what about the Dividend Aristocrats of tomorrow? There is a large group of stocks out there that could someday make the list. Personally I’d like to be invested in them now and live through their future dividend increases as they climb the ladder.

Not every company that has 7 or even 15 years of consecutive increases on the books will make it. There will be many hurdles to get through between now and then. In my opinion companies with a strong history of EPS growth and positive cash flow with a relatively short history of year over year dividend increases have the most potential to be break out dividend stocks and someday make the special Aristocrat status.

Criteria For This List

• Must have a dividend yield over 2%
• Must have a free cash flow yield 25% higher than dividend yield
• Must have 3yr EPS growth > 5%
• Must have a payout ratio < 65
• Must have 7+ consecutive years of dividend increases (but not more than 20+ years)

For the 20+ stocks, check out the safe list on this site.

Results: 34 Companies made the list. I though in the 1.9% yielders since future outpaced dividend growth should drive them to higher yields. I removed REITs and MLPs. I also removed Utility stocks. I will dedicate a separate post to that sector in the coming weeks.

7+ Year Dividend Booster List

I did not dig into each stock’s individual story or valuation. It’s very possible that some of these companies are facing new headwinds or are currently over valued.

This was a fun exercise because I found many new stocks I should start paying attention to. Are any of these stocks on your watch list? If so I’d love to hear what you think of them.