Dogs of the Dow 2024: Cheap Dividends, But Are They Values?

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The 2024 Dogs of the Dow are particularly homely hounds—which means we’re talking big dividends.

This year’s Dogs yield more than three-times the broader market’s paltry payout. So, should we hold our noses and buy? Let’s grab some peanut butter treats and investigate. But first, a review of the “Dogs” strategy.

The “Dogs of the Dow” strategy means buying the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s laggards. It’s a simple three-step strategy that often outperforms in the year ahead:

  • Step 1: After the final trading day of the year, identify the 10 highest-yielding stocks in the Dow.
  • Step 2: Buy all 10 stocks in equal amounts and hold them for a year.

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Our favorite tech-sector dividend growers are finally on sale—and our time to “lock in” these fast-growing payouts has arrived.

Our Tech Buying Opportunity: Fully Booted Up

These days, fear surrounds us, and we contrarian income seekers know that times of fear are when we go shopping. That goes double for tech stocks, which tumble when the 10-year rises (and vice versa).

Take last year, when the rate on the “long bond” spiked and high-flying techs, shown in purple below by the performance of the benchmark Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) hit the deck:

10-Year Tells Us When to Buy—and Sell—Top Tech Divs

Sure, the AI hype has fueled a nice rebound this year, but this latest spike in the 10-year has given us a nice—and rare—second chance to buy in, washing out many of our faves.… Read more

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Looking for the Dogs of the Dow, 2023 edition? You came to the right place.

We’ll explore these 10 blue-chip dividend bargains in a moment. Collectively, they are yielding 4.5%! But first, a quick recap of the strategy and homage to its 2022 “mini miracle.”

Last year was a dumpster fire for most mainstream investors. The market-at-large dropped 18%. “Safe” bond funds shed 25%, 30% or more. Yikes.

But the dogs ran. Not only did they outpace the market, but they delivered positive gains!

Who were these income greyhounds? And what’s the lineup for ’23? First, a refresher on this simple three-step strategy:

  • Step 1: After the final trading day of the year, identify the 10 highest-yielding stocks in the Dow.

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We dividend investors know that 2023’s going to throw us some curveballs. So let’s talk about a simple strategy that helps us buy more shares of our favorite stocks during pullbacks.

Because the truth is, the Fed is still hiking, inflation is well north of 2% and the economy is humming along. That last point is a headache for Fed officials as they need to “cool” the economy to get inflation down. That’s code for inducing a recession.

A New Spin on a Classic Strategy

This uncertainty is why I’m counseling caution when it comes to buying stocks these days. But if you are tiptoeing into this market, only do so if:

  • You have a long time horizon and …
  • You do so gradually, using our “modified” dollar-cost averaging (DCA) approach.

Read more

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We dividend investors know that 2023’s going to throw us some curveballs. So let’s talk about a simple strategy that helps us buy more shares of our favorite stocks during pullbacks.

Because the truth is, the Fed is still hiking, inflation is well north of 2% and the economy is humming along. That last point is a headache for Fed officials as they need to “cool” the economy to get inflation down. That’s code for inducing a recession.

A New Spin on a Classic Strategy

This uncertainty is why I’m counseling caution when it comes to buying stocks these days. But if you are tiptoeing into this market, only do so if:

  • You have a long time horizon and …
  • You do so gradually, using our “modified” dollar-cost averaging (DCA) approach.

Read more

Read More

Beware of Wall Street “wisdom” now more than ever. Especially when it comes to the most commonly quoted maxim for retirement: it’s based on a rule that was never designed for times like these!

I’m talking about the so-called “4% rule,” which says you should sell 4% of your nest egg every year in retirement.

Sounds simple, right?

Trouble is, it slashes your income stream and caps your upside in one go! It’s especially dangerous advice to follow in a downturn like the 2022 mess.

Let’s say, for example, you own $200,000 worth of Cisco Systems (CSCO) shares. Cisco is one of the most reliable dividend payers in the tech space, hiking its payout for years and continuously growing it (though not spectacularly: Cisco’s annual hikes usually only come in at just one or two cents a share).… Read more

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Beware of Wall Street “wisdom” now more than ever. Especially when it comes to the most commonly quoted maxim for retirement: it’s based on a rule that was never designed for times like these!

I’m talking about the so-called “4% rule,” which says you should sell 4% of your nest egg every year in retirement.

Sounds simple, right?

Trouble is, it slashes your income stream and caps your upside in one go! It’s especially dangerous advice to follow in a downturn like the one that’s hit us in the last few months.

Let’s say, for example, you own $200,000 worth of Cisco Systems (CSCO) shares.… Read more

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For income investors, dividend strategies don’t come any easier than the “Dogs of the Dow.”

But does this simple technique still work?

We’ll look at the 2021 Dogs, and their attached dividends (and prospects) in a moment. Their yields aren’t too shabby, averaging 4.1% in a 1% world! First, let’s review the mechanics of the popular contrarian strategy:

  • Step 1: After the final trading day of the year, we identify the 10 highest-yielding stocks in the Dow.
  • Step 2: We buy all 10 in equal amounts.

That’s it. In just a couple of quick steps, executed just once every year, we can put together a mini-portfolio of 10 blue-chip stocks that typically out-yield the S&P 500, and currently offer 2.5 times more dividends than the broad market index.… Read more

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Dividends are the surest, safest building block of a comfortable retirement. And you needn’t just “settle” for retiring on dividends. You can even pick dividend stocks that’ll double your money or better, too.

All you need is a little quality.

What’s is “Quality”?

Quality isn’t some nebulous idea. It’s a “factor,” and it’s defined by a set of attributes or characteristics that the Wall Street “quants” are increasingly affectionate for.

Factor-based investing has become quite the rage in recent years. It’s a way to slice and dice the stock market by numbers. Yield, value, momentum, and other metrics are the ingredients.… Read more

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The ongoing trade dispute with China frightened U.S. investors again on Monday, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 617 points. However, markets were able to claw back those losses over the next three trading sessions.

While no resolution has been made between the two superpowers, the war of words has since quieted down. In addition, investors cheered solid earnings reports from blue-chips, like Cisco Systems (CSCO) and Wal-Mart (WMT).

Calculating the Tariff Cost

Still, President Trump has vowed to consider tariffs on another $300 billion of Chinese goods next month, if the two countries don’t agree to a truce by the G20 Summit in Japan.… Read more

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