One thing is for sure, despite the reality that at some point this year the Federal Reserve puts in another rate hike, somebody somewhere keeps buying Treasury debt, and the yields continue to plunge lower. Sure they are safe, backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, but owning 30 years debt yielding a 2.66% yield? After taxes and inflation, you are almost at a negative return.
In a recent report from UBS, the managers of the firm’s Dividend Rulers portfolio make just that point, that the decline in long yields has given the stocks in their portfolio a dividend advantage. Not only are the yields consistently higher, but they are being raised on a consistent basis.
We screened the list for the top yielding companies in the portfolio, and came up with four outstanding stocks to buy.
Boeing
Shares of this top aerospace industrial have dropped a whopping 18% since the beginning of the year. Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA), together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, sells, services and supports commercial jetliners, military aircraft, satellites, missile defense, human space flight and launch systems and services worldwide. The company operates in five segments: Commercial Airplanes, Boeing Military Aircraft, Network & Space Systems, Global Services & Support, and Boeing Capital.
Top Wall Street analysts have increased confidence in continuing good demand, and note that the company has made announcements in the past that support the analyst’s thesis that productivity and margins will continue to improve. 787 execution is good as the company works through the backlog, and cash flow looks to be strong with 787 deliveries and C-17 orders. Some Wall Street analysts also point to low oil prices as a bullish indicator for the top carriers who are Boeing’s big customers.
Boeing investors are paid a very solid 3.56% dividend. The Thomson/First Call consensus price target for the stock is $140.17. The shares closed trading on Tuesday at $122.35.
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Intel
This top chip stock has traded sideways for the past year and actually closed down from where it started 2015 and 2016, but with $21 billion of cash on the books the dividend looks very safe. Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) is one of the companies regarded as having among the highest shareholders cash returns at approximately 8%, but it has lagged high-growth specialty chip stocks.
Intel purchased chip rival Altera last year for a massive $16.8 billion, and the deal finally closed on December 28. Some on Wall Street viewed the deal pessimistically, citing its high cost, aggressive growth assumptions on the part of Intel and the increase in debt. Others feel the addition will help Intel start to move away from the personal computer dependence. The acquisition puts Intel into the traditional fabless market of programmable logic devices, and by 2020 50% of Altera’s product line could be manufactured at Intel facilities.
Intel’s NAND flash memory business has a strong focus on enterprise opportunities. Many on Wall Street who think that the company’s new chip, which is a collaboration with Micron Technology called the 3D XPoint, could be primarily In-Memory compute in servers, and its launch should coincide with Intel’s Purley platform server launch later this year.
Intel investors receive a solid 3.4% dividend. The consensus price target is posted at $36.05. Shares closed Tuesday at $30.56.
Invesco
This top financial services company is also the top yielding domestic stock in the Dividend Rulers portfolio. Invesco Ltd. (NYSE: IVZ) provides its services to retail clients, institutional clients, high-net worth clients, public entities, corporations, unions, nonprofit organizations, endowments, foundations, pension funds, financial institutions and sovereign wealth funds. Invesco manages separate client-focused equity, balanced and fixed income portfolios. The firm also launches equity, fixed income, commodity, multi-asset and balanced mutual funds for its clients, and it launches equity, fixed income, multi-asset and balanced exchange traded funds (ETFs).
Invesco PowerShares is the boutique investment management firm that manages a family of ETFs. The company has been part of Invesco, which markets the PowerShares product, since 2006. The incredible growth and popularity of the product is why many on Wall Street remain so bullish on the stock.
Invesco shareholders are paid a 3.82% dividend. The consensus price target is $35.82, and the stock closed most recently at $28.20.
McDonald’s
The fast-food giant has been on fire over the last six months, but still remains a solid pick for investors seeking dividends and a degree of safety. McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) is the world’s leading global foodservice retailer with over 36,000 locations serving approximately 69 million customers in over 100 countries each day. More than 80% of McDonald’s restaurants worldwide are owned and operated by independent local business men and women.
Wall Street as a whole is very pleased with the efforts from new CEO Stephen Easterbrook. He is taken the bull by the horns with a strategic corporate reset by changing the menu, updating the hours breakfast is served and modernizing the restaurants. Management prioritized that dividend growth is a key element of its shareholder value proposition. McDonald’s has increased its dividend every year for the past 39 years.
The company reported outstanding fourth-quarter results in late January with U.S. same-store sales rising an impressive 5.7% boosted by all-day breakfast. Hedge funds are very bullish on the company, and a total of 20 of them own the stock.
McDonald’s investors are paid a solid 3.01% dividend. The stock closed Tuesday at $118.42, well short of the consensus price target of $126.48.
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These stocks make good sense for long-term growth portfolios. They trade at reasonable valuations and offer stellar growth potential. Toss in rising dividends and they are total return vehicles for almost any market.
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