The CAPS Screen: 10 Dividend Dynamos

Dividend investing is a tried-and-true strategy for building long-term wealth. A company that maintains a stable and healthy dividend is one that will continue to pay you over time regardless of how the market zigs and zags. After all, most of the stock market's gains in recent decades have come from dividends.

With this in mind, I used our new CAPS screening tool to look for companies that pay a strong dividend. Below are 10 companies with dividend yields of 4%. They also have:

• Market caps greater than $1 billion.
• Five-star ratings, the highest possible, from our CAPS community.

Remember, in the first year for which we have data, five-star companies outperformed with an average return of nearly 28%.

Company	Share Price	Sector	Market Cap
Allied Irish Banks (NYSE: AIB)	$42.90	Financial	$18.9 billion
Altria Group (NYSE: MO)	$21.70	Consumer Goods	$45.8 billion
Apollo Investment (Nasdaq: AINV)	$16.55	Financial	$2.0 billion
CPFL Energia	$71.64	Utilities	$11.5 billion
Diana Shipping (NYSE: DSX)	$30.84	Services	$2.3 billion
Eni SpA	$76.94	Utilities	$56.3 billion
Health Care REIT	$50.19	Financial	$4.3 billion
iShares Dow Jones Select Dividend Index (NYSE: DVY)	$60.09	Financial	$5.9 billion*
Penn West Energy (NYSE: PWE)	$30.71	Financial	$11.5 billion
Southern Copper (NYSE: PCU)	$121.25	Basic Materials	$35.7 billion

Data from Motley Fool CAPS and Yahoo! Finance as of April 25. *Net assets.

Remember, this screen is only a starting point in the research process. When selecting dividend-payers, Fools know it's important to make sure a company has sufficient free cash flow to sustain and grow its dividends for years to come.

Come and join us on Motley Fool CAPS to dig into these companies further. Let our 100,000-strong (and counting) CAPS community help you make better stock selections.

For more CAPS content:

• A 1-in-100 Investor
• The CAPS Screen: 10 Companies With High Insider Ownership
• Thursday's Biggest Stock Stars