Dividend investing is popular again. Investors have taken to heart Jeremy Siegel's studies, which show that higher-yielding stocks tend to offer greater returns over time than low- or no-yield stocks.
The highest dividend yields can be very tantalizing. As long as a stock yielding 15% doesn't see its share price drop, you'll make 15% in one year! In more cases than not, however, an astronomical yield is a bad sign for a stock. Since dividend yields and stock prices move in opposite directions, a high yield usually means that investors have begun to worry about the business and driven down its stock price.
However, certain types of companies, such as REITs, have to pay out most of their income as dividends, so their yields will be higher than "normal." Dividends are not guaranteed; you need to make sure that a business is generating enough cash to pay its dividend, or your investment could be disastrous.
Three months ago, I ran a screen for the highest-yielding stocks, and it got such a good reception that I'm doing it again this quarter. The only limitation I've set this time is that the dividend stocks must have a market cap greater than $500 million.
Here are the top 25 highest-yielding stocks the screen produced:
|
Company |
Market Cap (millions) |
Yield |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Invesco Mortgage Capital |
$1,824 | 24.9% |
| 2 |
Chimera Investment |
$2,733 | 19.8% |
| 3 |
American Capital Agency |
$6,435 | 19.7% |
| 4 |
ARMOUR Residential REIT |
$604 | 18.6% |
| 5 |
Two Harbors Investment |
$1,333 | 17.2% |
| 6 |
CYS Investments |
$1,101 | 16.7% |
| 7 |
Hatteras Financial |
$2,053 | 15.0% |
| 8 |
Ship Finance International |
$912 | 15.0% |
| 9 |
Annaly Capital Management |
$15,783 | 14.8% |
| 10 |
MFA Financial |
$2,433 | 14.7% |
| 11 |
Anworth Mortgage Asset |
$861 | 14.6% |
| 12 |
Niska Gas Storage Partners |
$674 | 14.3% |
| 13 |
Capstead Mortgage |
$1,073 | 14.1% |
| 14 |
National Beverage |
$785 | 13.5% |
| 15 |
Frontier Communications |
$5,742 | 13.5% |
| 16 |
Prospect Capital |
$1,027 | 13.2% |
| 17 |
Cellcom Israel |
$1,695 | 12.3% |
| 18 |
OneBeacon Insurance Group |
$1,446 | 12.2% |
| 19 |
Crexus Investment |
$760 | 12.1% |
| 20 |
BlackRock Kelso Capital |
$648 | 12.1% |
| 21 |
CommonWealth REIT |
$1,395 | 12.0% |
| 22 |
Inergy |
$2,863 | 11.7% |
| 23 |
Compass Diversified |
$612 | 11.5% |
| 24 |
Navios Maritime Partners L.P. |
$834 | 11.4% |
| 25 |
BGC Partners |
$807 | 10.9% |
Source: S&P Capital IQ as of Dec. 5.
These stocks are a good place to start your research, but they're not formal recommendations. Remember, their seemingly irresistible yields could be ticking time bombs, so do your own due diligence. Also, make sure you diversify your picks across various sectors. As investors relearn every decade or so, you never want to put all your eggs in one basket -- no matter how tempting the dividends are.
For more dividend stock ideas, click here to get The Motley Fool's free report: "11 Rock-Solid Dividend Stocks."
