One definition of yield is to give up something. That definition is important to keep in mind when you're looking at high-yield dividend stocks. Always ask the question: What am I giving up to get that high yield? In some cases, the trade-off of a high-dividend yield is a higher risk that the stock could plunge or that the dividend itself could be in jeopardy.
But there aren't horrible trade-offs with all high-yield stocks. Three stocks I think you can buy right now with dividends yielding more than 6% are AbbVie (ABBV 1.97%), Enterprise Products Partners (EPD 0.45%), and Iron Mountain (IRM +0.63%). Here's what you need to know about these promising income picks.
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1. AbbVie
AbbVie's dividend currently yields 6.5%. The company earns the distinction of being a Dividend Aristocrat thanks to its years of being part of Abbott Labs. Since being spun off from Abbott in 2013, AbbVie has boosted its dividend payout by an impressive 168%.
To be sure, AbbVie's dividend yield has been inflated by the stock's dismal performance over the last year. Investors have been worried about the future for AbbVie's top-selling drug, Humira, which already faces competition from biosimilars in Europe and will have biosimilar rivals in the larger U.S. market beginning in 2023.
However, AbbVie's valuation is now so low -- shares trade at less than seven times expected earnings -- I think it has a downside cushion. More importantly, the company has plenty of arrows in its quiver to help offset the revenue declines for Humira.
The biggest of those arrows is AbbVie's pending acquisition of Allergan, the maker of blockbuster drug Botox. AbbVie also recently won U.S. regulatory approvals for two new immunology drugs, Rinvoq and Skyrizi, that are expected to be huge winners. Market researcher EvaluatePharma ranked both drugs in its top five new products of 2019. AbbVie's existing drugs Imbruvica, Venclexta, and Orilissa should generate significant growth as well.
2. Enterprise Products Partners
Enterprise Products Partners offers a dividend yield of nearly 6.2%. The company focuses primarily on natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGL), and oil pipelines and storage facilities. These businesses generate a strong cash flow that should allow Enterprise Products Partners to keep the dividends flowing -- and likely growing.
It's encouraging to see a company that can thrive when many of its peers struggle. That's been the case for Enterprise, which has flourished in recent quarters while other midstream oil and gas companies haven't. One key to the company's success has been to slow its dividend distribution growth to fund more expansion projects.
Despite Enterprise's solid stock performance in 2019, the stock is still a bargain. Shares trade at only 12.3 times trailing-12-month earnings and 12.6 times expected earnings.
There's a lot of volatility in the oil and gas industry that could impact Enterprise Products Partners. But with its investments in new projects, the company should be well-positioned for the future.
3. Iron Mountain
Iron Mountain is organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT), which means the company is required to distribute at least 90% of its taxable income to shareholders through dividends. And it's distributed plenty of money to shareholders thanks to strong earnings growth in recent years. Iron Mountain's dividend yield currently stands at a sky-high 7.4%.
The company isn't your typical REIT that focuses on retail, office, or housing properties, though. Iron Mountain reigns as the largest owner of data and records storage facilities in the world. It has also expanded into other types of properties to drive growth such as data centers.
If I could use only one word to describe Iron Mountain's business model, that word would be "solid." Iron Mountain's customer base includes 950 of the Fortune 1000. But it's not just large customers that use the company's storage facilities; Iron Mountain has around 225,000 customers across the world. These customers have little incentive to move their data and records to another provider, so Iron Mountain can count on a steady and reliable revenue stream.
Iron Mountain does face some risks. When interest rates rise significantly, REIT stocks tend to suffer. Iron Mountain has taken on a lot of debt to fund its expansions, so its interest expenses could especially rise if interest rates move higher. But I don't consider these risks overly worrisome. Neither does credit rating agency Moody's, which stated in June that Iron Mountain's "leverage and coverage metrics are considered solid relative to similarly rated companies and REIT peers." Like I said, Iron Mountain is solid.
