If you have money sitting in a savings account that you can afford to invest, dividend stocks can be a great option. While you always want to be careful not to chase a high-paying dividend that may be unsustainable, that doesn't mean every high yield is a risky one.
Three investments that should stand out for income investors today are Medical Properties Trust (MPW -8.68%), TC Energy (TRP 1.16%), and Camping World Holdings (CWH 1.18%). Their payouts are safe, and investing $80,000 across these three stocks can result in more than $5,100 in annual dividends for your portfolio.
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1. Medical Properties Trust: $25,000
Real estate investment trust (REIT) Medical Properties pays a dividend yield of 5.7%, more than four times the S&P 500 average of 1.3%. Investing $25,000 into the healthcare stock, which is one of the world's largest owners of hospitals, could earn you roughly $1,415 per year just in dividends. The company has been increasing its dividend by an average of around 4% over the past nine years, suggesting that as long as the business remains strong, investors could be earning even more on their initial investment over time.
And there shouldn't be a huge concern about that, given how strong Medical Properties' results were for a volatile year like 2021. Last year, funds from operations (FFO) totaled $976 million and were 63% of revenue, which is better than last year's percentage of 61%. Its FFO per share of $1.65 for the year makes the REIT's expected annual payment of $1.16 this year look very safe.
The healthcare-focused REIT also has more projects and acquisitions on the horizon that will add properties to its portfolio, increasing growth potential. For investors, this is an easy buy-and-forget stock to hang on to for the long haul.
2. TC Energy: $25,000
Another high-yielding payout to consider is from energy infrastructure company TC Energy. Although oil and gas stocks are hot buys now amid rising commodity prices, this is a stock that you can safely hold for years even if oil prices fall.
That's because it's a natural gas pipeline company. So even in prior years when oil and gas prices were low, the company consistently generated profit, and it is not unusual for its net margin to be above 20%.
The company continues to see significant growth ahead, noting in its year-end results that it is advancing capital projects that are worth billions and "are underpinned by strong industry fundamentals as well as cost-of-service regulation and/or long-term, take-or-pay contracts."
TC Energy projects that its comparable earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) will grow by 5% per year until 2026.
This year, the company raised its dividend for the 22nd straight year, and it now yields around 5.2%. A $25,000 investment into this top energy stock would result in approximately $1,293 in annual dividend income.
3. Camping World Holdings: $30,000
The last stock on this list is also the highest-yielding one. Camping World, which sells recreational vehicles (RVs), recently hiked its quarterly dividend payment by 25% to $0.625. At its current stock price, that puts its yield at over 8.1%. I'd suggest taking advantage of this extremely generous payout and investing the most into it: $30,000. If you did, that would be enough to generate $2,430 in annual dividends.
While the high yield may seem worrying, the company's strong fundamentals make this a worthy option for income investors to consider. In February, the company, which calls itself America's Recreation Dealer, reported its year-end results. Camping World experienced significant growth during the year with its top line increasing 27% year over year to $6.9 billion while operating income rose an incredible 68% to $799.5 million.
And given that the pandemic isn't over yet, there could still be strong demand this year for consumers to seek out more local travel options, such as the company's RVs.
Camping World's diluted per-share profit $6.07 for the past year is more than double what the company will pay out this year at its current dividend rate, which also leaves room for more rate hikes should it have another strong year in 2022.
Together, investing in the three stocks listed above could generate more than $5,100 in dividends if you were to allocate $80,000 across all of them.
