An extra $1,000 in income each year can help you pay bills and save money, especially nowadays with inflation at levels not seen in decades. One way to boost your income is by investing in dividend stocks. And with many high-yielding ones to consider, you don't need a fortune to generate that much in passive income.
Investing approximately $20,000 can be enough to do the trick. If you put that money into shares of Gilead Sciences (GILD 0.87%) and Enbridge (ENB 0.08%), that would be enough to earn you a little over $1,100 per year -- and that amount would likely increase over time.
NASDAQ: GILD
Key Data Points
1. Gilead Sciences: $8,000
Healthcare company Gilead Sciences is a stable investment, with its focus on developing medicine and treatment options for HIV. And it also has a fast-growing oncology business with sales in that segment surging 71% year over year to $527 million last quarter (ended June 30).
That's still a relatively small slice of its business, however, as Gilead reported $6.3 billion in revenue during the period.
These are the types of treatments patients can't forgo, and that makes Gilead a promising buy. In addition to its growing oncology business, the company has an exciting opportunity in lenacapavir, a treatment for HIV that would only require patients to receive an injection once every six months (as opposed to daily pills).
A decision from the Food and Drug Administration on the treatment could come before the end of the year. Analysts project lenacapavir could generate up to $4 billion in revenue at its peak.
The growth potential Gilead has in both oncology and HIV makes the business look solid in the long haul, and should make its dividend safer than it already is. While its payout ratio of over 80% might seem high, the company's free cash flow over the trailing 12 months has totaled $9.4 billion, more than double the $3.7 billion it paid out in dividends during that time.
At a dividend yield of 4.5%, which is three times the S&P 500 average of 1.5%, an $8,000 position in the stock would generate $360 in passive income over the course of a year.
NYSE: ENB
Key Data Points
2. Enbridge: $12,000
I would allocate the bulk of a $20,000 investment into oil and gas company Enbridge. Its 6.2% dividend yield would make the most of your money, and on a $12,000 investment, you could earn approximately $744 in dividends each year. When combining that with the dividend from Gilead, you're slightly up over $1,100 in passive income.
Another reason to pile more money into the stock is that Enbridge has been paying a dividend for 67 years and has also been increasing its payouts for 27 straight years, for a compound annual growth rate of 10% during that time. Gilead, by comparison, has only been paying dividends since 2015, although it, too, has been raising its payouts.
Enbridge's operations remain sound. The company announced in July that it had secured 3.6 billion Canadian dollars ($2.8 billion) worth of new projects, bringing the total value of new growth projects added in 2022 to CA$4.5 billion. During its most recent quarter, ending June 30, Enbridge reported distributable cash flow (DCF) of CA$2.7 billion -- up around 10% year over year. DCF is what the company uses to evaluate its dividend. It's a common measure in oil and gas that adjusts operating cash flow for items such as interest expenses, preferred dividends, and maintenance capital expenditures.
A growing DCF number suggests that Enbridge is on a positive track and its dividend is in good shape. The company targets its dividend to be no more than 70% of DCF. Based on its guidance for DCF of at least CA$5.20 per share this year, the company is within that range with a payout ratio of 66%.
