Growth stocks are known to stand out in bull markets, while stocks that are considered safer -- like a pharma company promising steady earnings -- generally excel in more difficult markets. It's a great idea to include a bit of both in your portfolio to support performance through any market environment. And there's one other extremely important element that could help your investments grow no matter what the market is doing: dividend stocks.
These players offer you payments every year regardless of their own market performance or the stock market environment. You can either keep these payments and enjoy the passive income or reinvest the dividends to further grow your position in a particular stock.
Now, the big question is: How should you choose a winning dividend player for your portfolio? It's important to consider a company's dividend track record, financial ability to continue payments, and general earnings prospects. Let's check out three dividend giants that could grow your wealth no matter what the market is doing.
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1. Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola (KO) is a Dividend King, meaning it's increased its dividend for more than 50 consecutive years. This shows rewarding shareholders is a priority for the beverage powerhouse -- so it's likely to continue on that path. And Coca-Cola has the financial strength to do so, with more than $10 billion in free cash flow.
Today, you can count on an annual dividend of $1.84 per share from the company, representing a dividend yield of 3.24%. That's much higher than the 1.62% dividend yield of the S&P 500.
Meanwhile, you'll also like the fact that Coca-Cola's brand strength allows it to raise prices and continue to grow even through a difficult economic environment. In the most recent quarter, the company reported gains in revenue, earnings, and market share.
This moat, or competitive advantage, should keep the world's biggest non-alcoholic beverage maker growing over the long term. And that's great news for its dividend and shareholders.
2. Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ -0.46%) also is a Dividend King, offering evidence of its commitment to dividend growth. The pharma giant, like Coca-Cola, has plenty of free cash flow -- more than $15 billion -- to support these promises.
J&J pays an annual dividend of $4.76 at a yield of 3.23%, surpassing the yield of the S&P 500.
So, with J&J, you could collect a significant amount of passive income -- of course, the exact amount depends on how many shares you buy -- and you're likely to see that sum grow year after year.
Now is a particularly good time to get in on the J&J story as the company may be heading for a new era of growth. J&J recently spun off its consumer health unit, a slower-growth business, to favor its higher-growth businesses of pharma and medtech. The spinoff brought in proceeds of more than $13 billion -- and those and other funds focused on pharma and medtech could result in significant growth over time.
3. AbbVie
AbbVie (ABBV -4.58%) saw the light of day in 2013 when it spun off from Abbott Laboratories. And since then, the company has lifted its quarterly dividend more than 285%. The pharma player has more than $24 billion in free cash flow thanks to a solid portfolio of products including one of the world's top-selling drugs, Humira.
Right now, AbbVie pays an annual dividend of $6.20 at a yield of 4.47%, making it another dividend stock that tops the yield of the S&P 500.
Today, AbbVie is proving it has what it takes to lift its dividend even through difficult times. Humira recently lost exclusivity, which is weighing on earnings, and even though AbbVie is grooming two other immunology candidates to, together, top Humira's peak sales, this won't happen overnight. Yet the company recently emphasized its commitment to dividend growth and announced double-digit growth for those younger immunology candidates.
So, there's reason to be excited about AbbVie's ability to grow both its dividend and earnings over time.
