Even after the "Great Rally of 2009," there are still screaming buys you can snap up today.

In fact, a top market scholar recently declared that buying them is "your best long-term investment."

I'll share this professor's reasons -- and some stocks to profit from his advice -- in just a second, but first let's look at why these bargains even exist.

Not all stocks went way up in 2009
According to Kiplinger's, "non-dividend-paying stocks in Standard & Poor's 500-stock index left dividend payers in the dust."

It's not hard to see why.

Nearly 80 companies in that index -- including long-term dividend giants like General Electric (NYSE:GE) and Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) -- cut or decreased their payouts. This drop in payouts (the greatest ever since the end of World War II), along with the fear that more dividend cuts might come, sent many investors running to unload their shares of dividend-paying stocks.

But what most dividend investors are missing is that these dividend cuts were isolated. In fact, as this market scholar I mentioned writes, "the entire decline in dividends can be attributed to the financial sector."

In all other sectors of the S&P 500 (from retailers like CVS Caremark (NYSE:CVS) to energy companies like ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM)), dividends have risen ... during the recession!

This means that these stocks -- dividend payers that raised payments, yet still lag the market over the past year -- are the stocks that Wharton Business School professor and author Jeremy Siegel believes investors should be buying right now.

For specific examples
Here's a list of three companies that perfectly fit the mold I just outlined. That is, companies that have raised their dividends over the past two years, and yet are still lagging the market over that period.

Company

Market Cap

Dividend Yield

2-Year Dividend per Share CAGR

Boeing (NYSE:BA)

$44 billion

2.9%

9.6%

Monsanto (NYSE:MON)

$46 billion

1.4%

74.9%

AT&T (NYSE:T)

$159 billion

6.5%

7.5%

Data from Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's. CAGR = compounded annual growth rate.

These are exactly the sorts of dividend-paying stocks that James Early, a former hedge fund analyst and current Motley Fool Income Investor advisor, looks for in his service. And a whopping 81% of his stocks are beating the market.

Recently, James put together a "core portfolio" of top dividend stocks, consisting of six dividend payers he believes every investor should use as a platform to profitable dividend investing. You can see this portfolio completely free with a 30-day trial to his newsletter as my guest today. Just click here for more information.

Adam J. Wiederman doesn't own shares of the companies mentioned above. Monsanto is a Motley Fool Inside Value recommendation. The Fool's disclosure policy is outlined here.