Sometimes it's easy to forget that, just like mint-chocolate ice cream, the total return from a stock is a delicious combination of two factors: an income return from dividends and capital appreciation of the stock's price.
Both are equally important, though you'll be hard-pressed to find headlines in The Wall Street Journal highlighting the fact that Intel's
You don't hear about dividend returns very often because ... well, they're not sensational like big, daily price swings are, and thus don't make good breaking news stories on CNBC.
Good things come in small checks
Still, dividends deserve more of your attention. Not only do they provide a steady and real return of cash, but paired with a growing company, they can also be reinvested to buy more shares and augment your overall return. Consider the case of luxury jeweler Tiffany & Co.
The stock fell nearly 65% from $46.01 on January 2, 2008, to about $16.70 in March 2009. Fortunately, Tiffany stock has since recovered and trades for about $50 today. Had you bought shares for $46.01 in January 2008 and held them through today, you're back to positive territory. If you'd reinvested your dividends over this two-year period, you would have added shares when the stock traded in the low $20s, and today your returns would be about five percentage points better.
That's the beauty of reinvesting dividends -- it forces you to invest more without having to think about it.
To find stocks that can deliver both growth and income, I used the following screen:
- Return on equity greater than 15%: We want our companies to earn market-beating rates of return on their equity.
- Sufficient free cash flow cover (less than 60%): It's important that our companies generate enough free cash flow (cash from operations minus capital expenditures) to cover their dividend payouts and increase them down the road.
- Dividend yield of more than 2%: With the S&P average yield currently around 1.7%, we want to generate enough income to make it worth our while.
Here are five stocks that meet the criteria for growth and income:
|
Company |
Return on Equity |
Free Cash Flow |
Dividend Yield |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Waste Management |
16.3% |
48% |
3.6% |
|
Campbell Soup |
78.3% |
40% |
3.1% |
|
H&R Block |
56.8% |
32% |
3.3% |
|
General Mills |
28.5% |
38% |
2.7% |
|
Mattel |
26% |
34% |
3.2% |
Data provided by Capital IQ, as of March 16.
Put the cash to work
Whatever your risk tolerance or time horizon, don't underestimate the importance of income returns for your portfolio. Indeed, dividend stocks can end up being the most unlikely growth stocks you'll ever own because, among other things, dividend payouts force managers to allocate capital more efficiently, delivering superior and more sustainable returns for shareholders.
If you're looking for more dividend stock ideas, our Motley Fool Income Investor service can help. Advisor James Early and the Income Investor team recommend both stocks with high yields and those focused more on dividend growth. At present, their picks yield 4.3% on average and have outperformed the S&P by six percentage points on average since the service's inception in 2003.
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This article was originally published on Nov. 27, 2009. It has been updated.
Fool analyst Todd Wenning is looking forward to another Cincinnati Reds season. He does not own shares of any company mentioned. Intel and Waste Management are Motley Fool Inside Value selections. Waste Management is a Motley Fool Income Investor pick. Motley Fool Options has recommended a buy calls position on Intel. The Fool has created a covered strangle position on Intel and has a disclosure policy.
