Daniel Genter, CEO and CIO of RNC Genter Capital Management, has many funds under his watch, but none are as popular as his high dividend income fund.

He believes investors typically approach dividend investments with one of two mandates: One, they just want to make sure the company is paying dividends, and two, they just want the highest dividend return possible. "We want to combine the two."

The strategy
To find the dividend paying stocks worthy of his portfolio, Genter explains in a phone interview with Kapitall all the criteria they must meet:

  • 2.5% minimum yield
  • Dividend increasing 6%-8% per year
  • No cuts in the last five years
  • No payout ratios above 60%
  • High income

If the dividend integrity is there, Genter next looks at a company like a bond investor. This means the balance sheet is reviewed, and the firm decides if it would feel comfortable buying into regular bonds for the company. "We're in a subordinate level, if they're getting squeezed in debt, then it will have negative impact on dividend."

Lastly, the fund acts as if it paid no dividend and conducts a pure evaluation on stock alone in regards to valuation and total return potential. This brings the eligible universe to a limited list, which gets boiled down to 30 names in the focus portfolio.

"There's been some banter about is this [high dividend] space being too crowded, but we don't see it. Just look at the valuations; right now on valuation the stocks are 22 full P/E multiple points below the S&P, so clearly we're able to find undervalued stocks out there paying strong dividends."

Sustainable yields
If you think "that company has a high yield, so I'm going to buy it," then you're walking through a minefield. Instead, if a company has a yield north of 5%, you should be thinking "what's wrong?"

Genter says it doesn't mean that's the case, but you should be thinking about it. "There are many strong companies that are going to be in that area, but once you start to get to 5%-7%, quite often there is a potential problem, but also where you find value."

7% is a reasonable cap because once you've hit this level, there's a fundamental valuation problem. "They're not going to keep yield at that level, and if they cut it, the stock's going to go down even more." For example, Telefonica of Spain has a notable 15.83% yield, but has already cut its dividend twice.

Firm favorites
TOTAL (NYSE: TOT) is a France-based integrated international oil and gas company. Despite the fact that it's European, oil prices are down, and they're recovering from a leak in the North Sea, Genter believes it is a "tremendous buy."

He predicts top line production will grow 3% per year, while maintaining a 7% sustainable dividend. It has a P/E of 6.7. "You're getting paid to be patient. It's radically undervalued. Unless you think oil is going to $55, it's going to grow."

The fund's most recent share purchases include McDonald's and MetLife (NYSE: MET), which have P/Es of 16.4 and 5.64 respectively. McDonald's yields 3.18%, and MetLife 2.4%.

He sees a big future for MetLife in particular. He claims it is very committed to their dividend, and the only reason it's not higher now is because they need federal approval to raise it. However, they have petitioned to sell off their online banking division, and once they're done with that, the Fed will lose control. Genter says he can easily see a 30%-50% increase in MET's dividend yield. "They're a real value at a 5.5 P/E. And they just bought AIG's far eastern operation, which is nice for earnings."

Business section: Investing ideas
"High dividends are our most popular and fastest growing fund. Performance is good and demand for the strategy in the market place is very high."

Do you agree with this strategy, or are you interested in emulating it? Below are some RNC Genter Dividend Income Fund (GDIIX) top holdings from a variety of sectors.

Do you agree that these companies hold sustainable dividends and high growth potential?

Companies grouped by sector. (Click here to access free, interactive tools to analyze these ideas.)

  1. ConocoPhillips
  2. Chevron
  3. Total
  4. Altria
  5. Philip Morris International
  6. Molson Coors Brewing
  7. JPMorgan Chase
  8. AFLAC
  9. BlackRock
  10. Wells Fargo
  11. Johnson & Johnson
  12. Merck
  13. Novartis
  14. Pfizer
  15. Target
  16. Intel
  17. CenturyLink
  18. AT&T
  19. PPL

Interactive Chart: Press Play to compare changes in analyst ratings over the last two years for the stocks mentioned above. Analyst ratings sourced from Zacks Investment Research.


Disclosure: Kapitall's Rebecca Lipman owns shares of PPL.