Do you know the red flags to look for when evaluating dividend stocks? Even if a company keeps making its payments as scheduled, there could still be problems that aren't apparent. With that in mind, here are five things you should make sure to look for when evaluating dividend stocks as potential investments, and when checking up on the dividend stocks in your portfolio.
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If your dividend stocks meet any of these five criteria, it may be a sign of trouble ahead.
Matthew Frankel owns shares of LINN Energy, LLC and Transocean. The Motley Fool owns shares of ExxonMobil, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, Intel, and Microsoft. The Motley Fool recommends and owns shares of Apple and Facebook. The Motley Fool recommends Coca-Cola, Facebook, GlaxoSmithKline, Intel, Johnson & Johnson, and Procter & Gamble. The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2016 $37 calls on Coca-Cola, short January 2016 $43 calls on and short January 2016 $37 puts on Coca-Cola. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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