James Brumley, The Motley Fool
5 min read
Not all dividend stocks are the same. Oh, they all obviously generate recurring investment income. But only a handful of them are truly reliable enough to be held through anything the market might throw your way.
With that as the backdrop, here’s a rundown of my top-three dividend picks to buy and hold no matter what the market does. They’re built to continually crank out their payments in the bad times as well as the good ones. Notice what all three have in common.
Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a “Double Down” signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same “Total Conviction” signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »
Verizon
What’s the likelihood that you’ll give up the handheld device you take with you wherever you go and that keeps you constantly connected to the rest of the world? If you’re like the 98% of Americans who own a mobile phone and the 91% who specifically own a smartphone (according to Pew Research), that’s unlikely to happen in the foreseeable future — if ever. We’re just too dependent on them perhaps to the point of being addicted.
Data from Harmony Healthcare IT indicates the average adult in the United States spends over five hours every day looking at their phone’s screen. Mental health matters aside, these numbers are good news for wireless service provider Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ). It means people will reliably make their monthly payments to keep their phones turned on.
The company just needs to ensure its service and prices are competitive. And it is. As of the end of March, Verizon was serving 146.8 million different wireless connections.
There’s some growth potential, even beyond what’s driven solely by persistent price increases. While the mobile market is well saturated, Verizon is making impressive progress in broadband internet, adding 341,000 paying broadband customers in the first quarter, bringing its paying customer count to nearly 16.8 million. This still only scratches the surface of this business’s potential.
Meanwhile, Verizon is building a business specifically meant to provide factories, schools, and corporate campuses with the communication solutions they increasingly need.
Perhaps more important to interested investors, this relatively young company — created in 2000 through the merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE — has now upped its per-share dividend payment for 19 consecutive years. With a solid track record like that already in place, it’s a pretty safe bet that this telecom powerhouse will do everything in its power to avoid starting that clock all over again.
