Defensive Dividend Stocks Offering Value Now, And Comparative ETFs

The accompanying table includes 47 U.S.-listed companies with market caps over $10B and dividend yields over 5%, excluding all companies from the following sectors or industry groups: finance, insurance, consumer cyclical products, retailers, and basic materials in favor of healthcare, consumer staples such as tobacco, telecom services, energy, and utilities. Also, the following dividend ETFs are included in the table as a comparison:

1.) iShares Dow Jones Select Dividend (DVY)

2.) WisdomTree Dividend Top 100 (DTN)

3.) SPDR S&P Dividend ETF (SDY)

4.) PowerShares High Yield Dividend Achievers (PEY)

5.) Vanguard Dividend Appreciation (VIG)

6.) PowerShares International Dividend Achievers (PID)

7.) PowerShares Dividend Achievers (PFM)

Some of the favorite stocks on the list which I have written about previously include Altria Group (MO) and Pfizer (PFE) with dividend yields near 8% each. Also, AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ) are attractive from the telecom services space with yields of about 6% each, with many foreign telcos yielding even more, such as Swisscom (SCMWY.PK), Telstra (TLSYY.PK), France Telecom (FTE), and Deutsche Telekom (DT).

Several values also appear in the beaten up energy sector, such as Sasol (SSL), British Petroleum (BP), PetroChina (PTR), and Repsol YPF (REP). Gas pipeline operator Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (KMP) was the best performing stock and only company to post a gain over the past year, followed by two utilities – Progress Energy (PGN) and Duke Energy (DUK).

For more things defensive, check out the ETF Innovators (ETFI) Highly Defensive PerformIdex of 40 companies based in the U.S., Canada, and Europe with market caps over $10B, which are the leaders by market cap in their defensive industry groups and have outpaced the overall market and existing defensive ETFs over the past year.

Comments

[Bull/Bear R...:]

What happened to the chart? It's completely illegible. Without seeing the chart, it's hard to evaluate, but the most interesting part of the article concerns the international sector. It would be good to know what pressures and protections those international stocks have. We know foreign stocks tend to pay higher dividends, but is that a trap?

2008 Nov 19 08:13 AM

[macromannh:]

chart is lo res & unreadable....

2008 Nov 19 08:28 AM

[Mike Havrilla:]

Try the original post at my blog - click on the image to enlarge and it is easy to view or download:
www.etfinnovators.com/...

On Nov 19 08:28 AM anonNH wrote:

> chart is lo res & unreadable....

2008 Nov 19 09:05 AM

[watertanker:]

Thanks for the printing tip to your blog and it work
much clearer.

2008 Nov 19 09:45 AM

[Old Trader:]

Bull/bear rider,

Re: foreign divvies. About 30% of my portfolio is foreign equity, and the biggest difference between US and foreign divvies, is that 1) most foreign cos. pay on a semi or annual basis, rather than quarterly, and 2) in many/most cases payments are based as a percentage of profits, rather than announced per share figure, so trying to put together an "income stream" is somewhat more problematic. (i.e. If I buy "x" shares of ABC Ltd, I'll get "y" dollars quarterly). More of an issue for someone close to retirement, methinks.

2008 Nov 19 09:46 PM