3 High Dividend Stocks to Consider

By: Tracey Ryniec

Cutting dividend distributions has been all the rage in the last year, especially among financial companies. 2009 is expected to see of the largest declines in dividends in the S&P 500 since the 1930s as companies cut, or completely eliminate, payouts.

Some companies cut their dividends for the first time in decades including General Electric (GE), which cut from 31 cents to 10 cents in February, the first dividend cut in 71 years. Dow Chemical (DOW) investors also saw their first decline in 97 years.

In a "good" market, high dividend yields are usually seen as an indication that something is wrong with the underlying company. In a "bad" market, it makes investors even more jittery and portends the question: "how long can the company keep paying that?"

Through all the chaos of the last 6 months, these 3 companies continue to pay a hefty dividend, even though 2 of them have actually followed the crowd and cut their dividends. They also have very attractive value characteristics, including low price-to-earnings ratios.

These companies are essentially paying you to wait with them for the economic recovery.

Are you willing to bite?

3 Value Stocks with Juicy Yields

Calumet Specialty Products Partners L.P. (CLMT) produces fuel products including gasoline as well as manufactures customized lubricating oils, solvents, waxes and other products.

The company continues to pay an extremely high dividend with a yield of 15.90%. It recently announced its first quarter distribution of 45 cents per unit. Net income in the first quarter was 67 cents per unit, which surprised on analysts' estimates by 24.07%.

The stock is cheap, with a forward P/E of only 4.9. It also has an outstanding 1-year return on equity (ROE) of 29.64%.

Calumet Specialty is also a Zacks #2 Rank (buy) stock and has surprised on estimates 4 consecutive quarters by 127.69%.

How safe is the dividend?

Calumet Specialty is in the very volatile business of refining. Its fortunes will move with the price of crude as higher crude prices will shrink its margins. But even with record crude prices a year ago, the company continued to pay a 45 cent per unit dividend and has paid 13 consecutive quarterly dividends.

United Online, Inc. (UNTD) operates social networking sites like Classmates.com as well as FTD and Interflora brands and web sites such as ftd.com.

The current dividend yield is 6.00%. Recently the company announced its 17th consecutive quarterly dividend.

The stock is trading at just 6.1x forward earnings. It has a stellar 1-year return on equity (ROE) of 19.94%.

United Online is a Zacks #2 Rank (buy) stock. It surprised on estimates by 45.83% in the first quarter.

How safe is the dividend?

United Online did reduce the dividend by 50% from 20 cents to 10 cents per share in the November 2008 distribution. It has paid 10 cents per share for three consecutive quarters.

Cedar Fair L.P. (FUN) operates 11 amusement parks, six outdoor water parks, one indoor water park and 5 hotels in the United States, including King's Island and Knott's Berry Farm.

The current dividend yield is 8.60%. The partnership has paid a quarterly distribution for 40 consecutive quarters.

FUN is trading at just 7.3x forward earnings. It has an outstanding 1-year return on equity (ROE) of 24.57%.

Cedar Fair is a Zacks #2 Rank (buy) stock. Analysts expect 58.91% year-over-year earnings growth in 2009.

How safe is the dividend?

Cedar Fair announced in March 2009 that it was reducing its distribution from 48 cents to 25 cents in order to reduce debt and strengthen the balance sheet. By lowering the distribution, the partnership believes that it can reduce its debt by $200 million over the next 3 years.

The partnership is looking to sell some assets including 3 of its amusement parks as well as excess land in the Toronto and Cleveland markets.

Despite the recent distribution cut, Cedar Fair is looking to pay a total of $1.00 per unit for 2009, which is still a hefty dividend yielding over 8.00%.

All Distributions Come With Risk

No dividend is completely "safe"- even from those companies, as we have seen, with nearly a 100-year track record of rewarding shareholders. Investors need to read the fine print.

Comments

[YoYoMama:]

The debt load on FUN is of great concern. I would avoid.

I've been in and out of CLMT. The divies are juicy, but it's pricey now, and I would wait for a dip.

May 20 08:45 AM

[Dividend Gr...:]

I would second YYM on FUN's debt concerns. After acquiring paramount parks in 2005 the company took on a pretty high amount of debt. With Six Flags facing challenges, the whole park amusement industry not doing too well, I wonder who would purchase the parks.
Sure they could sell the park in Kansas City, but I doubt this is enough.

May 20 01:09 PM