Dividends from a quality, well-diversified portfolio are much more predictable than capital gains and best of all, they are passive. You don’t have to do anything, they just show up in your brokerage account each quarter. Inflation? Not to worry, the good companies routinely raise their dividends well in excess of the inflation rate.

From our Interactive Earnings Report Database, below we have filtered out the US stocks that have historically been the most volatile on their earnings report days. To calculate this, we use the average absolute percentage change on all earnings report days for each stock that has reported earnings going back to 2001. (If a stock is up 10% on one day and down 20% on the next day, the average absolute 1-day change is 15%.)

The stocks below all have at least 10 quarterly earnings reports in our database and are trading higher than $5/share. As shown, FSLR has historically been the most volatile stock on earnings with an average daily change of +/-17.71%! in our database. MFLX isn't far behind at +/-17.03%. A stock that gains or loses nearly 20% of its value on every quarterly report is a day trader's dream. Other notables on the list of the most volatile stocks on earnings include ISRG, PCLN, UAUA, NFLX, and SNDK. For those interested, we also provide each stock's expected upcoming earnings report date.

Checking the pulse of dividend increases is an exercise whose goal is to uncover potential dividend growth plays that I might have otherwise missed out on. Another reason for that is to refute the idea that dividend investing is dead. It is also interesting to look for trends in the data, while browsing through the list of dividend increasers. While the REITs have been slaughtered along with other financials, Master Limited Partnerships and consumer staples have done pretty well. But just because I wrote about a certain stock, does not mean that I am going to add it to my portfolio. I need to research it and make sure that it could afford growing its generous distributions.

Stanley Works (SWK), which a diversified worldwide supplier of security solutions for commercial applications as well as tools and engineered solutions for professional, industrial, construction and do-it-yourself use, increased its quarterly dividend by 3.1% to 33 cents a share.

For those of you who believe like Robert De Niro’s character, Louis Cyphre, in the 1987 movie Angle Heart, that “the future isn’t what it used to be”, then the Money Show appearing in Las Vegas now is the place to be. In addition to the permabears, gold bugs, get-rich-quick traders, emerald colored horticulturist, emerging companies from China and natural resources income plays are on display.

If you believe as I do that the paper asset run from the early 1980s, added by 25 years of falling interest rates and inflation, deregulation and easy credit, is kaput, then the obvious question is how one diversifies intelligently investments today for tomorrow. Upon the first lap around the exhibitors’ floor, certain potential investment plays caught my attention.

Yet another notable dividend aristocrat raised its dividends last week following Procter and Gamble’s (PG) 10% dividend increase last week. This brings the total year to date dividend increases in the S&P dividend aristocrats index to 18, versus only 5 dividend cuts so far in 2009.

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), which engages in the research and development, manufacture, and sale of various products in the health care field worldwide, announced a 6.50% boost in its quarterly dividend to $0.49 per share. Johnson & Johnson is a dividend aristocrat, which has rewarded its shareholders with an uninterrupted streak of increased dividends for 47 consecutive years. The stock currently yields 3.60%. Check out my analysis of Johnson & Johnson. I would consider adding on to my J&J stake as long as the stock is below $65.