5 Great Dividend Growth Stocks for Assured Returns in 2020

In a low-interest-rate environment, dividend investing has been a hot spot and seems an excellent choice for 2020. Though the strategy doesn’t offer dramatic price appreciation, it is a major source of consistent income for investors in any type of market. In particular, focusing on the growth level in this strategy leads to higher returns.

Why is Dividend Growth Better?

Stocks that have a strong history of dividend growth belong to mature companies, which are less susceptible to large swings in the market, and thus act as a hedge against economic or political uncertainty as well as stock market volatility. At the same time, these offer downside protection with their consistent increase in payouts.

Additionally, these stocks have superior fundamentals that make dividend growth a quality and promising investment for the long term. These include a sustainable business model, a long track of profitability, rising cash flows, good liquidity, a strong balance sheet and some value characteristics. Further, a history of strong dividend growth indicates that dividend increase is likely in the future.

Moreover, a history of dividend growth year over year leads to a healthy portfolio with greater scope of capital appreciation as opposed to simple dividend paying stocks or those with high yields. Although these stocks do not necessarily have the highest yields, they have outperformed for a longer period than the broader stock market or any other dividend-paying stock.

As a result, picking dividend growth stocks appears as a winning strategy when some other parameters are also included.

5-Year Historical Dividend Growth greater than zero: This selects stocks with a solid dividend growth history.

5-Year Historical Sales Growth greater than zero: This represents stocks with a strong record of growing revenues.

5-Year Historical EPS Growth greater than zero: This represents stocks with a solid earnings growth history.

Next 3-5 Year EPS Growth Rate greater than zero: This represents the rate at which a company’s earnings are expected to grow. Improving earnings should help companies sustain dividend payments.

Price/Cash Flow less than M-Industry: A ratio less than M-industry indicates that the stock is undervalued in that industry and that an investor needs to pay less for better cash flow generated by the company.

52-Week Price Change greater than S&P 500 (Market Weight): This ensures that the stock appreciated more than the S&P 500 over the past year.

Top Zacks Rank: Stocks having a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and 2 (Buy) generally outperform their peers in all types of market environment.

Growth Score of B or better: Our research shows that stocks with a Growth Score of A or B when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 or 2 offer the best upside potential.

Just these few criteria narrowed down the universe from over 7,700 stocks to just 21.

Here are five of the 21 stocks that fit the bill:

California-based SYNNEX Corporation SNX is a business process services company providing business-to-business services to customers and business partners. It has seen solid earnings estimate revision of 70 cents over the past 30 days for the fiscal year (ending November 2020) and has an expected earnings growth rate of 5.3%. The stock has a Zacks Rank #1 and Growth Score of A. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Tennessee-based Dollar General Corporation DG is a discount retailer providing various merchandise products in the southern, southwestern, midwestern and eastern United States. It is expected to see earnings growth of 11.4% for the fiscal year (ending January 2020) and delivered a positive earnings surprise of 4.34%, on average, in the last four quarters. The stock has a Zacks Rank #2 and Growth Score of B.

Virginia-based Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation BAH is engaged in providing management and technology consulting services to the U.S. government in the defense, intelligence and civil markets. The company has an estimated earnings growth rate of 13.4% for the fiscal year (March 2020) and delivered a positive earnings surprise of 15.01%, on average, for the past four quarters. Booz Allen has a Zacks Rank #2 and Growth Score of A.

New York-based Morgan Stanley MS is the leading financial services holding company that provides various financial products and services to corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. The company has seen solid earnings estimate revision of 16 cents for this year over the past month and has an estimated earnings growth rate of 0.9%. It has a Zacks Rank #1 and Growth Score of B.

Massachusetts-based Raytheon Company RTN is one of the largest aerospace and defense companies in the United States with a diversified line of military products, including missiles, radars, sensors, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment, communication and information systems, naval systems, air traffic control systems, and technical services. It delivered a positive earnings surprise of 8.60%, on average, for the past four quarters and has an expected earnings growth rate of 8.7% for 2020. The stock has a Zacks Rank #2 and Growth Score of A.

You can get the rest of the stocks on this list by signing up now for your 2-week free trial to the Research Wizard and start using this screen in your own trading. Further, you can also create your own strategies and test them first before taking the investment plunge.

The Research Wizard is a great place to begin. It's easy to use. Everything is in plain language. And it's very intuitive. Start your Research Wizard trial today. And the next time you read an economic report, open up the Research Wizard, plug your finds in, and see what gems come out.

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Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material.

Disclosure: Performance information for Zacks’ portfolios and strategies are available at: https://www.zacks.com/performance.

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SYNNEX Corporation (SNX) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Raytheon Company (RTN) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Morgan Stanley (MS) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Dollar General Corporation (DG) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (BAH) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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