Could you or your portfolio use a little more reliable income? Quality dividend stocks are the obvious answer. But which ones? There are so many! And the ever-changing economic backdrop makes it even more difficult to figure out which names are your best bets right now.
Don't sweat it. If you're looking for some new dividend payers, here are three great options that could serve you well. They're also flying off of most investors' radars right now, making them even better buys this month.
1. Agree Realty
Technically, it's not a stock. Agree Realty(NYSE: ADC) is actually a real estate investment trust, or REIT. These companies own rental and revenue-bearing real estate, such as hotels, shopping centers, apartment complexes, and office buildings, and pass on the bulk of their net profits to shareholders in exchange for favorable tax rates.
It's a business structure that lends itself to the recurring payment of dividends.
Agree Realty's specialty is retail properties. That's a concerning prospect ... on the surface. After all, the nation's brick-and-mortar retailing industry seems to be slowly imploding, largely thanks to the ongoing growth of e-commerce. Industry research outfit Coresight reports that more than 3,000 U.S. storefronts have shuttered this year or at least announced plans to do so.
It's a headwind, however, that isn't necessarily the threat to Agree Realty that it superficially seems like it should be.
See, Agree's 45-million-square-foot retail selling space spread across 2,161 different properties is occupied by the industry's most resilient companies. Retail stalwart Walmart is its top tenant, accounting for 6% of its collectible rent. Tractor Supply and Dollar General are major renters as well. These aren't just retailers that can afford to make their rent payments. These companies invest heavily in a new store's success -- they're well incentivized to remain operational in a locale for as long as is feasibly possible.
The kicker: Agree Realty is a net lease REIT, meaning it's the tenants that cover the costs of things like taxes, maintenance, and insurance.
The proof is in the numbers, of course. That's where Agree Realty really shines. Not only has it paid a dividend every month since early 2021 (when it switched from making quarterly payments), but its annual dividend payouts have grown at an annualized, inflation-beating pace of 5.6% for the past decade. Newcomers will be plugging into this ticker while its forward-looking yield stands at just under 4.9%.
2. Pfizer
There's no denying that drugmaker Pfizer(NYSE: PFE) doesn't quite turn heads the way it used to. Indeed, the company hasn't been a pharmaceutical royalty since its patent on cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor expired in 2011.
The rise of several smaller (and surprisingly successful) biopharma players has also kept the industry's "old guard" names in check. That's a big reason Pfizer shares have been subpar performers since peaking in late 2021 when the need for its COVID-19 vaccine, co-developed with BioNTech, and its Paxlovid treatment began waning.
Lost in all this disinterest, however, is that Pfizer remains a reliable dividend stock.
Credit the nature of its business and its product lineup in particular. While the company still develops blockbuster drugs, like cancer-fighting Ibrance and blood-thinner Eliquis, roughly half of its revenue collectively comes from the two dozen treatments you've barely even (if ever) heard of.
These therapies have modest demand and little growth potential, which is why Pfizer's revenue growth rate is typically in the low single digits. But these drugs are also relatively easy to manufacture, perpetually marketable, and face little competition capable of standing up to the marketing firepower this industry giant enjoys.
Of course, if Pfizer can hit the occasional homerun, like it did with Lipitor or Ibrance, then so much the better.
As was the case with Agree Realty, numbers tell the tale. Pfizer hasn't just paid dividends like clockwork for decades. It's now raised its annual dividend payout for 15 consecutive years, and it would certainly like to maintain this streak going forward.
Investors buying the stock today will be stepping in while the forward-looking yield is a healthy 6%.
3. Rithm Capital
Last but not least, income-seeking investors may want to consider stepping into a stake in Rithm Capital(NYSE: RITM) while its forward-looking dividend yield stands at right around 9%.
It's not a conventional company like Pfizer. It's technically organized as a REIT, like Agree Realty, although that doesn't adequately explain Rithm Capital's business model either. Rather, Rithm owns a variety of real estate-related businesses, including mortgage loan servicing operations, appraisal services, lending, property management, and the speculative buying and selling of real estate. All told it holds $42 billion worth of various assets, each generating income that contributes to funding its dividends that have been paid every quarter since Rithm was founded in 2013.
There's a critical detail about these payments that interested investors absolutely must understand. That is, they're inconsistent. They can -- and do -- rise and fall from one year and even one quarter to the next. This recent inconsistency is largely attributable to interest rate volatility, although Rithm's businesses certainly aren't immune to economic turbulence either. That's why this ticker may not be well-suited as your first or only dividend stock.
RITM Dividend data by YCharts. EPS = earnings per share.
Most factors (like rapidly rising interest rates, a global pandemic, and rampant inflation) that have disrupted this REIT's dividend payments in recent years are finally stabilizing, though. You'd likely be stepping in at a high yield based on dividend payments that can be sustained from here.
Should you invest $1,000 in Agree Realty right now?
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James Brumley has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Pfizer and Walmart. The Motley Fool recommends BioNTech Se and Tractor Supply. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
