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Buy These Top Dividend Growth Stocks Amid Volatility

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Bouts of volatility and uncertainty in the stock market have compelled investors once again to search for consistent income. In this regard, nothing is better than dividend investing. Though the strategy doesn’t offer dramatic price appreciation, it is a major source of consistent income for investors in any type of market.

While several dividend stocks could provide capital appreciation, honing in on stocks with a history of dividend growth leads to a healthy portfolio, with a greater scope of capital appreciation as opposed to simple dividend-paying stocks or those with high yields.

Peep Into the Strategy

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 a dividend hike is likely in the future.

Furthermore, these have a long history of outperformance over the long term. However, it does not necessarily mean that they have the highest yields.

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 16.

Here are five of the 16 stocks that fit the bill:

Chicago-based Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. (JLL - Free Report) is a leading full-service real estate firm that provides corporate, financial and investment management services to corporations and other real estate owners, users and investors worldwide. The company has seen solid earnings estimate revision of $3.37 over the past 30 days for this year and has an expected earnings growth rate of 62.5%. 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.

Illinois-based Deere & Company (DE - Free Report) is the world’s largest producer of agricultural equipment, manufacturing agricultural machinery since 1837 under the iconic John Deere brand with its signature green and yellow color scheme. The stock saw solid earnings estimate revision of 6 cents over the past 30 days for the fiscal year (ending October 2021) and has an estimated earnings growth rate of 107.6%. It carries a Zacks Rank #2 and has a Growth Score of B.

California-based Robert Half International Inc. (RHI - Free Report) is one of the world's largest providers of professional consulting and staffing services. The company saw solid earnings estimate revision of 73 cents over the past 30 days for this year with an expected earnings growth rate of 81.1%. The stock has a Zacks Rank #2 and Growth Score of A.

Michigan-based Penske Automotive Group Inc. (PAG - Free Report) is engaged in the operation of automotive and commercial truck dealerships in the United States, Canada and Western Europe. The company saw solid earnings estimate revision of $2.83 over the past 30 days for this year and has an expected earnings growth rate of 97.3%. It has a Zacks Rank #1 and Growth Score of A.

Massachusetts-based Watts Water Technologies Inc. (WTS - Free Report) designs, manufactures and sells various water safety and flow control products for the water quality, water conservation, water safety and water flow control markets. The company saw solid earnings estimate revision of 39 cents over the past 30 days for this year with an expected earnings growth rate of 33.5%. Watts Water has a Zacks Rank #2 and Growth Score of B.

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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