If you “sell in May and go away” this year, you could be putting a whole year’s worth of returns at risk.

Now is the time to be adding top-notch dividend stocks to your portfolio. I’ll give you four my “second-level analysis” has uncovered in a moment.

First, here’s why “sell in May” is a flawed strategy that could cost you money.

True, stocks typically struggle in the summer months: since 1950, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained an average of 0.4% from May through October, according to the Stock Trader’s Almanac, compared to a 7.5% rise from November through April.… Read more

On Wall Street, there’s a familiar saying: the next crisis won’t look like the last one. If true, it means the next crisis won’t be in the mortgage market—it will be somewhere else.

There are reasons to feel confident about this hypothesis. Mortgage delinquency rates are falling significantly, according to data from the Federal Reserve. Back in the first quarter of 2010, delinquencies on single-family mortgages peaked at 11.26% – they’ve declined steadily since, and are quickly approaching 5%.

Mortgage Delinquency Rates Continue to Decline

Several analysts believe that on-time mortgage payments will continue to improve. Delinquencies are still high by historic standards – throughout most of the 1990s and in the 2000s, defaults stayed below 3%.… Read more

The buy-the-headline crowd is at it again. This time, they’re dumping real estate investment trusts (REITs) based on a small uptick in 10-year bond yields.

Earlier this week, the yield on the 10-year Treasury broke through 1.90% after moving in a range between 1.70% and 1.80% for the better part of April.

As is often the case, the jump had the opposite effect on REITs. Here’s how the Vanguard REIT Index ETF (VNQ), my favorite REIT ETF and a good proxy for the sector, has performed in the past week:

Why the decline? Investors are worried rising rates will make REITs less attractive, as yields on so-called “safe” investments like Treasuries shoot higher.… Read more

There are two easy ways to make sure your portfolio beats the market averages, and most professionals too. The first you already know: Buy dividend payers, preferably those that boost their payout annually. The second is just as simple…

Buy the dividend raisers that analysts hate the most.

We see it repeatedly – the highest rated stocks lag the dogs. When every analyst is already bullish, the only possible change in grade is a downgrade!

Bespoke Investment Group ran the numbers for the first quarter of 2016. The S&P was roughly flat (up 0.8%), while the biggest dividend payers rolled (soaring 10.2% collectively).… Read more

Study after study has shown that stocks that pay dividends—and grow them every year—are the best way to beat the market. These payouts also give you “bear insurance” because they can tide you over when your investments hit a rough patch.

But just looking for companies that hike their dividends annually isn’t enough. You need strong dividend growth, too. So you’ll want to avoid stocks like AT&T (T), which has raised its quarterly dividend just $0.01 a year since 2008. Big deal!

With that in mind, I’d like to share three “anti-AT&Ts” my research has recently uncovered—undervalued gems poised to double their payouts in the next five years.… Read more

Certain stocks are beating the S&P while paying dividends three to seven times the market’s average. Thanks to gradual improvements in the economy and higher interest rates, these stocks have trounced the S&P 500 in 2016, and should continue to do so.

Business development corporations (BDCs) have bounced back spiritedly from their early 2016 slump, buoyed by their steady and significant payouts. The best performers of the group have outperformed by a wide margin year-to-date—specifically Main Street Capital (MAIN), Goldman Sachs BDC (GSBD), and Triangle Capital (TCAP).

Big Payers With Better Returns

GSBD is managed by Goldman Sachs (GS), and has access to daddy’s massive investment bank’s rolodex.… Read more

With valuations stretched and earnings sagging—a forecast 7.9% drop for S&P 500 companies in the first quarter—it’s getting tougher to find reliable dividend growers at bargain prices.

You won’t find much comfort in the latest research from FactSet, either: in the fourth quarter, S&P 500 dividend per share (DPS) growth came in at 9.5%. That’s still healthy, but it’s the first time that figure has dipped into single digits since 2011.

But you should take that news with a huge grain of salt, because one sector—energy—carries most of the blame. In Q4, year-over-year DPS growth plunged to 2.4% among S&P 500 energy stocks, from 11.6% in Q3.… Read more