The pandemic provides a test for our crucial proposition that dividend growth points to quality. We look at recent evidence since the pandemic’s beginning to test this proposition. We find great similarity in performance of dividend growers and high quality on the one hand, and dividend cutters and low quality …
Rising Dividend Portfolio
Separately Managed Account
This portfolio seeks quality, large-cap companies with rising dividends at reasonable valuations. A quality company should have low debt, stable cash flow, and productive assets. We generally look for firms with five or more consecutive calendar years of dividend increases. Moreover, we attempt to buy these quality companies without paying premium prices.
Quality
The watchword for the WCA Rising Dividend Portfolio strategy is quality. We look for resilient, conservatively-financed businesses with a competitive advantage. Academic studies show that quality is one of the few market anomalies that tend to persist over time.
Steadily Rising Dividends
Eligible companies must have demonstrated at least five consecutive years of dividend increases. Failure to raise the dividend is grounds for removal from the portfolio. Yet, we do not see a rising dividend as an end in itself, as much as a means to find quality. Thus, dividend growth rather than dividend yield is most important to us.
Value
Quality endures and we seek to buy it at a reasonable price. We use a proprietary valuation process using leading-edge techniques.
Style Considerations
We seek solid risk-adjusted returns and income growth, but no strategy outperforms in all markets. Quality styles tend to perform better in flat to down markets, but lag in strong bull markets. Because the strategy avoids high debt and volatile earnings, performance can differ substantially from traditional value strategies.
There is more risk in the world than most people realize, and it is often inadequately measured. Here we look at how we measure risk and how quality can help address both volatility and unwanted surprises.
Investing is not just about creating high returns but consistent returns. Therefore, we must contemplate how to address risk well in advance of demanding markets. This commentary addresses how some basic math can help explain the value of investing in high quality.
Easy money policies and rising debt lead us to focus on quality first. In past commentaries, we made a case for owning high-quality firms over low and offer an alternative to “growth and value.” This week, we want to explore how we think about what we pay to own high …
The gardener must sow seed in fertile ground for a garden to grow. Once planted, young seedlings must be cared for and cultivated. If all goes well, the seed grows into an abundant garden, while also producing the seed and nutrients for next year’s plantings. In this way, the gardener …
Our economy grows decade to decade, with corporations capturing an increasing share of global income in the form of profits in recent years. Along the way, low interest rates prompted growth, encouraged risk-taking, and pumped up the value of future profits. It is not surprising, then, that stocks have enjoyed …
Factsheet
Dividend Investing
