Five Dividend Stocks You Can Count On

Companies with strong balance sheets and high dividends will end up as one of the few safe harbors for investors if the economy continues to cool. It is hard to imagine how the recent stock market rally can continue if July's jobless figures show little employment growth, third quarter GDP expansion looks weak, and home prices continue to drop.

A number of publicly traded firms with attractive share yields may have to cut those dividends if their earnings are damaged for the rest of the year. Big U.S. banks, which have only recently reinstated payouts, face difficult quarters as bad loans for homes and credit cards remain relatively high, and investment bank income drops as M&A, corporate finance and equity finance deals slow. Proprietary trading operations, once the most profitable divisions of financial firms, have been spun off due to financial reform regulations. Still, there are a few large companies with high yields that will almost certainly keep dividends as they are. These have ironclad balance sheets and cash flow which is not likely to be undermined badly even if the economy falters.

Source: Daily Finance

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