Stocks With Yields Up to 18%

Yield-hungry investors have been scouring the landscape for attractive stocks and dividend-based mutual funds. Still, it's possible to find yields that are much better than current returns on certificates of deposit and even longer-term government debt. The key, of course, is how much risk you're willing to accept in return for an attractive yield. Using Standard & Poor's MarketScope Advisor, several "10 best" lists of high-yielding stocks can be created. S&P now tracks nearly 14,000 equities around the world.

Among these MarketScope stocks, nearly 2,400 currently pay a dividend that provides an annualized rate of return of at least 5 percent, based on the price of the stock as of the market close on Aug. 13. Just picking the highest dividend yields from this list is not a good strategy. You, your broker, or financial advisor also must evaluate the sustainability of that payout. For example, the highest dividend yield on the S&P list was nearly 1,940 percent! Hey, that's nearly as good as a 2007 real estate hedge fund that bet against the housing market. But S&P says the company is losing money and the cumulative market value of all its shares is only $340,000. Don't call us, we'll call you.

Source: US News and World Report

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