Dividend Stocks Offerring Growth and Protection

American companies are in a unique position relative to their counterparts in Europe and those in some emerging markets. Cash generation, repayment of debt, low interest rates and record earnings are combining to lower American corporate cost of capital, improve their balance sheets and return more value to shareholders. With that in mind, I decided to seek out companies with low WACC (weighted average cost of capital), high Altman Z-Scores (a measure of balance sheet health), high ROCE (return on common equity) and above-market-average dividend yields.

After I performed the analytic screen, I examined the top-rated companies for their fundamental outlook and eliminated any stocks I did not believe were worthy of an investment. These stocks will provide both moderate growth opportunities along with financial protection and strong cash flow. In addition, these firms can leverage their already strong balance sheets at low costs in order to expand existing business capability and make acquisitions while still returning cash to investors.

Source: The Street

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