2 Biggest Surprise Dividend Stocks Winners of 2016

2016 offered plenty of surprises for investors, most of them positive. After beginning last year with an early-year sell-off, major stock market indices marched steadily upward for the remainder of the year, ending with double-digit gains for the sixth time in the last eight years. Like every year, some individual stocks vastly outperformed the stock market's return. Here's a quick snapshot of two dividend stocks that easily beat the broad market's return last year.

Shares of specialty printer Quad/Graphics (NYSE:QUAD) cratered 60% in 2015 as declining revenue and pricing pressure in the second half of the year caused the formerly profitable commercial printing company to swing to a loss on the year. Led by CEO Joel Quadracci, the company enacted an aggressive cost-cutting program in 2016 that allowed it to reverse this trend and return to profitability in a series of impressive early 2016 earnings beats that sent its shares soaring. High-yield dividend stock Kronos Worldwide (NYSE:KRO) is an important reminder that not everything that glitters is necessarily gold. The company produces and sells titanium dioxide, a pigment used across a wide range of industrial applications such as house paints and clothing fabrics. Kronos stock has been on a tear over the last 12 months, despite an ongoing price slump for titanium dioxide.

Source: Motley Fool

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