13 Dividend Stocks Passing Rigorous Quality, Growth And Valuation Filter

Only 13 dividend stocks passed basic filter criteria out of the hundreds in the Dividend Champions and Contenders in Dave Fish’s valuable lists

Most of those stocks are rated negatively from a technical perspective

Only 1 stock passed all the filter criteria and is also rated positively technically

In search of high quality dividend stocks, we performed this basic filter on Sunday October 4, 2015, and found only 13 prospects, most of which are not attractive in terms of current price behavior, but which may have long-term appeal:

Using David Fish’s dividend stocks lists, the stocks had to have paid and increased dividends for at least 10 years, and the dividend growth rate for 1, 3, 5 and 10 years each had to be at least 2%.

Using Wright’s quality ratings, the stocks had to be rated A or B for “investor acceptance”, A or B for “financial strength”, A or B for “profitability and stability”, and at least 4 on a 20 point scale for “growth” (each of the four dimensions based on eight parameters)

Using Standard & Poor’s Capital IQ ratings, the stocks had to be rated at least 3 on a 5 point scale for year ahead performance, and at least 3 on a 5 point scale for fair value pricing.

Using Fidelity’s equity summary score, the stocks had to be rated neutral or better (>3.1 on a 10 point scale)

Using Street Consensus data, the stocks had to have a positive PEG that is 2.0 or less; and a 12-month target price that is at least 5% above the current price

The current yield must have been at least 2%.

Out of the thousands of listed stocks, and the hundreds of stocks in Fish’s lists, and the hundreds of stocks with high Wright’s quality ratings, only 13 passed those filter criteria — and most of those right now, like the overall market, have negative technical ratings.

(EV) Eaton Vance

(TROW) T. Rowe Price Group

(ACE) Ace Limited

(UTX) United Technologies

(IBM) International Business Machines

(CAH) Cardinal Health

(CHRW) C.H. Robinson Worldwide

(FAST) Fastenal

(GPS) The Gap

(CSX) CSX Corporation

(TRV) The Travelers Companies

(CMI) Cummins