Unilever: 3.5% Dividend Yield And Emerging Market Growth

U.K. based stocks have sold off over the past few months. The British pound has declined significantly against the U.S. dollar. And, there is elevated geopolitical risk facing the U.K., in the aftermath of this year’s Brexit vote.

One of the stocks getting hit hardest is consumer staples giant Unilever (UL). Unilever stock has declined 18% in just the past three months.

This presents an interesting opportunity for investors. The share price decline has brought Unilever’s valuation down to an attractive level. And, its dividend yield has risen to 3.5%.

In the consumer staples sector, Procter & Gamble (PG) is usually the default stock choice. There is no doubting P&G’s tremendous dividend track record. P&G is a Dividend Aristocrat, a group of S&P 500 companies that have increased their dividends for more than 25 years.

You can see the entire list of Dividend Aristocrats by clicking here.

Unilever is not a Dividend Aristocrat. It does not have as long of a history of dividend growth as Procter & Gamble. But Unilever is a strong dividend stock on its own, and is worthy of further consideration by income investors.

Business Overview

Unilever is a global consumer products company. It is based in London and has more than 160,000 employees. Unilever was founded in 1885.

The company has a massive product line, roughly evenly balanced between food and consumer products. It has 13 individual brands that each collect more than $1 billion in annual sales, which are:

Overall, the business model is organized into the following categories:

Despite a difficult macro-economic climate, Unilever is performing well right now. In 2015, Unilever’s revenue increased 10%. Double-digit revenue growth is very uncommon in the consumer staples sector.