Each of the 54 Dividend Aristocrats was ranked using The 8 Rules of Dividend Investing. The 8 Rules of Dividend Investing take into account yield, valuation, growth, and volatility to determine the strongest dividend stocks to invest in without bias. The Top 7 Dividend Aristocrats using The 8 Rules of Dividend Investing are:
- Wal-Mart
- ExxonMobil
- PepsiCo
- McDonald’s
- Coca-Cola
- Abbott Laboratories
- AFLAC
The seven stocks above are a good mix between Energy (ExxonMobil), Retail (Wal-Mart), consumer offerings (PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s), health care (Abbott Labs), and insurance (AFL). The top 7 Dividend Aristocrats are listed in order above.  This article will give an investment thesis for each of these 7 high quality businesses.
Wal-Mart Investment Thesis
Wal-Mart is the largest retailer in the world and the 8th largest publicly traded corporation in the U.S. The company has generated over $480 billion in sales over the last 12 months and has a market cap of nearly $270 billion. Wal-Mart operates 11,156 stores over 5 continents and employs about 2.2 million people, making it the largest corporate employer in the world. Wal-Mart has accomplished all this in only 52 years; the company was founded in 1962.
Wal-Mart is slowly repositioning itself to take advantage of growing e-commerce demand. The company generated over $10 billion in e-commerce sales in its fiscal 2015 and is expecting 30% to 40% e-commerce growth over the next several years. Wal-Mart is investing heavily in digital and e-commerce growth. The company recently announced it would invest between $1.2 billion and $1.5 billion in digital growth in its fiscal 2016. This number will likely be even higher over the next several years.
Wal-Mart’s planned digital growth will slow brick and mortar growth somewhat. With that said, Wal-Mart is experiencing strong growth in its US neighborhood market stores. These stores are Wal-Mart’s take on grocery stores. Neighborhood market stores grew comparable store sales 5.5% in the company’s most recent quarter.
Going forward, investors in Wal-Mart can expect 20%+ growth in e-commerce, combined with slow growth in the company’s brick and mortar stores. Wal-Mart is a timely investment. The company is currently trading at a P/E ratio of about 17 and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Wal-Mart appears undervalued as it is trading for less than the S&P 500’s P/E ratio of about 20. The company makes an excellent investment for long-term investors seeking years of growth from e-commerce and traditional stores combined with growing dividend payments. Additionally, investors may see short-term gains from a rise in the company’s P/E ratio if Wal-Mart reports strong comparable store sales growth or e-commerce growth in its next quarter release.
ExxonMobil Investment Thesis
ExxonMobil is the largest oil and gas corporation in the world with a market cap of around $388 billion. The company generates about 80% of its operating income from its highly profitable upstream operations. ExxonMobil can trace its lineage back to Rockefeller’s Standard Oil.
ExxonMobil’s investment thesis is simple. The stock is undervalued due to low oil prices and will very likely rise with oil prices. ExxonMobil currently trades at a P/E ratio of under 12. In the meantime, investors profit from the company’s 3% dividend yield. ExxonMobil has weathered low oil prices before. In 2009, oil prices fell to $40 per barrel. ExxonMobil remained profitable in 2009, generating earning of $3.98 per share. The company had EPS of $6.22 in 2010, when oil prices started to recover.
