Wall Street Olympics: Three Dividend Growth Stocks To Buy Now

The Winter Olympics are in full swing and close to wrapping up. Many participants have already won their medals. Why can’t stocks have their own Olympic games? How about dividend stocks? What are the gold, silver and bronze dividend growth stocks on Wall Street to buy now? Check out our criteria for grading our dividend stock medalists. 

Wall Street Olympics: Three Dividend Growth Stocks to Buy Now

Why not get festive with piece this month? I love the Olympics and seeing other countries compete. Why can’t dividend growth stocks compete as well? Dividend growth investing is a core focus of mine and there continues to be a number of myths about dividend investing. Larry Light, a contributor from Forbes, highlights several myths about dividend investing that should be considered. For me, I love the ability to receive both residual income and have the long-term upside potential through capital appreciation with dividend growth investing. Find out who should be crowned gold in all of dividend stock glory. We’ve already given how to find undervalued dividend growth stocks.

What dividend growth stocks qualify for the Wall Street Olympics?

To qualify for the Wall Street Olympics, our selected dividend growth stocks must qualify as dividend paying companies and must be listed on a Wall Street exchange, but are not limited to U.S. companies. These are the Olympics of course! All countries are welcome and all are encouraged (except for Russian stocks)! Jokes aside. All countries are welcome.

Our criteria for grading our dividend stock Olympians include:

We believe people use the annual dividend yield too much in considering an investment decision, so here are our grading criteria for our Wall Street Olympics. We rate each section out of 50 to arrive at an aggregate total rating of 150.

1. Dividend growth history:
   • How long has the company increased its dividend payments and at what growth rate? Do we expect similar dividend growth in the future?
2. Valuation:
   • What is the company currently valued on a P/E ratio and EV/EBITDA basis? Is the stock reasonably priced for it’s valuation?
3. Financial Health
   • What does the current balance sheet look like? Is the company highly levered? Is the company paying too much in dividends relative to their earnings?