6 Ideal Dividend Dogs From 100 Fortune 2023 Best Companies To Work For

Foreword

This article is based on 100 Best Companies published by Fortune and their partner Great Place To Work. This was the 26th such list as reported in the April/May 2023 edition of Fortune Magazine.

How Fortune determined the list:

"To be eligible for the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list, employers must have 1,000 or more employees in the U.S. and cannot be a government agency. In the last year, Great Place To Work surveyed companies employing 7.5 million people in the US and received 1.3 million survey responses. Of those, over half a million responses were received from employees at companies who were eligible for the 2023 100 Best and this list is based on their feedback."

- Fortune editors.

Any collection of stocks is more clearly understood when subjected to yield-based (dogcatcher) analysis. These 51 publicly traded companies out of 100 Best Companies published by Fortune and their partner Great Place To Work are perfect for the dogcatcher process. Here is the April 28 data, focused on 33 dividend producers. The full list of 100 is posted in the Afterword at the tail of this article.

Happily, 6 of the 33 publicly-traded dividend-paying companies live up to the Dogcatcher Ideal of paying annual dividends from a $1K investment exceeding their single share prices. Those six are: NuStar Energy (NS), Ally Financial Inc. (ALLY), HP Inc (HPQ), Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (HPE), Synchrony Financial (SYF), and Bank of America Corporation (BAC). Many first-time investors regard this condition as a buy signal or, at least, a look-closer invitation.

Actionable Conclusions (1-10): Analysts Estimated 20.07% To 32.12% Net Gains For Ten Top Fortune BCTWF To May 2024

Five of ten top 2023 Fortune BCTWF stocks by yield were among the top ten gainers for the coming year based on analyst 1-year target prices. (They are tinted gray in the chart below). Thus, the yield-based forecast for these Fortune BCTWF top dogs was graded by Wall St. Wizards as 50% accurate.

Estimated dividends from $1000 invested in each of the highest-yielding stocks plus their aggregated one-year analyst median target prices, as reported by YCharts, supplied the data points. (Note: target prices from less than two analysts were not applied.) Ten probable profit-generating trades thereby projected to April 28, 2024 were:

Pinnacle Financial Partners (PNFP) was projected to net $321.20, based on dividends, plus the median of the target price estimates from 9 analysts, less broker fees. The Beta number showed this estimate subject to risk/volatility 10% greater than the market as a whole.

Synchrony Financial was projected to net $300.04 based on dividends, plus the median of target estimates from 21 brokers, less transaction fees. The Beta number showed this estimate subject to risk/volatility 58% greater than the market as a whole.

Ally Financial Inc was projected to net $269.68, based on the median of target estimates from 18 analysts, plus dividends, less broker fees. The Beta number showed this estimate subject to risk/volatility 34% over the market as a whole.

Bank of America Corp was projected to net 263.41, based on dividends, plus the median of target price estimates from 24 analysts, less broker fees. The Beta number showed this estimate subject to risk/volatility 37% more than the market as a whole.

MetLife, Inc. (MET) was projected to net $262.98, based on a median of target price estimates from 16 analysts, plus dividends, less broker fees. The Beta number showed this estimate subject to risk/volatility 6% greater than the market as a whole.

Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO) was projected to net $239.73, based on the median of target price estimates from 20 analysts, plus annual dividend, less broker fees. The Beta number showed this estimate subject to risk/volatility 1% greater than the market as a whole.

NuStar Energy LP was projected to net $231.41, based on dividends, plus the median of target price estimates from 6 analysts, less broker fees. The Beta number showed this estimate subject to risk/volatility 87% greater than the market as a whole.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co was projected to net $221.26, based on the median of target prices from 19 analysts, plus annual dividends, less broker fees. The Beta number showed this estimate subject to risk/volatility 22% over the market as a whole.

Capital One Financial Corporation (COF) was projected to net $221.12, based on dividends, plus the median of target price estimates from 21 analysts, less broker fees. The Beta number showed this estimate subject to risk/volatility 47% over the market as a whole.

Discover Financial Services (DFS) was projected to net $200.71, from dividends, plus the median of target price estimates from 18 analysts, less broker fees. The Beta number showed this estimate subject to risk/volatility 43% greater than the market as a whole.

The average net gain in dividend and price was estimated at 25.32% on $10k invested as $1k in each of these ten stocks. These gain estimates were subject to average risk/volatility 35% over the market as a whole.

The Dividend Dogs Rule

Stocks earned the "dog" moniker by exhibiting three traits: (1) paying reliable, repeating dividends, (2) their prices fell to where (3) yield (dividend/price) grew higher than their peers. Thus, the highest yielding stocks in any collection became known as "dogs." More precisely, these are, in fact, best called, "underdogs."

50 Fortune BCTWF Dogs Show April Target Gains

33 Fortune BCTWF Dogs Per April Yields

Actionable Conclusions (11-20): 10 Top Fortune BCTWF Dogs By Yield For April

Top yield ten April/May 2023 Fortune BCTWF stocks represented seven of eleven Morningstar sectors in April.

First place went to the lone energy sector representative, NuStar Energy LP [1]. In second place was the basic materials representative, Dow Inc. (DOW)[2].

Two financial services dogs claimed the third and seventh places: Ally Financial [3], and MetLife Inc[7]. Then the healthcare member placed fourth, AbbVie Inc. (ABBV) [4].

The first of three technology representatives placed fifth, HP Inc [5], while the others settled in eighth and ninth places, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co [8], and Cisco Systems [9].

The lone real estate representative stock occupied sixth place, Camden Property Trust (CPT) [6]. Then, finally, a lone consumer cyclical sector stock too tenth place, Cheesecake Factory Inc (CAKE), to complete the top ten April/May Fortune Best companies to Work For list of 2023.

Actionable Conclusions: (21-30) Top Ten FBCTWF Dividend Dogs Showed 18.26%-31.46% Upsides While (31) Two Lowly -1.2% to -1.78% Down-siders Were Uncovered in This Report

To quantify top dog rankings, analyst mean price target estimates provided a "market sentiment" gauge of upside potential. Added to the simple high-yield metrics, analyst median target price estimates became another tool to dig out bargains.

Analysts Forecast A 2.33% Disadvantage For The 5 Highest Yield, Lowest Priced Of Ten 2023 Fortune BCTWF Dividend Stocks Come April/May 2024

Yield (dividend / price) results provided by YCharts did the ranking for these ten dividend Fortune BCTWF stocks.

As noted above, top ten dividend FBCTWF dogs screened 4/28/23 showing the highest dividend yields represented seven of eleven in the Morningstar sector scheme.

Actionable Conclusions: Analysts Predicted 5 Lowest-Priced Of The Top Ten Highest-Yield Fortune WMA Dividend Dogs (32) Delivering 17.56% Vs. (33) 17.98% Net Gains by All Ten Come April 28, 2024

$5000 invested as $1k in each of the five lowest-priced stocks in the top ten dividend FBCTWF kennel by yield were predicted by analyst 1-year targets to deliver 2.33% LESS gain than $5,000 invested as $.5K in all ten. The third lowest priced selection, Ally Financial Inc, was projected to deliver the best net gain of 26.97%.

The five lowest-priced top-yield Fortune BCTWF dividend dogs as of April 28 were: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co; NuStar Energy LP; Ally Financial Inc.; HP Inc; Cheesecake Factory Inc, with prices ranging from $14.44 to $33.38.

Five higher-priced Fortune top-yield BCTWF dividend dogs as of April 28 were: Cisco Systems Inc; Dow Inc; MetLife Inc; United Parcel Service Inc; Camden Property Trust; AbbVie Inc, whose prices ranged from $47.34 to $153.71.

The distinction between five low-priced dividend dogs and the general field of ten reflected Michael B. O'Higgins' "basic method" for beating the Dow. The scale of projected gains based on analyst targets added a unique element of "market sentiment" gauging upside potential. It provided a here-and-now equivalent of waiting a year to find out what might happen in the market. Caution is advised, since analysts are historically only 20% to 90% accurate on the direction of change and just 0% to 20% accurate on the degree of change.

The net gain/loss estimates above did not factor in any foreign or domestic tax problems resulting from distributions. Consult your tax advisor regarding the source and consequences of "dividends" from any investment.

Afterword

If somehow you missed the suggestion of the three stocks ripe for picking at the start of the article, here is a repeat of the list at the end.

Fortune 6 Ideal Best Companies to Work For April, 2023

Six of the Fortune BCTWF all-star 33 live up to my Dogcatcher ideal of having annual dividends from a $1K investment exceed their single share prices. Some first-time dividend investors regard this condition as a buy signal, or at least a look-closer invitation.

Four of the top ten FBCTWF shares are now priced less than the annual dividends paid out from a $1K investment as shown in the top chart. The middle chart compares those three at recent prices with the eight outliers. Fair pricing of all dogs conforming to the dogcatcher ideal are shown in the bottom chart).

Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For Ranked

Stocks listed above were suggested only as possible reference points for your Fortune BCTWF stock purchase or sale research process. These were not recommendations.

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