10 Best Dividend Stocks To Watch Right Now

Earnings season started last week, but this week the fireworks really start to fly. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT  ) , Intel (NASDAQ: INTC  ) , and Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO  ) are just a few of the tech companies reporting earnings this week, and we'll get a good idea just how the tech space is faring. There's a lot of pessimism priced into shares, and a strong earnings report could push stocks higher.�

Sorting out the winners and losers
The interesting trend to watch is where consumer dollars are going. Recent data suggests that the PC is in steep decline, presumably replaced by tablets and other mobile devices. But when we look at the valuations of companies that would benefit from tablet sales, they're not trading any higher than those that still rely on the PC. Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) , which still dominates tablets, is less expensive than Microsoft and Intel in many ways, so the market is down on everything.

Companies providing infrastructure and services, such as IBM (NYSE: IBM  ) and Cisco, are also trading at fairly low valuations, especially when you consider their solid dividends.

Top Construction Material Stocks To Own For 2015: S&P GSCI(GD)

General Dynamics Corporation, an aerospace and defense company, provides business aviation; combat vehicles, weapons systems, and munitions; military and commercial shipbuilding; and communications and information technology products and services worldwide. Its Aerospace group designs, manufactures, and outfits various large and mid-cabin business-jet aircraft; provides maintenance, repair work, fixed-based operations, and aircraft management services; and performs aircraft completions for aircraft. The company?s Combat Systems group offers tracked and wheeled military vehicles, weapons systems, and munitions. Its product lines include wheeled combat and tactical vehicles; battle tanks and infantry vehicles; munitions and propellant; rockets and gun systems; and axle and drivetrain components and aftermarket parts. This group also manufactures and supplies engineered axles, suspensions, and brakes for heavy-load vehicles for military and commercial customers. The company Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dividends4Life]

  Taken to the next level, certain stocks in my dividend growth portfolio tend to be purchased more often than others. This will often push the limit on my maximum allocation limit of 5% per holding in the portfolio. Sometimes, the high allocations are a result of buying up to the limit when the price is down. While other times it is a conscious decision to slightly exceed the 5% threshold. Below are my five largest Dividend Growth Stocks based on market value, along with their percentage of my dividend growth portfolio and lifetime return:Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) is a leader in the pharmaceutical, medical device and consumer products industries. The company has paid a cash dividend to shareholders every year since 1944 and has increased its dividend payments for 52 consecutive years. Yield: 2.8% | % of DG Portfolio: 5.2% | Lifetime Return 17.1%McDonald's Corporation (MCD) is the largest fast-food restaurant company in the world, with nearly 35,000 restaurants in 119 countries. The company has paid a cash dividend to shareholders every year since 1976 and has increased its dividend payments for 37 consecutive years. Yield: 3.2% | % of DG Portfolio: 4.7% | Lifetime Return 14.2%General Dynamics (GD) is the world's fourth largest military contractor and also one of the world's biggest makers of corporate jets. The company has paid a cash dividend to shareholders every year since 1979 and has increased its dividend payments for 23 consecutive years. Yield: 2.1% | % of DG Portfolio: 4.7% | Lifetime Return 32.5%ConocoPhillips Co. (COP) is one of the largest independent oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) companies in the world, COP spun off its downstream assets in May 2012. The company has paid a cash dividend to shareholders every year since 1934 and has increased its dividend payments for 14 consecutive years. Yield: 3.5% | % of DG Portfolio: 4.4% | Lifetime Return 21.2%Raytheon Company (RTN), the world's sixth largest military contractor, specializes

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE: GD) remains Sterne Agee’s top pick among Defense stocks for 2014. The firm said, “A near doubling in deliveries for the G650 in 2014 and more stable defense funding environment should enable to return to bottom-line growth in 2014. GD should become more aggressive with its capital deployment too given its under-leveraged balance sheet.”

10 Best Dividend Stocks To Watch Right Now: Telefonica SA(TEF)

Telefonica, S.A. provides fixed and mobile telephony services primarily in Spain, rest of Europe, and Latin America. Its fixed telecommunication services include PSTN lines; ISDN accesses; public telephone; local, domestic, and international long distance and fixed-to-mobile communications; corporate communications; video telephony; supplementary and business-oriented value-added services; network services; leasing and sale of handset equipment; and telephony information services. The company?s Internet and broadband multimedia services comprise Internet service provider service; portal and network services; retail and wholesale broadband access; narrowband switched access to Internet; naked ADSL, a broadband connection; residential-oriented value-added services; companies-oriented value-added services; television services, such as IPTV, cable television, and satellite television; and Fiber to the Home, a service for high speed Internet access and digital video recording. Its data and business-solutions services principally include leased lines; virtual private network services; fiber optics services; the provision of hosting and application; outsourcing and consultancy services; desktop services; and system integration and professional services. The company?s wholesale services for telecommunication operators primarily comprise domestic interconnection services; international wholesale services; leased lines for other operators? network deployment; local loop leasing under the unbundled local loop regulation framework; and bit stream services. It also offers various mobile and related services and products that include mobile voice services, value added services, mobile data and Internet services, wholesale services, corporate services, roaming, fixed wireless, and trunking and paging services. The company has a strategic alliance with China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited. Telefonica, S.A. was founded in 1924 and is headquartered in Madrid, Spai n.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Holly LaFon]

  Charlie: Yes, I have a question. Do you think the opportunity is more in stocks or in debt, or both? If you look at Spain, the biggest companies in Spain, one is a bank, Bank Santander (STD). The other is Telefonica (TEF), a phone company. What other opportunities do you see there?

10 Best Dividend Stocks To Watch Right Now: Pentair Inc.(PNR)

Pentair, Inc. operates as a diversified industrial manufacturing company worldwide. The company?s Water segment offers products and systems for use in the movement, storage, treatment, and enjoyment of water. It offers light duty diaphragm pumps and solid handling pumps for water and wastewater applications and agricultural spraying; and pressure tanks for residential applications. This segment also provides control valves, pressure tanks, membranes, carbon products, point of entry and point of use systems, and other filter cartridges for commercial and residential water filtration applications; and pool equipment and accessories, such as pumps, filters, heaters and heat pumps, lights, automatic controls, automatic pool cleaners, commercial deck equipment, maintenance equipment, and pool accessories for commercial and residential pool maintenance, repair and renovation, and service and construction. In addition, it offers filter systems, filter cartridges, pressure vessels , and dispensing pumps for commercial, foodservice, industrial, marine and aviation markets. This segment distributes its products through wholesale distributors, retail distributors, original equipment manufacturers (OEM), home centers, and home and pool builders. The company?s Technical Products segment provides standard, modified, and custom enclosures that house and protect sensitive electronics and electrical components, as well as protect people that use them. Its products comprise metallic and composite enclosures, cabinets, cases, subracks, backplanes, and associated thermal management systems used in industrial machinery, data communications, networking, telecommunications, test and measurement, automotive, medical, security, defense, and general electronics. This segment distributes its products through electrical and data contractors, electrical and electronic components distributors, and OEMs. Pentair, Inc. was founded in 1966 and is based in Golden Valley, Minne sota.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By The Part-time Investor]

  The following stocks met the criteria in January of 2008 and were put into the initial portfolio:

  Abbot Labs (ABT)Advanced data processing (ADP)Associated Banc-Corp (ASBC)Bank of America (BAC)BB&T Corp. (BBT)Bemis Company (BMS)Anheuser Busch (BUD)The Chubb Corporation (CB)Clorox (CLX)Comerica Inc. (CMA)Diebold Inc. (DBD)Emerson Electronics (EMR)First Dollar Corp. (FDO)First Third BanCorp. (FITB)Gannett Co, Inc. (GCI)General Electric (GE)Hershey (HSY)Illinois Tools Works (ITW)Johnson and Johnson (JNJ)Leggett and Platt (LEG)Eli Lilly (LLY)La-Z-Boy (LZB)McDonald's (MCD)Marsh and Ilsley (MI)M&T Bancorp (MTB)PepsiCo (PEP)Pfizer (PFE)Procter & Gamble (PG)Pentair Ltd. (PNR)Regions Financial Corp. (RF)Rohm and Haas (ROH)RPM International (RPM)Sherwin Williams (SHW)Sysco Corp. (SYY)UDR Inc. (UDR)

  Historical quotes were taken from Yahoo Finance. $10,000 was put into each position, to the nearest whole share, so a total of $349,262.89 was invested. From 1/15/08 through 5/16/13 all dividends were reinvested back into the stock that paid them. If a dividend cut was announced, that stock was sold on the ex-div date of the new, lower dividend.

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Calling all cash flows
  When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on Pentair (NYSE: PNR  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

• [By James E. Brumley]

  What do BG Medicine, Inc. (NASDAQ:BGMD) and Pentair, Ltd. (NYSE:PNR) have in common? Most investors would say absolutely nothing. BGMD is a small cap medical diagnostics company, while PNR is a large cap industrial equipment manufacturer. Those are worlds that simply never collide. The directions each stock has been traveling in over the past few months have even been polar opposites.

10 Best Dividend Stocks To Watch Right Now: ConAgra Foods Inc.(CAG)

ConAgra Foods, Inc. operates as a food company primarily in North America. It operates in two segments, Consumer Foods and Commercial Foods. The Consumer Foods segment provides branded, private label, and customized food products, which are sold in various retail and foodservice channels. It offers products in various categories, such as meals, entrees, condiments, sides, snacks, and desserts in frozen, refrigerated, and shelf-stable temperature classes. This segment?s principal brands include Alexia, ACT II, Banquet, Blue Bonnet, Chef Boyardee, DAVID, Egg Beaters, Healthy Choice, Hebrew National, Hunt?s, Marie Callender?s, Orville Redenbacher?s, PAM, Peter Pan, Reddi-wip, Slim Jim, Snack Pack, Swiss Miss, Van Camp?s, and Wesson. The Commercial Foods segment provides commercially branded foods and ingredients that are sold to foodservice, food manufacturing, and industrial customers. Its primary products consist of specialty potato products, milled grain ingredients, a ran ge of vegetable products, seasonings, blends, and flavors. This segment sells products under brands, such as ConAgra Mills, Lamb Weston, and Spicetec Flavors & Seasonings. The company was founded in 1919 and is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  But Mondelez has suffered some headwinds. In its most recent earnings report last month, Mondelez reported weakness in its coffee segment, forcing it to cut prices in Europe in order to stay competitive. Moreover, Hershey (NYSE: HSY  ) has stepped up its presence in the lucrative emerging market regions, where Mondelez has enjoyed substantial revenue growth. In addition, the rise of private-label offerings from ConAgra (NYSE: CAG  ) as it works with grocery store chains to offer competing products to those Mondelez offers has hit the global snack company especially hard, given its many premium-priced snack offerings that especially lend themselves to private-label knockoffs.

• [By Anna Prior]

  ConAgra Foods Inc.(CAG) acquired Chinese potato processor TaiMei Potato Industry Ltd. for $93 million, as part of its ongoing effort to expand its international footprint.

• [By Dividends4Life]

  Fair Value: In calculating fair value, I consider the NPV MMA Differential Fair Value along with these four calculations of fair value, see page 2 of the linked PDF for a detailed description:
  
  1. Avg. High Yield Price
  2. 20-Year DCF Price
  3. Avg. P/E Price
  4. Graham Number
  
  HRL is trading at a premium to all four valuations above. The stock is trading at a 27.6% premium to its calculated fair value of $35.92. HRL did not earn any Stars in this section.
  
  Dividend Analytical Data: In this section there are three possible Stars and three key metrics, see page 2 of the linked PDF for a detailed description:
  
  1. Free Cash Flow Payout
  2. Debt To Total Capital
  3. Key Metrics
  4. Dividend Growth Rate
  5. Years of Div. Growth
  6. Rolling 4-yr Div. > 15%
  
  HRL earned one Star in this section for 2.) above. The stock earned a Star as a result of its most recent Debt to Total Capital being less than 45%. The company has paid a cash dividend to shareholders every year since 1928 and has increased its dividend payments for 48 consecutive years.
  
  Dividend Income vs. MMA: Why would you assume the equity risk and invest in a dividend stock if you could earn a better return in a much less risky money market account (MMA) or Treasury bond? This section compares the earning ability of this stock with a high yield MMA. Two items are considered in this section, see page 2 of the linked PDF for a detailed description:
  
  1. NPV MMA Diff.
  2. Years to > MMA
  
  HRL earned a Star in this section for its NPV MMA Diff. of the $984. This amount is in excess of the $500 target I look for in a stock that has increased dividends as long as HRL has. If HRL grows its dividend at 13.2% per year, it will take 7 years to equal a MMA yielding an estimated 20-year average rate of 3.68%.
  
  Memberships and Peers: HRL is a member of the S&P 500, a Dividend Aristocrat, a member of the Broad Dividend Achiever

10 Best Dividend Stocks To Watch Right Now: Gladstone Investment Corporation (GAIN)

Gladstone Investment Corporation specializes in buyouts and recapitalizations. It seeks to make debt and equity investments in small and mid-sized private businesses. The fund invests in junior subordinated loans, mezzanine debt, preferred stock, and warrants to purchase common stock of companies based in the the United States. It can also invest in senior secured loans and common stock. The fund prefers to invest between $3 million and $20 million. It invests individually as well as jointly with other buyout funds. The fund is treated as a business development company under the 1940 Act.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Gladstone Investment (NASDAQ: GAIN) is projected to post its Q4 earnings at $0.17 per share on revenue of $8.90 million.

  First Horizon National (NYSE: FHN) is expected to report its Q2 earnings at $0.17 per share on revenue of $286.98 million.

• [By Monica Wolfe]

  Gladstone Investment Corporation (GAIN)

  Over the past week two corporate executives made buys into Gladstone Investment Corporation. COO Terry Brubaker made three different buys over the past week and CEO David Gladstone made one.

10 Best Dividend Stocks To Watch Right Now: L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. (LLL)

L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiary, L-3 Communications Corporation, provides command, control, communications, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C3ISR) systems; aircraft modernization and maintenance; and government services in the United States and internationally. Its C3ISR segment offers fleet management sustainment and support, such as procurement, systems integration, sensor development, modifications, and periodic depot maintenance for signals intelligence and communications intelligence systems; strategic and tactical signals intelligence systems; secure data links; secure terminal and communication network equipment and encryption management; and communication systems. The company?s Government Services segment provides communication software support, information technology services, and various engineering development services and integration support; engineering and information systems support services; teaching and training; h uman intelligence support services; command and control systems and software services; and technical and management services. Its Aircraft Modernization and Maintenance segment offers modernization and refurbishments, upgrades and sustainment, maintenance, and logistics support services, as well as turnkey aviation life cycle management services for military and various government and commercial customers. The company?s Electronic Systems segment provides components, products, subsystems, systems, and related services across various business areas, including power and control systems, electro-optic/infrared, microwave, simulation and training, precision engagement, warrior systems, security and detection, propulsion systems, avionics and displays, telemetry and advanced technology, undersea warfare, and marine services. L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1997 and is based in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Daniel Lauchheimer]

  Currently, three main companies supply security equipment to the TSA - Safran (SAFRY.PK), Smiths (SMGKF.PK), and Level-3 Holdings (LLL). All three of these companies sell the whole range of their products to the TSA, with an ETD offering included. Recently, however, a new company, Implant Sciences Corporation (IMSC.PK) received approval from the TSA to begin selling their ETD equipment to airport security professionals. This approval has opened the door for IMSC to begin taking some market share away from the more established players in the US and beyond.

• [By Rich Smith]

  The Department of Defense issued $2.4 billion worth of new contracts Tuesday -- the bulk of which concerned bulk orders of fuel oil. But oil companies didn't lay claim to all of the Pentagon's business. A handful of traditional defense contractors won some work as well. Chief among them:

10 Best Dividend Stocks To Watch Right Now: New York Mortgage Trust Inc.(NYMT)

New York Mortgage Trust, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a real estate investment trust (REIT) in the United States. The company engages in acquiring, investing, financing, and managing mortgage-related assets. It primarily invests in agency residential adjustable-rate, hybrid adjustable-rate, and fixed-rate mortgage-backed securities (RMBS); non-Agency RMBS; prime adjustable-rate residential mortgage loans held in securitization trusts; commercial mortgage-backed securities; commercial mortgage loans; and other commercial real estate-related debt investments. The company has elected to be taxed as a REIT and will not be subject to federal income tax if it distributes at least 90% of its REIT taxable income to its stockholders. New York Mortgage Trust, Inc. was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lawrence Meyers]

  Next Page

  Preferred Stocks: New York Mortgage Trust (NYMT)

  Dividend Yield: 8.2%

  New York Mortgage Trust (NYMT) is a mortgage real estate investment trust, or mREIT, that acquires, invests in, finances and manages mortgage related securities. These mREITs are very much tied to interest rates, so while rates are low, the stocks will do well. NYMT common stock, in fact, yields more than 14%. Yet that�� why I would choose the New York Mortgage Trust 7.75% Preferred Series B (NYMTP).

• [By Eric Volkman]

  Investors are being rewarded for putting their trust in New York Mortgage Trust (NASDAQ: NYMT  ) . The REIT has declared a common stock dividend for its current quarter of $0.27 per share, to be paid on July 25 to shareholders of record as of June 28. That amount matches each of the company's preceding four distributions, the most recent of which was doled out at the end of April. Before that, it paid $0.25 per share.