Okay, so quite a few dividend stocks have been disappointments in the pandemic of 2020.
We publish a list of companies that have cut or suspended their dividends from time to time, and it doubled in size to 70 or so between mid-April to mid-May. Stocks in the energy sector dominate, and real estate, industrial and hospitality companies are also plentiful.
But what about the dividend elite – the big, well-established companies that have increased their dividends the most over the past five years?
Even some of these dividend-growth stars have been roughed up. Gildan Activewear Inc. is an example – the company raised its dividend by an annualized 18.9 per cent over the past five years, and its shares were down by half for the 12 months to early June. Gildan is one of the companies that suspended dividends because of the economic hit from the pandemic.
But there are plenty of examples of dividend growth stalwarts surviving the stock market turmoil to date in good shape. Here are six examples listed on the TSX:
- Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. (CP): Five-year dividend growth comes in at 17.5 per cent for the past five years on an annualized basis, and the shares were up 12.6 per cent for the 12 months to early June.
- Metro Inc. (MRU): The dividend was up 15.3 per cent over the past five years on average, and the shares were up 10 per cent over the past 12 months.
- Open Text Corp. (OTEX): Dividend growth of a bit more than 15 per cent a year and a 12-month share-price gain of 6 per cent.
- Dollarama Inc. (DOL): Dividend growth at 10.5 per cent over the past five years, shares up 10 per cent in the past 12 months.
- Emera Inc. (EMA): Dividend growth of 10 per cent, shares up close to 4 per cent.
- Fortis Inc. (FTS): Dividend growth of 7.4 per cent, shares up almost 4 per cent.
Some of the names on the list are predictable – utilities and consumer staples. But the presence of CP and Open Text show that resilient dividend growth can be found in other sectors as well.
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