Essential services. In these trying times, companies providing services or products that we can’t live without are top buys for any portfolio. After all, no matter what the economy throws at us, these services and products will continue to see steady demand – and you can’t get a more essential service than water.
This is great news for our Best Dividend Stocks List pick in the sector.
As one of the largest water utilities in the nation, our pick features plenty of steady demand from its customers, which has provided our pick with top-notch earnings, cash flows and dividend strength during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Providing clean water for communities isn’t exactly exciting, but it pays the bills in spades. This is exactly what investors should be focusing on in this time of uncertainty.
But our pick is far from boring.
Thanks to a hefty dose of unregulated assets and businesses – including plenty of military contracts – our pick has been able to find extra “oomph” during the pandemic. This has provided it with plenty of tech-like growth, including a nearly 10% jump to its EPS for the latest quarter: Not too shabby for a “boring” water utility.
And with President-elect Joe Biden promising more spending on infrastructure and keeping the military budget relatively high, our pick should continue to realize plenty of growth going forward. All of which will benefit its shareholders on the cash flow, earnings and dividend fronts.
In the end, our pick is poised to provide a great combination of safety and growth.
To summarize, here are five reasons why you should own this stock:
1. One of the largest water utilities in the nation serving over 47 states!
2. Benefits from defense contracts and other non-regulated water services to boost EPS further.
3. Realized a nearly 10% increase in EPS last quarter! Very strong, considering the ongoing pandemic.
4. Paid a steady dividend since its IPO in 2008, with its quarterly payout jumping by 175%!
5. Healthy payout ratio of 57% and growing yield of 1.40%.
Our Best Dividend Stocks List has 20 of the highest-rated stocks by our proprietary Dividend.com Rating system. Go Premium to find out the entire list.
