The Motley Foolยท2025-08-05 07:51Core Insights - The article emphasizes the historical success of high-quality dividend stocks as a reliable investment strategy, highlighting their ability to outperform non-dividend payers over time [1][2][4]. Dividend Stocks Overview - Companies that consistently pay dividends are typically profitable, time-tested, and provide transparent growth guidance, making them attractive to investors [2]. - Dividend stocks have averaged a 9.2% annual return from 1973 to 2024, while nonpayers delivered only 4.31% over the same period, with higher volatility [4]. Featured Ultra-High-Yield Dividend Stocks Enterprise Products Partners - Enterprise Products Partners offers a yield of 7.03% and has increased its payout for 27 consecutive years [6]. - The company operates as a midstream energy firm, providing cash flow predictability through fixed-fee contracts with upstream drilling companies [9]. - Enterprise has $5.6 billion in major projects under construction, expected to enhance cash flow by the end of 2026 [10]. - The stock's forward P/E ratio is 10.5, aligning with its five-year average [11]. Pfizer - Pfizer boasts a yield of 7.39%, attributed to a decline in share price despite strong management confidence in payout sustainability [13]. - The company generated over $56 billion in COVID-19 therapy sales in 2022, but sales have since decreased significantly [14]. - Excluding COVID-19 therapies, net sales have been growing, with total sales increasing by 52% from 2020 to 2024 [15]. - Pfizer's acquisition of Seagen for $43 billion is expected to add over $3 billion in annual sales and enhance its cancer drug pipeline [16]. - Cost-saving measures are projected to yield $4.5 billion by year-end, positively impacting earnings per share [17]. - The stock's forward P/E of 7.5 represents a 26% discount to its historical average [17]. Realty Income - Realty Income offers a yield of 5.75% and has increased its payout 131 times in the past 30 years [18]. - The company owns over 15,600 commercial real estate properties, with 91% of rent being resilient to economic downturns [19]. - Realty Income leases to stable businesses, maintaining a low rental delinquency rate [19]. - The average lease length is 9.1 years, contributing to a consistently high occupancy rate [20]. - The stock is trading at 12.4 times estimated cash flow for 2026, a 22% discount to its five-year average [21].