10 Outstanding Dividend Stocks to Buy in This Crazy Market
0.60%December 29 | MyPlanIQ portfolio symbol P_34687

August 2011

Ilan Moscovitz reviews the current bind we are in -- consumer spending driven in a market where there is debt and unemployment doesn't make for a sunny outlook. With that backdrop, what should investors do to protect and grow their portfolios?

So, what can you do to protect and grow your portfolio in this market? Here are Ilan's 10 top opportunities.

• Utilities and utility-like stocks are popular in slow-growth periods because they provide essential products and services. Southern Company (NYSE: SO) and Waste Management (NYSE: WM) produce stable earnings that are relatively sheltered from economic conditions, and they pay dividends of 4.8% and 4.4%, respectively.
• The increase in the spread between short- and long-term interest rates is a boon to mortgage REITs such as Annaly Capital (NYSE: NLY) and Annaly managed Chimera (NYSE: CIM) and Crexus, (NYSE: CXS) which make money on the difference. 
• Income inequality has been growing -- 5% take home 40% of the national income and own  60% of national wealth. New kid on the block Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (NYSE: PEB) , buys luxury hotels at fire-sale prices. Luxury handbag maker Coach (NYSE: COH) continues to do well.
• Companies that earn a large from outside of the U.S. and Europe provide added protection against the economic slowdown in those regions. Intel (Nasdaq: INTC),
  British Alcohol and Tobacco a proxy for Philip Morris (NYSE: PM) and good old Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO)
  

If nothing else, this is a diversified set of companies with interests both domestically and internationally. It will be interesting to see how well this group performs.