We continue to seek out and measure investment ideas from different people to see whether their ideas have merit for a long term investor. Recently, the Motley Fool Stock Advisor special report listed a number of stocks that they recommend. The classed them into:

5 All Around Dividend Rock Stars

• ExxonMobil [NYSE: XOM] global energy blue chip
• Johnson & Johnson [NYSE: JNJ] is a diversified healthcare products powerhouse  
• PepsiCo [NYSE: PEP] is a snacks and beverages giant 
• Procter & Gamble [NYSE: PG] the branded consumer goods leader
• Wal-Mart [NYSE: WMT] the low-price retail kingpin 

2 High-Yield Dividends Divas You Can Buy

• AT&T [NYSE: T] gives  6% dividend yield that's a great combination of dividends and safety. Currently, that dividend comes from AT&T paying out less than half of its earnings.
• New York Community Bancorp [NYSE: NYB] hasn't raised its dividend since 2005. However, with bank being a four letter word, its stock is down to a level where its $1 dividend gives you an 8.4% yield.

2 Dividend Up-and-Comers You Don't Want to Miss

• Greenhill & Co. [NYSE: GHL] is an investment bank. It's a high quality investment bank that lands the same caliber of people (or better) than the folks at Goldman, Morgan Stanley [NYSE: MS], or JPMorgan Chase [NYSE: JPM].
  
• Owens & Minor [NYSE: OMI]. Owens & Minor is a distributor of medical and surgical equipment as well as a provider of outsourced logistics and inventory management services.

This, at least, is an interesting selection. The dividend rock stars are great names in long term companies that are likely to ride out these turbulent times as well as anybody. The high yield dividend companies blend a beaten down stock with a long term company and the up and comers add some risk and return potential.

Let's see how they measure up to our dividend ETF benchmark. 

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