Wall Street has been exhibiting volatility at the start of 2025 on rising inflation fears, uncertainty surrounding future Fed rate cuts and ambiguity over Trump’s tariff policies. Against such a backdrop, investors are increasingly exploring strategies that will help them to protect their portfolios from downside risk. Nothing seems better than the dividend investing strategy.
Though the strategy does not offer dramatic price appreciation, it is a major source of consistent income for investors to create wealth when returns from the equity market are at risk. In fact, picking stocks with a history of dividend growth leads to a healthy portfolio with a greater scope of capital appreciation as opposed to simple dividend-paying stocks or those with high yields. We have selected five dividend growth stocks — InterDigital, Inc. IDCC, Fox Corporation FOX, Broadcom Inc. AVGO, Greenbrier Companies Inc. GBX and Acuity Brands Inc AYI — that could be solid choices amid market volatility.
Stocks that have a strong history of dividend growth belong to mature companies, which are less susceptible to large swings in the market, and thus act as a hedge against economic or political uncertainty as well as stock market volatility. At the same time, these offer downside protection with their consistent increase in payouts.
Additionally, these stocks have superior fundamentals that make dividend growth a quality and promising investment for the long term. These include a sustainable business model, a long track of profitability, rising cash flows, good liquidity, a strong balance sheet and some value characteristics. Further, a history of strong dividend growth indicates that a dividend increase is likely in the future.
Although these stocks do not necessarily have the highest yields, they have outperformed for a longer period than the broader stock market or any other dividend-paying stock.
As a result, picking dividend growth stocks appears as a winning strategy when some other parameters are also included.
5-Year Historical Dividend Growth greater than zero: This selects stocks with a solid dividend growth history.
5-Year Historical Sales Growth greater than zero: This represents stocks with a strong record of growing revenues.
5-Year Historical EPS Growth greater than zero: This represents stocks with a solid earnings growth history.
Next 3-5 Year EPS Growth Rate greater than zero: This represents the rate at which a company’s earnings are expected to grow. Improving earnings should help companies sustain dividend payments.
Price/Cash Flow less than M-Industry: A ratio less than M-industry indicates that the stock is undervalued in that industry and that an investor needs to pay less for better cash flow generated by the company.
52-Week Price Change greater than S&P 500 (Market Weight): This ensures that the stock appreciated more than the S&P 500 over the past year.
Top Zacks Rank: Stocks having a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and 2 (Buy) generally outperform their peers in all types of market environment.
Growth Score of B or better: Our research shows that stocks with a Growth Score of A or B when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 or 2 offer the best upside potential.
Just these few criteria narrowed down the universe from over 7,700 stocks to just 11.
Here are five of the 11 stocks that fit the bill:
Delaware-based InterDigital is a pioneer in advanced mobile technologies that enable wireless communications and capabilities. The company engages in designing and developing a wide range of advanced technology solutions, which are used in digital cellular and wireless 3G, 4G and IEEE 802-related products and networks. Estimates for IDCC’s earnings for this year have risen by a couple of cents over the past 30 days.
InterDigital currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 and has a Growth Score of B. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
New York-based Fox Corporation produces and distributes news, sports and entertainment content. The company's brands include FOX News, FOX Sports, the FOX Network, the FOX Television Stations and sports cable networks FS1, FS2, Fox Deportes and Big Ten Network. The company delivered an average earnings surprise of 17.64% in the past four quarters and has an expected earnings growth rate of 13.99% for the fiscal year (ending June 2025).
Fox Corporation has a Zacks Rank #1 and a Growth Score of B.
California-based Broadcom is a premier designer, developer and global supplier of a broad range of semiconductor devices focused on complex digital and mixed-signal complementary metal oxide semiconductor-based devices and analog III-V based products. The stock saw solid earnings estimate revision of a couple of cents for the fiscal year (ending October 2025) over the past 30 days and has an expected earnings growth rate of 29.4%.
Broadcom has a Zacks Rank #2 and a Growth Score of B.
Oregon-based Greenbrier is a leading supplier of transportation equipment and services to the railroad and related industries. The company saw a solid earnings estimate revision of 70 cents for the fiscal year ending August 2025 over the past seven days and has an estimated growth rate of 18.95%.
Greenbrier has a Zacks Rank #1 and a Growth Score of A at present.
Georgia-based Acuity Brands manufactures and distributes lighting fixtures and related components that comprise devices such as luminaries, lighting controls and controllers for various building systems, power supplies, prismatic skylights, and drivers, as well as integrated systems designed to optimize energy efficiency and comfort for various indoor and outdoor applications. The company saw a solid earnings estimate revision of 15 cents over the past seven days for the fiscal year (ending August 2025) and has an estimated growth rate of 8.35%.
Acuity Brands has a Zacks Rank #2 and a Growth Score of A.
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Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material.
Disclosure: Performance information for Zacks’ portfolios and strategies are available at: https://www.zacks.com/performance.
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InterDigital, Inc. (IDCC) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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Acuity Brands Inc (AYI) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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