WHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR?
Let's take a look at the S&P/TSX Canadian dividend aristocrats index and see which members have the highest yields.
MORE ABOUT TODAY'S SCREEN
S&P has calculated that dividends have contributed almost one-third of the total equity return of the S&P/TSX composite index since 1956.
S&P defines a Canadian dividend aristocrat as a company or trust that has increased cash dividends or distributions annually for at least five consecutive years. The security must be listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and have a minimum market capitalization of $300-million. Members are generally added and deleted once a year in December. The index is adjusted on a monthly basis so that no stock may be weighted greater than 8 per cent of the index and no trust more than 5 per cent. The Claymore S&P/TSX Canadian Dividend exchange traded fund is designed to track this index.
The index currently has 39 members. We'll sort the list today by highest yield.
WHAT DID WE FIND?
A few years ago, this list was dominated by banks and insurance companies. Without the big finance services members, it is a mixed bag of mostly mid-cap names across a broad selection of sectors, led by energy at 28 per cent, industrials 15 per cent, consumer discretionary stocks at 14.4 per cent and financials 13 per cent.
Scott Adams