BP is an international dividend achiever as well as a component of the British FTSE 100 index. It has been increasing its dividends for the past 9 consecutive years. From the end of 1997 up until August 2008 this dividend stock has delivered an annual average total return of 6.90 % to its shareholders.

Ever since the broad market indexes entered into bear market territory and the dollar stopped falling against most of the major currencies, I have been checking the international dividend achievers list for bargains. I came up with the following dividend stocks list, using the followoing screen criteria:

The power of compounding can be truly amazing. An investment of only $1000 earning 12% will grow to $30,000 in 30 years, compounded annually. If the investment was only earning 6%, it would be worth less than $6,000 over the same time period.

In order to determine quickly how long it takes to double your investments at different rates, I usually use the rule of 72.

The International Dividend Achievers™ Index is designed to track the performance of dividend paying American Depositary Receipts and foreign common stocks trading on major US exchanges.

PPG Industries is a dividend aristocrat as well as a component of the S&P 500 index. It has been increasing its dividends for the past 36 consecutive years.
From the end of 1997 up until August 2008 this dividend value stock has delivered an annual average total return of 4.40 % to its shareholders

Diageo is an international dividend achiever. It has been increasing its dividends for the past 10 consecutive years. From the end of 1997 up until August 2008 this dividend growth stock has delivered an annual average total return of 10.90 % to its shareholders.

Earlier this week we looked at my top 5 high fliers for 2008. Unfortunately, for every up, there is a down and that is certainly true for my portfolio. As before, we will look at results through July 31, 2008. Here they are my cellar dwellers with comments:

Chevron Corporation (formerly ChevronTexaco) is a global integrated oil company that has interests in exploration, production, refining and marketing, and petrochemicals. Linked here is a detailed stock analysis and commentary.

State Street is a dividend aristocrat as well as a component of the S&P 500 index. It has been increasing its dividends for the past 27 consecutive years. From the end of 1997 up until August 2008 this dividend growth stock has delivered an annual average total return of 9.40 % to its shareholders.

Now that more than half the year is behind us, I thought it would be interesting to look at my top 5 performers through July 31, 2008. As dismal as the stock market has been this year, there are still some bright spots. One bright spot is that my top five performers have all achieved double-digit positive total returns since I owned them and positive returns in 2008. Here they are with comments:

Walgreen Co is the largest U.S. retail drug chain in terms of revenues. It sells prescription and non-prescription drugs, beauty care, personal care, household items, candy, photofinishing, greeting cards, seasonal items and convenience foods. Linked here is a detailed stock analysis and commentary.

I've updated my dividend pre-screen stock model to calculate a target price based on a back-solved yield needed to generate a specified NPV of MMA Differential. In addition, I updated the default MMA Yield to 4.61%. The updated model is linked on the Tools page as D4L-PreScreen.xls.

It’s been more than a year since the financial market crisis began. Over those twelve horrendous months financial stocks have been the worst sector to be invested in. Record losses, coupled with more expectations of write-offs coupled with dividend cuts that made headlines surprised many investors who logically went straight for the exits.

Ever since I started analyzing stocks on my blog, I have been gathering information about several stocks in my data folders. I wanted to check what was the relationship between the ten year dividend growth rate and the ten year total return of the stocks that I previously covered on my blog.

In a down-market when many people are rushing to buy gold, I already have mine. No, not that kind, but something much better! A growing stream of dividend income from solid companies. While everyone else is panicked about their portfolio's decline, I see a downturn as an incredible buying opportunity.