Top 5 Dividend Companies To Watch For 2015

By John Mylant, founder and CEO of OptionsWeekly.Org

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- One of the biggest fears among financial market participants is rising interest rates, but I don't think they're all that bad.

Sure, I realize that as bond yields rise, they could hurt variable loan rates and possibly stifle economic growth. There is no doubt that some investors will struggle in the short term, as they have this summer with the recent spike in rates. Some have seen dividend returns go down, while others have seen mutual funds do the same.

But if investors hold out long enough, those assets will come back and things will get better. In the long haul, the only people who really will be hurt are those who are thinking short term and making their "paper loss" an actual one by selling their holdings. I'd like to see the bond markets develop and move on their own without intervention from the Federal Reserve. The "artificially low rates" that have been created by the central bank's quantitative easing programs have hurt many conservative investors. It has been particularly hard for retirees, who are getting miniscule returns. When you factor in inflation, sometimes even a bond investment can be a losing proposition. Higher rates will allow retirees to get a better return on their conservative investments without taking more risk. I realize that rising rates may mean short-term pain, but I believe the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average will be better off for them in the long run. There is a lot of cash sitting on the sidelines doing nothing, and I believe the holders of this cash would love to see interest rates go up so they can get back into the markets. Bonds have not been a viable alternative to investing in stocks for a long time, and higher interest rates could create better competition between bonds and stocks, leading to steadier market growth. I cannot say for sure, but if interest rates go up at the right pace we may see many "knee-jerk reactions" in the markets that will provide buying opportunities for bonds and stocks.

Top 5 Dividend Companies To Watch For 2015: 3M Company(MMM)

3M Company, together with subsidiaries, operates as a diversified technology company worldwide. The company?s Industrial and Transportation segment offers tapes, coated and non-woven abrasives, adhesives, specialty materials, filtration products, energy control products, closure systems for personal hygiene products, acoustic systems products, and components and products that are used in the manufacture, repair, and maintenance of automotive, marine, aircraft, and specialty vehicles. Its Health Care segment provides medical and surgical supplies, skin health and infection prevention products, inhalation and transdermal drug delivery systems, dental and orthodontic products, health information systems, and food safety products. The company?s Display and Graphics offers optical film solutions for LCD electronic displays; computer screen filters; reflective sheeting for transportation safety; commercial graphics sheeting and systems; and mobile interactive solutions, includin g mobile display technology, visual systems products, and computer privacy filters. The company?s Consumer and Office segment provides office supply products, stationery products, construction and home improvement products, home care products, protective material products, certain consumer retail personal safety products, and consumer health care products. Its Safety, Security and Protection Services segment offers personal protection products, safety and security products, cleaning and protection products for commercial establishments, track and trace solutions, and roofing granules for asphalt shingles. The company?s Electro and Communications segment provides packaging and interconnection devices; fluids that are used in the manufacture of computer chips, and for cooling electronics and lubricating computer hard disk drives; high-temperature and display tapes; insulating materials, including tapes and resins; and related items. The company was founded in 1902 and is based in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Textron (TXT) rose 19% to $37.29 this week after it agreed to buy Beechcraft for $1.4 billion. Allergan (AGN) advanced 12% to $107.73 after Restatis was protected from generic competition, and�Vertex Pharmaceuticals�(VRTX) finished up� 10% at $71.83 after a clinical study didn’t show what the biotech company had hoped it would but left open the possibility of future success. 3M (MMM) jumped 8.1% to $136.72 after increasing its dividend, share buyback and guidance–and it was upgraded by JPMorgan to boot.

• [By CFA Institute Contributors]

  3M Co. (MMM)

  3M is a diversified, mature company and a good illustration of how to tackle the equity risk premium and assumptions about terminal value. Damodaran joked that 12 September 2008 was his "last day of innocence" because it was the Friday before the U.S. Treasury department decided the fate of Lehman Brothers. The Monday after the investment bank collapsed, market premiums were drastically different than the week before. To capture this, Damodaran calculates a market implied equity risk premium derived from modifying a yield-to-maturity formula to account for the value of the S&P 500 using projected future cash flows. He argues that the conventional practice of using Ibboston data for the equity risk premium not only doesn't capture the dynamic premium investors require to invest in stocks over risk-free assets, but it also has such a high standard error as to make the data meaningless.

• [By Todd Campbell]

  If recent trends in employment and confidence continue, pent-up demand from consumers for dentistry could benefit a variety of other suppliers, too, including�Align Technology� (NASDAQ: ALGN  ) ,�3M (NYSE: MMM  ) , and�Danaher (NYSE: DHR  ) .

• [By Matt Thalman]

  On Thursday, 3M (NYSE: MMM  ) kicks things off before the opening bell and is expected to post earnings per share of $1.70. With the company's previously expected top-line growth of around 2% to 6%, it will be interesting to see if management can pull off that feat as major world economies are still struggling. With China's GDP growth continuing to slow, I'll be looking at how 3M performed in that market and see whether any headway is being made in Europe, as the whole EU remains flat on a GDP basis.

Top 5 Dividend Companies To Watch For 2015: Reynolds American Inc(RAI)

Reynolds American Inc. (RAI), through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells cigarette and other tobacco products in the United States. It offers cigarettes under the brand names of CAMEL, PALL MALL, WINSTON, KOOL, DORAL, SALEM, MISTY, and CAPRI; and cigarettes and other tobacco products under the NATURAL AMERICAN SPIRIT brand name, as well as manages various licensed brands, including DUNHILL and STATE EXPRESS 555. The company also provides smokeless tobacco products, including moist snuff under GRIZZLY and KODIAK brand names; pasteurized tobacco under CAMEL Snus brand name; milled tobacco under the brand name of CAMEL Dissolvables; other tobacco products, such as little cigars under WINCHESTER and CAPTAIN BLACK brand names; and roll-your-own tobacco under the brand name of BUGLER. RAI sells its products primarily through distributors, wholesalers, and other direct customers, including retail chains, as well as distributes its cigarettes to public warehouses. The compan y was founded in 1875 and is headquartered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Patricio Kehoe] >Lorillard Inc. (LO). In addition to the popularity of its brands, Phillip Morris benefits from scale advantages, combined with the historically strong brand loyalty among smokers, earning the firm strong pricing power. This advantage has allowed revenue to nearly double since 2006, leaving its current level of $77.4 billion.

  Regarding Taxes, Regulations and Margins

  Despite recent anti-tobacco laws passed by the European Union and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the U.S, the company�� pricing power has helped maintain its margins. In 2012, for example, Phillip Morris hiked prices on its products in Russia, Germany, Belgium, Canada, France, Greece and Spain, among others. Although the necessary measure caused substantial volume declines in these countries, consumers rapidly became accustomed to the increased prices, and returned to their habitual product consumption. Given the success of this strategy, the firm is likely to rely on it in Japan for 2014, where taxes are expected to increase yet again by 8%, after the 40% spike in October 2010.

  Another profitable business opportunity may come from the company�� recent cross-licensing agreement with its parent firm Altria, regarding next-generation products. The deal will allow Phillip Morris to market Altria�� eCig products outside the U.S, while the parent firm commercializes the tobacco giant�� two heated tobacco products, Platform 1 and Platform 2, within the U.S. Platform 1 is meant to launch in 2014, and Platform 2 a year later, which should help the company branch out to changing consumer habits among smokers and generate further revenue. On another note, Phillip Morris��shareholder returns should not pass unseen by investors. Since 2008, the company has returned $59.1 billion to its investors via share repurchases ($27.9) and dividends ($24), and currently holds a steady dividend yield of 4.39%.

  Bottom Line

  With an EPS growth of 16.90%���well above the in

• [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]

  Ann Summa/Time Life Pictures/Getty ImagesThe Pets.com sock puppet has become synonymous with the dot-com bust. As an investor, you need to be smart about where you're putting your money to work. Investing your hard-earned cash in companies that won't use it well -- or in products that haven't proven themselves -- can quickly come around to bite you. Case in point? These 10 famous examples of investment gone horribly wrong: 1. DeLorean Motor Marty McFly's time-traveling adventures weren't the only juicy story featuring the futuristic DeLorean. The inventor of the car with cool side-opening doors from "Back to the Future was caught on tape during an FBI sting declaring the suitcase of cocaine he planned to sell was as "good as gold." The cocaine, worth $24 million, was John DeLorean's last-ditch attempt to save his floundering company from financial ruin. This (combined with charges of defrauding his partners) lost all trust he had with investors. The firm filed for bankruptcy in 1982. (An unrelated company using the same name services the 9,000 cars made.) 2. The Dutch Tulip Craze In the 1630s, the Dutch were flying high on the flowers recently introduced from Turkey. Tulip bulbs became a highly sought-after commodity, with one bulb going for the equivalent of an entire estate. Many investors got so excited that they sold everything they had to get in on the deal. But, like any craze, tulip mania came to an end. As more people started to grow tulips and prices began to lower, investors raced to sell, resulting in an economic depression that still serves as a warning today. 3. Charles Ponzi The famous swindler, whose name is now synonymous with scams, did his dirty dealings back in the 1920s. Cashing in on people's desire to get rich quick, Charles Ponzi wasn't the first to run a pyramid scheme, but he was the first to get so good at it people took notice. His racket involved enticing investors to buy discounted foreign postal reply coupons, which they coul

• [By Sue Chang and Saumya Vaishampayan]

  Lorillard Inc. (LO) �shares retreated 3.2% after four sessions of strong gains. The Financial Times reported earlier this week that Reynolds American Inc. (RAI) �is considering a takeover of Lorillard. Shares of Reynolds also slid 3.6%.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Merger activity has been good news for both acquirer and acquired, so why shouldn’t tobacco get in the game? It might be, as reports suggest that Reynolds American (RAI) could be making a play for Lorillard (LO).

Hot Supermarket Companies To Invest In Right Now: NextEra Energy Inc. (NEE)

NextEra Energy, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, distribution, and sale of electric energy in the United States and Canada. As of December 31, 2010, NextEra Energy had approximately 43,000 mega watts of generating capacity. The company involves in the generation of renewable energy from wind and solar projects. It also generates electricity through natural gas, nuclear, oil and coal, and hydro power plants. The company serves approximately 8.7 million people through approximately 4.5 million customer accounts in the east and lower west coasts of Florida. In addition, it leases wholesale fiber-optic network capacity and dark fiber to telephone, wireless carriers, Internet, and other telecommunications companies. The company was formerly known as FPL Group, Inc. and changed its name to NextEra Energy, Inc. in May 2010. NextEra Energy, Inc. was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Juno Beach, Florida.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By David Dittman]

  NRG Energy Inc�� (NYSE: NRG) 2013 coal-fired share of generation was 28.8 percent, but it�� been actively adding renewable sources. Its stock was up 2.2 percent. NextEra Energy Inc (NYSE: NEE), owner/operator of the largest fleet of renewable generation in the US with just 1.7 percent of its output from coal, was up 2.8 percent.

• [By Richard Stavros]

  Among those companies that are winding down their spending programs, NextEra Energy Inc (NYSE: NEE) accounts for almost 30 percent of the projected $10 billion decline in annual spending from 2013 to 2015. Other larger-cap companies with projected 2015 budgets that are below their 2013 levels include: CenterPoint Energy Inc (NYSE: CNP), Dominion Resources Inc (NYSE: D), PPL Corp (NYSE: PPL), Public Service Enterprise Group Inc (NYSE: PEG), and Southern Company (NYSE: SO).

• [By David Dittman]

  Question: NextEra Energy Inc (NYSE: NEE) is starting to look like it should split being up around 90. What’s your opinion?

  Answer: A split would make the stock look cheaper for everyday retail investors, for sure. I’m not sure what management’s intentions are on this front. The company’s fourth-quarter and full-year 2013 conference call starts in less than an hour; I’ll review the transcript for any relevant commentary.
  NextEra is considering a spinout of certain renewable assets operating under long-term power purchase agreements into a “YieldCo” structure, similar to a move made by NRG Energy Inc (NYSE: NRG) in 2013.

Top 5 Dividend Companies To Watch For 2015: AvalonBay Communities Inc. (AVB)

AvalonBay Communities, Inc. engages in the development, redevelopment, acquisition, ownership, and operation of multifamily communities in the United States. As of January 31, 2009, the company owned or held a direct or indirect ownership interest in 164 operating apartment communities comprising 45,728 apartment homes in 10 states and the District of Columbia. It also held a direct or indirect ownership interest in 14 communities under construction, as well as held rights to develop an additional 27 communities. The company?s markets are located in New England, the New York/New Jersey metro area, the Mid-Atlantic, the Midwest, the Pacific Northwest, and the Northern and Southern California regions of the United States. AvalonBay Communities has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust and would not be subject to federal corporate income taxes if it distributes at least 90% of its taxable income to its stockholders. The company was founded in 1978 and is based in Arlington, Virginia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Amanda Alix]

  With 93% of the multifamily units breaking ground in the first quarter slated for rental, apartment REITs like AvalonBay Communities (NYSE: AVB  ) , Essex Property Trust Inc. (NYSE: ESS  ) and Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR  ) are looking like a great way to invest in the new "renter nation".

• [By Sean Williams]

  Another big factor to consider is that Equity Residential and AvalonBay Communities (NYSE: AVB  ) both recently combined to purchase Archstone. Under normal circumstances, residential-REITs like Equity Residential and AvalonBay would go into debt and build new communities, benefiting from the build-out years down the road. Archstone already has a well-established portfolio of rental properties, meaning the transition from purchase to profit is shortened dramatically. Equity Residential took a little over a 26% stake in the Archstone rental portfolio with AvalonBay picking up the remainder.

• [By Sean Williams]

  To get a better idea of how RealPage is doing, it's always best to look at occupancy rates for some of the nation's biggest residential-REITs. In AvalonBay Communities' (NYSE: AVB  ) most recent quarter, the company reported a 5% increase in revenue attributable to a 4.7% boost in prices in established communities, and a 0.3% uptick in occupancy. For Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR  ) it was much of the same, with revenue rising 5.4% in the fourth-quarter as occupancy rates rose 40 basis points to 95.4% from the year-ago period. Finally, Essex Property Trust (NYSE: ESS  ) delivered some of the strongest occupancy results of all, with 96.9% of its units occupied as of the end of January. The point is that with occupancy rates at their lowest levels in more than a decade, these residential REITs are driving growth by boosting prices because of rent scarcity.

Top 5 Dividend Companies To Watch For 2015: P.T. Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk.(TLK)

Perusahaan Perseroan (Persero) PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk provides telecommunication and network services worldwide. The company?s Fixed Wireline segment offers local, domestic long-distance, international telephone services, and other telecommunications services, including leased lines, telex, transponder, satellite, and very small aperture terminal (VSAT), as well as ancillary services. Its Fixed Wireless segment provides local and domestic long-distance code division multiple access-based telephone services, as well as other telecommunication services within a local area code. Perusahaan Perseroan?s Cellular segment offers mobile cellular telecommunication services. Its network services comprise satellite transponder leasing, satellite broadcasting, VSAT, audio distribution, and terrestrial and satellite-based leased lines. The company?s data and Internet services include short messaging service for fixed wire line, fixed wireless, and cellular phones, dial-up and broadband Internet access, virtual private network (VPN) frame relay, Internet protocol (IP) VPN, voice over IP for international calls, integrated services digital network connections, and other multimedia services. The company also provides information services, such as billing, directory assistance, and content services; and wireless application protocol, Web portal, ring back tones, voicemail, and building management services. In addition, it offers consultancy services, as well as constructs and maintains telecommunications facilities; interconnection services; telephone directory production services; and cable and pay television services. As of December 31, 2010, the company served 120.5 million customers, including 8.3 million fixed wireline telephone subscribers, 18.2 million fixed wireless telephone subscribers, and 94.0 million cellular telephone subscribers. Perusahaan Perseroan (Persero) PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk was founded in 1884 and is headquartered in Bandung, Indonesia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By GuruFocus]

  Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Persero) Tbk (TLK) Reached the 52-Week Low of $34.63

  The prices of Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Persero) Tbk (TLK) shares have declined to close to the 52-week low of $34.63, which is 33.3% off the 52-week high of $50.61. Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Persero) Tbk is owned by five Gurus we are tracking. Among them, two have added to their positions during the past quarter. Two reduced their positions.