Well -- the simple answer is -- any of the "terbacky" stocks work really really well... I own PM and MO in a big way. Love 'em. Hate the product don't use it - but ya gotta put your money to work - and these work real hard.
Phillip Morse (PM) has no 5 year "total return" numbers because this is a spilt off of
Altria (MO)... but BOTH have fantastic T/R numbers and great dividends... these stocks - and you can include
Reynolds American (RAI) and
Lorillard (LO) are all just big fat cash cows.... and while the USA has all manor of anti smoking legislation - other countries DON'T....
What will derail these "hate 'em" stocks is a worldwide ban on smoking/terbacky products... but that will be well telegraphed - so I'm not worried about waking up one morning and having my hat handed to me.
The number of shares won't really affect the TRUE NUMBERS that you have to worry about because true numbers that count are PERCENTAGES -- you can have one share at $100 and have a 50% T/R and therefore have $150 or you can have 10 shares at $10 and have the same T/R and you'd still have $150.... The dividends are paid PER SHARE -- but they're still (for our purposes) a % number. And 5% is 5% if you follow what I'm saying. The TOTAL RETURN (T/R) is what you're after in the long run -- growth AND dividend... and when you do these comparisons in % terms -- there's a huge difference between one company that has 5 year T/R of 113% vs 65%! So if at all possible -- I tend to blend these "trade offs" -- if all things are rather equal. For me -- I can own several stocks in a sector... so even then I'll tend to take middle of the road to high end with consideration for the blended dividend % (since I live off mine rather than re-invest it).
This is a great question by the way - because this is one sector that has several really good choices in it... so it's kinda hard to say this one, over that one. They're all pretty dang good! It's like that old Coke vs Pepsi argument. Same sector - similar dividend - similar T/R (when looking at T/R - I don't think about one being 50% and one is 63% -- what I don't want here is one at 12% and one at 63% - then I'm taking the 63%!)... so these almost become throwing a dart at the board. As long as you hit the board - you're pretty good.
Same can be said with Verizon vs AT&T - same sector - similar dividend % - so I own both!
