As of 12/20/2024   Indus: 42,840 +498.02 +1.2%     Trans: 15,892 +32.54 +0.2%     Utils: 986 +14.76 +1.5%     Nasdaq: 19,573 +199.83 +1.0%     S&P 500: 5,931 +63.77 +1.1%	YTD  +13.7%   0.0%    +11.9%    +30.4%    +24.3%	Targets    Overview: 12/12/2024     44,200 or 41,750 by 01/01/2025   16,100 or 17,700 by 01/01/2025   1,050 or 975 by 01/01/2025   20,500 or 19,300 by 01/01/2025   6,100 or 5,775 by 01/01/2025
Chart Pattern Indicator: on 12/5/24

As of 12/20/2024   Indus: 42,840 +498.02 +1.2%     Trans: 15,892 +32.54 +0.2%     Utils: 986 +14.76 +1.5%     Nasdaq: 19,573 +199.83 +1.0%     S&P 500: 5,931 +63.77 +1.1%	YTD  +13.7%   0.0%    +11.9%    +30.4%    +24.3%
Targets    Overview: 12/12/2024     44,200 or 41,750 by 01/01/2025   16,100 or 17,700 by 01/01/2025   1,050 or 975 by 01/01/2025   20,500 or 19,300 by 01/01/2025   6,100 or 5,775 by 01/01/2025
Chart Pattern Indicator: on 12/5/24

Bulkowski on Dividends

My book, Fundamental Analysis and Position Trading, pictured on the left, discusses an analysis of dividends and how important they are to performance.

If you click on this link and then buy the book (or anything) at Amazon.com, the referral will help support this site. Thanks. -- Tom Bulkowski

$ $ $

This page reviews a study concerning the stock performance of companies with and without dividends.

Dividend Summary

Please note that a more extensive study shows the reverse of what is described below. In the first year, stocks not paying a dividend outperforms by 11.3% to 10.9%. In the following 4 years, the dividend payers outperform by 2 percentage points in year 2, growing to 9.3 percentage points after year 5, and that does not include the return from the dividend itself (in other words, just price appreciation). The analysis uses 10,422 samples from 914 stocks.

Value Line defines dividends declared per share as "the common dividends per share declared (but not necessarily paid) during the company's operating, fiscal year."

The commonly held belief is that paying a dividend to stockholders leaves less for the company to invest in its own business. If that is true, then companies paying a dividend should have stock that under performs those not paying a dividend.

I found that when a company does not pay a dividend, it tends to outperform 80% of the time.

Dividend Methodology

I used the Value Line investment survey and typed in their dividends numbers to build a database of 178 stocks with data ranging from 12/30/1991 to 7/11/2008.

After completing the database, I logged the close-to-close price change from 1 to 5 years out, looking forward from the base year. The base year ranged from 1992 to 2006. Not all stocks covered the entire range. Years with no numbers were excluded. The price change measured from the close on the last trading day of each year. Years 2008 and later are not included since the year had not completed as of the time of this study.

Dividend Results

The following table shows the stock performance of companies with and without dividends over time.

For example, if companies paid a dividend during year 0, their stock gained an average of 9.8% the following year. Companies that paid no dividend showed stock prices rising 13.2%.

In four of five years (80%), companies not paying dividends showed better stock performance over the coming one to five years than did those companies paying a dividend.

-- Thomas Bulkowski

See Also

• Want to read more about other fundamentals?
• Focus on fundamentals. Picking stocks using fundamental analysis.
• 10-baggers. Find 10-baggers using fundamental analysis.
• Dutch auction tender offers. Can you make money trading these?
• How to pick stocks, part 1.