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Guest post by ValueWalk

Several economic factors, such as high inflation and rising interest rates, might leave investors feeling skittish. The possibility of recession lingers.

But for young investors, dividend stocks provide upside potential, portfolio stability, and consistent income during times of economic uncertainty.

For nearly 100 years, dividends have contributed roughly 32% of the total return for the S&P 500. Overall, capital appreciation has contributed approximately 68% over the same period.

This is why Sure Dividend highly recommends blue chip dividend stocks for young investors. Blue chip stocks have raised their dividends for at least 10 years.

The Sure Dividend blue-chip stocks list can be downloaded by clicking the link below:

This list contains important metrics, including: dividend yields, payout ratios, dividend growth rates, 52-week highs and lows, betas, and more. There are currently more than 350 securities in the blue chip stocks list.

Blue chip dividend stocks offer sustainable income and capital appreciation for young investors who are still learning to navigate the market.

While traditional investment strategies play an important role for capital appreciation, looking at less volatile blue chip dividend stocks can help provide an income alternative during sudden market downturns.

The Best Blue Chip Dividend Stocks For Young Investors

Those that are steadily entering the stock market, and looking to grow their equity portfolio often seek shelter in high-growth stocks that offer better near-term sustainability. This enables them to steadily increase their portfolio holdings while pooling resources to build a more dynamic and versatile strategy for the long run.

Kenvue Inc (KVUE)

Companies in the consumer staples sector have continued to provide investors with steady dividend growth and upside performance. The multinational conglomerate, Kenvue (KVUE) stands as a testament to this idea, and despite stock prices tumbling throughout much of the year, KVUE provides a 4.0% dividend yield.

Inflation has been the biggest hurdle for consumer staple companies, especially for companies such as Kenvue which has a plethora of well-known consumer brands within its portfolio.

The company owns popular skincare and beauty brands, including Neutrogena, Lubriderm, and Johnsons, among several others. Additionally, the company operates brands such as Band-Aid, Listerine, Neosporin Benadryl, and Benylin, among many others.

For the second quarter, the company reported net sales of more than $4.0 billion, with organic growth of 7.7% for the quarter. Total net sales increased by roughly 5.4% for the same period. KVUE earnings per share (EPS) came in at $0.23, and adjusted EPS was $0.32 for the second quarter. For the third quarter, the board declared a $0.20 dividend per share.

Kenvue provides long-term sustainability for young investors looking for an affordable, yet high-dividend stock. This year, KVUE shares have fallen by over 25% and are now trading below $20.00 per share, making it one of the easiest, and perhaps most affordable legways into the consumer staples market for young investors.

Sysco Corp (SYY)

Next in the consumer staples category is Sysco Corp (SYY), a global distributor of food and related consumer products. Sysco Corp serves the food-away-from-home industry segment, with the majority of their clients being food service providers and restaurants.

The company has an impressive portfolio, which branches to several regions across the world. Currently, the United States accounts for 82% of its consolidated revenue, while other regions, including Canada, Latin America, and Europe account for the remaining 18%.

Restaurants account for around 62% of total sales, while other customers, including education and government facilities, account for 8%, travel 8%, healthcare 7%, and the remainder 15% is divided among other food service clients.

For young investors, looking to diversify their holdings, SYY offers a 3.06% annual dividend yield. Analysts currently estimate that the company will post quarterly earnings of $1.02 per share, which would represent a 5.2% year-over-year change.

Cardinal Health (CAH)

This year has been an interesting and challenging time for healthcare companies. This comes as COVID-19 and pandemic-related government funding and subsidies begin to dry up against the backdrop of waning COVID-19 cases and declining vaccination rates.

Additionally, demand for tele-medicine and virtual healthcare services have become increasingly popular as developments in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) models now provide consumers with more seamless convenient access to virtual healthcare systems.

That’s not to say that traditional healthcare service providers such as Cardinal Health (CAH) have become obsolete and redundant. Cardinal distributes pharmaceutical and medical products and serves over 100,000 different locations.

Young investors looking for a steady, yet sustainable healthcare dividend investment often look toward Cardinal Health as it provides them with a 2.14% annual dividend yield, and ongoing business growth.

Back in August, the company reported fiscal full-year earnings, which indicated that the company is still in good shape, considering rising healthcare costs. For the fourth quarter, revenue grew by 13% to $53.5 billion, both their pharmaceutical segment increased profits by 12% to $504 million and medical segment profit jumped to $82 million.

The company has managed to maintain performance and growth over the last several months, despite the challenging economic environment. And during their fourth-quarter earnings call, CEO, Jason Hollar said that the company is on track to meet both its short and near-term plans, and aims to raise their forward-looking 2024 guidance.

CAH has climbed ~21% to date, a strong improvement compared to other competitors. While stocks were seen underperforming the market during the final trading week of October, shares have since been trending upward on the back of bullish investor sentiment.

Pentair plc (PNR)

Pentair is one of the largest water treatment companies in the United States, with the majority of its business coming from both the U.S. and Canada. Pentair operates various business segments, however, more recently, the company is primarily focused on residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal water infrastructure, including various agricultural applications.

While the company still has some business operations in the energy sector, rising operation costs and advancements in the sustainable energy sector have meant that the company has the opportunity to restructure its primary objectives. There is still, however, a portion of the business dedicated to energy products, including biogas technologies.

As a relatively diverse company, PNR offers investors an annual dividend yield of 1.48%, and for much of the year, share prices have been growing on the back of stronger fundamentals and full-year guidance. The company has continued to raise its dividends for nearly 47 years.

PNR has swelled this year, with prices increasing 31.57% year to date. There has been a decline of just over 17% in share prices since August after PNR peaked at $71.72 per share.

Earnings per share for the most recent earnings quarter decreased by 5%, however, adjusted EPS for Q3 2023 was $0.99. The company has further updated its full-year EPS guidance to $3.70 – $3.75, a slight adjustment from the previous of $3.65 – $3.75.

The long-term outlook for Pentair is that it can provide solid returns, and perhaps even more sustainable portfolio guidance. Additionally, for novice investors interested in more sustainable investments, such as environmental, social, and governance (ESG) equities, PNR has dedicated a long-term environmental strategy that has already seen a 29% reduction in Stage 1 and Stage 2 greenhouse gas emissions.

3M Company (MMM)

The industrial conglomerate 3M Company sent Wall Street on a frantic bull run during the final trading week of October, and on the day the company announced its third-quarter financial results.

While the financial results were far from overly impressive, the company raised its full-year profit forecast. What’s more, third-quarter earnings managed to beat analysts’ revenue consensus estimate of $7.98 billion, after third-quarter revenue hit $8.31 billion, a 3.6% decrease from the previous quarter.

On the stock market, shares were seen climbing following the strong guidance, with MMM performance up 5% in a single day.

There is however still the ongoing $12 billion legal settlement the company is currently faced with, which has kept many investors relatively speculative over the near-term outlook for MMM.

Despite the pricey lawsuit and legal settlement the company has yet to fulfill, investors remain intrigued with the company’s 6.66% dividend yield. Based on recent earnings guidance, 3M is expected to deliver an EPS of $8.95 to $9.15 for the full year. This is already an increase from the previous guidance of $8.60 to $9.10.

Inflation continues to remain a headache for the company, however, during their recent earnings call, 3M Chief Financial Officer Monish Patolawala said the company has managed to mitigate inflationary pressures by raising prices and introducing cost-cutting strategies.

Additionally, Patolawala told analysts during the call that the company will continue to hold this position until the wider economic environment has begun to stabilize. This comes after the company announced a decline in organic sales of 3%.

Yet, despite the drop in organic sales, and wider macroeconomic challenges, such as slower consumer spending, 3M still holds a steady balance sheet, and has seen free cash flow increase 22% year over year.

Amcor plc (AMCR)

Next up is Amcor a global packaging company that produces and distributes flexible packaging containers for restaurants and food service industry customers.

Without beating around the bush, AMCR has had quite a challenging year on the stock market, with shares of Amcor dropping 27.60% year to date. Currently, share prices are trading at a day range of $8.52 – $8.65, which could make it a blowout option for young investors looking for an affordable dividend aristocrat.

Although shares have endured some difficulty this year, things are starting to steadily shape up again. During the last trading week of October, AMCR rose 2.13%, beating the market. The S&P 500 INdex SPX climbed 0.73%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA rose 0.62%.

Based on recent quarterly performance, AMCR holds a 5.68% annual dividend yield. Global sales for the fiscal full year topped more than $14.7 billion, with 76% coming from sales of flexible packaging, and 24% being rigid packaging such as plastic liquid bottles.

For the second quarter, the company reported adjusted earnings per share of $0.73, with an adjusted free cash flow of $848 million. Additionally, forward-looking guidance for the fiscal 2024 year shows an adjusted EPS between $0.69 and $0.071, with adjusted free cash flow between $850 and $950 million.

These estimates are slightly below the current margin, however, the combination of strong cash reserves, a sizable dividend yield, and seemingly attractive share prices have made Amcor a reasonably safe purchase for novice investors who are keen to minimize their risk exposure.

Albemarle Corporation (ALB)

Lately, there has been a strong demand for critical components that are attributed to the growing electric vehicle (EV) industry, and Albermarle (ALB) has become one of the biggest specialty chemical producers in the world, which is helping to fuel the demand, largely driven by soaring EV sales.

This year has already seen the company report second quarterly net sales of more than $2.4 billion, which represented a 60% year-over-year increase. Shareholders have managed to largely benefit from this staggering performance, as the company reported a net income of $650 million or $5.52 per diluted share for the second quarter of the year.

With a strong forward-looking strategy, the company has managed to increase its adjusted EPS by 112% to $7.33 per share.

The ongoing demand for specialty chemicals, especially lithium, considered a winning component needed for the production of EV batteries, has sent Albemarle sales soaring. Now, the company is expected to see a 40% to 55% year-over-year sales increase, and improved EBITDA, which is expected to increase 10% to 25% year-over-year.

While share performance has been sliding for the last several months, partially due to increased lithium prices, and droves of new marketplace competition, perhaps investors could scoop up ALB on the cheap, and hold for the long run.

Currently, ALB is trading 50% below its peak of February, and overall share prices have tumbled 35.09% to date. However, analysts are positive that the company’s energy storage business segment could see slight improvements next year, which can help send stocks north again.

ALB currently sits at a 1,19% dividend yield, which isn’t highly attractive considering its current price value of $134.24 per share. The stock has a high of roughly $334.55 per share, which many analysts claim could become a reality in the near future. In this scenario, novice investors will need to remain patient and hold ALB for the long term before reaping the benefits.

Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO)

The technology sector has been heating Wall Street this year, with mega-cap tech companies all attempting to lead the race for innovation.

Tech stocks will continue to entice many investors, and while Cisco Systems might not find itself among the Magnificent Seven, it still provides investors, and more importantly, young investors with less volatility, and minimal risk exposure.

For starters, several months ago, Cisco announced that it would acquire the cybersecurity company, Splunk, through a $28 billion deal. Analysts called this a potential breakout for the company’s stocks, and could further ignite a digital and technological frenzy among other big-league companies.

The acquisition of Splunk forms part of Cisco’s broader plans to become a major competitor in the digital technology industry. Recently, the company has embarked on a seemingly ambitious effort to launch a range of cyber and virtual infrastructure systems specifically targeting businesses.

CSCO proves steady, with year-to-date stock growth of 10.58%, and an annual dividend yield of 2.94%.

Oracle Corporation (ORCL)

Analysts are calling Oracle the up-and-coming AI behemoth that could soon outpace the likes of Alphabet, Microsoft, and Apple. In recent years, the company has supercharged its investment in AI development, launching several new and advanced systems, and targeting companies in the finance sector.

This year has already been somewhat rewarding for ORCL. Stocks have grown 23.27% year to date, and October saw ORCL trying to regain its footing after sharply sliding during the early trading weeks of September.

Currently, ORCL provides a 1.55% annual dividend yield, and after coming down from its earlier peak, the current share price between $100.00 and $105.00 per share makes ORCL relatively cheap considering the long-term upside potential it provides investors.

Financials have remained fairly positive, as the company reported more than $12.45 billion in revenues for the quarter ending June 2023, this represented an 8.81% year-over-year increase.

Additionally, the company has been investing in engineering, research, and development, especially for its artificial technology business segment. While there is already strong competition in the market, Oracle has a good chance to rise in the coming months.

Some analysts are saying that investors shouldn’t sleep on ORCL, especially at its current price point. For young investors, this provides an opportunity to build a sustainable tech portfolio that rewards them with growth and healthy dividend returns.

Final Thoughts

New investors entering the market are doing so at the peak of volatile economic and market conditions. While there are countless unforeseen risks that many investors are encouraged to carefully evaluate, some dividend stocks could potentially provide them with the portfolio sustainability and growth they need to navigate the tumultuous environment.

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