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2 Compelling Dividend Stocks Yielding at Least 8%; Oppenheimer Says ‘Buy’
The crises of the past year – the COVID pandemic, the social lockdowns, the economic shock – are on the wane, and that’s good. However, the crisis post-mortems are rolling in. It’s only natural to compare the current economic crisis to the ‘Great Recession’ of 12 years ago, but as Oppenheimer’s chief investment strategist John Stoltzfus points out, “Considering the differences in what caused the Great Financial Crisis of a little more than 12 years ago… and the current crisis… it’s little wonder that as good as things are when compared to this time last year there remains much to be revealed as to how the exit and the legacy of the pandemic crisis will take shape…” Stoltzfus also believes that the economic data, while suffering some setbacks, is generally resilient. Markets are rising, and that, as Stoltzfus says, “…in our view likely presents more opportunity than risk for investors who have suitable tolerance for risk and who practice patience.” Taking Stoltzfus’ outlook into consideration, we wanted to take a closer look at two stocks earning a round of applause from Oppenheimer’s stock analysts. Using TipRanks’ database, we learned that both share a profile: a Strong Buy consensus rating from the Street’s analyst corps and a reliable dividend yielding at least 8%. Let’s see what Oppenheimer has to say about them. Owl Rock Capital (ORCC) We’ll start with Owl Rock Capital, one of the financial industry’s myriad specialty finance companies. These companies generally inhabit the middle-market finance sector, where they make available capital for acquisitions, recapitalizations, and general operations to mid-market companies that don’t necessarily have access to other sources of credit. Owl Rock’s portfolio consists of investments in 119 companies, totaling $11.3 billion. Of these investments, 96% are senior secured loans. Owl Rock reported its 4Q20, and full year results, at the end of February. The company saw Q4 net income of $180.7 million, which came out to 46 cents per share. This was up from 36 cents per share in 4Q19, a 27% increase. Also up was investment income, which at $221.3 million for the quarter was up 9% year-over-year. Full-year investment income was $803.3 million, up more than 11% from 2019. In addition, the company finished 2019 with over $27 billion in assets under management. Of particular interest to dividend investors, Owl Rock’s board declared a 31-cent per common share dividend for the first quarter. This is payable in mid-May, and matches the company’s previous regular dividend payments. The annualized rate of $1.24 gives a yield of 9%. Also of interest about Owl Rock’s dividend, the company paid out the sixth and final special dividend – related to the 2019 IPO launch – in…
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