Visitor Contribution by Tom Hutchinson, Chief Analyst, Cabot Dividend Investor
This can be a robust market to navigate. After falling practically 20% from the February excessive, the S&P 500 has come roaring again within the final month.
However volatility stays considerably elevated, and the factor that induced the precipitous fall, tariffs, is totally on pause; it hasn’t fully gone away.
So whereas there may be rising cause for optimism, we would not be out of the woods but.
Roughly 130 nations are keen to barter tariffs; certainly, the U.S. did strike a tariff cope with the UK.
The current volatility might have broken an economic system that was already weak within the close to time period.
To date, the information has principally held up, with inflation falling, the roles market resilient, and first-quarter earnings coming in stronger than anticipated. However GDP fell into damaging territory within the first quarter, and Moody’s simply downgraded America’s credit standing.
So, how do you play such an unsure time?
A technique is to put money into excessive dividend shares, which pay buyers excessive yields that assist act as a buffer towards falling inventory costs.

Traditionally, a beaten-down market is the perfect time to purchase shares when you’ve got an inexpensive investing timeframe.
There are particular shares that ought to maintain up comparatively properly if there may be extra bother out there but additionally profit if the market extends its current restoration. Listed below are two robust dividend shares to contemplate.
The Williams Firms Inc. (WMB)
Williams is concerned within the transmission, gathering, processing, and storage of pure fuel. It operates the massive Transco and Northwest pipeline programs that transport fuel to densely populated areas from the Gulf to the East Coast. Roughly 30% of the pure fuel within the U.S. strikes by Williams’ programs.
Like most different midstream vitality corporations, the overwhelming bulk of earnings are assured by long-term contracts. And people contracts have computerized inflation changes in-built.
It additionally operates a close to monopoly in its areas and doesn’t should compete in worth with different comparable corporations. As a big and established participant, it might probably simply develop with community growth.
The earnings are extremely dependable. The corporate additionally advantages from the truth that pure fuel demand is rising in each the U.S. and abroad. It additionally ought to profit from elevated pure fuel manufacturing and a decreased regulatory burden.
The corporate continues to lift future earnings steerage as enterprise is booming. Even after the current market downturn, WMB nonetheless sells inside 7% of the 52-week excessive with an 8% YTD return and a 42% return over the previous yr.
AbbVie Inc. (ABBV)
AbbVie is a U.S.-based biopharmaceutical firm fashioned in 2013 as a derivative from Abbott Laboratories (ABT). AbbVie is a research-based pharmaceutical firm that makes a speciality of small-molecule medication. It’s a cutting-edge firm with a terrific pipeline.
AbbVie grew to become an business big due to its mega-blockbuster drug Humira. It’s an autoimmune treatment that grew to become the world’s bestselling drug with annual gross sales of $20 billion. However the great success of that drug grew to become an issue as Humira misplaced its patent abroad a couple of years in the past, and it misplaced its U.S. patent in 2023.
AbbVie has lengthy deliberate for this eventuality and has executed a stellar job launching new medication able to changing the diminishing Humira income. New immunology medication, Skyrizi and Rinvoq, have already changed Humira’s peak revenues. Within the first quarter, Skyrizi and Rinvoq collectively grew gross sales by 65% with income of $5.1 billion.
These medication alone have changed the Humira income, which peaked at a little bit over $20 billion yearly. The corporate additionally lately raised income forecasts on the 2 medication by $4 billion to $31 billion a yr by 2027.
The earnings report confirmed AbbVie has changed Humira income and is properly on monitor in the direction of robust earnings progress within the years forward. The patent cliff had been holding the inventory again however that’s gone now. And the corporate has guided for 21% income progress in 2025.
ABBV hit an all-time excessive in early March. Fairly often, the inventory pulls again after a surge to new highs. And that was taking place. However this market took ABBV, together with nearly all the things else, means down.
The current plunge will get the inventory’s behavior of pulling again after a surge out of its system. ABBV is at a terrific worth now and it gives each protection and progress.
Further Studying
In case you are all for discovering different high-yield securities, the next Certain Dividend sources could also be helpful:
Excessive-Yield Particular person Safety Analysis
Different Certain Dividend Assets
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