Key takeaways
- Dividend income crosses the border: US dividend stocks give Canadian investors access to sectors and business models that simply don’t exist on the TSX, from specialty insurance to semiconductor manufacturing to biotech, and many of these companies are growing their payouts at a pace most Canadian dividend payers can’t match.
- Growth and income aren’t exclusive: The standout names on this list aren’t just paying dividends for the sake of it. They’re backed by real earnings momentum in areas like cloud networking, gold mining, and electric vehicle infrastructure, meaning you’re not sacrificing capital appreciation potential just to collect a quarterly cheque.
- Watch withholding taxes and volatility: Canadians buying US dividend stocks face a 15% withholding tax in registered accounts like TFSAs (RRSPs get a treaty exemption), which eats into your yield. On top of that, some of these sectors, particularly gold miners and smaller industrial names, can swing hard on commodity prices or shifting government policy, so position sizing matters more than usual.
Dividend investing gets treated like a Canadian specialty, and honestly, for good reason given how deep our bank and pipeline bench runs. But limiting yourself to the TSX means missing out on a chunk of the world’s best dividend growers, and 2026 is shaping up to be a year where picking the right American names matters more than ever.
This list isn’t your typical lineup of sleepy utilities and telecoms padding out a yield-focused portfolio. I went looking for companies with real growth engines attached to their payouts, the kind of businesses that remind me of the GARP setups I hunt for when I write about Canadian dividend growth stocks. Arista Networks and Qualys bring tech exposure that most dividend screens completely ignore. Exelixis gives you biotech cash flow tied to a drug portfolio that’s still expanding.
Then you’ve got names that don’t fit neatly into any single box. Abercrombie & Fitch is proof that a retail turnaround can fund a growing dividend at the same time. Global Ship Lease and Ultrapar Participações offer global cash flow stories most Canadian investors have never even considered. Atour Lifestyle and GigaCloud Technology round things out with exposure to Asian consumer and logistics trends that don’t correlate much with anything on the TSX.
Oscar Health and Slide Insurance Holdings are the wildcards here, newer names with payout policies still finding their footing. That’s not necessarily a red flag, but it does mean doing the homework instead of chasing a headline yield.
What ties all of these together isn’t sector or geography. It’s that each one pairs a real payout with a real reason to believe that payout grows. That’s the bar I set before any stock makes a list like this, and it’s the same lens I use when picking through Canadian blue-chip titans or sizing up names in my US technology stocks coverage. Let’s get into how each of these stacks up.
In This Article
- Chevron Corporation (CVX)
- Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (BMY)
- T-Mobile US, Inc. (TMUS)
- NextEra Energy, Inc. (NEE)
- Medtronic plc (MDT)
- Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ)
- Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. (BAM)
- Altria Group, Inc. (MO)
- PepsiCo, Inc. (PEP)
- McDonald's Corporation (MCD)
Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX)
$232.01
Overall Grade7.0 / 10
Chevron Corporation is a leading integrated energy and chemicals company with operations spanning the globe. The company's business is divided into two primary segments: Upstream and Downstream...
Grades
Valuation
Profitability
Growth
Debt
Dividend
Valuation
P/E15.9
P/B1.7
P/S1.6
P/FCF12.1
FCF Yield+8.2%
Growth & Outlook
Rev Growth (YoY)+11.2%
EPS Growth (YoY)+34.2%
Revenue 5yr+12.5%
EPS 5yr+41.0%
FCF 5yr+22.4%
Fundamentals
Market Cap$460.8B
Dividend Yield3.1%
Operating Margin+12.2%
ROE+12.2%
Interest Coverage34.4x
Competitive Edge
- The Hess acquisition adds Guyana's Stabroek block, a low-cost, high-margin deepwater asset that diversifies Chevron's upstream base away from mature legacy fields and extends reserve life materially.
- Integrated model lets Chevron capture margin on both ends of the barrel, refining strength in FY2025 offset upstream weakness, a natural hedge competitors with pure upstream exposure lack.
- LNG capacity additions (Gorgon, Wheatstone, plus new international gas volumes up 15.5% YoY to 3,099 MMCFD) position Chevron to benefit from structurally growing Asian gas demand independent of oil price cycles.
- Investment-grade balance sheet with debt to equity of just 0.19x gives Chevron room to keep buying back stock or making bolt-on deals through a down cycle while peers retrench.
By the Numbers
- Interest coverage of 34x and net debt to EBITDA of 0.58x give Chevron enormous room to keep funding the Hess-driven capex step-up without touching the balance sheet's flexibility.
- Total upstream production hit 3,723 MBOED in FY2025, up 11.5% YoY and accelerating from 7% the prior year, with U.S. volumes up 16.2% on Permian and Hess integration.
- FCF to net income conversion of 1.29x and OCF to net income of 2.16x show reported earnings understate actual cash generation, a cushion that supports the dividend even as upstream earnings fall.
- Downstream earnings snapped back hard, up 75% YoY to $3.02B in FY2025 after collapsing 71.9% the prior year, showing refining margins are recovering from a 2024 trough.
- Shareholder yield of 6.6% (4.2% dividend plus 2.5% buybacks) is funded by FCF yield of 6.75%, meaning capital returns are not outrunning cash generation despite a weak upstream year.
Risk Factors
- Total upstream segment earnings fell 31.1% YoY to $12.8B in FY2025 even as production grew 11.5%, meaning realized prices or per-barrel margins are eroding faster than volume growth can offset.
- EPS fell at a 12.9% 3-year CAGR while the 5-year figure shows 41% growth, confirming the growth grade of 2.3/10 reflects real deceleration, not just a tough comp.
- Payout ratio of 67.3% against FCF payout ratio of 51.5% shows a meaningful gap, dividends are safer measured against cash flow than against accounting earnings that got hit by upstream weakness.
- The stock trades at 19.4x earnings versus its 5-year average of 15.6x (24% premium) and 2.1x EV/EBITDA above the 5-year average of 7.7x (16% premium), a rich multiple for a segment where earnings just fell 31%.
- Shares outstanding grew 11.95% YoY, largely from the Hess deal, which mechanically caps how much the $9.9B in buybacks can shrink the float despite a 2.5% buyback yield.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY)
$61.61
Overall Grade6.9 / 10
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company is a global biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops, and markets prescription medicines for serious diseases. The company focuses on key therapeutic areas including oncology, hematology, immunology, and cardiovascular disease...
Grades
Valuation
Profitability
Growth
Debt
Dividend
Valuation
P/E12.7
P/B5.3
P/S2.4
P/FCF10.3
FCF Yield+9.7%
Growth & Outlook
Rev Growth (YoY)+3.1%
EPS Growth (YoY)+83.1%
Revenue 5yr+2.1%
EPS 5yr-
FCF 5yr-0.4%
Fundamentals
Market Cap$125.6B
Dividend Yield4.1%
Operating Margin+23.8%
ROE+46.6%
Interest Coverage-
Competitive Edge
- Eliquis and Opdivo still anchor cash flow, and both carry regulatory and physician-prescribing lock-in that new entrants cannot easily dislodge inside their remaining exclusivity windows.
- Management's buyback timing looks disciplined: 43% of repurchase dollars were spent in years the stock traded below its own five-year median multiple, per the Management grade.
- The 78% gap between adjusted and filed earnings reflects heavy one-time charges tied to recent deal activity rather than core operating weakness, and cash collection still runs ahead of reported profit.
- A 4.3% dividend yield paid from only 45% of free cash flow leaves headroom to keep raising the payout even as legacy drugs face patent cliffs.
By the Numbers
- FCF conversion runs 123% of net income and OCF runs 138% of net income, meaning reported earnings actually understate the cash the business throws off.
- ROIC climbed from negative 11% in FY2020 to 9.3% today per the Management grade, showing capital deployed into recent acquisitions is starting to earn a real return.
- Shareholder yield sits at 9.1%: 4.3% dividend plus 4.9% debt paydown, a rare combination that both rewards holders and delivers the balance sheet at the same time.
- Trading at 13.7x earnings versus a 16.3x five-year average, with EV/EBITDA at 10.7x roughly in line with the 10.0x five-year average despite ROIC and margins moving the right direction.
- Net debt to EBITDA of 2.15x combined with $8.2B of unlevered FCF means the company could retire net debt in roughly four years of free cash flow alone.
Risk Factors
- Tangible book value per share is negative $8.22 against a stock price of $61, so the entire equity value rests on goodwill and intangibles that make up 69% of total assets combined.
- FCF fell 36% year over year and 15.6% annualized over three years, even as reported EPS grew, a divergence that should worry anyone valuing the stock on cash generation.
- Debt to equity of 1.93x and total debt to capital near 99% is weak for a company with declining top-line growth, leaving little cushion if EBITDA slips.
- Analysts model EPS falling from $6.95 in the first estimate year to $5.00 by the fifth, a roughly 28% decline that the current 8.8x forward P/E is already partly discounting.
- Alliance & Other Revenue growth swung from plus 23.9% to negative 5.5% year over year, a sharp deceleration inside a revenue line that is already under 3% of total sales.
T-Mobile US, Inc. (NASDAQ: TMUS)
$146.93
Overall Grade6.9 / 10
T-Mobile US, Inc. is one of the largest wireless telecommunications providers in the United States, delivering mobile communications services to consumer and business customers...
Grades
Valuation
Profitability
Growth
Debt
Dividend
Valuation
P/E17.6
P/B3.2
P/S2.0
P/FCF9.8
FCF Yield+10.2%
Growth & Outlook
Rev Growth (YoY)+9.7%
EPS Growth (YoY)-9.9%
Revenue 5yr+3.1%
EPS 5yr+25.1%
FCF 5yr+50.2%
Fundamentals
Market Cap$157.2B
Dividend Yield3.2%
Operating Margin+19.8%
ROE+18.0%
Interest Coverage8.1x
Competitive Edge
- T-Mobile's 5G network covers more people than AT&T and Verizon combined on mid-band spectrum, creating a structural advantage in network quality that drives the postpaid share gains visible in the data. This gap is expensive and time-consuming for competitors to close.
- The acquisition of Mint Mobile and UScellular customers (4.9M acquired customers in FY2025) gives TMUS a multi-brand strategy spanning premium postpaid, value prepaid, and MVNO channels, reducing vulnerability to any single price segment.
- Wireless is a natural oligopoly with three national carriers. Switching costs are high due to device financing, family plans, and number porting friction. T-Mobile's industry-low churn (even after the recent uptick) confirms these retention dynamics.
- Fixed wireless access (FWA) gives TMUS a second growth vector using existing spectrum and towers, competing against cable broadband with minimal incremental capex. This optionality is not fully reflected in wireless-only peer comparisons.
- T-Mobile's cost structure advantage from the completed Sprint network integration allows it to simultaneously offer competitive pricing AND generate 20% FCF margins, a combination AT&T and Verizon cannot match given their higher capex burdens.
By the Numbers
- FCF yield of 9.4% is nearly 4x the historical 5-year average of 4.5%, driven by FCF margin expanding to ~20% while the stock trades at 10.7x FCF vs. a 5-year average of 22x. This is the cheapest TMUS has been on a cash flow basis in years.
- Net postpaid customer additions surged 28.6% YoY to 7.8M in FY2025, the fastest growth since the Sprint merger integration period. Postpaid revenue accelerated to 10.7% YoY growth from 7.5% the prior year, showing the subscriber engine is strengthening, not fading.
- Postpaid phone ARPU grew 2.1% YoY to $50.37, the fastest expansion since FY2022, while postpaid customer count grew 11.8%. Volume AND pricing are moving in the same direction, which is rare in wireless and signals real pricing power.
- SBC at 0.94% of revenue ($866M) is trivial relative to $18.4B in FCF, and share count shrank 3.9% YoY. Buybacks ($12.4B TTM) are 14x SBC, meaning capital returns are genuine, not just offsetting dilution.
- Capex-to-depreciation ratio of 0.72x means TMUS is spending less on capex than it depreciates, a sign the heavy 5G buildout cycle is winding down. This is the structural driver behind FCF margin expanding from ~13% five years ago to ~20% today.
Risk Factors
- Postpaid phone churn reversed its multi-year improvement trend, rising 8.1% YoY to 0.93% in FY2025. With 116M postpaid customers, each basis point of churn costs roughly $70M in annual revenue. This is the first churn increase in four years and warrants close monitoring.
- Net debt/EBITDA at 3.57x remains elevated for a company with $119B in total debt. At current FCF of ~$18.4B, it would take over 6 years to pay off net debt. The Debt grade of 4.9/10 reflects this structural leverage from the Sprint acquisition.
- Prepaid ARPU has declined every year for four consecutive years, falling from $38.79 to $34.14, an 12% cumulative erosion. Prepaid net adds also dropped 28.7% YoY. The prepaid segment is slowly hollowing out even as postpaid thrives.
- Wholesale & Other Services revenue declined 16.3% YoY to $2.9B, marking the fourth consecutive year of double-digit declines (from $6.1B in FY2021). This $3.2B revenue loss over four years partially masks how strong the core postpaid business actually is, but it is a real headwind.
- Tangible book value per share is negative $53.18, driven by intangibles comprising 54% of total assets. The $56B+ in spectrum licenses and goodwill create a balance sheet where virtually all equity value depends on continued earnings power rather than liquidation value.
NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE)
$82.04
Overall Grade6.5 / 10
NextEra Energy, Inc. is a North American electric power and energy infrastructure company headquartered in Juno Beach, Florida...
Grades
Valuation
Profitability
Growth
Debt
Dividend
Valuation
P/E13.6
P/B2.6
P/S5.5
P/FCF34.0
FCF Yield+2.9%
Growth & Outlook
Rev Growth (YoY)+9.6%
EPS Growth (YoY)+76.8%
Revenue 5yr+11.9%
EPS 5yr+35.8%
FCF 5yr+87.2%
Fundamentals
Market Cap$172.2B
Dividend Yield3.0%
Operating Margin+30.0%
ROE+14.1%
Interest Coverage36.0x
Competitive Edge
- FPL's vertically integrated, regulated monopoly across Florida gives NextEra a captive rate base of roughly 12 million people, insulating half the earnings mix from merchant power price swings.
- NEER's position as the largest wind and solar operator in North America gives it scale advantages in siting, interconnection queues, and tax credit monetization that smaller renewable developers cannot replicate.
- The dual-engine model, regulated utility funding steady rate base growth while NEER captures the renewables buildout, lets NextEra raise capital more cheaply than pure-play independent power producers.
- Florida's population growth directly feeds FPL's regulated rate base, a structural demand tailwind that most other U.S. utilities serving flat or shrinking service territories do not have.
By the Numbers
- Revenue grew 9.4% a year from FY2022 to FY2025 while EPS compounded 16.3% a year, implying margin expansion did real work rather than just financial engineering alone.
- NEER net income surged 60.4% QoQ in the most recent quarter and 29.4% YoY, an acceleration from the -35.4% decline the prior year, a genuine inflection in the competitive segment.
- Operating margin of 29.8% sits well above net margin of 26.3% despite a negative effective tax rate of -8.6%, showing the tax position is currently adding to, not subtracting from, reported profit.
- OCF to net income of 1.83x means cash generation runs far ahead of GAAP earnings, a sign that reported profit understates the cash actually reaching the business.
- FPL net income rebounded 10.3% in the latest year after being flat in FY2024, and its capex accelerated 8.4% YoY to $8.9B, signaling the regulated rate base is still expanding.
Risk Factors
- FCF payout ratio sits at 138% against an earnings payout ratio of just 53%, meaning the dividend is comfortably covered by GAAP profit but not by actual free cash flow.
- Net debt to EBITDA of 6.4x paired with interest coverage of just 2.4x (per the Balance Sheet grade) is stretched even by utility standards, and refinancing at higher rates would bite hard.
- Current ratio of 0.53x and quick ratio of 0.34x show current liabilities exceed current assets by nearly 2x, leaving little short-term cushion if commercial paper markets tighten.
- Buyback yield is negative at -1.24% with a total shareholder yield of -10.5%, driven by debt paydown yield of -12.2%, capital is being consumed to delever, not returned to owners.
- NEER capital expenditures dropped from $16.4B to $0 YoY in the annual segment data, a swing that likely reflects reporting reclassification but demands explanation given NEER is the growth engine.
Medtronic plc (NYSE: MDT)
$94.79
Overall Grade6.4 / 10
Founded in 1949 as a medical equipment repair shop, Medtronic has grown into a diversified medical technology leader. The company operates through four primary business segments: the Cardiovascular Portfolio, the Medical Surgical Portfolio, the Neuroscience Portfolio, and the Diabetes Operating Unit...
Grades
Valuation
Profitability
Growth
Debt
Dividend
Valuation
P/E21.0
P/B2.2
P/S2.9
P/FCF17.8
FCF Yield+5.6%
Growth & Outlook
Rev Growth (YoY)+9.8%
EPS Growth (YoY)+11.8%
Revenue 5yr+3.5%
EPS 5yr+7.3%
FCF 5yr+0.0%
Fundamentals
Market Cap$122.0B
Dividend Yield3.0%
Operating Margin+18.1%
ROE+10.6%
Interest Coverage13.4x
Competitive Edge
- Medtronic's PulseSelect pulsed field ablation system is a genuine category creator in cardiac ablation, offering tissue selectivity that thermal ablation cannot match. This technology is driving the 17.4% Cardiac Rhythm acceleration and represents a multi-year replacement cycle opportunity.
- The Hugo robotic surgical system positions MDT as the only credible scaled competitor to Intuitive Surgical in soft-tissue robotics. Unlike J&J's Ottava (still pre-launch), Hugo is already generating clinical data and building an installed base internationally.
- Medtronic's 50/50 U.S./international revenue split provides natural diversification that peers like Boston Scientific (65% U.S.) lack. Emerging markets grew 6.5% in FY2025, providing a structural growth tailwind as hospital infrastructure expands in India, China, and Southeast Asia.
- Regulatory moat is deep: FDA PMA approvals for Class III implantable devices take 3-5 years and $50-100M+ to obtain. Medtronic holds thousands of these approvals across cardiac, neuro, and spine, creating switching costs that lock in hospital purchasing committees for years.
- The insulin pump installed base creates recurring consumable revenue (infusion sets, reservoirs, sensors) with 80%+ gross margins. As the 780G system regains share, each new pump placement generates 5-7 years of high-margin consumable pull-through.
By the Numbers
- PEG of 0.33 is exceptionally low for a mega-cap medtech name, with forward P/E of 15.76x implying 60% earnings growth from trailing $3.73 to estimated $5.97 in Y1. That gap suggests a significant earnings step-up the market hasn't fully priced.
- FCF-to-net-income conversion of 1.16x confirms high earnings quality. OCF-to-net-income of 1.52x shows depreciation and amortization are real cash-generating assets, not just accounting noise from the Covidien acquisition goodwill stack.
- Cardiac Rhythm & Heart Failure revenue accelerated from 3.7% to 6.6% to 17.4% YoY growth over FY2024-FY2026, reaching $7.5B. This segment alone added $1.1B in revenue in FY2026, likely driven by the Micra leadless pacemaker and PulseSelect PFA system gaining share.
- Diabetes segment posted three consecutive years of accelerating organic growth (2.4% to 8.6% to 11.5%), with revenue hitting $3.1B. The MiniMed 780G system is clearly regaining competitive ground against Insulet and Dexcom in the closed-loop insulin delivery market.
- Total shareholder yield of 3.65% (3.3% dividend plus 0.6% buyback plus debt paydown) is solid for a company still investing in growth. SBC at 1.3% of revenue is modest for a $36B revenue company, meaning buybacks are genuinely reducing share count rather than just offsetting dilution.
Risk Factors
- All three major segment operating profits collapsed in FY2026: Cardiovascular down 23.5%, Neuroscience down 26.8%, Medical Surgical down 30%. Revenue grew 12%, 4.5%, and 4.9% respectively, meaning margin compression was severe and broad-based, not isolated to one business.
- Tangible book value per share is negative $2.48, with goodwill and intangibles comprising 57% of total assets ($46B+). This is the lingering Covidien acquisition overhang. Any impairment write-down would crater book value and ROE simultaneously.
- Cash conversion cycle of 157 days is extremely long, with days inventory outstanding at 168 days. Inventory turnover of just 2.17x means MDT is carrying roughly six months of inventory, tying up working capital and raising obsolescence risk in a product cycle-driven business.
- Five-year FCF CAGR is slightly negative at -0.3% despite 3.5% revenue CAGR over the same period. FCF margin of 16.3% looks healthy in isolation, but the inability to grow absolute free cash flow over five years while revenue expanded $5B+ signals structural cost absorption.
- Operating margin of 18.1% sits well below gross margin of 65%, with SG&A consuming 32.4% of revenue. That 47-point spread between gross and operating margin is wide even for medtech, suggesting the direct sales force and global distribution infrastructure are a permanent cost drag.
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ)
$43.10
Overall Grade6.3 / 10
Verizon Communications Inc. operates through two primary business segments: Verizon Consumer Group and Verizon Business Group...
Grades
Valuation
Profitability
Growth
Debt
Dividend
Valuation
P/E11.0
P/B1.7
P/S1.3
P/FCF8.2
FCF Yield+12.2%
Growth & Outlook
Rev Growth (YoY)+1.4%
EPS Growth (YoY)-10.5%
Revenue 5yr+0.9%
EPS 5yr-4.5%
FCF 5yr+1.9%
Fundamentals
Market Cap$185.6B
Dividend Yield6.6%
Operating Margin+20.5%
ROE+15.8%
Interest Coverage6.5x
Competitive Edge
- Verizon's fixed wireless access buildout is capturing broadband share without the capex intensity of new fiber trenching, letting it compete with cable incumbents in areas Fios never reached.
- The Business Group's improving profitability, with operating income up 23% YoY, reflects enterprise stickiness in mobility and IoT contracts that carry higher switching costs than consumer plans.
- Postpaid churn of 1.61% in Consumer and 1.58% in Business remains low by historical standards, evidence that pricing actions have not triggered a subscriber exodus despite ARPA increases.
- Spectrum holdings and network density built over decades represent a regulatory and capital barrier that new wireless entrants cannot replicate at any reasonable cost, protecting the postpaid base structurally.
By the Numbers
- FCF yield of 11.2% versus a 5.4% earnings yield gap shows depreciation and non-cash charges are masking real cash generation, GAAP earnings understate the business's cash power.
- Consumer segment operating income grew only 0.5% YoY to $29.6B, but Business segment operating income jumped 23% to $2.5B, the smaller unit is now the swing factor in profitability.
- EV/EBITDA of 8.0x sits close to its 5-year average of 7.6x while P/FCF of 9.0x is actually 6% below its 5-year average of 9.5x, cash flow multiples aren't pricing in distress despite the growth grade.
- Consumer broadband connections rose 8.4% YoY to 10.9M, adding 844,000 net subscribers, fixed wireless and Fios are offsetting wireless saturation in a way pure-play wireless peers cannot replicate.
- ROIC of 5.7% still clears the effective cost of debt implied by 6.5x interest coverage, meaning incremental capital deployed into the network is still value accretive, barely.
Risk Factors
- Consumer Wireless Retail Postpaid Net Additions collapsed 56.8% YoY to 581,000 from 1.345M, and Business postpaid net adds fell 72.3% to 280,000, the core subscriber engine is stalling on both fronts simultaneously.
- Current ratio of 0.60x and cash ratio of 0.03x mean Verizon holds almost no liquid buffer against $186.7B of net debt, working capital is structurally negative and dependent on continuous refinancing access.
- Net debt to EBITDA of 3.9x paired with a Balance Sheet grade of just 3.9/10 shows leverage is stretched even by telecom standards, where debt-to-equity of 1.54x already reflects industry-normal capital intensity.
- FCF payout ratio of 54% is dramatically better than the 72% GAAP payout ratio, but FCF fell 9.3% YoY, if that decline persists the safety cushion narrows fast.
- EPS fell 10.5% YoY and 8.2% annualized over three years even as revenue grew, margin or share count support is not translating into bottom-line growth, a genuine disconnect the 12.1x P/E does not fully discount.
Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. (NYSE: BAM)
$47.04
Overall Grade6.2 / 10
Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. operates as one of the world's largest alternative asset managers, providing investment products to institutional and retail clients globally, including pension plans, sovereign wealth funds, and endowments...
Grades
Valuation
Profitability
Growth
Debt
Dividend
Valuation
P/E26.0
P/B9.5
P/S12.5
P/FCF30.6
FCF Yield+3.3%
Growth & Outlook
Rev Growth (YoY)+31.9%
EPS Growth (YoY)+14.7%
Revenue 5yr-
EPS 5yr-
FCF 5yr-
Fundamentals
Market Cap$105.2B
Dividend Yield4.3%
Operating Margin+61.6%
ROE+26.8%
Interest Coverage20.8x
Competitive Edge
- The fee-bearing capital model means Brookfield earns management fees on $602.7B of committed capital regardless of near-term market moves, insulating base earnings from mark-to-market swings that hit balance-sheet-heavy peers.
- Renewable Power and Transition revenue accelerated to 29% growth in FY2025 from 7.9% the year before, positioning Brookfield to capture continued demand for power infrastructure tied to data center and grid buildout.
- 50% of trailing twelve month capital raised came from the United States, giving Brookfield outsized exposure to the world's deepest institutional capital pool for infrastructure and credit strategies.
- The five-segment structure (Renewable Power, Infrastructure, Private Equity, Real Estate, Credit) diversifies fee streams so a downturn in one asset class, like the FY2023 real estate dip of -1.8%, doesn't sink the whole franchise.
By the Numbers
- Fee-related earnings jumped 21.9% to $2,995M in FY2025, up from 9.6% growth in FY2024, showing the fee business is scaling faster than at any point in the last four years.
- Fee-bearing capital hit $602.7B, but Credit & Other alone contributed $279.4B and grew 14.1%, meaning capital raising is broadening beyond the historically dominant infrastructure and real estate books.
- Net debt to EBITDA sits at just 0.71x with interest coverage of 20.8x, giving Brookfield enormous headroom to keep raising committed capital without balance sheet strain.
- Three year total shareholder return compounded at 27.1% annually, well ahead of the 9.9% revenue CAGR over the same stretch, reflecting both margin gains and a re-rating.
- Private Equity revenue swung from -1.1% in FY2024 to +18.5% growth in FY2025, and the segment's most recent quarter still grew 16% QoQ after a prior quarter's 44.9% drop, suggesting the recovery has legs.
Risk Factors
- Payout ratio of 117.7% and FCF payout ratio of 142.8% mean the dividend is being funded from something other than current period earnings or free cash flow, a distressed signal per the 2.4/10 shareholder grade.
- Forward P/E of 36.0x sits above the trailing P/E of 26.8x, implying the market is pricing in near-term EPS that has yet to show up, a gap that needs the FY2026 estimates to land.
- Adjusted earnings run 21% above filed earnings, an unusually wide gap for a financial company where most peers report none, raising questions about how much of distributable earnings is genuinely cash.
- Credit & Other fee-bearing capital growth decelerated sharply from 37.8% in FY2024 to 14.1% in FY2025, and this segment alone represents 46% of total fee-bearing capital, so any further slowdown drags the whole book.
- Buyback yield of just 1.06% against a 4.59% dividend yield means very little of the 5% shareholder yield is coming from actual share count reduction, shares outstanding fell only 0.3% over the year.
Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE: MO)
$73.62
Overall Grade6.0 / 10
Altria Group, Inc. is a leading American tobacco corporation that manufactures and sells combustible and smoke-free products primarily in the United States...
Grades
Valuation
Profitability
Growth
Debt
Dividend
Valuation
P/E15.2
P/B-45.0
P/S5.9
P/FCF13.2
FCF Yield+7.6%
Growth & Outlook
Rev Growth (YoY)+0.9%
EPS Growth (YoY)-8.3%
Revenue 5yr-0.7%
EPS 5yr+14.1%
FCF 5yr+8.1%
Fundamentals
Market Cap$124.1B
Dividend Yield6.0%
Operating Margin+53.7%
ROE-273.8%
Interest Coverage10.2x
Competitive Edge
- Marlboro's 45.2% retail cigarette share gives Altria pricing power that offsets structural volume decline, since price increases have consistently outpaced stick volume losses in operating income terms.
- The oral nicotine pouch business (on!) grew shipment volume from 48.4 million cans in FY2021 to 177.8 million in FY2025, positioning Altria in the one growing nicotine category as combustibles fade.
- Distribution lock-in with convenience retailers via long-standing trade programs makes it difficult for smaller smoke-free entrants to get comparable shelf placement, protecting Altria's oral segment despite Zyn's category leadership elsewhere.
- Federal excise tax structure and FDA's Substantial Equivalence rules create high regulatory barriers to new combustible entrants, effectively locking in the current three-player oligopoly (Altria, Reynolds, ITG).
By the Numbers
- ROIC sits at 27.3% against a business trading at 12.2x EV/EBITDA, meaning the company generates returns on capital far above its cost of capital despite zero volume growth.
- Interest coverage of 10.2x and net debt/EBITDA of 2.0x show the debt load is well serviced even with a deeply negative book value from buybacks and spinoffs.
- Oral tobacco operating income jumped 26.2% YoY to $1.83B in FY2025, reversing a 15.9% decline the prior year, showing the on! and Copenhagen/Skoal franchise regained pricing traction.
- Three-year total shareholder return compounded at 21% a year including dividends, well above the stock's own growth profile, reflecting multiple expansion plus consistent capital return.
- ROIC climbed from 14% in FY2020 to 20% in FY2025 per management's own decomposition, and over half of buyback dollars were deployed when the stock traded below its five-year median multiple.
Risk Factors
- Revenue fell 1.5% in the last filed year and has declined 0.9% a year since FY2022, yet the stock trades at 12.2x EV/EBITDA versus a 9.6x five-year average, a 27% premium for a shrinking top line.
- FCF payout ratio of 77.5% against an earnings payout ratio of 88.6% leaves almost no cushion if free cash flow growth stays negative, which it was at -8.6% YoY.
- Marlboro stick shipments fell 12.2% YoY to 54.9 billion, the steepest annual decline in the five-year window, while total cigarette retail share slipped again to 45.2% from 45.9%.
- Discount cigarette shipments surged 41.3% YoY after three straight years of double-digit declines, an odd inflection that suggests down-trading by price-sensitive smokers rather than category strength.
- Current ratio of 0.52x is below 1.0x, and combined with a negative book value per share of -$1.59, the balance sheet carries little short-term cushion despite strong cash generation.
PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ: PEP)
$135.46
Overall Grade6.0 / 10
PepsiCo, Inc. is a multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Purchase, New York...
Grades
Valuation
Profitability
Growth
Debt
Dividend
Valuation
P/E17.3
P/B8.4
P/S1.9
P/FCF17.9
FCF Yield+5.6%
Growth & Outlook
Rev Growth (YoY)+6.4%
EPS Growth (YoY)+51.3%
Revenue 5yr+5.1%
EPS 5yr+6.3%
FCF 5yr+8.6%
Fundamentals
Market Cap$185.0B
Dividend Yield4.4%
Operating Margin+15.3%
ROE+52.2%
Interest Coverage17.6x
Competitive Edge
- The DPO of 203 days reflects real bargaining power over suppliers (Frito-Lay's scale buying corn, oil, packaging), letting PepsiCo run working capital as a funding source rather than a drag.
- Frito-Lay's direct-store-delivery network is a distribution moat competitors like Kraft Heinz or private label snacks cannot easily replicate at shelf-level speed and SKU density.
- International Beverages Franchise segment operating profit jumped 21% to $1.77B in FY2025, showing the bottling-light franchise model in emerging markets is scaling profit faster than owned operations.
- Diversification across snacks (Frito-Lay), beverages (Pepsi, Gatorade), and breakfast (Quaker) means a slump in one category, like soda volumes, doesn't sink the whole portfolio.
By the Numbers
- FCF conversion sits at 95.5% of net income with OCF/NI at 1.33x, meaning accruals aren't propping up earnings despite the 52% ROE figure.
- Interest coverage of 17.6x and EBIT covering interest 13.6x per the Risk tab means debt service is not a near-term concern despite 2.31x debt-to-equity.
- Negative cash conversion cycle of -103 days (DPO of 203 days vs DIO of 51 and DSO of 49) means suppliers effectively finance working capital, a structural advantage over smaller snack peers.
- EV/EBITDA of 11.1x sits 34% below the 5-year average of 16.9x and P/FCF of 16.8x is 48% below its 32.5x average, a wider discount than the P/E compression alone suggests.
- EMEA segment operating profit grew 6.8% to $2.1B in FY2025 while volumes fell, meaning pricing and mix, not units, are carrying that region's profitability.
Risk Factors
- PBNA segment operating profit collapsed 52.7% YoY from $2.3B to $1.09B in FY2025 even as PBNA revenue rose 1.5%, a sharp margin compression story the headline growth number hides.
- Tangible book value per share is negative $8.60 against a market price of $130.85, so the entire equity value rests on $27B+ of goodwill and intangibles (47% of assets combined).
- Current ratio of 0.94x and quick ratio of 0.72x show current liabilities exceed current assets, a structurally tight liquidity position for a company this size.
- FCF payout ratio of 75.9% versus earnings payout of 72.3% leaves almost no cushion; the Shareholder Returns grade (3.5/10) flags dividend safety as weak given 84% of FCF goes to the dividend.
- Organic volume growth was negative 2% company-wide in FY2025 and PBNA volumes have been negative for three straight years, meaning reported revenue growth is being driven almost entirely by price, not demand.
McDonald's Corporation (NYSE: MCD)
$250.83
Overall Grade5.8 / 10
McDonald's Corporation is one of the world's largest restaurant chains, with a footprint of over 40,000 locations globally. The company's operations are organized into three primary segments: the United States, International Operated Markets, and International Developmental Licensed Markets...
Grades
Valuation
Profitability
Growth
Debt
Dividend
Valuation
P/E22.0
P/B-187.0
P/S6.9
P/FCF24.6
FCF Yield+4.1%
Growth & Outlook
Rev Growth (YoY)+6.3%
EPS Growth (YoY)+5.5%
Revenue 5yr+5.0%
EPS 5yr+6.0%
FCF 5yr+2.3%
Fundamentals
Market Cap$175.8B
Dividend Yield3.1%
Operating Margin+46.2%
ROE-464.5%
Interest Coverage9.3x
Competitive Edge
- The franchise-heavy model (43,317 of 45,356 units franchised, or 95.5%) means McDonald's collects rent and royalty streams with minimal capital at risk, explaining the 46.2% operating margin that most restaurant peers cannot touch.
- Real estate ownership under franchised locations gives McDonald's a landlord-like claim on franchisee cash flows, a structural moat competitors like Burger King's more asset-light model can't fully replicate.
- Menu localization (McSpicy Paneer in India, McShaka in the Philippines) combined with global supply chain scale lets McDonald's defend share against both global rivals like Yum Brands and local fast-casual entrants simultaneously.
By the Numbers
- ROIC of 18% has climbed from 12% in FY2020, showing McDonald's is extracting more profit per dollar of capital even as the store base matures, a genuine improvement rather than a one-off.
- International Operated Markets operating income jumped 7.3% YoY to $6.38B and rebounded from a 23.5% FY2022 decline, showing the overseas franchise recovery is structural, not a blip.
- Shareholder yield of 4.7% (2.7% dividend, 1.2% buyback, 0.6% debt paydown) shows capital return spread across three levers rather than relying on one lever to flatter the headline number.
- Interest coverage of 9.3x against net debt/EBITDA of 3.6x means debt service is comfortable even though the balance sheet carries $54.6B in total debt.
- EPS compounded 13% a year from FY2022 to FY2025 versus 5.1% revenue growth, with margin expansion contributing 6.1 points a year on top of buybacks, real operating leverage rather than financial engineering alone.
Risk Factors
- FCF payout ratio of 68% sits well above the 59% earnings payout ratio, meaning capex intensity (capex is 12.9% of revenue) eats into the cushion that dividend coverage appears to have on an earnings basis.
- Book value per share is negative at -$1.43 and tangible book value is -$6.12, so the entire $177B market cap rests on earnings power and brand value with zero tangible net asset backing.
- Global Comparable Sales Growth swung from -0.1% in FY2024 to 3.1% in FY2025, but the most recent quarter shows a 65.8% QoQ decline in that growth rate, suggesting the recovery is losing steam right as it started.
- Quick ratio of 0.82 against a current ratio of 1.08 shows a thin buffer of liquid assets over current liabilities, tight for a company generating $9B in unlevered FCF annually.
- International Developmental Licensed Markets operating income surged 515% YoY to $203M off a depressed $33M base, but the most recent quarter shows a 37.3% QoQ decline, so the annual number overstates the segment's current run rate.
What I find a little funny about American dividend investing is how much it punishes the assumption that a payout and a growth story can’t live in the same business. Most of the names on this list would get laughed out of a traditional income screen for being too young, too volatile, or too tied to industries that don’t scream “stable cash flow.” And yet here they are, paying shareholders while still expanding.
That combination is rarer than people think. A lot of companies can grow. A lot of companies can pay a dividend. Finding ones doing both, in markets Canadians barely touch, at prices that still make sense, is the actual edge here.
I’d treat this less as a basket of yield plays and more as ten separate bets on management teams proving they can fund growth and shareholders at the same time. Some have already shown it. Others still need a few more years of results before I’d trust the payout the way I trust the business behind it. That distinction is worth more than any single yield number on the page.
