RJ Hamster
This Simple Indicator Separates the ‘Buys’ from the ‘Sells’
February 3, 2026
Dear Subscriber,By Gavin Magor
Ever heard of the $27.39 rule?
Save that much every day for a year, and you end up with $10,000.
That’s without any sort of compounding, dividends or other return.
Without those, you’ll have to smash open that piggy bank eventually …
But with a rock-solid income strategy, you can stuff that piggy bank to the point where it pays you.
You probably know that income is an important part of investing. Perhaps even more important than growth.
But if you’re one of the millions of investors who feel like you have to choose one over the other …
That all changes one week from today.
On Tuesday, Feb. 10 at 2 p.m. Eastern, Dr. Martin Weiss will host a major event: “The Infinite Income Summit.”
I urge you to reserve your spot for that here.
In preparation for Tuesday, I dug deep into our dividend data.
What I found is startling …
Despite it not being a major requirement in our ratings, dividends seemingly are a major indicator.
We don’t often talk about stocks that get lower Weiss ratings in this space.
But you can learn a lot from them. Consider this …
Last night, I looked at every “E-”-rated stock that trades on a major U.S. exchange. (An “E” is a “Sell” in the Weiss stock ratings universe)
I found 37.
Here are the top 10 “E”s by market cap.
Notice anything missing?
Look at the right-hand column.
Not a single one of these top “E”-rated stocks pays a dividend.
In fact, that was true for the whole 37-stock list.
I then decided to run the same screen to see the highest-rated stocks in the Weiss universe.
What a difference a grade makes!
As you can see, every single one of these stocks pays a dividend.
We can extend this to all “Buys.”
Of the 643 stocks we currently rate a “Buy,” some 549 pay a dividend.
Now, I’m not saying that they are all great stocks just because they pay. But it does tell us one important thing …
Companies that pay a dividend tend to be higher-quality than those that don’t.
At least, they are more stable. Which tends to lead to higher marks in the Weiss stock ratings.
Of course, this isn’t a universal truth.
Some companies like Berkshire Hathaway (BRKB) are solid “Buy”-rated companies despite famously not paying a dividend.
Still, a company that is able and willing to pay a portion of its income out to shareholders tells us a key thing …
It is confident that income will keep coming.
And at the end of the day, stock prices follow income.
If a company has solid income growth over the long term, you can bet that its stock price will climb alongside it.
That’s why most of the companies on this “A”-rated list also pay a growing dividend.
Here’s why that’s important …
Ned Davis Research and Hartford Funds ran a study of stock performance from 1973 to 2024.
By far, the top performing stocks were dividend growers:
Source: Hartford Funds.
The next best group: companies that pay a dividend, but not a growing one.
In fact, the only group that did worse than companies that don’t pay at all are ones the recently cut or eliminated their dividends.
But how can you tell if a company will keep increasing its dividends or will find itself on a “Cutters & Eliminators” list?
That’s where our data becomes invaluable.
Dr. Martin Weiss will lay out exactly how it works on Tuesday, Feb. 10, at 2 p.m. Eastern.
Make sure you clear your schedule for “The Infinite Income Summit.”
Cheers!
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