A Review of The Sure Dividend Newsletter

In this article, I provide a review of the Sure Dividend Newsletter, which is one of the best dividend stock newsletters. Before we proceed, I want to disclose that I am an Affiliate of Sure Dividend. This post provides affiliate links to the Dividend Pro Plan, which includes the Sure Dividend Newsletter. This means I earn a commission for any purchases you make at the Affiliate’s website through these links. This will not incur additional costs for you. Please read my disclosure for more information. In addition, I provide investment research analyses on several stocks for Sure Dividend’s Sure Analysis Research Database.

Sure Dividend Newsletter Review – What is Sure Dividend?

In this review, I want first to answer the question, “What is Sure Dividend?” Sure Dividend is an investment site and research service run by my fellow dividend growth investor, Ben Reynolds. The website was started in 2014 and built a large following by providing free content and lists of dividend stocks.

The Sure Dividend motto is “High-Quality Dividend Stocks, Long-Term Plan,” as their website states. The dividend investing newsletter aims to “help individual investors build high-quality dividend growth portfolios for the long run.” Their goal is “…financial freedom through an investment portfolio that pays rising dividend income over time.” Since I am a dividend growth investor, this fits my dividend investing strategy and long-term plan.

From the perspective of a do-it-yourself or ‘DIY’ investor, Sure Dividend is four services. Sure Dividend features

• Free content in a blog,
• Three premium newsletters,
• Two premium top 10 lists, and a
• Premium database of investment research on individual stocks.

In addition, there is an extensive archive of free articles on the Sure Dividend website. The posts cover a wide array of topics I will discuss below.

Premium Investing Newsletter

The premium investing newsletters are paid services. There are three monthly investing newsletters: The Sure Dividend Newsletter, The Sure Retirement Newsletter, and The Sure Passive Income Newsletter. All three newsletter comes out monthly.

All 3 of these premium newsletters are powered by analysis from the Sure Analysis Research Database. That’s where the Sure Dividend team covers more than 850 income securities quarterly to find the best for their members.

The flagship service is the Side Dividend Newsletter. Click here to start your risk-free 7-day trial now, and save $41/year with coupon code DP41 (which should apply automatically).

I will now discuss the free content and review the Sure Dividend Newsletter.

Sure Dividend Review – The Free Content

Before I review The Sure Dividend Newsletter, let me first discuss the free content. The free content includes many valuable lists of dividend stocks as well as some free analyses.

Free Articles on Dividend Stocks and More

For example, the list of articles for November 2024 is seen in the screenshot below. You can see that the free content includes dividend stock lists, free MS Excel spreadsheets, an analysis of a few stocks that do not pay a dividend and the potential for them to do so, and other content.

This free content got me interested in and following Sure Dividend and the investing newsletter in the first place. Few investment sites and services offer as much quality free content for the DIY or self-directed small investor. Sure Dividend also provides quite a bit of free analyses on other investment sites. For example, Sure Dividend wrote an article for my blog about Procter & Gamble and now publishes monthly articles on Dividend Power.

The most popular articles are

• The Dividend Aristocats List
• The Higher Dividend Stocks List
• The Monthly Dividend Stocks List
• The Dividend Kings List
• The Blue Chip Stocks List

Free Excel Spreadsheets

The free spreadsheets are the other beneficial and popular free content on the Sure Dividend website. This list includes spreadsheets of the

• Dividend Kings
• Blue Chip Stocks
• Dividend Aristocrats
• Dividend Achievers
• Dividend Champions
• Dividend Contenders
• Dividend Challengers
• High Dividend Stocks
• Cheap Dividend Stocks
• Monthly Dividend Stocks
• Dividend Stocks by Payment Date
• Index Lists, Industry & Sector Lists
• Guru and Hedge Fund Lists, and more.

You can see in the screenshot below the free content from the Dividend Kings spreadsheet. It covers much of the valuable data investors need to evaluate and perform investment research on a stock. The other part is that you can use the data in the spreadsheet in your spreadsheets.

The Sure Dividend Newsletter – Review

Now let’s review The Sure Dividend Newsletter, the flagship investing newsletter Sure Dividend provides. As a DIY or self-directed dividend growth investor, I am primarily attracted to The Sure Dividend Newsletter. 

This newsletter covers “high-quality dividend growth stocks” that are investment ideas for you. Ideally, that is what I want to invest in, high-quality stocks that raise their dividend annually with a low probability of a dividend cut or suspension. The detailed newsletter comprises stock analyses, tables, charts, and commentary. The newsletter comes out monthly.

Why Dividend Growth Stocks?

One may ask, why focus on dividend growth stocks? Well, as my readers know, dividend growth stocks tend to outperform other categories, including stocks that pay a constant dividend, stocks that do not change the dividend, stocks without a dividend, stocks that cut or eliminate the dividend, and an equally weighted S&P 500 index.

Further, dividend growth stocks tend to have lower volatility as a group compared to the other categories. Take a look at the table below. The table supports my statements. Dividend growth stocks have higher annual total returns and lower volatility as measured by beta and standard deviation over the long haul—the differences between stocks that pay a dividend and those that don’t are stark.

This Sure Dividend Newsletter draws upon the 850+ securities in the Sure Analysis Research Database to evaluate and rank dividend growth stocks.

The newsletter ranks stocks based on their dividend risk ratings, expected total returns, and dividend yields. The dividend risk scores should be ‘A’ or ‘B.’ The expected total returns should be greater than the broader market – and the higher, the better. Finally, the dividend yield should be greater than 2%. As a point of reference, the S&P 500’s dividend yield is currently about 1.25%.

Each month the Sure Dividend team provides a list of 10 stocks along with detailed analyses. In general, these are undervalued stocks with a margin of safety. They also include over 850 securities with risk rankings. The detail mentioned above is why the Sure Dividend Newsletter is one of the best dividend stock newsletters.

Opening Thoughts from Sure Dividend

The Sure Dividend Newsletter includes opening commentary from the authors that are often thought-provoking. For instance, in a past newsletter, the topic was “Do Recession-Resistant Stocks Stay Recession Resistant?” Other past issues include:

• End-of-Year Tax-Loss Harvesting
• Why Invest in Dividend Stocks?
• The Taxation of Dividends
• The Similarities Between Dividend Growth Investing and Warren Buffett’s Investing Style
• On Branded Consumer Goods Companies

The opening thoughts are about one page long, so it is easy to read and provides relevant information for small investors.

Sell Recommendations

The following section includes sell recommendations. These are equities that Sure Dividend has previously recommended as buys but now recommend as sells. The main reason is they are overvalued with low expected total returns. However, these stocks have appreciated in many cases and may be trading above their fair value estimates.

Sure Dividend Newsletter Review – The Sure Dividend Top 10 List

Next, a list of stocks called “The Sure Dividend Top 10” comprises the top 10 stocks in Sure Dividend’s investing research database for the month’s newsletter. This list is one of the most important and popular sections. It is here that many readers likely get investment ideas for further research. It is an excellent starting point. I include a screenshot from an older newsletter in January 2020 as an example.

The chart above includes both actual current data and metrics based on analysis. The top 10 list covers the company name, ticker, Sure Dividend’s Risk Score (a proprietary score), current stock prices, estimated fair value, expected value return, dividend yield, dividend payout ratio, the expected growth of the dividend, and expected total annualized return or ‘ETR.’

At the bottom of the same page, a comparison of an equal-weighted portfolio of the Top 10 list with the S&P 500 is shown.

Sure Dividend Review – Analysis of the Top 10 Stocks

The central part of the Sure Dividend Newsletter is a deep-dive analysis of the stocks in The Sure Dividend Top 10 recommendations every month. This section includes about one page of analysis commentary, one page of data tables, charts of dividend yield history and stock price, charts on fundamentals, and a bar graph on valuation analysis.

The analysis commentary section in the Sure Dividend Newsletter includes an overview & of current events, competitive advantage & recession performance, growth prospects, valuation & catalyst. The analysis commentary ends with key statistics, ratios & metrics. Below is an example of International Business Machines (IBM) from January 2020.

Three financial data tables cover 10 years of trailing data from the income statement, balance sheets, and profitability & per share metrics. This data is helpful for investors who have held a stock for many years and want to see trends. The data can also be used for your calculations and analysis.

Charts

The charts in the Sure Dividend Newsletter are helpful for historical comparisons. I show an example of IBM again from the January 2020 newsletter. In addition, the chart on dividend yield and price is helpful. As you are well aware, dividend yield and price are inversely related. But you can check if the dividend yield is above or below trailing periods as a measure of over or undervaluation.

Closing Thoughts

Next, Ben and his team at Sure Dividend provide closing thoughts for the analysis section in the newsletter. This is similar to opening thoughts. This page ends with the disclaimer.

Real Money Portfolio

The section tracks actual investments based on the Top 10 list each month. Sure Dividend invests $1,000 in the highest-ranked security they do not own or own the least in the portfolio. Money will not be added to specific stock if it pushes the sector weighting to over 30% to maintain diversification and reduce risk. 

The target number of stocks in the Sure Dividend portfolio is a maximum of 30. Once 30 stocks are reached, Sure Dividend will buy the highest-ranked stock in both the portfolio and the top 10 that they own the least of, up to 10% of the total portfolio. Sell decisions are based on the same criteria used in the Sure Dividend Newsletter.

Buying & Ranking Criteria

This section discusses how Sure Dividend comes up with the Sure Dividend Top 10 list each month. The screenshot below is taken from the January 2021 Sure Dividend Newsletter.

This section also covers information on the expected total return.

Portfolio Buying Guide

The following section provides a strategy on how to buy stocks. Sure Dividend states, “Each month invest in the top-ranked security in which you own the smallest dollar amount out of the Top 10.” Of course, this is one allocation strategy, but you can use your own along with the Top 10 list. 

The strategy is simple since you buy the highest-ranked stock if you do not own it. However, if you already own all ten on the list, you purchase the one you own the least. The screenshot below is an example from the January 2021 Sure Dividend Newsletter. Over time you will build a portfolio of about 30 stocks.

Past Recommendations & Sells

This section includes every past buy recommendation that has yet to be sold. It clearly shows the stock, the years since first recommended, the dividend risk score, total return, CAGR, and comparison to the S&P 500 Index’s total return. Past recommendations at or below the sell thresholds are bolded in red. The last two parts of this section include pending sales and sold positions.

The Sure Dividend Newsletter has two sell rules. The first sell rule is dividend-based. The second sell rule is valuation-based.

Sell Rule #1, Dividend-Based Sell Rules: Any past recommendation that reduces or eliminates its dividend is automatically a pending sell. First, we review and analyze these securities to determine when to initiate the final sale. Secondly, any past recommendation with an “F” Dividend Risk Score is examined as a potential sell.

Sell Rule #2, Valuation-Based Sell Rules: Sell past recommendations with expected total returns lower than 3%. Other factors may be considered before selling lower expected total return securities. 

Sure Dividend Review – List of Stocks by Dividend Risk Score & Sector

The following section is a List of Stocks by Dividend Risk Score. This section groups stocks into categories A through F and is sorted by expected total returns from highest to lowest. The last section groups stocks by sector, sorted by dividend risk scores and expected total returns. These rankings don’t always align with the Top 10 list due to additional safety considerations. But it is a place to look for investment ideas.

The eleven sectors for stocks are:

• Basic Materials
• Communication Services
• Consumer Cyclical
• Consumer Defensive
• Energy
• Financial Services
• Healthcare
• Industrials
• Real Estate
• Technology
• Utilities

What I Like About The Sure Dividend Newsletter?

Sure Dividend Newsletter Review – Who Is Sure Dividend For?

The Sure Dividend Newsletter is for serious ‘DIY’ or self-directed dividend growth investors. The Sure Dividend Newsletter helps build a portfolio of dividend stocks and generate a rising passive income stream regardless of age. In addition, the newsletter provides a wealth of information that one can review and read. 

There is quite a bit of commentary, analysis, and data in the newsletter consolidated into one place for dividend growth investors. This information is beneficial for investors. It is clear from the newsletter that Ben and his team put a significant amount of time and effort into producing it each month.

Structured and Quantitative Method with Qualitative Analysis

I also like that there is a structured, quantitative ranking method mixed with qualitative analysis. Most small investors need a systematic dividend investing method to filter an extensive list of stocks into a smaller usable and unwieldy list. Ben and his team have done that for you by creating the monthly Top 10 list in the Sure Dividend Newsletter. They have also analyzed the stocks for qualitative factors, which are crucial in selecting stocks. 

The Top 10 is a great place to start for most investors looking for investment ideas. One can read the analysis of each stock, look at the tables, check the valuation, and then make some decisions on whether to invest. But, ultimately, the decision is up to you.

Suitable for Investors with a Wide Range of Experience

Beginners can use the Sure Dividend Newsletter, as well as intermediate to more advanced investors. The investing newsletter simplifies the stock selection process and guides how to build a portfolio. Building a portfolio can be challenging. Many DIY investors end up with a hodge-podge of too many stocks. Their portfolio may be too concentrated in specific sectors. Alternatively, their portfolio may not provide adequate diversification. This section is an excellent place to get some information on portfolio building.

Dividend investing and investing, in general, are about information, structure, and decision making. The Sure Dividend Newsletter provides information, data, analyses, and structure. It permits a DIY investor to make decisions knowledgeably. The path of a DIY or self-directed investor is not for everyone. It takes time and effort. However, if this path works for you, then the Sure Dividend Newsletter may help you.

As a final note, there are three newsletters from Sure Dividend.

The Sure Dividend Newsletter covers dividend growth stocks and draws upon the over 700+ stock analyses in the Sure Analysis Research Database.

The Sure Retirement Newsletter covers high-yield securities with a dividend yield of more than 4% for those seeking income.

The Sure Passive Income Newsletter covers buying and holding stocks with rising income.

What is the Price of The Sure Dividend Newsletter?

I hope that you found this review of the Sure Dividend Newsletter useful. Please click here if you are interested in subscribing to The Sure Dividend Newsletter. The link includes the Sure Dividend coupon code, DP41S, which reduces the Dividend Power reader’s price by $41 per year. The regular price for The Sure Dividend Newsletter is $199 a year, and the reduced price through this offer is $158 per year.

Sure Dividend also offers The Sure Retirement Newsletter and The Sure Passive Income Newsletter for the same $158 annually through Dividend Power.