Dividends in a World of Wires and Wishes

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The markets, as usual, are behaving like a committee of goblins attempting to manage a brewery. All noise, occasional sparks, and a distinct lack of long-term planning. There’s a great deal of hand-wringing about whether the latest digital enchantments – they call it ‘Artificial Intelligence’, which is a bit boastful for something that still can’t reliably brew a decent cup of tea1 – will actually do anything useful, or just consume vast amounts of electricity and generate even more pointless data. Naturally, this has unsettled the more… cautious investors. Which, in turn, presents an opportunity. A small, flickering candle of opportunity in a gale of uncertainty, but an opportunity nonetheless.

Because even with a handful of coppers to start, one can begin building a portfolio that, if nurtured with patience and a healthy dose of skepticism, might just compound itself over the decades. It’s a slow process, mind you, like teaching a troll to appreciate poetry. But it’s far more reliable than hoping for a lucky strike in the Goblin Gold Exchange.

Dividend stocks, particularly those with a history of steadily increasing their payouts, can serve as a rather solid foundation for such a portfolio. They provide a baseline of return, a trickle of income that doesn’t entirely depend on the whims of the market or the latest pronouncements from the Oracle of Delphi2. And right now, three such names stand out, not because they’re glamorous, but because they’re… persistent. Like a particularly stubborn weed in a well-tended garden.

Dover: The Conglomerate That Keeps On Conglomerating

Dover Corporation. A name that doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, does it? It’s an industrial conglomerate, which is a fancy way of saying they make a lot of different things. Think of it as a particularly well-stocked wizard’s workshop, only instead of potions and spellbooks, they produce… well, everything from pumps to plastics. It’s similar to Danaher or Illinois Tool Works, but Dover has a certain… longevity. They’re a Dividend King, which means they’ve been increasing their dividend for at least 50 years. A remarkable feat, considering the number of empires that have risen and fallen in that time.

They’re nearing their 72nd consecutive annual dividend increase, which is frankly, a bit unsettling. It suggests a level of bureaucratic inertia that defies the laws of physics. The current yield is modest – a mere 0.9% – and dividend growth has been slow, averaging around 1% annually. But they keep doing it. Like a clockwork automaton, relentlessly ticking forward. Lately, Dover’s growth has been spurred by the demand for liquid cooling systems, driven by these new AI data centers. Apparently, all that digital thinking generates a lot of heat. Who knew?

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NextEra Energy: Harnessing the Power of… Well, Everything

NextEra Energy, a Florida-based utility company, is another ‘old economy’ name with a surprising connection to this digital revolution. They provide the electricity to power all these servers and data centers, and they claim that the U.S. is entering a “golden age of power demand.” A bold claim, considering the amount of energy wasted on pointless cat videos3, but if they’re right, it bodes well for this long-time dividend growth stock. They’ve raised their dividend annually for the past 31 years, and dividend growth has averaged a respectable 10.1% over the past five years. The current yield is 2.44%, and while the stock is a bit pricey at 23.5 times forward earnings, that valuation might be sustainable if the growth trends continue.

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Roper Technologies: A Bit Bruised, But Not Broken

Roper Technologies sells industry-specific enterprise software. Think of it as providing the digital tools for everything from trucking companies to federal contractors. They were a strong performer for a long time, but lately, the shares have slumped, falling 37% over the past six months. Sales have slowed, and fears about AI disruption have added to the pressure. However, better times may be just around the corner. Their dividend yield is currently 1.1%, which means that the payout will have a greater impact on total returns. They’ve raised their dividend for 32 years in a row, and dividend growth has averaged 10% annually over the past five years. Various catalysts could help drive a rebound, including new acquisitions, share repurchase plans, or simply beating expectations.

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These aren’t exciting stocks. They won’t make you rich overnight. But they’re persistent, they pay dividends, and they’re likely to weather the storms that lie ahead. Which, in a world of wires and wishes, is often more than enough.

1 The problem, as any self-respecting golem will tell you, is the lack of a proper soul-heating element.
2 Her pronouncements are usually accurate, but delivered with a disconcerting amount of dramatic flair.
3 A truly baffling waste of energy. One wonders if the cats themselves are aware of the sheer scale of the absurdity.

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2026-02-22 07:02