Five dividend stocks to watch for the next 3 years

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Finding comfort in the stock market is not easy right now. Prices have risen faster than dividends, and yields have declined across much of the market.

Many stocks look fully priced, leaving investors dependent on further price appreciation. Dividend-paying companies do not attract the same attention in such phases. They tend to be ignored when growth stories dominate the narrative.

Yet, dividends do something important. They put cash in the investor’s hands, reducing the need to time market cycles. The quality of a dividend matters.

It needs to come from operating cash flows, not from borrowing or one-off gains. Businesses that generate cash steadily and keep leverage under control are better placed to sustain payouts through ups and downs. These are not stocks that promise excitement.

What they offer instead is a degree of predictability. Over a three-year period, regular dividends combined with reasonable valuations can do more of the heavy lifting than is often acknowledged. The following five stocks fall into that category.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation produces crude oil and natural gas and sits at the centre of India’s upstream energy ecosystem. It is a business where decisions taken today often show up in the numbers years later. That long cycle has also enabled ONGC to generate steady cash flows.

This consistency explains why the stock features among dividend stocks to watch over the next three years. Even when growth has slowed, ONGC has continued to return cash to shareholders, largely supported by operating cash flows rather than balance-sheet stretch. The recent quarter was marked by familiar pressures.