20 Most Profitable Dividend Aristocrats

 | May 07, 2013 06:34AM ET

Dividend Aristocrats are some of the best dividend growth stocks with a proven dividend hike series of more than 25 years. But if you are a fundamental investor, you also look for a strength business. Margins are a good indicator for a healthy business.

The margins are important for investors. They show if a company is getting stronger or even weaker within its business area. A very high margin shows that the company has products with a big customer satisfaction and desire. Clients need those products and they pay a high price because they can’t find a better provider.

Sometimes margins are very high due to one-off effects. Basic material companies benefitted from high raw commodity prices. They are in a one-off situation which can also keep up for years.

Today I like to look at the Dividend Aristocrats list and show you the most profitable companies, measured by the highest operating margin. The index has 54 constituents and the top 20 stocks have a margin between 16 and 45 percent. That’s well above the index average. 14 of the results have a current buy or better rating.

The Procter & Gamble (PG) has a market capitalization of $213.10 billion. The company employs 126,000 people, generates revenue of $83.680 billion and has a net income of $9.317 billion. The firm’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounts to $16.496 billion. The EBITDA margin is 19.71 percent (the operating margin is 15.88 percent and the net profit margin 11.13 percent).

Financial Analysis: The total debt represents 22.52 percent of the company’s assets and the total debt in relation to the equity amounts to 46.94 percent. Due to the financial situation, a return on equity of 13.86 percent was realized. Twelve trailing months earnings per share reached a value of $3.97. Last fiscal year, the company paid $2.14 in the form of dividends to shareholders.

Market Valuation: Here are the price ratios of the company: The P/E ratio is 19.59, the P/S ratio is 2.56 and the P/B ratio is finally 3.45. The dividend yield amounts to 3.08 percent and the beta ratio has a value of 0.47.