Introducing the Dividend Pretenders

In compiling the Dividend Champions list of companies that have paid higher dividends for at least 25 straight years, I long ago added a tab of companies that I called Contenders, which have increased their payouts for 15-24 years. The hope is that those companies will replenish the Champions roster as they increase their streaks. In a recent post, I mentioned that I have been gathering information on several dozen “pre-Contenders” (Pretenders?) that have increased their dividends for at least a dozen years, and many of those companies can be expected to replenish the ranks of the Contenders. That group has now been added as a tab to the Champions spreadsheet (and will first appear in the July 30 update) and are listed below.Much like the Champions and Contenders, the Pretenders include some companies that will need to increase their dividend by the end of 2010 or face elimination. I also want to point out that since I had been focusing on streaks of 12-14 years (until more recently), the listing of companies with 11 or fewer years is far from complete. At this point, I am not certain as to how far down the list of shorter streaks I will go, since, like most people, my time is limited and the number of companies is bound to expand as fewer years are required.... Read more