Top Yields In Investment Grade Preferred Stocks

As an income investor, I feel that it is very important to diversify my holdings and to build the portfolio on a strong foundation of securities that are relatively safe and have the ability to pay a reliable and sustainable distribution. Over the last 10 years I have slowly created a portfolio of income producing securities. Preferred stocks & ETD securities are a key part of the foundation from which I build upon. There are many risk levels within each asset class and type of investment that an investor can choose from. That includes preferred stocks and ETD securities. If an investor is looking to reduce his or her risk, one good place to start is by looking at the Moody’s and S&P ratings to find “Investment Grade” securities.
This article will focus on reviewing several cumulative traditional preferred stocks with the highest yields that are currently available from the list of over 600 preferred stocks & ETD securities that I track in the I Prefer Income database. I will then review each company and the ratings assigned to their preferred stocks. I can then compare each using the Where’s the Metrics analysis system that uses 5 important areas of analysis: earnings, payout ratios, debt ratios, credit rating and dividends.
The Rating Services
Moody’s and S&P (Standard & Poor’s) are 2 of the big 3 credit rating services in the U.S. They both originated over a 100 years ago; and in 1975, they were both identified as a Nationally Recognized... Read more