Amid low interest rate and surging coronavirus cases, investors are eyeing both income and growth to start the New Year. This can easily be achieved by zeroing in on stocks that not only offer dividends but also consistently increase their payout.

Dividend Growth: A Winning Strategy

Stocks that have a strong history of dividend growth as opposed to those that have high yields form a healthy portfolio with more scope for capital appreciation. This is because these stocks act as a hedge against economic or political uncertainty as well as stock market volatility. Simultaneously, these offer outsized payouts or sizable yields on a regular basis irrespective of the market direction.

Additionally, these stocks have superior fundamentals that make dividend growth a quality and promising investment for the long term. These include a sustainable business model, a long track of profitability, rising cash flows, good liquidity, a strong balance sheet and some value characteristics. Further, a history of strong dividend growth indicates that dividend hike is likely in the future.

Although these stocks do not necessarily have the highest yields, they have outperformed for a longer period than the broader stock market or any other dividend-paying stock.

As a result, picking dividend growth stocks appears as a winning strategy when some other parameters are also included.

5-Year Historical Dividend Growth greater than zero: This selects stocks with a solid dividend growth history.

5-Year Historical Sales Growth greater than zero: This represents stocks with a strong record of growing revenues.

5-Year Historical EPS Growth greater than zero: This represents stocks with a solid earnings growth history.

Next 3–5 Year EPS Growth Rate greater than zero: This represents the rate at which a company’s earnings are expected to grow. Improving earnings should help companies sustain dividend payments.

Price/Cash Flow less than M-Industry: A ratio less than M-industry indicates that the stock is undervalued in that industry and that an investor needs to pay less for better cash flow generated by the company.

52-Week Price Change greater than S&P 500 (Market Weight): This ensures that the stock appreciated more than the S&P 500 over the past year.

Top Zacks Rank: Stocks having a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and 2 (Buy) generally outperform their peers in all types of market environment.

Growth Score of B or better: Our research shows that stocks with a Growth Score of A or B when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 or 2 offer the best upside potential.

Just these few criteria narrowed down the universe from over 7,700 stocks to just nine.

Here are five of the nine stocks that fit the bill:

Illinois-based Deere & Company DE is the world’s largest producer of agricultural equipment, manufacturing agricultural machinery since 1837 under the iconic John Deere brand with its signature green and yellow color scheme. The stock saw solid earnings estimate revision of 21 cents over the past 30 days for the fiscal year (ending October 2021) and has an estimated earnings growth rate of 48.4%. It sports a Zacks Rank #1 and Growth Score of A. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Colorado-based TeleTech Holdings Inc. TTEC is a customer experience, technology and services company that focuses on the design, implementation and delivery of customer experiences. The company has seen solid earnings estimate revision of 3 cents over the past month for this year and has delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 51.79% in the past four quarters. The stock has a Zacks Rank #2 and Growth Score of A.

California-based Broadcom Inc. AVGO is a premier designer, developer and global supplier of a broad range of semiconductor devices with a focus on complex digital and mixed signal complementary metal oxide semiconductor based devices and analog III-V based products. The stock saw a solid earnings estimate revision of 87 cents for fiscal year (ending October 2021) over the past 30 days and has an expected earnings growth rate of 18.5%. The stock has a Zacks Rank #2 and Growth Score of B.

Tennessee-based Tractor Supply Company TSCO is the largest retail farm and ranch store chain in the United States. It has delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 6.97% in the past four quarters. The stock has a Zacks Rank #2 and Growth Score of B.

Taiwan-based Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. TSM is the world's largest dedicated integrated circuit foundry. The company has seen solid earnings estimate revision of 19 cents over the past 30 days for this year and has estimated earnings growth of 10%. The stock has a Zacks Rank #2 and Growth Score of A.

You can get the rest of the stocks on this list by signing up now for your 2-week free trial to the Research Wizard and start using this screen in your own trading. Further, you can also create your own strategies and test them first before taking the investment plunge.

The Research Wizard is a great place to begin. It's easy to use. Everything is in plain language. And it's very intuitive. Start your Research Wizard trial today. And the next time you read an economic report, open up the Research Wizard, plug your finds in, and see what gems come out.

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Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material.

Disclosure: Performance information for Zacks’ portfolios and strategies are available at: https://www.zacks.com/performance.