In my last post about international dividend stocks, I made a point of being very cautious about picking some of the European stocks. Why? They do add diversification which is critical to any portfolio but some of these names are in a very bad environment these days, especially any company that would be operating out of countries that are in big financial trouble such as Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain or Italy. Some good companies exist over there but it seems a bit too risky for me. Again, those only looking at yield risk being burned big time.

Yields Can Collapse Quickly

Yesterday, Telefonica, a Spanish telecoms company I had reviewed a few months ago announced it was suspending its dividend. A big part of the reason why is that like all Spanish companies, its cost of debt is rising and expected to rise even more in the next few months. Because of that, this and many other companies are opting to keep their cash. If you look at my post from May, I was talking about European telecoms in particular as a sector at risk.

In the end, it’s still all about finding top high quality sustainable stock picks such as the ones in my Ultimate Sustainable Dividend Portfolio.

Back At It

Today I’m posting a ranking of the top names that I follow, companies that are based elsewhere but traded on US markets (not as pink sheets), making it easy and cheap.

As you can see, a few stocks look amazing on the surface but I will be looking deeper into them shortly. TEF is also part of the list but it will be gone by next time since its dividend has just been discontinued. See the full list  here: