Top 5 Dividend Companies To Buy Right Now

BALTIMORE (Stockpickr) -- U.S. markets stayed shuttered yesterday for the Labor Day holiday, giving traders an extra session's reprieve to think things over before the big indices test new record highs this morning.

Read More: Warren Buffett's Top 10 Dividend Stocks

Not that there's been much to think about in terms of trading lately. We've been in a "buy the dips market" for the better part of the last two years, and the start of August was another textbook dip. With September trading kicking off this morning, it still makes sense to focus on names that are showing strength in this market.

That's why we're turning to a new set of "Rocket Stock" names this week.

For the uninitiated, Rocket Stocks are our list of companies with short-term gain catalysts and longer-term growth potential. To find them, I run a weekly quantitative screen that seeks out stocks with a combination of analyst upgrades and positive earnings surprises to identify rising analyst expectations, a bullish signal for stocks in any market. After all, where analysts' expectations are increasing, institutional cash often follows. In the last 263 weeks, our weekly list of five plays has outperformed the S&P 500's record run by 78.59%.

Top 5 Income Stocks For 2015: S&P Smallcap 600(PH)

Parker Hannifin Corporation manufactures fluid power systems, electromechanical controls, and related components worldwide. Its Industrial segment offers pneumatic and electromechanical components, and systems; filters, systems, and instruments to monitor and remove contaminants from fuel, air, oil, water, and other liquids and gases; connectors that control, transmit, and contain fluid; hydraulic components and systems for builders and users of industrial and mobile machinery and equipment; critical flow components for process instrumentation, healthcare, and ultra-high-purity applications; and static and dynamic sealing devices. This segment sells its products to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and their replacement markets in the manufacturing, transportation, and processing industries. The company?s Aerospace segment provides flight control systems and components, including hydraulic, electrohydraulic, electric backup hydraulic, electrohydrostatic, and electro -mechanical components for precise control of aircraft rudders, elevators, ailerons, and other aerodynamic control surfaces. It also provides electronics thermal management heat rejection systems, and single-phase and two-phase heat collection systems for radar, ISAR, and power electronics. This segment markets its products primarily to OEMs in the commercial, military, and general aviation markets, as well as to end users. Its Climate and Industrial Controls segment offers systems and components primarily for use in the mobile and stationary refrigeration, and air conditioning industry; and in fluid control applications in various industries, such as processing, fuel dispensing, beverage dispensing, and mobile emissions. This segment serves OEMs and their replacement markets. Parker-Hannifin Corporation markets its products through direct-sales employees, independent distributors, wholesalers, and sales representatives. The company was founded in 1918 and is headquartered i n Cleveland, Ohio.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Mani]

  Parker-Hannifin Corporation (NYSE:PH) has significant opportunities to expand its operating margins, especially within the Aerospace segment where significant longer term business has already been won, and aftermarket opportunities should increase.

• [By Tom Rojas var popups = dojo.query(".socialByline .popC"); popups.forEach(func]

  Parker Hannifin Corp.(PH) said its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings rose 11% on higher results in its diversified industrial segment as the company continued its restructure efforts.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  The market in aggregate might have gone nowhere, but that wasn’t for lack of big moves from individual stocks. Parker-Hannifin (PH) gained 2.4% to $115.06 after it was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Baird, while Newmont Mining (NEM) gained 2.2% as gold miners headed higher today.

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Parker-Hannifin (NYSE: PH) is expected to report its Q1 earnings at $1.48 per share on revenue of $3.26 billion.

  Textron (NYSE: TXT) is estimated to report its Q3 earnings at $0.47 per share on revenue of $2.97 billion.

Top 5 Dividend Companies To Buy Right Now: 3M Company(MMM)

3M Company, together with subsidiaries, operates as a diversified technology company worldwide. The company?s Industrial and Transportation segment offers tapes, coated and non-woven abrasives, adhesives, specialty materials, filtration products, energy control products, closure systems for personal hygiene products, acoustic systems products, and components and products that are used in the manufacture, repair, and maintenance of automotive, marine, aircraft, and specialty vehicles. Its Health Care segment provides medical and surgical supplies, skin health and infection prevention products, inhalation and transdermal drug delivery systems, dental and orthodontic products, health information systems, and food safety products. The company?s Display and Graphics offers optical film solutions for LCD electronic displays; computer screen filters; reflective sheeting for transportation safety; commercial graphics sheeting and systems; and mobile interactive solutions, includin g mobile display technology, visual systems products, and computer privacy filters. The company?s Consumer and Office segment provides office supply products, stationery products, construction and home improvement products, home care products, protective material products, certain consumer retail personal safety products, and consumer health care products. Its Safety, Security and Protection Services segment offers personal protection products, safety and security products, cleaning and protection products for commercial establishments, track and trace solutions, and roofing granules for asphalt shingles. The company?s Electro and Communications segment provides packaging and interconnection devices; fluids that are used in the manufacture of computer chips, and for cooling electronics and lubricating computer hard disk drives; high-temperature and display tapes; insulating materials, including tapes and resins; and related items. The company was founded in 1902 and is based in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Anders Bylund]

  Today, we'll take a closer look at industrial jack-of-all-trades 3M (NYSE: MMM  ) . 3M makes everything from Scotch Tape and Post-its to asphalt shingles and power lines, and that versatility helps the company perform in a variety of market conditions.

• [By John Divine]

  The last highlight in the index came from global conglomerate 3M (NYSE: MMM  ) , which was able to show its power as the Dow's third-highest weighted component, when it slumped 2.8% Thursday. Revenue wasn't up to par in the first quarter, coming in just under the $7.8 billion estimate at $7.6 billion. To make matters worse, it lowered its earnings outlook for the 2013 fiscal year, reflecting a sluggish electronics market.

• [By Dividends4Life]

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• [By John Maxfield]

  Alternatively, shares of 3M (NYSE: MMM  ) continue to drag on the blue-chip index. The industrial conglomerate reported its earnings yesterday, sending shares in the company down nearly 3%. Like many of its peers on the Dow, 3M saw its revenue decline on a year-over-year basis, and felt compelled to lower its forward earnings guidance for the remainder of the year.

Top 5 Dividend Companies To Buy Right Now: Verizon Communications Inc.(VZ)

Verizon Communications Inc. provides communication services. The company operates through two segments, Domestic Wireless and Wireline. The Domestic Wireless segment offers wireless voice and data services; and sells equipment in the United States. The Wireline segment provides voice, Internet access, broadband video and data, Internet protocol network, network access, long distance, and other services in the United States and internationally. The company serves consumer, business, and government customers, as well as carriers. As of December 31, 2010, its network covered a population of approximately 292 million and provided service to a customer base of approximately 94.1 million. The company was formerly known as Bell Atlantic Corporation and changed its name to Verizon Communications Inc. in June 2000. Verizon Communications Inc. was founded in 1983 and is based in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By WALLSTCHEATSHEET]

  Verizon provides communications products and services through a variety of mediums to consumers and companies around the world. The company is involved in a record-breaking bond offering that is being used for the purchase of Vodafone’s stake in Verizon Wireless. The stock has not been doing well in the last several months as it continues to pull-back. Over the last four quarters, investors have mostly been happy as earnings and revenues have been rising. Relative to its peers and sector, Verizon has been an average year-to-date performer. WAIT AND SEE what Verizon does this coming quarter.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Get ready for more
  There's nothing all that unusual in the pension problems facing Girl Scouts of the USA. Plenty of private companies and public-sector employers are dealing with the same issues and have had to take similar steps to shore up their pension finances. Like the GSUSA, IBM (NYSE: IBM  ) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ  ) froze their pension plans several years ago, as both companies decided that reducing the unpredictability of pension benefits made the most sense for them in managing their risk. More recently, Verizon and General Motors (NYSE: GM  ) took even more dramatic steps to limit pension risk, outsourcing substantial portions of their respective pension liabilities to insurance giant Prudential (NYSE: PRU  ) . By doing so, the two employers passed off their obligations to an industry that's designed to handle the longevity risk that pension payments create.

• [By Matt Thalman]

  A few Dow losers
  Both Verizon (NYSE: VZ  ) and AT&T (NYSE: T  ) lost value today after Google Fiber drew investors' attention yesterday and raised concerns about the longevity of the two service providers. The hype all started after an analyst at Bernstein suggested that long-term investors in cable and phone companies may want to keep a close eye on Google Fiber and that this service may slowly cook the current companies without them even knowing it. The short- and medium-term risks for Verizon and AT&T is very little, but over the next 10 years, if the companies don't continue to upgrade service and offer customers with compelling offerings, Google may easily win over the business. Verizon lost 2.46% today while AT&T moved lower by 0.75%. �

Top 5 Dividend Companies To Buy Right Now: Nordson Corporation(NDSN)

Nordson Corporation manufactures equipment used for precision dispensing, testing and inspection, and surface preparation and curing. Its Adhesive Dispensing Systems segment manufactures equipment for applying adhesives, lotions, and liquids to disposable products; automated adhesive dispensing systems for the food and beverage, and packaged goods industries; hot melt and cold glue adhesive dispensing systems for the paper and paperboard converting industries; adhesive and sealant dispensing systems for bonding or sealing plastic, metal, and wood products; and laminating and coating systems to manufacture continuous-roll goods in the nonwovens, textile, paper, and flexible-packaging industries. The company?s Advanced Technology Systems segment comprises automated gas plasma treatment systems used to clean and condition surfaces for the semiconductor, medical, and printed circuit board industries; controlled manual and automated systems for applying materials in customer pr ocesses requiring precision and material conservation; ultraviolet equipment used in curing and drying operations for specialty coatings, semiconductor materials, and paints; and bond testing and automated optical and x-ray inspection systems used in the semiconductor and printed circuit board industries. Its Industrial Coating Systems segment provides automated and manual dispensing systems used for applying coatings, paint, finishes, sealants, and other materials. Nordson Corporation markets its products in the United States and internationally through a direct sales force, as well as through qualified distributors and sales representatives. It serves various markets, including the appliance, automotive, bookbinding, container, converting, electronics, food and beverage, furniture, life sciences and medical, metal finishing, non woven, packaging, and semiconductor industries. The company was founded in 1935 and is headquartered in Westlake, Ohio.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Travis Hoium]

  What: Shares of industrial product manufacturer Nordson (NASDAQ: NDSN  ) dropped as much as 10% today after the company reported fiscal second-quarter earnings.

• [By Lauren Pollock]

  Nordson Corp.'s(NDSN) fiscal fourth-quarter earnings fell 12% on weaker demand, though the maker of dispensing equipment noted improvement in recent order trends.