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Ten years ago, the stock market looked a lot different. Oil producers and banks made up most of the list of the top 10 largest companies by market capitalization. Today, five out of the 10 top spots are tech companies like Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Google – now Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) – and Facebook (NASDAQ: FB).
So, you might wonder that if the world’s largest companies are mostly tech stocks, why don’t they pay decent dividends to shareholders?
Apple yields just 1.8%. Google and Facebook don’t even pay a dividend.
The answer is simple: tech companies have the vast majority of their wealth overseas. So for them to repatriate that money to pay their shareholders a dividend, they face stiff tax consequences.
But there is an exception to that rule. And in fact, this company has done more than just pay its fair share. It has rapidly grown its dividend at a steady double-digit rate.
Not Your Dad’s Calculator Company
When you think of Texas Instruments (NASDAQ: TXN), you may think of an old stodgy throwback tech company. After all, aren’t they the ones that make calculators?
The truth is, the company has evolved tremendously over the years. It is now a leader in specialized semiconductors and hardware.
Texas Instruments has two core focuses: analog products and embedded processors.
Analog products include power management and sensor chips that can improve product accuracy and increase a mobile device’s battery life.
Embedded processors are the chips that actually run mobile products and quickly relay data to the user.
You might not think it – considering that Texas Instruments isn’t typically the first name you think of in these fields – but it’s had great success. Since it made its evolution away from its older businesses, the company has grown its bottom line 70.2% over just the last two years.
And even though the tech industry requires large research and development investments to keep ahead of the game, Texas Instruments has still been able to squirrel away a good portion of its income. Over the last 12 months, the company had free cash flow of $3.6 billion.
But here’s the real difference: Most of that money is held in the United States. Meaning, unlike Apple, Texas Instruments can, and does, pay out a sizable amount of its income to shareholders without risking extra taxes.
The company has paid an uninterrupted dividend every year since 1962. But with its evolution and recent cash situation, it’s been able to grow those payments in each of the last 12 years. And not just by a little bit.
Last month, Texas Instruments announced a 12% dividend increase to an annualized $1.52 per share. That’s way up from 12 cents a decade ago. Today, it’s a major income stock.
What’s more, Texas Instruments is also spending its excessive cash flows on share buybacks – a sort of backdoor dividend for shareholders. Along with its most recent dividend hike, the company announced a new $7.5 billion buyback program on top of the $1.8 billion it had left on its last one.
For a $54 billion tech company, that’s a lot of money. In fact, the company estimates it has bought back about 40% of its stock over the last decade – and therefore increased the value of all its other outstanding shares.
Shares have gone up over the last two months, since the market took a dive in August. But that still leaves Texas Instruments’ stock down on the year, despite this growth.
However, all signs point to shares getting ready to explode. The stock jumped 9% in after-hours trading Wednesday following the company’s third-quarter earnings report. Texas Instruments posted earnings of 76 cents per share, compared to the consensus analyst estimate of 68 cents a share.
If you are a serious income investor, you might want to get in as soon as possible. After all, where else are you going to get that kind of dividend and that kind of growth out of a tech company?
If that’s not enough, simply buy this income investment for its value. Texas Instruments shares are trading at just 15 times free cash flow. That’s about 40% cheaper than it historically trades.
Now’s a prime opening for an income investor to pick up shares of this tried-and-true tech giant.
And for more solid dividend picks, click here to pick up a dividend calendar prepared by the editors of High Yield Wealth.
Dividends for Every Month of the Year
If you’re looking for just one dividend stock to round out your income stream, consider a little-known company that pays out dividends 12 months of the year.
Click here to see the full details of this company in my Dividend Calendar…