Veritas Report on Dividends:
Mid-2026
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We recently released our latest Report on Dividends for clients. The cross-sector report updates companies our analyst team thinks are best positioned to deliver robust dividend growth within each sector across our coverage, as well as companies with dividends we think investors should be cautious about. We started our bi-annual dividend reports in 2024, and since then, they have become some of our most popular reports with clients.
Macro environment
Long-term interest rates in Canada shot up in March 2026 owing to a spike in energy prices, raising concerns about inflationary pressures. Despite this macro shock, households and businesses across Canada have remained resilient, with insolvency and delinquency trends largely in line with mid- to late-business-cycle conditions. Furthermore, the unemployment rate is now better than December 2025 levels despite job losses, as the Federal government continues to reduce the share of temporary residents, resulting in a steady decline in total population since Q3-F25. With a substantial portion of households absorbing higher mortgage payments on renewal, and valuations in major real estate markets across Canada remaining under pressure, we believe this caps retail spending, a key driver of GDP growth.
With economic conditions a mixed bag, we continue to advocate for companies that operate with robust balance sheets, prudent payout ratios and sound capital deployment strategies. This approach ensures that our preferred names can mitigate unknown financial shocks and sustain their dividends. If energy prices continue to trend lower on de-escalations, we believe long-term interest rates will also follow suit, making the yield offered by our preferred dividend names attractive.
For the best yield and dividend growth companies, we generally look for BUY-rated stocks with meaningful yields above 3%, though there are exceptions in sectors such as Consumer Staples & Discretionary, where yields in that range with attractive and consistent dividend growth are not available.
We also note that many of our Recommended Dividend Stocks, such as those in the bank sector, now have yields below 3% due to their rapid appreciation over the past year. Strong yields are much harder to find than they were 12 or 24 months ago, which is why three REDUCE names are on our list. Although we believe these names are appropriate for long-term income seekers, we also recommend that other investors wait for a more attractive entry point.
Performance
Since we started our dividend reports in 2024, our Recommended Dividend Stocks have outperformed the S&P/TSX total return index, while our Cautionary Dividend Stocks have underperformed. We note that this is a limited sample size, but it indicates that prioritizing Veritas-calculated FCF growth, normalizing cash flows across sectors, and emphasizing balance sheet strength can outperform the benchmark.
Notes: The performance of Veritas' Recommended Dividend List and Cautionary Dividend Lists is measured from its inception date, January 16, 2024, to July 16, 2026. Performance represents total returns over the applicable holding periods based on the Recommended Dividend Stocks Lists and Cautionary Dividend Stocks Lists published on January 16, 2024, July 25, 2024, January 15, 2025, July 16, 2025 and January 23, 2026. The Dividend Lists are equal-weighted and rebalanced upon changes to recommended holdings on dates a new dividend report is published. Returns greater than 1-year are presented as compound annual growth rates.
Base Subscription
Our bi-annual dividend reports are part of our Base Investment Research Subscription, which also includes our V-List model portfolio, our Daily Ledger and Weekly Journal newsletters, and our Veritas Quality Rating reports.
This subscription is ideal for private investors and financial advisors who want to make informed decisions, but do not need full access to all our research or to consult with our analysts.
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Veritas Base Subscription
Our Dividend Reports are included in our Base Subscription, which is the most popular one for financial advisors and private investors. It provides a disciplined, research-driven framework for investment decision-making, grounded in our independent fundamental analysis and forensic accounting, without needing full access to every long-form report we publish or one-on-one analyst consultations.
Your base subscription would include:
- V-List: The V-List is a concentrated model portfolio of 12 to 25 Canadian companies recommended by our analysts as the best investment opportunities drawn from our firm's research. Stocks are selected based on their liquidity, lower volatility, and potential for long-term capital appreciation. Bottom-up fundamental analysis and a strict review of accounting and disclosure practices identify companies with defensible competitive advantages and the ability to generate meaningful cash flow. The V-List has outperformed the S&P/TSX Composite Index by 289 basis points (as of December 31, 2024, from inception on October 31, 2004). You can find more about our V-List and its track record here.
- Daily Ledger: This is our daily email newsletter, which provides short executive summaries of all our recently published research, any thoughts or comments we have on the markets, and material news on the companies we cover.
- Journal: A Friday newsletter capping the week and highlighting key points and observations from our research from the week.
- Annual dividend report: Our Top Picks for sustainable dividend growth from our coverage list (about 85-90 companies) as well as dividend names that we are cautious about.
- Veritas Quality Ratings: Our Veritas Quality Ratings score each company out of 25 on five key risk metrics that have proven to affect stock price performance: Accounting, Business Operations, Corporate Governance, Balance Sheet Risk, and Cash Flow Sustainability. These Quality Ratings factor into our investment recommendations. Quality Ratings reports are 1-2 pages and also provide a summary of our investment thesis and valuation. You can find out more about them here.
- Fact Finders: These are our CEO's video webinars/podcasts with expert guests. He does 10-12 per year. Our clients can join live and have full access to the library of more than 100 guests. After about a month, we release the replays free to the public. You can find them here.