Dividend income is often overlooked amid gyrations in the stock market. Consider that in 2024, market bulls were boasting about 24%-plus S&P 500 returns. No one was very focused on the broad market index's 1.2% dividend yield. But dividends are an important element of return, and 2025 for a while was bearing that out. Through May, the S&P 500 was up a thin 1.1%; without dividends, there was essentially no returns at all. Of note, dividend income accounted for 42% of the total return of the S&P 500 between 1930 and 2012, according to Hartford Funds. And that's just the average. In some of those decades, dividends accounted for more than 50% of total returns and even 100%. More recently, dividends have accounted for a smaller portion of returns, at around 15%-20%. But not all dividends are created equal, though, and it is important to understand the difference between the two main investment categories: high-yield stocks and dividend-growth stocks.

GE Aerospace is the global leader in designing, manufacturing, and servicing commercial aircraft turbine engines, along with partner Safran in their CFM joint venture. With its massive global installed base of nearly 80,000 commercial and military engines, GE Aerospace earns most of its profits on recurring service revenue of that equipment, which operates for decades. GE Aerospace is the remaining core business of the company formed in 1892 with historical ties to American inventor Thomas Edison; General Electric became a storied conglomerate, with peak revenue of $130 billion in 2000, until it spun off its appliance, finance, healthcare, and wind and power businesses between 2016 and 2024.

This pick list highlights constituents of the Morningstar US Large Cap Index that we believe offer investors the best risk-adjusted return prospects. Stocks of large-cap companies where neither growth nor value characteristics predominate. Stocks in the top 70% of the capitalization of the U.S. equity market are defined as large cap.

Sustainable Impact Investing is gaining traction not only with Argus Research clients but also with the global investment community. As assets have flowed in over the past 40 years, Sustainable Investing has evolved. The discipline, originally known as Socially Responsible Investing, first focused on excluding companies that conducted business in South Africa, or participated in industries such as tobacco, alcohol, and firearms. In time, the list of industries to avoid increased to include soft drinks, fast food, and oil and gas, among numerous others. Performance of initial strategies lagged, and the approach has been modified. Now, instead of merely identifying industries to avoid, the discipline promotes "sustainable" business practices across all industries that can have an "impact" on global issues such as climate, hunger, poverty, disease, shelter, and workers' rights. Given the strategy's focus on leading management practices, we expect the growth curve for Sustainable Investing to again slope upward in the years ahead.