Whenever a dividend stock's price plunges to multi-year lows, investors naturally want to know if the market is signaling that something is deeply wrong, such as if the business model has weakened enough to potentially put the dividend at risk. That's been the case with food giant Kraft Heinz (KHC), which has fallen over 40% from its early 2017 peak while the S&P 500 has climbed more than 15% during that time. Let's take a closer look at Kraft Heinz's struggles to evaluate the safety of its dividend and whether it is appealung as a long-term investment. Why Kraft Heinz is Struggling The key reason why the market dislikes Kraft Heinz right now is that, like many food companies, the [...]

Founded in 1894 in Hershey, Pennsylvania, Hershey (HSY) manufactures and sells chocolate and non-chocolate confectionery products including: gum and mints; baking ingredients such as toppings, beverages, and syrups; and snack items, including spreads, meat snacks, bars, mixes, popcorn, protein bars, and cookies. These products are marketed under over 80 leading brands including: Hershey’s, Reese’s, Kisses, Jolly Rancher, Almond Joy, Brookside, barkTHINS, Cadbury, Good & Plenty, Heath, Kit Kat, Payday, Rolo, Twizzlers, Whoppers, York, Scharffen Berger, Dagoba, Ice Breakers, Breathsavers, SkinnyPop, Krave, and Bubble Yum.

Meredith (MDP) is one of the nation's oldest media and publishing companies, having been founded in 1902 as an agricultural publisher. More impressively, the firm has paid uninterrupted dividends for 71 consecutive years and has increased its dividend in each of the last 25 years. At its core, Meredith provides consumers with the content they want by leveraging print, digital, mobile, video, and broadcast TV media platforms. Advertising is the company's largest source of revenue. Meredith organizes its various media businesses into two segments: Local Media (31% of sales, 66% of operating profits): owns 17 local TV stations including: seven CBS affiliates, five FOX affiliates, two MyNetworkTV affiliates, one NBC affiliate, one ABC affiliate, and two independent stations. This segment also [...]

Founded in 1920, Occidental Petroleum (OXY) is an international exploration and development (E&D) company with operations in North America, Latin America, and the Middle East. The firm's production is somewhat balanced across oil (64% of total production), gas (21%), and natural gas liquids (15%). Occidental is also geographically diverse with about half of its energy production taking place in international markets. The company has three business segments: Oil and Gas (21% of 2018 cash flow): explores for, develops, and produces oil and condensate, natural gas liquids (NGLs), and natural gas. Occidental's upstream operations are located across New Mexico, Texas, Colombia, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. Chemical (34% of 2018 cash flow): manufactures basic chemicals and vinyls, including chlorine, caustic soda, [...]