Franklin Resources (BEN) has raised its dividend every year since 1981 and offers a 4% dividend yield, an all-time high for the stock. While the asset manager's payout continues to look safe, Franklin faces several headwinds that could weigh on its future performance and pace of dividend growth.

The 2014-16 oil crash, regulatory changes, and U.S. tax reform combined to upend the midstream MLP industry in recent years. As a result of these challenges, numerous MLPs have executed substantial corporate restructuring activities, with some converting from partnerships to corporations. Enterprise Products Partners LP (EPD) has long defended its structure as a partnership. After all, unlike many other MLPs, the firm has never had trouble accessing affordable capital and runs its business conservatively. However, management's tune appears to be changing. On December 11, Bloomberg reported that Enterprise's CFO Randy Folwer said at a conference that "there may be an element of inevitability" regarding an eventual corporate conversion as "K-1 island is becoming very exotic." 

Qualcomm (QCOM) has had a volatile year as the firm worked to address the significant legal risks faced by its core patent licensing business, which customers and government agencies accused of charging excess rates. The two major overhangs were a dispute with Apple and an antitrust suit issued against the company by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). While Qualcomm reached a deal with Apple in April, the FTC won its case against the firm in May. Qualcomm appealed the ruling, which required the business to renegotiate its licensing deals with smartphone manufacturers and allow rival chip makers to use its intellectual property on more reasonable terms. Simply put, the ruling threatens to disrupt the lucrative licensing practices that historically generated over 70% of the company's operating [...]

In February 2019, Gap (GPS) announced plans to separate into two publicly traded companies in 2020, hoping to unlock value from its faster-growing Old Navy brand. Since then, the apparel retailer's performance has deteriorated, and Gap's CEO unexpectedly resigned in November. As a result of the company's persistent performance challenges and weakening fundamentals, the risk of Gap cutting its dividend next year as part of its separation plans has increased. As a result, we are downgrading Gap's Dividend Safety Score from a low Borderline Safe rating to Unsafe. Gap's business consists of more than 3,000 company-owned apparel stores, and about half of its revenue is generated by its Old Navy brand. While Gap's revenue has shrunk by 25% since fiscal 2005 and management is closing [...]