Our industry-leading Best Dividend Stocks list is comprised of the rock-solid dividend-payers that are poised to outperform today's markets. We've applied our proprietary DARS Rating System to nearly 1,600 dividend-paying stocks, and only those with a DARS Score of 3.5 and above are included on our "Recommended" list.

Dividend.com Best Dividend Stocks List for February 22, 2012

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Our proprietary dividend stock rating system is called DARS™, or Dividend Advantage Rating System. We've used the DARS™ method to research, review, rate, and rank nearly 1,600 dividend-paying stocks.

DARS™ Ratings Sample

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For far too long, dividend stocks have been considered "boring" by mainstream investors. The question we like to ask around here is "What's so boring about making above-average returns and building long-term financial security?"

Quite simply, we believe that dividend-paying stocks are the best way to build long-term wealth.

In the real world, no one builds a fortune overnight. The key to growing your money is making smart investing decisions over a period of several years.

That's what's so great about high-quality dividend stocks -- these companies actually pay dividends to their investors every year, simply for owning the stock!

Advantages of Dividend-Paying Stocks

One thing's for sure, dividend stocks are not a get-rich-quick scheme. Dividends will seldom provide investors with large, immediate returns on their money. Dividend stocks do, however, supply their investors with that rare but crucial combination of capital gains and cash flow. Thus, when you buy quality dividend stocks, you have two ways to make money:

1. Capital Gains - The stock price goes up, so your shares are worth more than you originally bought them for, and
2. Dividends - The company whose stock you bought rewards its shareholders with (usually) quarterly dividend payments.

We can draw comparisons to dividend stocks within the real estate market by looking at multi-family apartment units. These investment properties, as long as they yield positive cash flow, make good investments because while the buildings themselves appreciate in value (capital gains), the investor also receives monthly revenue from the tenants (dividends).

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