Dividend Investing in 2025: Beating the Odds with Discipline

With the S&P 500 at all-time highs and its dividend yield at a 25-year low of just 1.1%, many investors have written off income-producing stocks in 2025. But as Barron's discovered, there's a compelling story beneath the surface.

Using FactSet data, Barron's identified 81 S&P 500 stocks that both outperformed the index with gains of at least 14% and maintained above-average dividend yields. This select group proves that investors don't have to choose between growth and income.

The Resilience of Dividend Payers

While dividend ETFs like the SPDR S&P Dividend ETF (SDY) have lagged broader benchmarks, select companies are thriving. Names like Seagate, Newmont, Tapestry, and CVS have produced both meaningful yield and market-beating performance.

This isn’t an anomaly. As Wayne Wicker, President of Opal Capital, noted in the Barron’s interview:

“The Fed is becoming more accommodative, and there are plenty of nice names with steady growth.”

Lower interest rates tend to support income-producing equities, making the case for dividend strategies even stronger heading into 2026.

How Opal Approaches Dividend Investing

At Opal, we run dividend strategies with a disciplined, fundamentals-first approach. The Opal Dividend Income ETF (DIVZ) has gained 13.5% year-to-date—keeping pace with the S&P 500 while delivering higher income. Several holdings overlap with Barron’s top dividend screen, including Citi, AT&T, and Philip Morris, alongside high-conviction positions in Verizon, Enbridge, and MPLX. For a full list of holdings please visit: https://www.true-shares.com/divz/

Unlike many dividend funds that lag in strong markets, DIVZ is designed to capture both sides of the equation:

• Income stability from companies with strong cash flow and attractive valuations.

• Growth participation in businesses that can sustain dividends while reinvesting for future expansion.

The Bottom Line

Dividend investing in 2025 isn’t about chasing yield for yield’s sake. It’s about combining income, quality, and growth to create durable outcomes. While mega-cap tech stocks dominate headlines, dividend strategies remain a critical part of resilient portfolio construction.

At Opal, we help advisors identify opportunities in companies that balance attractive yields with sustainable fundamentals. By focusing on both sides of the return equation, we aim to help clients capture more consistent results, even in an environment where traditional diversification assumptions are breaking down.

We're honored to be recognized by Barron's for our investment strategy and performance. To read the full article and see the complete list of high-performing dividend stocks, visit Barron's here.

Performance data quoted on this website represents past performance and does not guarantee future results. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed or sold in the secondary market, may be worth more or less than the original cost. Investors will incur usual and customary brokerage commissions when buying or selling shares of the exchange-traded funds in the secondary market, and that, if reflected, the brokerage commissions would reduce the performance returns. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance shown. Shares are bought and sold at market price not net asset value and are not individually redeemable from the fund. Call 877-774-TRUE (8783) for performance data current to the most recent month end. Click here to view or download the factsheet for quarter-end standardized performance.

Dividends are not guaranteed.  

Before investing, investors should consider the Fund’s investment objectives, risks, charges,and expenses. The  prospectus, or summary prospectus, containing this and other information may be obtained by visiting www.true-shares.com and should be read carefully prior to investing. 

The Fund may not achieve its objective and/or you could lose money on your investment in the Fund. The Fund is  recently organized with no operating history for prospective investors to base their investment decision which may  increase risks. Some of the Fund’s key risks, include but are not limited to the following risks.

Opal International Dividend Income ETF is also subject to the following risks: As an ETF, the Fund is exposed to the  additional risks, including: ETF Risks. As an ETF, the Fund is exposed to the additional risks, including: (1)  concentration risk associated with Authorized Participants, market makers, and liquidity providers; (2) costs risks  associated with the frequent buying or selling of Fund shares; (3) market prices may differ than the Fund’s net asset  value; and (4) liquidity risk due to a potential lack of trading volume.  

(5)Dividend Paying Security Risk. Securities that pay high dividends as a group can fall out of favor with the market,  causing these companies to underperform companies that do not pay high dividends. Dividends may also be reduced or  discontinued.  

(6)Equity Market Risk. Common stocks are susceptible to general stock market fluctuations and to volatile increases  and decreases in value as market confidence in and perceptions of their issuers change based on various and  unpredictable factors including but not limited to: expectations regarding government, economic, monetary and fiscal  policies; inflation and interest rates; economic expansion or contraction; and global or regional political, economic and  banking crises.  

(7)Market Capitalization Risk. The Fund may invest is securities across market cap ranges. The securities of  large-capitalization companies may be relatively mature compared to smaller companies and therefore subject to  slower growth during times of economic expansion and may also be unable to respond quickly to new competitive  challenges, such as changes in technology and consumer tastes. The securities of mid-capitalization companies may be  more vulnerable to adverse issuer, market, political, or economic developments than securities of large-capitalization  companies and generally trade in lower volumes and are subject to greater and more unpredictable price changes than  large capitalization stocks.  

(8)Depositary Receipts Risk. American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”) have risks similar to those of foreign securities  (political and economic conditions, changes in the exchange rates, etc.) and entitle the holder to all dividends and capital  gains that are paid out on the underlying foreign shares. A Global Depositary Receipt (GDR) is a negotiable certificate  issued by a bank that represents shares in a foreign company. The risk associated with GDRs is that they can be traded in  multiple countries, which can lead to a number of potential issues, including liquidity and fees.  

Paralel Distributors LLC is the distributor for IDVZ. Paralel, Opal Capital, and TrueShares are not affiliated.