2025’s Five Highest Yielding Dogs of the Dow Could Explode Higher

The ‘Dogs of the Dow’ is a well-known strategy first published in 1991 by Michael Higgins. The plan seeks to maximize the yield of investments by buying the ten highest-paying dividend stocks available from the Dow Jones Industrial Average each year. The highest-yielding stocks are also the lowest-priced stocks in the venerable average, as the lower a stock (or bond) goes in price, the higher the attached yield or coupon becomes.

While technology and Artificial intelligence stocks are once again expected to lead the way in 2025, often the best place for growth and income investors to look after consecutive years of market outperformance is to the sectors that underperformed the previous year. Energy and healthcare underperformed in 2024, and while energy remains the top-performing sector since the 2020 COVID-19 recession, valuations in both sectors have dropped to very attractive levels.

We found it interesting that three of the Dow’s highest-yielding 2025 Dogs are healthcare leaders, while another is one of the top energy companies in the world. All five of the highest-yielding Dogs are rated Buy at many of the top Wall Street firms, and all make sense for 2025.

Since the turn of the century, the Dogs of the Dow have significantly outperformed the overall Dow Jones Industrials and the Small Dogs of the Dow, which are the five highest-yielding stocks, even more. The fact that investors are buying the highest-yielding companies in the venerable index improves the chances for total return gains.

This top telecommunications company offers tremendous value and pays investors a 6.78% dividend. Verizon Communications, Inc. (NYSE: VZ), through its subsidiaries, provides communications, technology, information, and entertainment products and services to consumers, businesses, and governmental entities worldwide.

It operates in two segments:

The Consumer segment provides wireless services across the wireless networks in the United States under the Verizon and TracFone brands and through wholesale and other arrangements. It also provides fixed wireless access (FWA) broadband through its wireless networks and related equipment and devices, such as smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, and other wireless-enabled connected devices.

The segment also offers wireline services in Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, and Washington D.C. through its fiber-optic network, Verizon Fios product portfolio, and a copper-based network.

The Business segment provides wireless and wireline communications services and products, including:

This integrated giant is a safer way for investors looking to position themselves in the energy sector. It pays a rich 4.50% dividend. Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) engages in integrated energy and chemicals operations worldwide through its subsidiaries.

The company operates in two segments:

The Upstream segment is involved in the following:

The Downstream segment engages in:

Chevron announced in the fall of 2023 that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Hess Corporation (NYSE: HES) to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Hess in an all-stock transaction valued at $53 billion, or $171 per share based on Chevron’s closing price on October 20, 2023. Under the terms of the agreement, Hess shareholders will receive 1.0250 shares of Chevron for each Hess share. The transaction’s total enterprise value, including debt, is $60 billion.

The US Federal Trade Commission approved Chevron’s purchase of Hess in October of last year but barred Hess CEO John Hess from joining Chevron’s board.

This biotech giant remains a top stock for investors to buy and a safer way to play the massive potential growth in biosimilars while paying a solid 3.65% dividend. Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) discovers, develops, manufactures, and delivers human therapeutics worldwide.

Amgen focuses on:

The company’s products include:

With a diverse product base and a familiar and solid brand, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) is among the most conservative big pharmaceutical plays and pays a rich 3.43% dividend. It is one of the top market-cap stocks in the healthcare sector and raised the dividend for shareholders last year for the 62st consecutive year.

The company’s Innovative Medicine segment offers products through retailers, wholesalers, distributors, hospitals, and healthcare professionals for prescription use for various therapeutic areas, such as:

Its MedTech segment provides:

Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK) is not just a healthcare company but a global force in the industry while paying a solid 3.26% dividend.

The company operates through two segments:

The Pharmaceutical segment offers human health pharmaceutical products in:

The Animal Health segment discovers, develops, manufactures, and markets veterinary pharmaceuticals, vaccines, health management solutions and services, and digitally connected identification, traceability, and monitoring products.

Merck serves:

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