‘A’ Payout Growers Popped 138% and 199% During Trump 1.0: Will History Repeat?

Tariff Day has left us with Canada and Mexico in the crosshairs. With North American trade in focus, this may actually give a respite to stocks with supply chains elsewhere and light a fire under them.

Today we’ll talk about two dividend growers that have serious upside. One has a supply chain independent of Canada and Mexico, while the other has no manufacturing worries but some misguided RFK fears. The pair returned 138% and 199% during Trump 1.0, and, if history rhymes, the duo could return triple-digits again during Trump 2.0.

Our first stock, Analog Devices (NASDAQ:), is down 9% from its recent highs on trade fears. They are overblown. The company has a strong US manufacturing presence (four facilities, to be specific), with the flexibility to emphasize its American production if needed for political purposes. Its other factories are in Europe and Southeast Asia, regions outside of the current tariff targets.

ADI creates and sells semiconductor chips, which are everywhere. The company supports industrial, automotive, consumer and communication applications. ADI essentially connects the physical world with the digital world.

ADI has collaborated with Waymo, the self-driving car company, on radar technology to provide information about the distance and speed of other objects.

Like it or not, Waymo is coming to a city near you. The cars currently run in San Francisco, Phoenix and Los Angeles, with Austin and Atlanta on tap for 2025 and current testing in Buffalo and Miami. These smart cars need smart chips. Automotive automation is a megatrend that requires innovative solutions from ADI.

Personal health monitoring is another growth market. You may have a tiny chip on your wrist, or finger, and not even know it! ADI’s analog front-end chips integrate various measurements to obtain vitals such as heart rate, blood oxygen levels and respiration rates. Health wearables are becoming quite (scary) good. My sleep-tracking ring seems to know when I am under the weather before I do.

No one customer accounts for more than 10% of ADI’s revenues. The firm’s diversified sales portfolio flows to the bottom line and into investors’ pockets via steady divvie growth. ADI’s payout has popped an impressive 149% over the past decade:

ADI’s Ever-Rising Divvie

With a steady dividend staircase and investors fawning over fellow AI firm Nvidia (NASDAQ:), one would think that ADI shares would likewise be priced for perfection. Alas, they are in the bargain bin thanks to a sharp 15% summer pullback. As I write, ADI remains 9% below its July highs.

Headline fretters have misjudged ADI’s tariff risks. The company flourished under Trump 1.0 and is set up for another potential triple-digit run as the forty-seventh president takes office.

ADI Returned 138% During Trump 1.0

From tech chips, we move to healthcare, where vanilla investors have been dumping stocks since the market began pricing in a Trump victory. Why? Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will be running the Department of Health and Human Services. So, we should sell everything healthcare, right?

Wrong! Sector blue chip Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:) is likely to roll along merrily as it did in Trump’s first term. The stock sailed 199%. Its business was good then, and it remains good now! Yet ABT trades 8% below its recent highs on RFK fears and still sits 15% under its all-time highs in late 2021.

What pushed the stock so high in ’21? Sorry to bring it up, but remember these?

Top Landfill Item of 2021

Each rapid test use, whether required or voluntary, was another sale for Abbott. Whether the tests were paid for by Uncle Sam, an insurance company or my credit card at CVS, all sources represented top-line dollars for Abbott.

Sales spiked from $32 billion to $45.5 billion in just over two years. That is big growth off an already big number! Of course, the “testing kit mania” didn’t last forever. As it subsided, so did Abbott’s sales, and investors discarded this ticker along with their used Q-tips. So long, boogers—and Abbott.

Management had its next act ready, though. Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) is a hot market, not only for people with diabetes but also for those looking to optimize their general health.

Abbott’s FreeStyle Libre CGM system has been a big growth driver. Now, the company adds to its CGM portfolio with the launch of Lingo, the first available without a prescription.

Tee up Don’t Die on Netflix (NASDAQ:) for a glimpse at the future of preventative medicine. The documentary features a rich tech guy, Bryan Johnson, whose mission in life is to live forever. Seriously. To accomplish this, Johnson is optimizing his personal biomarkers. “Acceptable” glucose levels are no bueno, they must be optimal—hence the potential demand for CGM from a perfectly healthy person.

Johnson is an edge case (to say the least), but the focus on preventative medicine is another megatrend that will pick up steam in the years ahead. Abbott is well-positioned to profit, and this is a stock that enjoyed Trump 1.0, returning 199%:

ABT Returned 199% During Trump 1.0

ABT and ADI are two “made for 2025” dividend stocks.

Disclosure: Brett Owens and Michael Foster are contrarian income investors who look for undervalued stocks/funds across the U.S. markets. Click here to learn how to profit from their strategies in the latest report, “7 Great Dividend Growth Stocks for a Secure Retirement.”