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Pump Up Your Dividend Returns With This Strategy
Dividend stocks have had a tough year, and dividend growth exchange-traded funds have underperformed the S&P 500 index. But what if you could have the dividend growth without having to own the stocks?
It isn’t a theoretical question, thanks to dividend futures.
A dividend futures contract lets investors take a position on the amount of dividends paid by a company, an exchange, or an index for a specific maturity date. For the S&P 500, investors can buy a contract that expires toward the end of a given year and pays them the value of the index’s per share dividend, which was about $68 in 2022.
Futures contracts are agreements to buy or sell something at a predetermined price at a predetermined time in the future. They can help, say, farmers manage risk while providing traders a vehicle for speculation. A dividends futures contract is 250 times the estimated value of the dividends paid at the end of the contract. So, at $69, buying one dividend futures contract will cost an investor about $17,000.
While it’s an esoteric trade, it isn’t all that hard to execute. Brokers like Charles Schwab, E*Trade, Interactive Brokers, and NinjaTrader allow futures trading, though it does require some extra paperwork.
It might be worth the hassle. Right now, it’s possible to earn about 8% a year betting only on dividend growth. The 2023 S&P 500 contract is currently priced at $68.70. With just over a month to go, Goldman Sachs Chief U.S. Equity Strategist David Kostin estimates that per share dividends will amount to about $70 in 2023. So, there is about $1.30 to be made through Dec. 15, when the contracts mature. That’s would be a 1.9% gain, which annualizes to about 17%, if Kostin is right.
A better bet might be on the longer term, when the futures market implies there will be virtually no dividend growth. That doesn’t make sense, according to Kostin. He estimates that dividends will grow at 5% a year for the coming few years, which means that by 2026, S&P 500 per share dividends, now priced to be $65, should be closer to $82. An investor buying a 2026 contract today for $65 could get $82 three years down the road. That would be a 26% return, or about 8% a year on average.
There are risks. The value of the contracts fluctuates, which means they can rise in value but also drop. Investors will have to hold them through all of that volatility, perhaps all the way to maturity, to realize the full value of the trade. There’s also the risk that dividends don’t grow, which would mean that investors hold the contract and earn nothing—or even take a loss.
Kostin finds the best predictor of dividend increases has been earnings growth. Earnings growth in 2023 has been weak, to say the least, about 1% for the overall S&P 500. But stronger growth is expected to return in 2024, according to FactSet estimates. That should be good for dividend growth, as well. “We forecast 10-year annualized dividend per share growth will equal 5%,” writes Kostin.
That seems reasonable. Historically, S&P 500 earnings have grown at an average annual rate of about 8% for the past decade. Dividends have grown at about 7% a year on average. What’s more, the worst three-year per share dividend decline for the S&P 500 was about 20% from 2007 to 2010, during the financial crisis.
Not everyone wants to play the futures market. Investors can consider a dividend growth ETF to bet that payouts will increase more than the market expects. They include the $80 billion Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (ticker: VIG), which yields 2% and has returned 5.5% in 2023, and the $25 billion iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF (DGRO), which yields 2.7% and has returned 1.6% this year.
They might not be pure plays, but they’re far simpler than dividend futures and should pay off in the long term.Dividend stocks have had a tough year, and dividend growth exchange-traded funds have underperformed the S&P 500 index. But what if you could have the dividend growth without having to own the stocks?
It isn’t a theoretical question, thanks to dividend futures.
A dividend futures contract lets investors take a position on the amount of dividends paid by a company, an exchange, or an index for a specific maturity date. For the S&P 500, investors can buy a contract that expires toward the end of a given year and pays them the value of the index’s per share dividend, which was about $68 in 2022.
Futures contracts are agreements to buy or sell something at a predetermined price at a predetermined time in the future. They can help, say, farmers manage risk while providing traders a vehicle for speculation. A dividends futures contract is 250 times the estimated value of the dividends paid at the end of the contract. So, at $69, buying one dividend futures contract will cost an investor about $17,000.
While it’s an esoteric trade, it isn’t all that hard to execute. Brokers like Charles Schwab, E*Trade, Interactive Brokers, and NinjaTrader allow futures trading, though it does require some extra paperwork.
It might be worth the hassle. Right now, it’s possible to earn about 8% a year betting only on dividend growth. The 2023 S&P 500 contract is currently priced at $68.70. With just over a month to go, Goldman Sachs Chief U.S. Equity Strategist David Kostin estimates that per share dividends will amount to about $70 in 2023. So, there is about $1.30 to be made through Dec. 15, when the contracts mature. That’s would be a 1.9% gain, which annualizes to about 17%, if Kostin is right.
A better bet might be on the longer term, when the futures market implies there will be virtually no dividend growth. That doesn’t make sense, according to Kostin. He estimates that dividends will grow at 5% a year for the coming few years, which means that by 2026, S&P 500 per share dividends, now priced to be $65, should be closer to $82. An investor buying a 2026 contract today for $65 could get $82 three years down the road. That would be a 26% return, or about 8% a year on average.
There are risks. The value of the contracts fluctuates, which means they can rise in value but also drop. Investors will have to hold them through all of that volatility, perhaps all the way to maturity, to realize the full value of the trade. There’s also the risk that dividends don’t grow, which would mean that investors hold the contract and earn nothing—or even take a loss.
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Kostin finds the best predictor of dividend increases has been earnings growth. Earnings growth in 2023 has been weak, to say the least, about 1% for the overall S&P 500. But stronger growth is expected to return in 2024, according to FactSet estimates. That should be good for dividend growth, as well. “We forecast 10-year annualized dividend per share growth will equal 5%,” writes Kostin.
That seems reasonable. Historically, S&P 500 earnings have grown at an average annual rate of about 8% for the past decade. Dividends have grown at about 7% a year on average. What’s more, the worst three-year per share dividend decline for the S&P 500 was about 20% from 2007 to 2010, during the financial crisis.
Not everyone wants to play the futures market. Investors can consider a dividend growth ETF to bet that payouts will increase more than the market expects. They include the $80 billion Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (ticker: VIG), which yields 2% and has returned 5.5% in 2023, and the $25 billion iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF (DGRO), which yields 2.7% and has returned 1.6% this year.
They might not be pure plays, but they’re far simpler than dividend futures and should pay off in the long term.