This list represents some of the highest-quality income stocks that are available today notes Kelley Wright of Investment Quality Trends.

My primary purpose is to assist subscribers in growing their capital and income base from which to derive cash for their current and future needs. To that end, we believe that high-quality stocks purchased at historically low-price-to-high-yield offers the best potential for downside protection and upside appreciation.

For subscribers to effectively mirror our Model Portfolio for performance-tracking purposes (every stock in the Undervalued and Rising Trend categories), it would require holding 160 stocks as of the December issue-clearly too many positions to be practical.

The Timely Ten, therefore, is not just another "best of, right now" list. It is our reasoned expectation based on our methodology and experience for what we believe will perform best over the next five years.

Do we believe that all ten will go up simultaneously or immediately? Of course not. Our four-plus decades of research and experience, however, leads us to believe that these stocks, purchased at current Undervalued levels, are well positioned for both growth of capital and income.

Whether you are looking to build a portfolio from scratch, are partially invested and looking to add new positions, or fully invested and in need of some affirmation and hand holding, The Timely Ten represents our top ten recommendations as of each issue. Short of utilizing the personal investment management services of our sister company, this is as close to hands on advice you can get.

The Timely Ten consists of Undervalued stocks that generally have a S&P Dividend & Earnings Quality rating of A- or better, a "G" designation for exemplary long-term dividend growth, a P/E ratio of 15 or less, a payout ratio of 50% or less (75% for Utilities), debt of 50% or less (75% for Utilities), and technical characteristics on the daily and weekly charts that suggests the potential for imminent capital appreciation. This issue's selections are:

  • CVS Caremark (CVS): credit rating: A+, yield 1.3%
  • Chevron (CVX): credit rating: A+, yield 3.3%
  • Union Pacific (UNP): credit rating A, yield 2.2%
  • Coca-Cola (KO): credit rating A+, yield 2.7%

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