4 Bargain-Priced Dividend Stocks Near 52-Week Lows

Nielsen Hldg NV (NYSE:NLSN)

Shares of Nielsen Hldg NV (NYSE:NLSN) have fallen by 22% in the past year and currently hover just above their 52-week low. That has pushed the company’s dividend yield to 4.59%. Of some concern is the fact that Nielsen’s dividend payout ratio has been pushed to a 10-year high of 1.13. Nielsen will have to grow earnings in the future for the dividend to be sustainable long-term.

The company is planning to do just that through its Path to 2020 initiative and has growing opportunities in the areas of eSports and Dynamic Ad Insertion, recently inking a deal with CBS Corporation Common Stock (NYSE:CBS) to bring the latter to live national TV broadcasts using Nielsen’s Gracenote, which has helped drive double-digit growth in revenue per tuning and viewing record.

On the gaming front, Nielsen has partnered with Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) to apply its ratings expertise to the company’s eSports broadcasts. The $1 billion eSports industry has huge growth potential to attract more viewers and advertisers as it continues to mature and push out more professional content.

Altria Group Inc. (NYSE:MO) & Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM)

Tobacco stocks Altria Group Inc. (NYSE:MO) & Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) have both been beaten up over the last year, as cigarette sales continue to slide. Even worse, sales of Philip Morris’ iQOS smokeless tobacco device recently hit a wall in Japan, where they had quickly gobbled up 10% market share. That has raised questions as to whether their ceiling is as high as once hoped.

Philip Morris’ CEO has stated that the company would like to stop selling traditional cigarettes completely in the future. With those products still accounting for over 87% of the company’s revenue last year, there needs to be a huge shift in consumer preferences before that becomes viable, a shift which appears to have stalled in Japan.

While the news isn’t all good, Altria Group Inc. (NYSE:MO) and Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) are still revenue and earnings juggernauts with fair valuations and generous dividend yields of 5.09% and 5.29% respectively. There’s also a huge potential untapped market for both companies to leverage their scale and distribution capabilities, which is the legal marijuana industry. Altria trades at about half the P/E of Philip Morris, but is more exposed to the U.S market, where tobacco rates are declining more rapidly.

Disclosure: None