Orchids Paper Products Company (TIS), Spartan Stores, Inc. (SPTN): Five Dividend Boosts Worth Noting

Last week we saw countless companies declare their quarterly dividend, and a select few that elected to increase their yield compared to last year. In this piece I am looking at five that might present a good investment opportunity to shareholders.

For this particular piece, I am using one of the value-seeking strategies found in my book, Taking Charge With Value Investing(McGraw-Hill, 2013) — seeking value in stocks that trade with valuations that are less than the broader market, but with greater growth. Hence if the S&P 500 is trading at 19.23 times earnings and at 1.52 times sales with (0.51%) growth in Q1, then a company that is cheaper with positive growth might indicate upside relative to the S&P 500.

*After dividend hike last week

• Orchids Paper Products Company (NYSEMKT:TIS) is a manufacturer of tissue products, a small cap company with a market capitalization of just $175 million. Yet despite being small, it is stable and profitable, and increased its industry-leading yield by 16.66% last week. The company is currently growing by 3% (outperforming the market) and is valued slightly cheaper than the S&P 500 as well. Thus I say it might make a good investment regardless of the market’s future performance.
• Spartan Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPTN) is a regional grocery distributor and retailer, trading with a market cap of just $375 million. Last week the company increased its yield by 12.50%, making it very attractive considering the discount that it trades to the broader market. If there is a negative to its investment outlook it’s that the company has zero growth and has traded relatively flat since the recession. With that said, the stock is cheap, and with a 2.09% yield (that has increased 80% in the last five years) it should become a better long-term performer versus the S&P.
• TE Connectivity Ltd. (NYSE:TEL) is a $20 billion secular company, one that designs and manufactures over 500,000 products that connect and protect the flow of power and data inside a number of products used by consumers and industries. Aside from increasing its yield by 19% last week, the company also trades at a discount to the market. With it growing near equal to the rate of economic growth, I think its value should equate to upside as a long-term investment.