CHART: Dividend Stocks Are Better In Both Bull And Bear Markets

Dividend stocks are the lease sexy stocks in the market. Companies that pay dividends generally have limited growth prospects, which is why they pay out that cash to shareholders. Growth stocks on the other hand tend to offer more robust return opportunities as they shovel that cash back into their operations.

However, according to research published by BlackRock, dividend paying stocks have a long history of beating non-dividend paying stocks in both bull and bear markets.

From BlackRock:

Conventional wisdom holds that more information is better. However, investors are so distracted by daily headlines, they may not be focused on the longer term risk/reward of their portfolios. Fortunately, while dividend payers may lag the broader markets for short bursts, we've seen them outperform over the long term—across bull and bear markets—as the market acknowledges companies' underlying fundamentals. There is no guarantee that stocks will continue to pay dividends.