BANK OF AMERICA: Buy these 20 cash-rich stocks that pay fat dividends and provide the best long-term protection against market crashes

• The stock market's dividend yield has grown to nearly three times that of the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield amid coronavirus-driven market turmoil.
• Bank of America consequently advises that investors generate income by buying high-quality stocks with healthy dividends.
• The firm's equity strategists compiled a list of 20 such companies that are paying above their sector averages.
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One consequence of the coronavirus-driven market turmoil is that bond yields have fallen to historic lows.

The widespread craving for safety within Treasurys drove mass buying, which pushed down yields and shrunk a reliable source of income.

Given this predicament, Bank of America's equity strategists advice that investors should be focused on two things right now: income-generating stocks, and safety from volatile markets.

On the former, companies that have safe dividend yields will support portfolios until investors embrace risk again, said Savita Subramanian, the head of US equity and quantitative strategy. The dividend yield on the S&P 500 is nearly thrice as much as the 10-year yield, which is the widest gap since the early 1950s.

On the latter recommendation to find safety, there are no better bets than high-quality companies with stable earnings, strong balance sheets, and more cash than debt. Stocks like these have historically outperformed their low-quality counterparts when the Cboe Volatility Index (VIX) rises, Subramanian said.

"Even for those investing for the next year rather than the next decade, stocks still appear extremely attractive vs. bonds, especially high-quality companies with safe dividends," she said in a recent note.

She screened 20 stocks with B+ or higher S&P quality rankings, dividend payout ratios that are greater than their sectors, and earnings-per-share volatilities that are below the market average. She only included stocks that are buy-rated by Bank of America's analysts.