The 3 Best Dividend Stocks to Buy Now and Hold Forever

Stock Advisor's historical average return is 898% versus 183% for the S&P 500 (as of Mar 22, 2026). The piece highlights dividend income opportunities: Verizon is presented as a high-yield, customer-sticky telecom, Target is framed as undervalued with steady consumer demand, and Las Vegas real-estate (e.g., Vici Properties) is called out for dividend potential. Note that Verizon was not among Stock Advisor's current top 10 picks, and disclosures show the author and Motley Fool have positions and recommendations in the mentioned names.

Analysis

The durable-consumer and real-assets theme here bifurcates into two payoffs: telecoms with steady cash returns (VZ) and experiential real estate tied to tourism (VICI). VZ’s distribution profile masks a capital-allocation squeeze — incremental 5G/edge/AI capex competes with buybacks/dividends and creates a levered exposure to enterprise AI spend cycles that will show up in vendor demand to NVDA/INTC over 6–24 months.

VICI and Vegas-facing landlords are second-order beneficiaries of incremental leisure spend and tighter hotel occupancy; rent reversion and non-gaming ancillary revenue (F&B, conventions) give them pricing optionality that retail investors underweight, but they remain rate-sensitive. Target (TGT) sits between discretionary demand resilience and inventory/margin reversion — the stock will be governed more by margin recovery and promotional cadence than top-line growth over the next 2–8 quarters.

Macro risks are clear: a 75–125bp move in real rates within 6–12 months is the fastest way to reprice VICI and compress coverage cushions for VZ; conversely, a renewed AI capex wave would tilt fundamentals toward NVDA/INTC and force VZ to prioritize network investment over payouts. Watch operator-level free cash flow and spectrum/asset monetization announcements as 30–90 day catalysts that could abruptly change dividend safety narratives.

Contrarian read: consensus is underappreciating the re-levering optionality of telecom balance sheets (spectrum sales, tower monetization) while overpricing the defensive safety of payouts; meanwhile, real-estate cashflow quality in Vegas is underrated versus headline gaming numbers. That mispricing enables asymmetric pair trades where you own real-assets income while shorting payout-exposed corporates lacking clear near-term allocational flexibility.

Key Decisions for Investors

• Long VICI (12-month): initiate a 3–5% portfolio position in VICI REITs, target 12–18% total return over 12 months assuming stable rates; hedge with 1% notional of 2y Treasury futures or buy a 12-month 6–8% OTM put to limit downside to ~10% if real yields widen >75bp.
• Pair trade — Long VICI / Short VZ (6–12 months): equal-dollar long VICI and short VZ to express real-asset outperformance vs payout-constrained telecoms. Expect VICI to outperform by 10–15% if rates and tourism remain stable; stop-loss on either leg at 8–10% adverse move.
• TGT buy-write (3–6 months): purchase TGT shares and sell 3-month calls ~5–8% OTM to collect premium while participating in a margin-recovery rally. Risk: margin compression if traffic weakens; reward: enhanced yield with 8–12% annualized upside capture on a quarterly roll.
• Asymmetric AI exposure (6–18 months): add NVDA call spreads (buy 12–18 month 20–35% OTM call, sell higher strike) sized as a growth-beta sleeve—benefits both direct NVDA upside and indirectly supports telecom capex narratives. Cap premium at 0.5–1% portfolio to limit downside while preserving 3:1 upside skew vs premium paid.