Billionaire Bill Miller Beat the S&P 500 for 15 Consecutive Years. Here Are His Fund's Top 3 Ultra-High-Yield Dividend Stocks Now.

Miller Value Partners’ top ultra-high-yield holdings highlighted here are Lincoln National, Gray Media, and Quad/Graphics, with forward dividend yields of 5.3%, 7.7%, and 5.5%, respectively. Lincoln National is the fund’s second-largest holding at nearly 8% of assets, Gray Media is the third-largest and was increased by 12% in Q4 2025, and Quad is the fifth-largest and was increased by 4.4%. The article is generally constructive on these deep-value, income-oriented stocks, but it is mostly commentary rather than a direct catalyst.

Analysis

The market is still pricing these as “bad businesses with high yields,” but the more important signal is that capital is being recycled into names where the payout itself is part of the catalyst. When a stock trades at 2-6x forward earnings, even modest stabilization in fundamentals can re-rate the equity by 20-40% without heroic operating improvement; the dividend mainly keeps patient capital engaged long enough for that mean reversion to work. That makes these names less about absolute yield and more about balance-sheet durability plus the absence of forced selling.

The second-order effect is that all three are operating in segments where analyst coverage is thin and index ownership is limited, so marginal buying can move price disproportionately. That creates a reflexive setup: a few quarters of “no dividend cut” or “no nasty surprise” can compress risk premiums faster than earnings growth would justify. The flip side is that these are exactly the kinds of stocks where one bad print can wipe out several quarters of carry, so timing matters more than for quality compounders.

The most interesting setup is probably QUAD versus LNC. QUAD has the higher operating leverage and the cleaner re-rating path if management continues to defend the payout while debt service remains manageable; LNC is the more defensive cash-yield story but has less upside if the market already believes the dividend is secure. Gray Media is the most binary: the yield is compelling, but the payout ratio leaves little room for a cyclical dip in advertising or retransmission economics. In other words, the opportunity is real, but it is a “small error bar” trade, not a buy-and-forget income basket.

Consensus is likely missing how much of the upside here can come from sentiment normalization rather than earnings growth. These are not names that need to become great; they only need to become less feared. If rates drift lower over the next 6-12 months, these high-yield, low-multiple equities should benefit doubly via both lower discount rates and less skepticism around dividend sustainability.

Key Decisions for Investors

• Long QUAD on a 3-6 month horizon: best asymmetric setup among the three because modest multiple expansion from ~6x toward 8x forward earnings can generate ~30% upside, while dividend support limits downside if operating trends hold.
• Use LNC as a lower-volatility income hold rather than a momentum trade: long only if the portfolio wants carry, with a 5.3% yield acting as a cushion; trim if credit spreads widen or if management signals any pressure on capital return capacity.
• Avoid chasing GTN outright until there is evidence of ad-spend stability: the 7.7% yield compensates for risk, but the payout ratio leaves little room for error, so the better expression is a small starter position or no position until the next print.
• Pair trade idea: long QUAD / short a high-quality secular compounder basket on valuation dispersion if rates remain sticky; this isolates re-rating potential in depressed multiples while limiting market beta.
• For income-focused mandates, consider staggered entries rather than full allocation immediately: these names are prone to sharp drawdowns, so scaling in over 2-4 weeks improves the risk/reward versus buying after a single strong headline.