Dec. 26 at 8:19 PM
UPS has had a difficult year, with higher labor costs, weaker freight demand, the loss of Amazon as a major customer, and tariff pressures pushing the stock down about 20%. Despite these challenges, its dividend yield now exceeds 5%, one of the highest in the S&P 500. Analysts warn, however, that very high yields often reflect underlying business stress rather than opportunity.
According to Wolfe Research, the highest-yielding stocks rarely deliver strong market performance. While the average S&P 500 dividend yield is about 2.3%, the top 12 nonfinancial, non-real-estate yielders average nearly 7%. This group includes companies such as UPS, Ford, Altria, Verizon, Pfizer, LyondellBasell, Dow, and several food and retail names. Together, they are paying out roughly 70% of free cash flow as dividends and carry relatively high debt, leaving little financial cushion.
$UPS $F $MO $LYB $SPX