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Wed, 29 Jul 2026 19:04:37 +0000
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IonQ, Rigetti, and D-Wave Quantum Are Down 30% in a Month. Is More Pain Coming for Quantum Computing Stocks?
Wed, 29 Jul 2026 19:04:37 +0000
The post IonQ, Rigetti, and D-Wave Quantum Are Down 30% in a Month. Is More Pain Coming for Quantum Computing Stocks? appeared first on 24/7 Wall St..
There’s no denying it: the quantum-computing sector has been unwound. Over the past month, pure-play quantum stocks have sold off sharply as investors pulled capital out of high-multiple and often pre-profit tech. For example, IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) shares are down 39% over the trailing month, with the stock changing hands midday Wednesday at $32.86.
Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI) shares are down 30% over the same stretch, and D-Wave Quantum (NYSE:QBTS) shares are also down 30%. Meanwhile, Quantum Computing (NASDAQ:QUBT) shares have slid 24% in a month. The pain has been broad, but not uniform.
Sector-Wide De-Risking Drives the Slide
The selloff in IonQ, Rigetti, D-Wave, and Quantum Computing shares looks less like a company-specific story and more like a sentiment reset across speculative tech. Investors have trimmed exposure to high-multiple, pre-profit names as AI-infrastructure and semiconductor valuations were re-priced. Quantum pure-plays sit at the far end of that risk spectrum.
The valuation setup makes the reaction easier to understand. IonQ stock carries a trailing 12-month P/E ratio of 84.26x, while Rigetti, D-Wave, and Quantum Computing stocks have no meaningful trailing 12-month P/E ratios because they were unprofitable during that time frame. When multiples reset, names anchored to future-scale narratives can take the biggest hit.
The fundamentals reinforce that story. IonQ posted Q1 2026 revenue of $64.67 million, up 755% year over year (YoY), but its adjusted EBITDA loss guide for the year sits at -$330 million to -$310 million. D-Wave reported Q1 2026 revenue of $2.86 million, down 81% YoY on lumpy system-sale timing, though bookings jumped 2,000% YoY. Rapid growth, deep losses, and heavy stock-based compensation are difficult for investors who want to see profits.
The Bull Case Hasn’t Vanished
Recent catalysts complicate the “more pain” thesis. IonQ received final regulatory approval to complete its acquisition of SkyWater Technology (NASDAQ:SKYT), a large U.S.-based semiconductor foundry, with closing expected Friday, July 31. IonQ frames the combination as a vertically integrated, full-stack quantum platform with a secured domestic chip supply.
D-Wave shares popped earlier in the month after AT&T (NYSE:T) agreed to expand use of D-Wave’s quantum computing technology across its network operations. Rigetti stock and peers rallied in sympathy. AT&T stock, for context, is up 10% over the past month, a reminder that defensive telecom is exactly what quantum is not.
Moreover, policy tailwinds remain in play for IonQ, Rigetti, D-Wave, and Quantum Computing. In May, the U.S. Department of Commerce signed letters of intent to provide more than $2 billion in federal incentives to nine quantum-related companies in exchange for minority equity stakes. That kind of federal support gives the sector a structural bid the broader market lacks.
The ETF Is Holding Up Better
The Defiance Quantum ETF (NASDAQ:QTUM) is down 16% over the past month, well less than the pure-plays. The QTUM ETF‘s basket spans quantum and adjacent computing names, so single-stock blowups get diluted. It’s not leveraged, and it carries an expense ratio of 0.4%, offering thematic exposure without single-name volatility.
Concentration risk cuts the other way for the pure-plays. The prediction markets on Polymarket peg IonQ’s odds of beating its next quarterly print at just 6.5%, even as Wall Street analysts hold an average price target of $68.41 on IonQ stock. That gap between crowd sentiment and sell-side optimism is where the next move gets decided.
What to Watch Next
Traders can watch for the SkyWater deal close on July 31, IonQ’s Q2 2026 earnings report on August 5, and D-Wave and Rigetti reports on August 6. Given the beta profile, investors may want to size their positions carefully.
The next two weeks could define whether this correction is a pause or the start of a deeper reset for IonQ, Rigetti, and D-Wave. You can monitor the QTUM ETF as a sector barometer, and pay close attention to guidance updates alongside the headline prints.
For now, the setup rewards patience over conviction. Traders chasing bounces should respect the volatility, while long-term believers may find better entries if the sector-wide de-risking continues into August.
The post IonQ, Rigetti, and D-Wave Quantum Are Down 30% in a Month. Is More Pain Coming for Quantum Computing Stocks? appeared first on 24/7 Wall St..]]>
5 High-Yielding Dividend Stocks for Retirees to Buy and Hold Forever
Wed, 29 Jul 2026 13:00:46 +0000
The post 5 High-Yielding Dividend Stocks for Retirees to Buy and Hold Forever appeared first on 24/7 Wall St..
Retirees rebuilding income streams amid the current interest rate environment need dividend payers with cash-flow durability, not yield traps. The five names below span tobacco, telecom, pharma, and asset management, and each brings a distinct income thesis backed by tool-verified payout data as of July 14, 2026. One caveat up front: Philip Morris International is domiciled in Switzerland, so US investors typically face a 15% Swiss withholding tax on dividends (usually recoverable in taxable accounts via the foreign tax credit, but not in IRAs).
Altria (MO)
Altria (NYSE:MO) yields 5.67% at a recent price of $74.82, with a most recent declared quarterly dividend of $1.06 per share, paid on July 10. The stock has climbed 27.42% over the past year.
The bull case is dividend durability paired with earnings momentum. Altria reaffirmed FY2026 adjusted diluted EPS guidance of $5.56 to $5.72, and Q1 2026 delivered adjusted diluted EPS of $1.32 on revenue of $5.43 billion. The smokeable segment still throws off 65.1% margins, funding $1.8 billion in Q1 dividends and buybacks. Forward P/E sits at just 13.
Risk: Marlboro retail share slipped 1.4 points to 39.7%, on! nicotine pouch share fell 4.2 points to 13.4%, and domestic cigarette volumes declined roughly 5%. Long-term volume erosion is the structural headwind pricing power must keep outrunning.
Philip Morris International (PM)
Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) yields 2.94% — lower than the others on this list — but its dividend is compounding the fastest. The most recent declared quarterly payout is $1.47, paid on July 20, up from $1.35 in the first half of 2025.
The thesis is a growth-plus-income hybrid built on smoke-free products. PM guided FY2026 adjusted diluted EPS of $8.36 to $8.51, a 10.9%–12.9% jump, and targets a 9%–11% CAGR through 2028 ex-currency. IQOS reaches 108 markets, ZYN reaches 58 markets, and smoke-free is roughly 41.5% of revenue. Analyst target: $194.86.
Risk: Q1 ZYN shipments fell 23.5% on distributor destocking, and PM has paused buybacks to prioritize deleveraging. Add the Swiss withholding wrinkle for taxable-account investors.
AT&T (T)
AT&T (NYSE:T) just gave income investors a rare piece of good news: the quarterly dividend was raised to 33 cents per share, ex-date July 17, payable Aug. 3. That works out to an annualized forward rate of $1.3376, a 20.4% increase off the 27-cent rate that had held for 16 straight quarters.
The bull case is converged fiber-plus-5G economics finally translating to cash. AT&T reaffirmed FY2026 free cash flow of $18 billion or more, plans roughly $8 billion in 2026 buybacks, and targets $45 billion in total shareholder returns from 2026 to 2028. Q1 EPS came in at 57 cents, up 11.8% year-over-year, and the payout ratio remains conservative at roughly half of 2025 reported EPS of $2.11.
Risk: Total debt sits at $138.4 billion, with net debt/EBITDA expected to rise toward 3.2x after the EchoStar transaction. Shares are still down 16.35% over the past year.
Pfizer (PFE)
Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) is the ultra-high-yield pick here, sporting a 6.81% dividend yield at roughly $25.25. The most recent quarterly dividend of 43 cents went ex on July 24, and pays out on Sept. 1.
Q1 2026 showed the earnings recovery investors need to underwrite this yield: adjusted diluted EPS of 75 cents on revenue of $14.45 billion, up 5.4% year-over-year. Management reaffirmed FY2026 revenue of $59.5–$62.5 billion and adjusted EPS of $2.80–$3.00, which comfortably covers the $1.72 annualized dividend. Vyndamax U.S. exclusivity was extended to June 2031, and forward P/E of 8 discounts a lot of bad news.
Risk: COVID revenue is collapsing (Comirnaty down 59%, Paxlovid down 63%), and management flagged a $1.5 billion 2026 revenue headwind from loss of exclusivity. Most-Favored-Nation drug pricing remains an open policy risk.
T. Rowe Price (TROW)
T. Rowe Price (NASDAQ:TROW) yields 4.27%, with the current quarterly dividend at $1.30, last paid on June 29. Dividend history in the record shows increases in every calendar year going back to at least 1999, with no cuts across that span.
The bull case is a debt-free balance sheet with $3.73 billion in cash supporting a Dividend Aristocrat payout. Q1 2026 adjusted EPS beat expectations at $2.52 versus $2.35 estimated, a 7.234% surprise, with revenue of $1.86 billion and average AUM of $1.78 trillion, up 9.6% year-over-year. The company returned $629 million to shareholders in Q1.
Risk: Persistent net client outflows totaled $13.7 billion in Q1 2026 and $56.9 billion for FY2025, and fee rates compressed to 38.4 basis points. Analyst sentiment is cool: nine Hold ratings, one Sell rating and three Strong Sell ratings with a 12-month price target of $106.33 (notably below the current share price of $121.68). Retirees buying today are paying for durability, not near-term upside.
The post 5 High-Yielding Dividend Stocks for Retirees to Buy and Hold Forever appeared first on 24/7 Wall St..]]>
Boomers Are Buying 5 Quality High-Yield Stocks at Big Discounts Hand Over Fist
Wed, 29 Jul 2026 12:43:10 +0000
The post Boomers Are Buying 5 Quality High-Yield Stocks at Big Discounts Hand Over Fist appeared first on 24/7 Wall St..While many Baby Boomers have enjoyed a long bull market over the past 35 years, there is a point when income becomes more critical than stock appreciation. The reason is simple: those who leave their careers to enjoy a well-deserved retirement lose the benefits of a regular salary, such as 401(k) matching and company-paid healthcare. In addition, many Boomers use their retirement years to travel and enjoy the rewards they have worked hard to achieve throughout their lives. Choosing investments wisely is imperative, and at 24/7 Wall St., we continually seek the best ideas for Baby Boomers and retirees.
One concern many Boomers and retirees have is generating enough passive income to maintain the lifestyle to which they were accustomed during their working days. One of the best ideas, and one we have championed here at 24/7 Wall St. for years, is quality high-yield dividend stocks. The problem is that many of our favorite companies have traded higher over the past few years, and the risk-reward for many has diminished. We screened our 24/7 Wall St. high-yield stocks database for well-known companies that, for various reasons, are trading far below what many on Wall Street consider fair value.
We found five companies that most investors are very familiar with, all paying substantial and reliable dividends, and all rated Buy by the top Wall Street firms we cover.
Why Do We Cover the High-Yielding Dividend Stocks?
Since 1926, dividends have accounted for approximately 32% of the S&P 500’s total return, while capital appreciation has accounted for 68%. Therefore, sustainable dividend income and the potential for capital appreciation are essential to total return expectations. A study by Hartford Funds, in collaboration with Ned Davis Research, found that dividend stocks delivered an annualized return of 9.18% over the past 50 years (1973 to 2023). Over the same timeline, this was more than double the annualized return for non-payers (3.95%).
AT&T
AT&T (NYSE: T) is the world’s fourth-largest telecommunications company, measured by revenue. The legacy telecom has been undergoing a lengthy restructuring process while maintaining a solid 4.55% dividend yield. Thirteen analysts have given the stock a Buy rating, indicating broad support from Wall Street. The stock was hit on concerns that Starlink was taking internet share. Still, strong earnings, along with the addition of 432,000 net postpaid phone subscribers and 646,000 high-speed internet customers, both above estimates, have helped quell that argument.
The company provides a range of telecommunications, media, and technology services worldwide. Its Communications segment offers wireless voice and data communications services. Through its company-owned stores, agents, and third-party retail stores, it sells:
Handsets
Wireless data cards
Wireless computing devices
Carrying cases
Hands-free devices
AT&T also provides:
Data
Voice
Security
Cloud solutions
Outsourcing
Managed and provided professional services
Customer premises equipment for multinational corporations, small and mid-sized businesses, and governmental and wholesale customers
Additionally, this segment provides residential customers with fiber broadband and legacy voice telephony services. It markets its communications services and products under:
AT&T
Cricket
AT&T PREPAID
AT&T Fiber
The company’s Latin America segment provides wireless services in Mexico and video services throughout the region. This segment markets its services and products under the AT&T and Unefon brands.
J.P. Morgan has a $34 price target for the stock.
Energy Transfer
Energy Transfer (NYSE: ET) is one of North America’s largest and most diversified midstream energy companies. This top master limited partnership is a safe option for investors seeking energy exposure and income, as the company pays a 6.71% distribution yield. Energy Transfer owns and operates one of the largest and most diversified portfolios of energy assets in the United States, with a strategic footprint across all major domestic production basins. The company has raised its 2026 EBITDA guidance and is well-positioned to benefit from surging natural gas demand driven by AI-powered data centers. This tailwind, combined with its attractive high yield, has been a key bullish catalyst.
The company is a publicly traded limited partnership with core operations that include:
Complementary natural gas midstream, intrastate, and interstate transportation and storage assets
Crude oil, natural gas liquids (NGL), and refined product transportation and terminalling assets
NGL fractionation
Various acquisition and marketing assets
Following the acquisition of Enable Partners in December 2021, Energy Transfer owns and operates over 114,000 miles of pipelines and related assets in 41 states, spanning all major U.S. producing regions and markets. This further solidifies its leadership position in the midstream sector.
Through its ownership of Energy Transfer Operating, formerly known as Energy Transfer Partners, the company also owns Lake Charles LNG; the general partner interests, the incentive distribution rights, and 28.5 million standard units of Sunoco (NYSE: SUN); and the public partner interests and 39.7 million standard units of USA Compression Partners (NYSE: USAC).
Jefferies has a Buy rating with a $23 target price.
Pfizer
This pharma giant’s recovery story is gaining traction, with blockbuster non-COVID drugs delivering strong growth. The company is reportedly actively working on experimental GLP-1 treatments and has recently acquired assets, such as ecnoglutide (currently in development), to build a new obesity pipeline. Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) discovers, develops, manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells biopharmaceutical products worldwide. It pays a dependable 6.97% dividend, which has increased annually for the past 16 years.
The company offers medicines and vaccines in various therapeutic areas, including:
Cardiovascular, metabolic, and women’s health under the Premarin family and Eliquis brands
Biologics, small molecules, immunotherapies, and biosimilars under the Ibrance, Xtandi, Sutent, Inlyta, Retacrit, Lorbrena, and Braftovi brands
Sterile injectable and anti-infective medicines and oral COVID-19 treatment under the Sulperazon, Medrol, Zavicefta, Zithromax, Vfend, Panzyga, and Paxlovid brands
Pfizer also provides medicines and vaccines in various therapeutic areas, such as:
Pneumococcal disease, meningococcal disease, and tick-borne encephalitis
COVID-19 under the Comirnaty/BNT162b2, Nimenrix, FSME/IMMUN-TicoVac, Trumenba, and the Prevnar family brands
Biosimilars for chronic immune and inflammatory diseases under the Xeljanz, Enbrel, Inflectra, Eucrisa/Staquis, and Cibinqo brands
Amyloidosis, hemophilia, and endocrine diseases under the Vyndaqel/Vyndamax, BeneFIX, and Genotropin brands
Argus has a Buy rating and a $35 target price.
Realty Income
This real estate investment trust has paid monthly dividends consistently for years. Top-rated Realty Income (NYSE:O) owns over 15,500 properties with a 98.9% occupancy rate across 1,761 tenants in 92 industries, many in strong categories like grocery stores and dollar stores. Occupancy has never fallen below 96.6% this century, even during the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic. With a 5% dividend yield, this is an ideal stock for growth and income investors seeking a safer contrarian idea for the rest of 2026. Realty Income is an S&P 500 company that acquires and manages freestanding commercial properties that generate rental revenue under long-term net lease agreements with its commercial clients.
It is engaged in a single business activity: leasing property to clients, generally on a net basis. This business activity spans various geographic boundaries and encompasses a range of property types and clients across multiple industries. Widely considered the gold standard of monthly dividend stocks, Realty Income has been paying dividends since 1969. It has paid 667 consecutive monthly dividends as of early 2026 and increased its dividend 132 times since its 1994 IPO.
The company owns or holds interests in approximately 15,621 properties in all 50 states:
United Kingdom
France
Germany
Ireland
Italy
Portugal
Spain
With clients operating in 89 industries, its property types include retail, industrial, gaming, and other categories such as agriculture and office.
Its primary industry concentrations include:
Grocery stores
Convenience stores
Dollar stores
Drug stores
Home improvement stores
Restaurants
Quick service
UBS has a Buy rating with a $72 target price.
VICI Properties
Vici Properties (NYSE: VICI) is a real estate investment trust based in New York City that specializes in casino and entertainment properties, paying a stellar dividend yield of 6.67%. This is one of the top picks across Wall Street in the net lease group and is ideal for more conservative investors seeking gaming exposure and a substantial dividend. It is an S&P 500 experiential REIT with one of the largest portfolios of market-leading gaming, hospitality, and entertainment destinations, including three iconic entertainment facilities on the Las Vegas Strip:
Caesars Palace Las Vegas
MGM Grand
The Venetian Resort Las Vegas
Long-term master leases protect the company, with roughly 40 years remaining, and it just reported 4.5% adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) per share growth while raising 2026 guidance. It carries an investment-grade credit rating and an AFFO payout ratio of around 74%.
VICI Properties owns 93 experiential assets across a geographically diverse portfolio of 54 gaming properties and 39 other experiential properties across the United States and Canada. The portfolio comprises approximately 127 million square feet and features approximately 60,300 hotel rooms, as well as over 500 restaurants, bars, nightclubs, and sportsbooks. Gaming revenue has proven remarkably resilient in recent downturns, and its triple-net lease structure means it collects rent regardless of tenant profitability swings.
Its properties are occupied by industry-leading gaming, leisure, and hospitality operators under these long-term, triple-net lease agreements.
VICI Properties has a growing array of real estate and financing partnerships with leading operators in other experiential sectors, including:
Bowlero
Cabot
Canyon Ranch
Chelsea Piers
Great Wolf Resorts
Homefield
Kalahari Resorts
VICI Properties also owns four championship golf courses and 33 acres of undeveloped and underdeveloped land adjacent to the Las Vegas Strip.
The Bank of America price target is $34.
The post Boomers Are Buying 5 Quality High-Yield Stocks at Big Discounts Hand Over Fist appeared first on 24/7 Wall St..]]>
D-Wave Quantum Rises 7% on Expanded AT&T Deal, Lifting IonQ, Rigetti, Quantum Computing Inc.
Mon, 27 Jul 2026 14:17:28 +0000
The post D-Wave Quantum Rises 7% on Expanded AT&T Deal, Lifting IonQ, Rigetti, Quantum Computing Inc. appeared first on 24/7 Wall St..
D-Wave Quantum (NYSE:QBTS) shares are up 7% to $19.29 in Monday morning trading after the company announced an expanded agreement with AT&T (NYSE:T) to deploy its annealing quantum systems across network operations.
The catalyst is company-specific, yet the reaction is sector-wide. D-Wave Quantum stock is leading the tape by name recognition, but the sympathy names are actually outrunning it. IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) shares are up 12% to $36.67, Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI) stock is up 12% to $15.88, and Quantum Computing (NASDAQ:QUBT) shares are up 8% to $8.06.
The Defiance Quantum ETF (NYSEARCA:QTUM) is up 1% to $141.12, a milder move that reflects its broader compute exposure. Today’s rally comes inside a sharp drawdown for the pure-play names, giving traders a bounce within a longer-term drawdown.
Expanded AT&T Deal Fuels the Rally
D-Wave and AT&T signed an expanded agreement covering network operations, with an early application cutting a network optimization workload from about one hour to under 15 seconds, a 240x speedup using D-Wave’s annealing technology. AT&T plans to extend the work to outage detection, technician routing, network build planning, and traffic management.
AT&T is also evaluating D-Wave’s forthcoming gate-model systems for quantum security and communications. This is a concrete enterprise deployment tied to hard metrics, which is the piece the sector has been missing.
Benchmark added fuel by initiating D-Wave Quantum stock at Buy with a $30 price target. CEO Alan Baratz has framed AT&T’s expansion as evidence that annealing is moving from proof-of-concept into production workloads.
Rigetti Gets Its Own HPE Catalyst
Rigetti Computing shares are running with a second, name-specific catalyst. The company is expanding its collaboration with Hewlett Packard Enterprise and the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center to build “TangleLab,” a hybrid quantum-classical supercomputing testbed funded by a $5 million National Science Foundation grant.
Rigetti will deliver a 9-qubit Novera quantum system integrated with classical high-performance computing. Construction is expected to begin September 1 at PSC’s new data center, with full operations expected in 2027. That timeline underlines both the opportunity and the wait involved in this thesis.
Peers Rally on Enterprise Adoption Sentiment
The read-through is straightforward. One credible enterprise deal is lifting the entire complex on adoption sentiment, and the sympathy names are outrunning the actual beneficiary. That’s classic thematic momentum trading.
The bounce comes inside deep drawdowns. D-Wave Quantum stock is down 27% year to date, IonQ stock is down 16% year to date, Rigetti Computing stock is down 29% year to date, and Quantum Computing stock is down 22% year to date. The Defiance Quantum ETF, which spreads exposure across broader compute names, remains up 29% year to date.
Bull Case, Bear Case, and What to Watch
The bull case rests on real customer traction. AT&T’s 240x speedup is a hard number, Benchmark’s Buy rating gives sell-side cover, and Rigetti’s NSF-funded HPE testbed shows federal research dollars flowing into hybrid architectures. D-Wave’s own $588.4 million cash position and $33.4 million in bookings from Q1 FY2026 support a runway argument.
The bear case is the valuation and the wait. D-Wave stock carries a price-to-sales ratio of 482.56 against TTM revenue of $12.44 million. TangleLab doesn’t reach full operations until 2027, and prediction markets currently price only a 25.5% probability that the U.S. federal government takes an equity stake in IonQ by year-end 2026.
Investors sizing their exposure here can keep their positions modest given a beta of 2.1 on D-Wave stock and the QTUM ETF’s narrow thematic concentration. The next cues are whether today’s gains hold into the close and whether other carriers follow AT&T’s lead with their own commercial announcements.
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Verizon Was Booted From the Dow – 5 Dividend Giants Got the Same Treatment and Eventually Soared
Thu, 23 Jul 2026 12:13:31 +0000
The post Verizon Was Booted From the Dow – 5 Dividend Giants Got the Same Treatment and Eventually Soared appeared first on 24/7 Wall St..While it remains a mystery exactly why certain companies are removed from the venerable Dow Jones Industrial Average, even after years on the legacy index, we decided to ask Anthropic’s Claude chatbot for an answer on how those decisions are made. These were the results we got:
S&P Dow Jones Indices manages the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and changes to its composition are determined by an index committee—not by any fixed formula or automatic screening process. This is a key difference from many other indices (like the S&P 500), which use largely rules-based, quantitative criteria for additions and removals.
Who decides:
The S&P Dow Jones Indices Averages Committee, made up of full-time S&P Dow Jones Indices employees (analysts and economists), meets periodically and can also convene on an as-needed basis when a change seems warranted. The committee’s decisions are essentially editorial judgment calls rather than mechanical rule-following.
Criteria/factors considered for removal:
Since there’s no strict quantitative threshold, the committee weighs a mix of factors, including:
Reputation decline — A company falling out of favor, facing major controversy, or losing standing as a leading representative of American industry.
Slower growth or shrinking relevance — A company no longer reflecting the sector or economy it’s meant to represent.
Sector balance — The committee tries to maintain reasonable representation across major sectors of the economy. If a sector becomes overrepresented or underrepresented, a swap may follow.
Stock price distortions — Because the DJIA is price-weighted (not market-cap weighted), a stock with an unusually high or low price can distort the index’s calculations. Extreme price divergence, or a stock split that significantly changes a company’s weighting, can be a trigger for a change.
Corporate actions — Mergers, acquisitions, bankruptcy, or a company being acquired can force removal, since the company effectively stops existing as an independent public entity.
Overall fit — Whether the company remains a widely held, financially sound, and historically significant “blue chip” that meaningfully represents the U.S. economy.
When a company is removed, it’s simultaneously replaced by another company chosen to maintain balance across the 30-stock index. Because these decisions are subjective and infrequent, they tend to draw significant market attention when announced, and the S&P Dow Jones Indices typically announces changes a few days before they take effect.
With all that in mind, we decided to screen the stocks that had been removed over the past few decades and see whether the committee of analysts and economists is making the right removal decisions. Interestingly, some of the companies that were kicked out have soared and, in many cases, continued to pay big, dependable dividends. One thing we did note is that, over the past decade, technology companies have been replacing the stocks they remove.
Here are five dividend-paying giants that were all removed from the Dow.
Altria
Altria (NYSE: MO) is one of the world’s largest producers and marketers of cigarettes and other tobacco-related products. This tobacco stock offers value investors a solid entry point and a 5.66% dividend. Altria manufactures and sells smokable and oral tobacco products in the United States primarily to wholesalers, including distributors and large retail organizations, such as chain stores.
Kiplinger notes that after it was removed in 2008, shareholders who held through the transition saw their shares surge by more than 150% in the years following, excluding dividends.
The company primarily sells cigarettes under the Marlboro brand, as well as:
Cigars and pipe tobacco, principally under the Black & Mild and Middleton brands
Moist smokeless tobacco and snus products under the Copenhagen, Skoal, Red Seal, and Husky brands
on! Oral nicotine pouches
e-vapor products under the NJOY ACE brand
Altria used to own over 10% of Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE: BUD), the world’s largest brewer. In March of 2024, the company sold 35 million of its 197 million shares through a global secondary offering. That represents 18% of its holdings but still leaves 8% of the outstanding shares in its back pocket. Altria also announced a $2.4 billion stock repurchase plan partially funded by the sale.
Altria increased its quarterly dividend in the fall of 2025 by 3.9%, from $1.02 to $1.06 per share, marking its 57th consecutive dividend increase.
AT&T
AT&T (NYSE: T) is the world’s fourth-largest telecommunications company, measured by revenue. The legacy telecom has been undergoing a lengthy restructuring process while maintaining a solid dividend of 5.06%. Thirteen analysts have given the stock a Buy rating, indicating broad Wall Street support.
It was removed from the index in 2015 to clear space for Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL). AT&T was a long-time Dividend Aristocrat before structural corporate changes and spinoffs altered its payout strategy.
AT&T provides a range of telecommunications, media, and technology services worldwide. Its Communications segment offers wireless voice and data communications services. Through its company-owned stores, agents, and third-party retail stores, it sells:
Handsets
Wireless data cards
Wireless computing devices
Carrying cases
Hands-free devices
AT&T also provides:
Data
Voice
Security
Cloud solutions
Outsourcing
Managed and provided professional services
Customer premises equipment for multinational corporations, small and mid-sized businesses, and governmental and wholesale customers
Additionally, this segment provides residential customers with fiber broadband and legacy voice telephony services. It markets its communications services and products under:
AT&T
Cricket
AT&T PREPAID
AT&T Fiber
The company’s Latin America segment provides wireless services in Mexico and video services throughout the region. This segment markets its services and products under the AT&T and Unefon brands.
Exxon Mobil
Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) manages an industry-leading portfolio of resources and is one of the world’s largest integrated fuels, lubricants, and chemical companies. Despite the rise in oil prices, investors still have an excellent entry point to secure a strong 2.66% dividend yield. Exxon is the world’s largest international integrated oil and gas company, exploring for and producing crude oil and natural gas in North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and elsewhere.
The legacy energy behemoth was removed in August 2020 after a 92-year run to make room for Salesforce (NYSE: CRM). Despite its removal, Exxon continued to raise its dividend payout annually and has delivered strong total returns for investors.
Exxon also manufactures and markets commodity petrochemicals, including olefins, aromatics, polyethylene, and polypropylene plastics, as well as specialty products. Additionally, the company transports and sells crude oil, natural gas, and petroleum products.
Top Wall Street analysts expect the company to remain a key beneficiary in a higher oil price environment, and most remain optimistic about the company’s sharp positive inflection in capital allocation strategy. The upstream portfolio offers leverage to a further demand recovery, and Exxon offers greater Downstream/Chemicals exposure than its peers.
Exxon completed its purchase of oil shale giant Pioneer Natural Resources in 2024 in an all-stock transaction valued at $59.5 billion. The deal created the largest U.S. oilfield producer and guarantees a decade of low-cost production.
International Paper
With a rich 5.09% dividend and a product that remains in demand, this top stock is still incredibly attractive. International Paper (NYSE: IP) provides sustainable packaging solutions. The company produces renewable fiber-based packaging products and operates manufacturing facilities in North America, Latin America, Europe, and North Africa. Kiplinger said the company was kicked out of the Dow in April 2004, and that the stock rebounded by approximately 25% and delivered a total return of over 100% when dividends are factored in.
Its segments include:
Packaging Solutions North America
Packaging Solutions EMEA
The company’s products and services include Packaging, Packaging Services, and Recycling. It provides corrugated packaging, solid fiber, corrugated sheets, retail displays, bulk packaging, and more.
International Paper also offers related services such as design and fulfillment to support these solutions. It provides a range of packaging and display services, from design and testing to fulfillment, including structural and graphic design, printing, testing, mechanical assembly, and packaging.
The company offers recycling solutions and services to manage fiber recovery programs for retailers, grocers, e-commerce companies, distribution centers, manufacturers, and its own box plants.
Pfizer
Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) was established in 1849 in New York by two German entrepreneurs. This top pharmaceutical stock was a major winner in the COVID-19 vaccine race, but has declined significantly as booster uptake has slowed. However, Pfizer’s recovery story is gaining traction, with blockbuster non-COVID drugs delivering strong growth and a potential GLP-1 product launch on the horizon. It pays a dependable 6.93% dividend, which has increased annually for the past 15 years.
Booted in the August 2020 reshuffle to accommodate Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN), Pfizer remains a staple for income investors seeking pharmaceutical exposure.
Pfizer discovers, develops, manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells biopharmaceutical products worldwide in various therapeutic areas, including:
Cardiovascular, metabolic, and women’s health under the Premarin family and Eliquis brands
Biologics, small molecules, immunotherapies, and biosimilars under the Ibrance, Xtandi, Sutent, Inlyta, Retacrit, Lorbrena, and Braftovi brands
Sterile injectable and anti-infective medicines and oral COVID-19 treatment under the Sulperazon, Medrol, Zavicefta, Zithromax, Vfend, Panzyga, and Paxlovid brands
Pfizer also provides medicines and vaccines in other therapeutic areas, such as:
Pneumococcal disease, meningococcal disease, and tick-borne encephalitis
COVID-19 under the Comirnaty/BNT162b2, Nimenrix, FSME/IMMUN-TicoVac, Trumenba, and the Prevnar family brands
Biosimilars for chronic immune and inflammatory diseases under the Xeljanz, Enbrel, Inflectra, Eucrisa/Staquis, and Cibinqo brands
Amyloidosis, hemophilia, and endocrine diseases under the Vyndaqel/Vyndamax, BeneFIX, and Genotropin brands
Pfizer anticipates full-year 2026 revenues to be in the range of $59.5 billion to $62.5 billion. This outlook reflects an expected $1.5 billion decline in COVID-19 product sales (forecasted at approximately $5.0 billion for 2026, compared to $6.5 billion in 2025), alongside an additional $1.5 billion headwind from upcoming drug patent expirations.
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Here Are Thursday’s Top Wall Street Analyst Research Calls: AT&T, Applied Digital, Autodesk, Duke Energy, Exxon Mobil, JPMorgan Chase & Company, Live Nation Entertainment, and More
Thu, 23 Jul 2026 11:54:40 +0000
The post Here Are Thursday’s Top Wall Street Analyst Research Calls: AT&T, Applied Digital, Autodesk, Duke Energy, Exxon Mobil, JPMorgan Chase & Company, Live Nation Entertainment, and More appeared first on 24/7 Wall St..Pre-Market Stock Futures:
Futures are trading lower as more big earnings excitement ran into rising oil prices and geopolitical worries. When the final bell rang on Wednesday, all of the major indices finished the day lower, except the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which essientially closed flat at 52,239. The other three indices closed lower, with the small-cap Russell 2000 taking the biggest hit, closing down 1% at 2,957. At the same time, the tech-heavy Nasdaq finished the session at 25,690, down 0.57%. The S&P 500 closed the day at 7,498, down just 0.14%. The big news after the close was the second-quarter earnings from technology giant Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL), and while they blew past analysts’ estimates, the shares were under pressure in the after-market, and are trading lower this morning in the pre-market action.
Treasury Bonds:
The song remains the same in the Treasury complex, as yields were higher across the entire curve once again, and the same reasons for the weakness persist. Higher oil prices are fueling worries about a resurgence of inflation, which took a summer holiday in June and looks set to return when the July inflation numbers come out in the month. The 30-year long bond closed the session at 5.15%, while the ten-year note closed at 4.66%. BTIG pointed out yesterday that 4.65% was a key area for the benchmark bond, and a “decisive close above that level could trigger a move higher”. Investors looking to buy the 10-year should focus on the 4.75% level.
Oil and Gas:
In what is becoming a daily story, oil prices moved higher once again. Despite assurances from Secretary of State Rubio that tankers will be able to pass, buyers continue to launch bullish energy bets. When the dust settled on Wednesday, Brent Crude was up 3.05% at $93.79, while West Texas Intermediate finished the day at $86.44, higher by 2.49%. Natural gas joined in, and was last seen at $2.95, up 2.79%.
Gold:
Geopolitical worries and rising yields were all it took to keep precious metals on their recent upward trend, where prices hit a 2-week high on Wednesday. Some traders pointed to next week’s meeting of the Federal Reserve governors and said that some of the move higher is positioning ahead of it. Gold closed Wednesday’s session at $4,134, up 1.38%, while Silver closed at $59.62, up 1.68%.
Crypto:
The global cryptocurrency market ended slightly lower on Wednesday, with total market capitalization holding steady around $2.24 trillion. Bitcoin traded near $65,900 after climbing to an intraday high of $67,000 earlier in the session. The mild pullback appeared driven mainly by investors locking in profits, alongside a broader shift toward safe-haven assets. Rising crude oil prices and escalating tensions in the Middle East added to the cautious sentiment across risk assets. At 8 AM EDT, Bitcoin was trading at $65,520, while Ethereum was quoted at $1,926.
24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports every day to identify fresh investment ideas for investors and traders alike. These daily analyst notes include recommendations on stocks to buy, sell, or avoid, as well as new coverage initiations. I would like to remind you that no single analyst report should ever be the sole basis for buying or selling a stock.
Here are some of the top Wall Street analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen on Thursday, July 23, 2026.
Upgrades:
Ameren (NYSE: AEE) was upgraded to Overweight from Sector Weight at KeryBanc, with a $122 target price.
AT&T (NYSE: T) was upgraded to Outperform from Peer Perform at Wolfe Research, with a $29 target pr