The DivGro Weekly—17.12.21

87 Consecutive dividend increases

This week we benefited from two dividend increases - Stryker raising by 10.3% and Abbott Labs (in its 50th consecutive year of raising its dividend) by 4.4%.

Since DivGro's inception we have predicted and benefited from 87 consecutive dividend increases, with an average annual increase rate of 14.4%.

We also received our dividends from Cintas, Moody's, S&P Global and Wingstop.

Stryker has amassed a stellar dividend growth record, rising at a compounded average annual rate of 16% for each of the past 29 years. Stryker built its success in a relatively unconventional way. Instead of focusing primarily on product or technology (as is typical for medical technology leaders), Stryker focused on becoming the best of breed in sales, marketing and distribution. Compounding this edge every year, over decades Stryker has built a seemingly insurmountable advantage in this critical domain. By reinvesting the proceeds of its superior sales growth into R&D, Stryker gradually narrowed the product and technology gap, evolving to become equal to or better than its competitors in product, technology, sales and distribution. This privileged position bodes extremely well for Stryker's future dividend growth prospects.