Dividend Aristocrats Outperform S&P 500 Index Year To Date

It is expected that in downward trending markets that S&P's Dividend Aristocrats would perform well relative to the S&P 500 Index. In fact, on a year to date basis through August 22, 2008, the Aristocrats are outperforming the major domestic indexes.

As noted in the table below, the Dividend Aristocrats have generated a year to date market cap weighted return of -4.3% versus the S&P 500 return of -12.0%. One short term risk for the Aristocrats is they tend to lag markets that move higher quickly. The Aristocrats are underperforming the Nasdaq Index over the past four weeks.

The table below contains some detail on the Aristocrats. The full Aristocrats spreadsheet can be viewed by clicking this Aristocrats link.

This article was written by Disciplined Approach to Investing. You can email questions or comments to me by clicking here.