A company that has raised its dividend every year for 25 years has survived recessions, rate cycles and technology shifts: this strategy measures that signal.
Save the strategy and StockScorer checks its rules for you every day. You'll get a heads-up whenever a stock crosses the upper or lower score threshold.
MSCI World over the same period: +240.1 %
Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.
| Score | Number of stocks |
|---|---|
| 0 | 14,801 |
| +1 | 886 |
| +2 | 491 |
| +3 | 83 |
| +4 | 4 |
Every stock runs through the same disclosed rules. The points add up to a score, traceable down to the individual rule.
Each rule checks a metric against a threshold, for example ROE above 15 %.
You decide how much each rule counts: from +1 to +3 or −1 to −3.
The sum is the score. That gives three classes: high, medium, low match.
These terms describe only the match with the criteria, not a recommendation to buy or sell.
Years of uninterrupted dividend increases: the single metric everything here revolves around.
Only strict increases count. A company that merely pays a constant dividend collects no points here.
A cut or suspension in the past year excludes the stock: the trust signal is broken.
No: small caps are excluded by rule. A decades-long streak of raises is a blue-chip phenomenon.
These exact rules run over every stock daily.
After a free sign-up: the full profile in the rule editor to copy, adjust thresholds and save as your own starting profile.
See & copy all rulesThe backtest shows a total return of +207.3%. The MSCI World reaches +240.1% over the same period.
Survivorship-free since June 30, 2015: the index composition is applied point-in-time.
Historical period, quarterly rebalancing, no taxes or fees. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.
Purely mechanical rule application, no curated-list effect: stocks with a high match can fall just like any other stock.
For income investors with a very long horizon who put maximum reliability above maximum yield. If you also want coverage and valuation checked, combine this with its sister strategy Dividend Quality: 4 Factors.
Dividend Continuity asks a single question with maximum rigour: how many years in a row has the dividend been raised, not merely maintained? The principle is inspired by the well-known aristocrats and kings lists: a decades-long streak of raises is the ultimate evidence of pricing power, inelastic demand and management discipline (signalling theory). The point scale runs from +1 for five years to +4 for more than 50; a cut in the past year is, since the fidelity round, exclusion rather than a point deduction, because a cut ends an aristocrat streak by definition. The strategy scores mid and large caps only: a multi-decade streak of raises is a blue-chip phenomenon. The official aristocrats label requires not just 25+ years of raises but also S&P 500 membership and a multi-billion-dollar float minimum.
The point scale follows the streak of raises: more than 50 years of annual increases (+4), the terrain of the "dividend kings", 25 to 49 years (+3, the classic aristocrats standard), 10 to 24 years (+2), 5 to 9 years (+1). Below five years there are no points. A cut or suspension in the latest fiscal year is a knockout: it forces the lowest classification regardless of the streak's prior length, because a cut ends an aristocrat streak by definition, immediately.
Small caps are excluded: a knockout rule automatically forces them into the lowest tier, because a decades-long, uninterrupted streak of raises is structurally a phenomenon of established blue chips, not young or small companies. Mid and large caps share a single threshold: the upper zone starts at 2 points, reachable at the earliest with a 10-year streak. Investors looking for dividend growth among smaller companies too will find a size-neutral signal in the sister strategy Dividend Quality: 4 Factors, which measures "not cut" rather than "raised".
≥ 50 years of annual raises: +4 (extreme resilience across several decades).
25–49 years: +3 (aristocrats standard). 10–24 years: +2. 5–9 years: +1.
1–4 years: 0 points, the streak is too young to serve as a signal.
Cut or suspension in the past year: knockout, forces the lowest classification.
The streak of raises is the hardest dividend signal, harder than yield or payout: it cannot be "improved" by a falling share price and cannot be built in a single good year. The limit: the strategy deliberately does NOT check whether the raises are earned: a company can artificially extend a streak through rising payout ratios. The coverage check is the job of the sister strategy Dividend Quality.
Fidelity update as of 23 August 2026: a cut is now a knockout instead of a fixed 3-point deduction. Previously a "dividend king" with a 50-year history (+4) could almost absorb a single cut (4 − 3 = 1, still in the middle zone); that contradicted the aristocrats concept, where a cut ends the streak immediately and drops the name off the list.
Calculation notes: calendar years with strictly increased total payouts are counted. The cut criterion uses last year's dividend growth and is neutralised in the backtest; the raise streak itself is reconstructed look-ahead-free from the payout history, a cut ends the streak there automatically anyway.
For income investors who want reliable, growing payouts as the foundation of their portfolio and are willing to forgo price fireworks for it.