When investors look for dividend stocks, they must assess the sustainability, or "safety" of the yield they're seeking. We know from our Safest Dividend Yields Model Portfolio that companies with strong free cash flow provide higher quality and safer yields because the firm generates enough cash to support the dividend. A high dividend can disappear in an instant if the company paying it doesn't generate enough cash flow.
We leverage the work we do in our Model Portfolios to identify quality dividend paying ETFs. Our analysis[1] of the holdings of over 7,500 U.S. ETFs