2 Unstoppable Dividend Stocks Yielding More Than 4% That Income-Seeking Investors Will Want to Buy in November and Hold Forever

It isn't all that difficult to find high-yield dividend stocks -- say, those paying out at more than 4%. The real trick is finding a company that produces sufficient profitability and free cash flow to keep the payout at such a lofty level.

A pair of stocks I feel meet these criteria sit in different industries but share certain characteristics. They have solid business models, resilient fundamentals, and a hard-to-beat set of assets. Oh, and they also pay generous dividends. Say hello to beaten-down pharmaceutical giant Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) and real estate investment trust (REIT) Realty Income (NYSE: O).

1. Pfizer

The 2020s have been quite an eventful decade for Pfizer, and they're not even halfway over.

Near the start of the decade, the company shot to fame and prominence among the public as the co-developer (with Germany-based biotech BioNTech) of the widely administered Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine. After the pandemic eased, the company's sales slipped from their pandemic-era peaks, and they have yet to bounce back to those levels.

Image source: Getty Images.

On top of that, Pfizer is on the edge of a scary patent cliff, with several of its blockbuster drugs about to lose exclusivity in the coming years. The loss of one popular medication can put some real hurt on any pharmaceutical company; this one will soon let go of several.

At the start of October, Pfizer got a shot of good news from the Trump administration. Concurrent with the announcement of the (apparently upcoming) TrumpRx drug marketplace, the president trumpeted a pricing deal with the company.

Under its terms, Pfizer promises to sell certain medications at "most favored nation" prices to U.S. consumers. In return for this, plus a pledge to increase capital spending in the U.S., Trump will exempt the company from pharmaceutical tariffs that are seemingly in the works. Yet after a mini-rally in the stock on this news, investors again got bearish on Pfizer's future.

I don't feel they should be. At the moment, the company is developing no less than 108 drug candidates for a dizzying number of indications, any one of which can be the next blockbuster, given the company's impressive history.

And with a still-considerable war chest, it's an active acquirer; a recent play with real potential is its purchase of biotech Metsera, which currently boasts four investigational drugs in the scorching-hot weight-loss segment.

Finally, Pfizer is a regular and -- these days -- generous dividend payer. Currently, its quarterly payout stands at $0.43 per share, for a comparatively lofty dividend yield of almost 7%. So, even if the stock price weakness lingers, investors will get compensated handsomely for holding the shares.

2. Realty Income

The beauty of owning shares of a REIT is that such companies, by their nature, nearly always pay out high-yield dividends. The reason is quite simple -- to maintain their tax-advantaged status, they are required to pay out at least 90% of their taxable income as dividends to shareholders or unit holders.

Yet even by the higher bar set by the REIT industry, Realty Income is a rock star. Firstly, the company pays a distribution well above the 3.9% sector average -- it yields 5.4%, making it almost indisputably a high-yield dividend.

Image source: Getty Images.

Secondly, Realty Income is one of the few stocks that dispenses its dividend monthly rather than quarterly. The company is basically beholden to this, as it has trademarked the phrase "The Monthly Dividend Company."

It's got the financial power to do this because it's a huge enterprise. The company is one of the most prominent and experienced REITs concentrating on the retail sector, with a portfolio of 15,600 properties. Most are in the U.S., although it now also leases real estate in eight European countries.

Realty Income's business strategy is clear, straightforward, and it works. It is founded on long-term leases focused on what the company describes as "retail and industrial clients that have a service, non-discretionary and/or low-price-point component to their business."

The lessees are typically large and successful companies, and they tend to stick around. In Realty Income's most recently reported quarter, the REIT's occupancy rate was near the ceiling at 98.6%.

And the fundamentals were growing, with revenue rising 5% year over year to more than $1 billion. Normalized (adjusted) funds from operations (FFO, considered the most appropriate profitability metric for REITs) ticked up by nearly 3% to $956 million.

As long as consumers continue to shop for essentials and retailers continue to need good properties from which to sell their wares, Realty Income is almost certain to keep thriving -- as will its investors, especially since they'll be clocking that sweet high-yield dividend each and every month.

Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Pfizer and Realty Income. The Motley Fool recommends BioNTech Se. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.