Three dividend-paying media stocks to buy feature traditional broadcasting behemoths that investment experts view as candidates to beat the market during the economy’s ongoing COVID-19 rebound.

The three dividend-paying media stocks produce huge cash flows to support their payouts and are finding ways to stay relevant in a world in which social media companies are becoming the fast-growing darlings of investors. All three dividend-paying media stocks to buy should be aided by increased advertising dollars that are starting to be allocated with the U.S. economy reopening after many non-essential business closed amid the worst of the COVID-19 crisis.

The coronavirus contributed to the economy falling into a recession in March when COVID-19 lockdowns led to massive layoffs of workers that included 20.7 million jobs cut in April 2020. However, a positive sign emerged when retail sales zoomed 17.7% in May to mark the biggest monthly gain since 1992, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. That jump more than doubled estimates of economists as U.S. governors began easing coronavirus-related restrictions and trillions of dollars in federal stimulus started to take effect, following retail sales drops of 14.7% in April and 8.3% in March.

Three Dividend-Paying Media Stocks to Buy Include FOX

Bob Carlson, chairman of the Board of Trustees of Virginia’s Fairfax County Employees’ Retirement System with more than $4 billion in assets, told me he favors Fox (NASDAQ:FOXA). Fox pays a dividend and offers a respectable yield of 1.64%.

Chart courtesy of www.StockCharts.com

The stock has not fully joined the rally since the market’s March lows, said Carlson, who also leads the Retirement Watch advisory service. Fox further should benefit significantly from a rebound in sports-related programming, the resumption of new programming projects and the economic recovery generally, he added.

Pension fund Chairman Bob Carlson answers questions from Paul Dykewicz during an interview before social distancing became the norm after the outbreak of COVID-19.

Disney Joins List of Three Dividend-Paying Media Stocks to Buy

Jessica Reif Ehrlich, an analyst at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, wrote optimistically about the Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) in a research note on Monday, June 15, sticking with her buy rating on the stock but raising her price target 18.7% from $123 to $146.

Disney shares are trading at 21 times 2021 EPS and 19 times 2022 earnings per share (EPS), offering a “compelling entry point” to buy a best-in-class stock, Reif Ehrlich wrote. Investors should keep in mind Disney suspended its semiannual dividend for the first half of its current fiscal year that was supposed to be paid in July to save $1.6 billion, if the company chose to keep its existing twice-a-year reward to shareholders of $0.88 per share.

Chart courtesy of www.StockCharts.com

Disney, offering a current dividend yield of 1.51%, has needed to shut down all its theme parks in recent months due to the coronavirus spreading worldwide. For the intermediate term, Reif Ehrlich wrote that she still expects significant COVID-19 disruption from months of shutdown as it implements new operating procedures and seeks to regain its share of consumer discretionary spending.

Her price objective of $146 is based on a sum-of-the-parts valuation that encompasses a target with a 14x multiple based on 2021 estimated normalized adjusted EPS. Downside risks to her price objective include a significant slowdown in ESPN’s growth due to customer cord cutting, weakened consumer confidence, uncertainties about the Disney+ rollout, a possible catastrophic event on theme park attendance, any film flops and advertising weakness due to weak audience delivery and economic conditions, she added.

ViacomCBS Inc. Listed With Three Dividend-Paying Media Stocks to Buy

ViacomCBS (NYSE:VIAC) is the third of the trio of dividend-paying media stocks to buy and it offers the biggest yield of 3.92%. With advertising dollars flowing back to broadcasters, the ISI Evercore investment firm raised its price target on Viacom on June 14 to $24 from $20.

Traditional U.S. media company management teams in the last few weeks indicated their near-term focus centers on changes to the “upfront” advertising model, the return of some sports programming to the airwaves, the upcoming political advertising cycle and an industry-wide content production pipeline. The advertising sales process was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic as television programmers continued to see cancellations from brands that had committed to upfront advertising in advance last year.

Chart courtesy of www.StockCharts.com

Hilary Kramer, host of a national radio program called “Millionaire Maker” and head of the Value Authority and GameChangers advisory services, said she would not be surprised if “upfront” purchase of advertising is “dead” in a post-COVID-19 world.

Paul Dykewicz interviews money manager Hilary Kramer, whose premium advisory services include 2-Day Trader, IPO Edge,Turbo Trader,High Octane Trader and Inner Circle.

These three dividend-paying media stocks to buy offer paths for investors who may wary about what the market will do next. The Wall Street adage of “sell in May and go away” would have caused followers of that advice to miss huge big gains last month but these three dividend-paying media stocks to buy appear ready to rise.

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Paul Dykewicz, www.pauldykewicz.com, is an accomplished, award-winning journalist who has written for Dow Jones, the Wall Street Journal, Investor’s Business Daily, USA Today, the Journal of Commerce,Seeking Alpha, GuruFocus and other publications and websites. Paul is the editor of StockInvestor.com and DividendInvestor.com, a writer for both websites and a columnist. He further is the editorial director of Eagle Financial Publications in Washington, D.C., where he edits monthly investment newsletters, time-sensitive trading alerts, free e-letters and other investment reports. Paul previously served as business editor of Baltimore’s Daily Record newspaper. Paul also is the author of an inspirational book, “Holy Smokes! Golden Guidance from Notre Dame’s Championship Chaplain,” with a foreword by former national championship-winning football coach Lou Holtz.The book is endorsed by Joe Montana, Joe Theismann, Ara Paseghian, “Rocket” Ismail, Reggie Brooks, Dick Vitale and many others. Follow Paul on Twitter@PaulDykewicz.