Mergent's Dividend Achievers Spring 2004 : Featuring Full-Year Results for 2003

<b>Definitive Guide To Companies That Have Increased Their Cash Dividends</b><br> To find the most consistent dividend-paying stocks, professional investment managers, analysts, and knowledgeable individual investors use Mergents Dividend Achievers(tm) &mdash; the definitive guide for sound investments. <p> Published four times a year, Mergent's Dividend Achievers features the latest data on a unique universe of companies with a history of regularly rewarding shareholders. <p> Mergent has been highlighting companies with outstanding dividend records since 1979 and boasts a century of experience in quality financial information publishing. Each quarterly handbook features updated profiles on approximately 300 Dividend Achiever companies, revised with the latest available quarterly earnings results, dividend announcements, and stock prices. <p> "Mergents Dividend Achievers is one of my favorite bedside thrillers. Here's a simple way to succeed in Wall Street: Buy the stocks on [Mergents] list and stick with them as long as they stay on the list"<br> &mdash;Peter Lynch <p> <b>Outperform the S&P 500(r)</b><br> Mergents Dividend Achievers, profiles approximately 300 U.S. companies that have increased their regular cash dividends annually for the past ten or more consecutive years. These are truly remarkable companies. The average total return of these Dividend Achiever companies has outperformed the S&P 500 for the last 10 years. <p> "Where should investors start looking for high-quality dividend paying companies? Research from Mergent has an exclusive list of companies that have increased their dividends every year for the past 10 years."<br> &mdash;Steve Liesman, CNBC, senior economics reporters on Squakbox <p> <b>Build a Winning Portfolio</b> <br> From our Dividend Achievers, you can put together an extraordinary, diversified portfolio. They include large capitalization, mid-cap, and small-cap companies. The companies represent more than 50 different industries, from consumer goods to real estate to utilities. <p> For each Dividend Achiever Company, our handbook provides a full-page profile with in-depth investment criteria, including a stock performance chart, dividend record, business description, seven years of financial results and ratios, analysis of recent developments and more. With just a glance, you can see how the company has done in the past and decide whether you want to investigate further. <p> Plus, there are special features, such as a dividend reinvestment plan indicator on each page, Dividend Achiever arrivals and departures, Dividend Achiever name changes, Dividend Achiever mergers and acquisitions, as well as web site and investor contact information on each page. <p> "[Mergents Dividend Achievers] is the valuable source for high-quality stocks that pay great dividends"<br> &mdash; Len Kuker, Senior Vice President, Morgan Stanley <p> <b>Unique Rankings</b><br> Companies are classified by industry. This edition includes numerous valuable rankings, such as 10-year average annual dividend growth rate, one, three, and five year total returns, top 20 return on equity and return on assets along with top 20 rankings by revenue, net income, total assets, long-term and short-term price scores, highest and lowest P/E ratios and more! <p> <b>A Great Investment Has Become Even Better</b><br> And now, with new tax law changes slashing dividend taxes, investing in Dividend Achiever companies has never been better! Our Dividend Achievers will provide low-taxed income today and perhaps low-taxed capital gains tomorrow. <p> Historically, dividend income has been taxed at your highest rate. Under the prior tax law, as much as 38.60f dividend income could go to the IRS. The 2003 tax act changed the rules. Now, corporate dividends paid to individuals generally are taxed at ultra-low tax rates. Most investors will pay only 15% tax on dividend income. Investors in the lowest federal tax brackets will pay only 5% tax on dividends. This rate may apply to retirees whose income drops after they stop working. In 2008, those low-bracket taxpayers will owe no federal income tax on dividends they receive. What's more, if you need to sell your dividend-paying stocks, any long-term gains will qualify for those same bargain tax rates: 15%, 5%, or even 0 0n 2008. <p> <b>How Does a Company Become a Dividend Achiever?</b><br> Many thousands of companies pay dividends to shareholders. Fewer than 300 U.S. companies qualified as Dividend Achievers in 2003. In fact, only 2.50f all the publicly-traded, dividend-paying U.S. companies qualify as Dividend Achievers! <p> To make our final cut, only high-quality companies that have increased their regular dividends for 10 years in a row are chosen from an exclusive list. Thats right...during the boom times of the late 1990s and the struggles of the early 21st century, our Dividend Achievers have steadily taken in more cash and paid higher dividends to investors. In fact, most of our Dividend Achievers have more than 20 years of higher dividends. Truly, the companies on our list have proven to be the top tier of U.S. industry. <p> <b>Order Your Copy Today</b><br> For this edition of Mergents Dividend Achievers, our analysts have updated the profiles on approximately 300 Dividend Achievers, which includes high-yielding companies that can produce higher returns, after tax, than municipal bonds. <p> "I have been using and writing about Dividend Achievers handbook for more than 11 years, and I believe that it is one of the few true bargains in the arena of independent investment research."<br> &mdash;Laureen Rudd, syndicated columnist, writing in the Sarasota Tribune <p> <b>A Century of Providing Trusted Information</b><br> For over a century, Mergent has been the preferred source for global business and financial information. Providing comprehensive data to savvy investors &mdash; both novice and professional &mdash; Mergent offers the easy way to pick specific stocks that excel at paying dividends and piling up profits.