Dividends for the Value Investor: Nice to Have or a Necessity? An Analysis of Dividend Versus Non-dividend Paying Stocks

During the previous decades, research has proven that value stocks outperform growth stocks as well as the overall market. While contradictory research showed that dividends can have an impact on the overall return of the investor, no study looked specifically at the effect of dividends within the field of value investing. This study closes the scientific gap and examines how important dividends are for the value investor by analyzing the performance of value stocks which pay a significant dividend or no dividend at all while providing the necessary theoretical background. The findings provide evidence, for the S&P 500 and Stoxx Europe 600, that non-dividend paying low P/B stock portfolios outperform on average significantly dividend paying low P/B stock portfolios as well as the overall value portfolio they are part of. Significantly dividend-paying value stocks offer the best risk-adjusted return for the U.S. investor while non-dividend paying value stocks are the best option for the European investor. All in all, holding or including non-dividend paying stocks into the value portfolio can significantly optimize the investment returns of value investors in Europe and the United States.