Hunting for yield above 5% is easy on Wall Street — as of the July 10 close, roughly 300 stocks with market caps above $300 million carried ultra-high dividend yields of at least 5%, excluding ETFs. The harder part is finding names where the payout is genuinely sustainable. Among that crowded field, energy midstream giant Enterprise Products Partners (EPD) and retail real estate investment trust Realty Income (O) stand out as arguably the two safest choices.
Enterprise Products Partners offers an annualized yield approaching 6%. As one of America’s largest midstream operators, Enterprise runs a vast network of transmission pipelines, liquids storage, deepwater docks, and fractionators — essentially acting as an energy tollbooth. The core strength of its business model is long-term, fixed-fee contracts with upstream producers. Because fees are locked in regardless of whether oil and gas prices spike or crash, inflation and commodity volatility are largely removed from the equation, producing highly predictable operating cash flow. That visibility gives the company the confidence to pursue new natural gas liquids projects and bolt-on acquisitions through the cycle.
Enterprise has now raised its annual payout for 27 consecutive years. Since going public in July 1998, it has increased its quarterly distribution 83 times, with the latest hike announced on July 7.
Realty Income delivers a roughly 5.1% yield, but with a structure that appeals to income investors in a different way: it pays dividends monthly. That cadence is backed by a carefully curated portfolio of standalone commercial properties, rigorous tenant underwriting, and the widespread use of triple-net leases. The REIT focuses on recession-resistant, necessity-based tenants — grocery stores, dollar stores, convenience stores, and automotive service shops — businesses that tend to draw steady customer traffic in any economic climate. At the end of the first quarter, Realty Income’s occupancy rate stood at 98.9%, about 450 basis points above the historical median for S&P 500 REITs since 2000. Under the triple-net structure, tenants shoulder property maintenance, insurance, and taxes, which eliminates surprise expenses for the landlord even though it means accepting slightly lower contractual rent.
Since its initial public offering in October 1994, Realty Income has increased its dividend for 115 consecutive quarters, totaling 135 hikes.
Combined, the two companies have raised their payouts 218 times since going public. In a universe of hundreds of ultra-high-yield names where headline yields often mask fragile fundamentals, that kind of multi-decade, uninterrupted cash-return record is exactly why the market treats Enterprise Products Partners and Realty Income as the safest way to collect oversized income.
