Lowe's: Building a Track Record of Dividends

By Jim Pyke:Xcel Energy Inc.(XEL) is a leading electric utility. XEL provides electricity services to approximately 3.4 million customers and gas services to 1.9 million customers across parts of Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, and Wisconsin.

Jim Pyke submits:AT&T, Inc. (NYSE: T) has been a consistent dividend stock for the past 25 years. It has grown its dividend in a near uninterrupted fashion posting a compound annual growth of 5% from July of 1985 to present. Furthermore, over that time, the stock price has also appreciated around 350% on a split adjusted basis.

By Jim Pyke:PG&E Corp. (PCG) is a regulated natural gas and electricity utility operating in central and northern California that operates primarily through Pacific Gas and Electric Company, which is a regulated utility. Approximately 22% of its revenue is from gas and the other 78% from electricity sales based on the results from Q2 2011. PCG had about $13.8 billion in revenue in 2010.

By Jim Pyke:TECO Energy, Inc. (TE) is a utility providing gas and electricity to the metro Tampa area in Florida. TE is a fully integrated electric utility with approximately 4.5 GigaWatts of generating capacity. TE also purchases, markets and distributes natural gas to its retail customers. TE is also engaged in coal mining and processing. TE was founded in 1899.

By Jim Pyke:McDonald's Corp.(NYSE: MCD) is a leading global restaurant company and an iconic American brand. MCD is the most recognized quick service restaurant in the world. MCD and its franchisees operate 32,737 stores in 117 countries. Just 6,399 stores are operated by MCD with the rest operated by franchisees or affiliates.

ByLogan Corbin:Home Depot (HD) is an industry leader that has advanced well beyond its highs of 2007 and is up over 40% over the past 12 months. Many investors are kicking themselves for not buying this stock long ago. Has it become too expensive get in on this symbol of the housing recovery? Absolutely not.

- By Pat Stout:Should investors, at this time, consider an investment in Home Depot (HD) or Lowe's (LOW)? The home building sector has been benefiting from the pick-up in housing sales. The article will review a number of the fundamentals to determine if one stock appears to offer a better value than the other.

By Jim Pyke:AstraZeneca PLC (AZN) is a leading global biopharmaceutical company. AZN has operations in 100 countries. AZN had about $33.3 billion in revenue in Fiscal 2010 with an operating profit of $11.5 billion. AZN has a market capitalization of $61.1 billion. AZN has a strong track record of paying dividends.