3 Growth & Income Stocks To Buy + Steve Answers Your Questions
Seeking Alpha's new growth-and-income portfolio aims to combine dividends with capital gains. Steve Cress previews XOM, EPR, and THG and answers reader questions.
Intelligence analysis by GPT-5.4 Mini
The episode introduces a 30-stock dividend-paying portfolio built from Seeking Alpha's quant and dividend grades. Cress says it is meant to beat VYM while offering steadier income, then explains why Exxon, EPR Properties, and Hanover Insurance Group made the cut.
It is like a lunchbox with 30 snacks that also drops coins into a piggy bank. The team picks stocks they think are strong and tries to make the box grow in value while paying income too.
Analysis
Portfolio setup
Seeking Alpha says its new Quant Growth & Income portfolio was built from audience demand for both dividend income and more frequent ideas. The strategy holds 30 stocks, rebalances every two weeks, and uses the firm's dividend grades alongside its quant model. Those dividend grades look at safety, growth, consistency, and yield, while the quant side focuses on value, growth, profitability, momentum, and EPS revisions.
The portfolio is positioned as a total-return product, with Vanguard High Yield Index ETF (VYM) as the benchmark. Cress says a back test from 2015 through early this year showed about 500% cumulative return for the product versus about 200% for VYM. He also says the current portfolio yield is about 3.0% forward, above VYM's roughly 2.19%.
The three previewed names
Cress highlighted Exxon Mobil, EPR Properties, and Hanover Insurance Group as examples of the new basket. Exxon was presented as a high-profitability energy giant with strong revisions and dividend safety in the acceptable range. EPR was described as a higher-yield REIT tied to experience-based properties such as entertainment and recreation venues. Hanover Insurance Group was framed as a property-and-casualty insurer with attractive valuation, profitability, and dividend grades.
What the Q&A emphasized
In the listener questions, Cress defended turnover by arguing that investors have to weigh trading frequency against performance. He also said the strategy reinvests dividends and is designed to stay within a range around the benchmark yield rather than target a fixed income number. On portfolio construction, he suggested that investors may want one growth sleeve and one income sleeve rather than trying to force every product to do the same job.
Key points
- Seeking Alpha launched a 30-stock Quant Growth & Income portfolio after subscribers asked for more income-focused ideas.
- The portfolio uses dividend grades plus the firm's quant rankings and rebalances every two weeks.
- Cress says the strategy is designed to beat VYM on total return while offering a higher yield.
- He highlighted Exxon Mobil, EPR Properties, and Hanover Insurance Group as sample holdings.
- The Q&A focused on turnover, dividend targets, reinvestment, and how to balance income with growth.
If the model keeps finding stocks with strong grades, the portfolio could keep beating its benchmark while paying a higher yield than VYM. That would make it useful for investors who want both income and capital growth in one place. The early performance and back test give the product a clear marketing edge.
The strategy depends on frequent rebalancing, so turnover could create tax friction and make it harder for some investors to follow. The individual holdings can also cool off if the conditions that helped them improve, such as energy spikes or stronger analyst revisions, fade. If the factor model weakens, the income-and-growth balance may not hold up as well as the back test suggests.
