As always, don't expect all of the stocks to look attractive, this is rather like a junk bond portfolio in some ways. Also, Murphy's law for MI: the ones that look stinky and you eliminate are the ones that do best : )

And don't expect VL's forward dividend yield to be correct in all cases - it includes their expectations.

Picks from VL's file released last Monday

Rank   Ticker   Fwd Yield         ROE       Market Cap  Company
1       KMB       3.852%        292.73        44092.9   Kimberly-Clark
2       CLX       3.965%        262.19        15561.8   Clorox Co.
3       IRM       3.091%        251.34        29786.0   Iron Mountain
4       ENR       5.792%        177.68         1573.8   Energizer Holdings
5       AMGN      3.225%        161.00       156906.2   Amgen
6       SYY       2.827%        116.50        36229.8   Sysco Corp.
7       NSP       3.965%         93.81         2249.7   Insperity Inc.
8       LMT       2.775%         84.25       106387.8   Lockheed Martin
9       WMG       2.733%         83.97        13874.2   Warner Music Group
10      SPG       5.513%         76.41        52475.5   Simon Property Group
11      WEN       5.009%         74.93         2248.3   Wendy's Company
12      BLMN      7.444%         65.54          708.8   Bloomin' Brands
13      PEP       4.142%         62.33       178352.7   PepsiCo Inc.
14      KTB       3.156%         61.44         3653.0   Kontoor Brands
15      WU       10.892%         61.38         3071.9   Western Union
16      RHP       4.898%         54.68         5888.8   Ryman Hospitality
17      SBGI      7.692%         53.17          932.4   Sinclair Inc.
18      QSR       3.628%         51.64        30740.9   Restaurant Brands Int'l
19      KO        2.872%         50.14       310189.3   Coca-Cola
20      BBY       5.460%         49.14        15350.9   Best Buy Co.
21      WES       9.426%         48.63        14723.0   Western Midstream
22      HAS       4.129%         48.61         9674.3   Hasbro Inc.
23      DRI       2.621%         47.83        25489.2   Darden Restaurants
24      HSY       3.329%         47.11        34046.4   Hershey Co.
25      BKE       3.273%         46.12         2216.7   Buckle (The) Inc.
26      AES       6.206%         46.07         8172.7   AES Corp.
27      LAZ       4.636%         43.99         4124.6   Lazard Inc.
28      HESM      7.708%         42.03         4587.1   Hess Midstream LP
29      MRK       3.965%         41.98       202091.7   Merck & Co.
30      ACI       2.828%         40.82        12239.7   Albertsons Companies
31      LW        2.737%         40.58         7870.0   Lamb Weston Holdings
32      NKE       2.643%         39.71        93213.5   NIKE Inc. 'B'
33      UPS       6.560%         39.56        85672.4   United Parcel Serv.
34      IMBBY     5.869%         38.66        34899.0   Imperial Brands PLC
35      DEO       4.065%         38.57        64866.3   Diageo plc
36      WHR       7.757%         37.76         4806.5   Whirlpool Corp.
37      SCCO      2.702%         36.81        84974.7   Southern Copper
38      DKS       2.744%         36.43        14621.7   Dick's Sporting Goods
39      STZ       2.614%         36.34        30121.7   Constellation Brands
40      UL        3.048%         35.83       158703.0   Unilever PLC ADR
41      SLVM      3.943%         35.65         2149.0   Sylvamo Corp.
42      K         2.879%         35.39        28313.7   Kellanova
43      AMT       3.375%         35.33       100347.7   Amer. Tower 'A'
44      OMC       4.030%         35.30        14301.5   Omnicom Group
45      LAMR      5.224%         34.55        12457.8   Lamar Advertising
46      UPBD     11.293%         34.05         1520.2   Upbound Group
47      JNJ       3.310%         33.90       373497.4   Johnson & Johnson
48      BX        4.223%         33.80       103487.0   Blackstone Inc.
49      KLG       4.306%         33.58         1339.6   WK Kellogg
50      CSCO      2.606%         33.32       254192.4   Cisco Systems

Note that it really shouldn't include Kellanova, which is about to be bought out. Requiring the Timeliness field to be populated would fix that--I should probably add that.

Of course, as a side note, the latest news is that the acquisition might fall through because of EU competition concerns. If it doesn't fall through, there's a nice quick buck to be made. Buyout price for K is $83.50 cash, current price is $78.59, and there's a 2.9% dividend for any delays. Next ex-div date is start of Sept, I think. All you need is a spy in the European Commission to tell you what they're going to rule.

Jim