Easy Peasy #38: Build Your Dividend Portfolio & Live Off Dividends with Pre-Selected Stock Sets

Dividend Growing Stock Sets – Start with $300, $500, or $1,000 Weekly

MaxDividends Mission: Helping & Supporting Everyone in Building a Growing Passive Income, Retiring Early, and Living Off Dividends.

In this section, we share ready-made sets of promising dividend growth stocks with strong future dividend potential.

We also track performance and provide portfolio links for each set, so you can monitor past results and real-time updates.

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Intro

Turnaround: Trade Hopes Lift Wall Street

Tariff Optimism Lifts Stocks into Green

The S&P 500 rallied for a sixth straight session, rising 32.04 points (+0.58%) to close at 5,560, while the Dow surged 300.03 (+0.75%) to 40,527, marking another all-time high. The Nasdaq added 95.19 (+0.55%) to finish at 17,461, and the Russell 2000 climbed 10.96 (+0.56%) to 1,976. Markets bounced in the afternoon following Commerce Secretary Lutnick’s comments suggesting softer tariffs are coming. Ten of eleven S&P sectors ended in the green, with only energy lagging.

Secretary Lutnick told CNBC that a 10% tariff won’t move prices much and hinted at a new trade deal awaiting approval. Meanwhile, Trump took the mic in Michigan, discussing autos and tax cuts while markets digested every word. The rally has been broad — XLC, XLY, and XLV have all risen six days in a row.

Earnings remain center stage (hello, AAPL, AMZN, META, MSFT later this week), but economic data is also flooding in. Wednesday alone brings ADP payrolls, GDP, Chicago PMI, and core PCE inflation — enough to keep traders on their toes.

Oh, and one for the stats nerds: if the S&P closes above 5,611.85 tomorrow, it’ll be the first month since 1952 to end green after falling more than 10% intramonth. That’s some serious reversal magic.

📊 Economic Data

• Consumer Confidence (April): 86.0, lowest since 2020 (vs est. 87.5, prior 92.5)

• JOLTS Job Openings (March): 7.192M (vs est. 7.5M, prior 7.568M)

• March Goods-Trade Gap: $162B (record, vs est. $145B)

• March Wholesale Inventories: +0.5%; Retail Inventories ex-autos: +0.4%

• S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-metro Home Prices (Feb y/y): +4.5% (vs est. +4.7%)

• Home Prices (Feb m/m): +0.4% (in line)

💰 Commodities, Currencies & Treasuries

• Gold: Fell $14.10 (-0.42%) to $3,333.60

• WTI Crude: Dropped $1.63 (-2.63%) to $60.42

• Brent: Lost $1.61 to $64.25

• 10Y Treasury Yield: Down 4.4bps to 4.172%

• Dollar Index (DXY): Up slightly but still down -7.5% over March and April — the biggest two-month slide since 2002.

🔩 Autos

• Trump is reportedly preparing to tweak auto tariffs to prevent stacking duties and reduce pain on imported parts — Bloomberg says we’ll hear more Tuesday. Meanwhile, GM posted Q1 EPS of $2.78 (vs est. $2.72) on revenue of $44.02B (+2.3% y/y), topping views. But adj EBITDA fell -9.8% y/y to $3.49B. Guidance was delayed amid shifting tariff policy.

• ABG missed on the bottom line, reporting $134.3M in net income vs $147M y/y. Revenue dipped -1% to $4.15B.

🛒 Retail, Consumer Staples & Restaurants

• KO Q1 revenue came in at $11.22B, slightly down from $11.23B y/y but ahead of the $11.14B estimate. Price hikes (+5%) and volume growth (+2%) kept the soda flowing.

• KHC topped EPS estimates ($0.62 vs est. $0.60) but lowered FY outlook: now sees organic net sales -1.5% to -3.5% vs prior view of flat to down -2.5%.

• AMZN denied rumors it would add a "tariff surcharge" to ultra-cheap items after pushback from the White House. The plan was apparently floated internally but scrapped.

• BYON missed big, with Q1 revenue down -39.4% y/y to $231.7M (est. $288.1M) but promised a return to growth within 60 days.

• EAT beat across the board ($2.66/$1.43B vs est. $2.56/$1.38B), with Chili’s comp sales up a sizzling +31.6%. Still, the stock dropped on mixed guidance.

🎰 Leisure, Gaming & Lodging

• RCL crushed Q1 with EPS of $2.71 (vs est. $2.54) on revenue of $4B, and lifted FY EPS view to $14.55–$15.55. But soft H2 yield guidance spooked investors.

• HLT cut FY net income forecast to $1.707B–$1.749B from $1.829B–$1.858B and lowered 2025 room revenue growth to 0–2%.

• MAR announced it’s buying boutique hotel brand citizenM for $355M.

⚡ Energy, Industrials & Materials

Energy dragged all day. CHRD and FANG were upgraded at BofA, while COP got cut to Neutral. China reportedly waived its 125% ethane import tariff, easing pressure on firms like EPD and ET.

🏦 Banks & 💳 FinTech

• PYPL crushed Q1 EPS with $1.33 (est. $1.16) on $7.79B revenue. Q2 EPS guide also beat. Total payment volume hit $417.21B (+3.3%), with Venmo at $75.94B (+9.6%).

• SOFI beat on both EPS ($0.06 vs est. $0.03) and revenue ($771.8M, +20%). Raised FY EPS and revenue guidance.

• SPGI will spin off its Mobility unit and lowered FY25 revenue growth to 4–6% from 5–7%.

• WFC announced a new $40B buyback program.

🏥 Healthcare

• AZN posted Q1 revenue of $13.59B (+10% CC), in line with views. Oncology revenue climbed 13% to $5.64B.

• HIMS jumped on partnership news with NVO to expand access to obesity treatments.

• MRK is building a new $1B biologics center in Delaware, set to create 500 full-time and 4,000 total jobs.

• PFE beat EPS ($0.92 vs est. $0.67), missed on revs ($13.7B vs est. $13.9B), and reiterated guidance.

• REGN missed Q1 EPS ($8.22 vs est. $8.48), cut capex, and saw Eylea sales drop 26% while Dupixent rose 19% to $3.67B.

🧪 Biotech & Life Sciences

TEM published validation data for its liquid biopsy assay in Journal of Molecular Diagnostics.

🚂 Transports

• CCK crushed Q1 EPS with $1.67 (vs est. $1.23), and raised guidance.

• HON beat Q1 EPS ($2.51 vs est. $2.21), lifted low-end FY EPS view to $10.20–$10.50.

• UPS beat Q1 EPS ($1.49 vs est. $1.38) and revenue ($21.5B vs est. $21.02B), and plans to cut 20,000 jobs by year-end.

🚁 Aerospace & Defense

• BA had its BBB- rating affirmed by S&P, outlook still negative. Airbus to acquire select Spirit AeroSystems facilities.

• RTX approved to sell $1.33B in air-to-air missiles to Poland.

• 📰 Internet, Media & Telecom

• SPOT posted mixed results: Q1 MAUs hit 678M (vs est. 671.9M), subs 268M (vs est. 265.3M), but guidance was light.

• META launched a new AI voice assistant.

• DUOL slid after reports GOOGL is launching competing AI-powered language tools.

🛋️ Towers

• AMT and SBAC both beat and guided strong. AMT lifted FY25 property revenue view to $9.97B–$10.12B.

• 🔌 Semiconductors, Hardware & Software

• ANET upgraded at Rosenblatt after CALX’s strong print.

• CDNS saw strong recurring bookings and raised FY guide.

• OKTA to join the S&P MidCap 400 on May 1.

• NXPI fell after announcing CEO retirement and mixed results; gross margins came in soft.

🧠 What’s Next?

1️⃣ S&P needs to close above 5,611.85 tomorrow to make post-1952 history.

2️⃣ Big earnings: V, SBUX, BKNG, MDLZ tonight; CAT, YUM, GEHC, HUM tomorrow.

3️⃣ ADP, GDP, PMI, PCE — brace for the macro data dump.

4️⃣ Trade comments now moving markets daily — stay tuned.

5️⃣ Tech leadership could return with MSFT and AAPL in the spotlight.

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But none of this news really matters to MaxDividends members. We're focused on growing the cash flow that lands in your pocket every month—not stressing over price swings or stock market noise.

At MaxDividends, we focus on a dividend growth strategy, perfect for investors seeking capital appreciation, solid safety, and a steadily growing income.

A rising dividend is a strong sign that a company is thriving—and wants its shareholders to thrive with it.

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This week, we’ve rolled out a fresh batch of ready-to-go Stock Sets 💪.

Easy Peasy #38: Pre-Selected Dividend Growth Stock Sets