To My Dear Like-Minded MaxDividends Community
A Behind-the-Scenes Business Insight for Premium Partners
💡 MaxDividends Mission: Helping people build growing passive income, retire early, and live off dividends.
These are brief private update emails about what’s happening at MaxDividends, exclusively for premium subscribers. Updates, ideas, insights, and discussions on investments, dividends, business, and life.
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Hi friends.
Today I’d like to share a note I originally wrote for our Premium partners. I’ve kept everything we discussed back then exactly as it was.
There are two things I want to highlight.
First — you’ll see a detailed, step-by-step look at how I search for and evaluate new ideas for our family portfolio. This is the MaxDividends Income System in action. And the App acts as the bridge, helping quickly narrow thousands of companies down to a short list worth real attention.
Second — there’s a short update at the end on how this idea looks today.
Hope you enjoy the read.
08/06/2025
To My Dear Like-Minded MaxDividends Community
A Behind-the-Scenes Business Insight for Premium Members
Over the last couple of weeks, as I’ve been sharing my Friday updates on new ideas and my recent buys, I mentioned that I was planning to add a new company to my main dividend portfolio.
This is my core portfolio — the one built for long-term income. Right now, it’s delivering a dividend yield of about 5.5%, with an average annual dividend growth rate of 11%.
My goal? Within the next five years, I want that passive income to cover all my family’s core living expenses, with some extra left over to keep reinvesting.
But that’s not the focus of today’s message.
Today, I want to walk you through which company I picked, why I didn’t buy it just yet, and how I went about making the decision.
Let’s dive in.
How I Build My Watchlist
First off, here’s a quick look at how I choose companies to analyze for my core portfolio.
The short list of stocks I'm actively tracking right now is available directly in the MaxDividends App — just tap the button below to check it out.
Originally, this button leads exactly where it’s labeled. But since you most likely don’t have access to the App at this stage, I’ve left the button pointing to the registration page instead — in case you decide to explore the full MaxDividends universe and sign up.
To build that list, I use the MaxDividends stock screener — a custom set of filters we’ve designed to help long-term income investors quickly find strong candidates.
You’ll find the MaxDividends App’s screener at this link
I filter for companies from developed markets only — the U.S., Canada, Japan, Australia, the UK, and select European countries.
These markets have stronger investor protections, better transparency, and more consistent regulatory oversight. Most importantly, they tend to be politically aligned — which adds an extra layer of long-term stability.
My Filters (Quick and Clean)
Here's what I look for at the start:
Profitability: Local Financial Score 90+ (ideally 95+)
Dividend Score: 9+
15+ years of uninterrupted dividend payments — no cuts, just steady growth
Payout ratio: Less than 60%, both current and 5-year average
MaxRatio: 9+ (more on this metric here)
Valuation: Undervalued relative to peers
These filters narrow the universe of thousands of stocks down to a much smaller, high-quality group worth my time.
Next Step: Sorting and Reading
Once I’ve got that list, I sort by dividend yield, from highest to lowest, and start reading — right from the top.
At this stage, I’m focused on two things: the income I’m getting today and the dividend growth potential going forward.
That’s why I pay close attention to dividend yield and MaxRatio. I like to see MaxRatio at 10+ — it gives a good sense of how much future income growth a business can realistically deliver. (More on this metric here.)
In the MaxDividends app, I can instantly open each company’s full analysis: business description, dividend history, financial scores, and other key indicators.
I also flag which companies I already own and how much I’ve invested in each — so I can easily spot new names worth a closer look.
What I Look for in Final Selection
When reading company reports, here are the three core metrics I care about:
Current dividend yield is higher than the company’s 10-year average
(This often means the stock is temporarily beaten down — which I love.)Current P\E (Price to Earnings per share) is better than the 10-year average
(I want improving earnings — not a declining trend.)Price-to-book ratio below 1 (optional, but I love seeing it)
(This means the market is valuing the company at less than its book value. Rare, but powerful.)
When I find a company that checks all the boxes — strong finances, dividend reliability, high yield, growth, undervalued, and trading below book — it’s a green light for me. These are rare finds. Sometimes only 2–5 companies in the world qualify at any given time.
This Month’s Pick: Yokogawa Bridge (Japan) (from a post originally published in June 2025)
Right now, one company stood out — and it's Yokogawa Bridge (5911.TSE), based in Japan.
Yokogawa Bridge Holdings is a Japan-based industrial company that specializes in building and maintaining large-scale steel bridges and infrastructure.
Their business is split into four areas: bridge construction, engineering services, advanced technology (like precision metal frames and structural simulation tools), and real estate management. They handle everything from design and fabrication to long-term maintenance, with a strong focus on quality and safety.
While most of their projects are based in Japan, they also take on international contracts — including factories, ports, offshore structures, and high-rise buildings.
Here’s why it made the cut:
Financial Score: 95+
Dividend Score: 9+
MaxRatio: 10+
Undervalued vs. peers
15+ years of dividend growth
Payout ratio: Around 30% (both current and 5-year average)
Dividend growth rate: Over 10% annually for the past 10 years
Trading at just 80% of its book value
That's right — the stock is priced 20% below its book value.
Why I Didn’t Buy It Today (from a post originally published in June 2025)
Simple: the Japanese market jumped today, and so did Yokogawa’s stock.
I’ll wait a few days for a breather — maybe a small dip — and I’ll buy then. But the decision is made. This one’s going into my main portfolio, and I’m planning to invest around $50,000 — which is about 3% of the total portfolio.
Final Thoughts (from a post originally published in June 2025)
New additions to my main portfolio are rare. I don’t rush. I take my time. When I do buy, it’s meaningful. And in the meantime, I keep reinvesting dividends every month, adding to positions I already own.
If you want to follow the same process — or just steal my filters — they’re available in the MaxDividends App.
This isn’t just investing. It’s how I’m building a growing, reliable income stream for the next few decades. And I’ll be sharing each step of the way.
Update — Today
That post was originally written in June 2025. At the time, my main goal was twofold.
First, to open the door to the MaxDividends Income System.
Second, to show how it works using a real, practical example.
A good entry opportunity in Yokogawa Bridge came later — in August 2025. That’s when I bought shares of the business, locking in a dividend yield of roughly 4.2% annually at the time.
Since then, the stock price has increased by about 16%. And more recently, at the latest shareholders’ meeting, Yokogawa Bridge announced a 9% dividend increase in May 2026.
As a result, my dividend yield on cost is now approximately 4.61%, with a very conservative payout ratio of around 35%.
Put simply, there’s a solid margin of safety here for future dividend growth. And even today, a yield close to 5% looks quite attractive when combined with the company’s fundamentals and continued price appreciation.
On top of that, the company expanded its share buyback program, announcing a new round of repurchases.
That’s exactly why MaxDividends exists: the MaxDividends Income System, powered by our dividend intelligence app — a proven, safe financial engine that turns invested capital into growing dividend income so you can live off dividends and retire early on your own terms.
Get instant access to the MaxDividends Income System & App + Top Undervalued Dividend Picks.
To your wealth, Max
Feel free to email me at: max@maxdividends.app
MaxDividends Mission
Helping & Supporting Everyone in Building a Growing Passive Income, Retiring Early, and Living Off Dividends.