3 Unstoppable Dividend Stocks to Buy If Markets Crash - Your Portfolio’s Lifeline

Market tanks? These dividend giants laugh at volatility.

Cash Flow Kings: When stocks bleed, dividends breed—three titans printing money regardless of macro madness.

Defensive Dominance: Sectors built on necessities, not niceties. Think utilities, consumer staples, healthcare—where demand defies downturns.

Yield Armor: Sustainable payouts shielding portfolios from rate whims and recession risks. No speculative junk here.

Bonus cynicism: Because nothing says 'financial wisdom' like chasing yield in a system rigged against retail. But hey, at least these picks actually pay you—unlike your broker's latest 'can't-miss' crypto pitch.

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1. AbbVie

At first glance, you might think that(ABBV 0.53%) is priced absurdly high with its price-to-earnings ratio of 103. However, that valuation metric reflects the drugmaker's past. AbbVie looks more like a bargain based on projected growth. Its forward earnings multiple is around 15, while its price-to-earnings-to-growth (PEG) ratio (which is based on five-year earnings growth projections) is a super-low 0.39.

Optimism about AbbVie's prospects is warranted, in my opinion. Sales for the company's dynamic duo, autoimmune disease drugs Skyrizi and Rinvoq, continue to skyrocket. It's a similar story for migraine therapies Qulipta and Ubrelvy. AbbVie's pipeline is loaded with potential winners, too, with around 50 programs in mid- or late-stage clinical development.

I think AbbVie's share price WOULD hold up better than most during a stock market sell-off. Physicians won't stop prescribing the company's drugs. Patients won't stop taking them, either.

What if the big pharma stock does tumble? It would make AbbVie's dividend even more attractive. The company is a Dividend King, an exclusive group of stocks with 50+ consecutive years of dividend increases. A pullback would boost AbbVie's dividend yield of nearly 3%, making it more appealing to income investors.

2. Enterprise Products Partners

Perhaps the best way to gauge how resilient a company will be in the future is to check out its past.(EPD -0.78%) passes such a test with flying colors. The midstream energy leader has delivered strong and durable cash FLOW throughout its history, including during the financial crisis of 2007-2009, the oil price collapse of 2015-2017, and the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020-2022.

Enterprise's resilience is due to its business model. The limited partnership (LP) operates over 50,000 miles of pipeline that transport crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids (NGLs) throughout the U.S. This critical energy infrastructure is largely recession-resistant. Inflation isn't a concern for the LP, either, with roughly 90% of Enterprise's long-term contracts including escalation provisions based on inflation.

Data centers hosting artificial intelligence (AI) applications present a tremendous growth driver for Enterprise Products Partners. They require massive amounts of electricity. Natural gas is a leading fuel for power plants serving data centers.

Enterprise is a dividend lover's dream stock. Its distribution yield stands at 6.8%. Even better, the LP has increased its distribution for 27 consecutive years. I expect it will keep that streak going.

3. Pfizer

If you're seeking an exceptionally juicy dividend,(PFE 0.42%) could be just the ticket. This big pharmaceutical company offers a dividend yield of 7.15%. And its management is committed to maintaining and growing the dividend.

Admittedly, Pfizer's stock has been an underperformer in recent years. The drugmaker faces a looming patent cliff as well, with several of its top-selling products losing exclusivity over the next three years.

However, I think this bad news is already baked into Pfizer's share price. The stock trades at only 7.7 times forward earnings. Its PEG ratio is 0.96, just under the 1.0 threshold that many investors view as a cutoff for determining if a stock is attractively valued. I don't see Pfizer getting much cheaper if there's a stock market correction.

Importantly, Pfizer has products in its lineup that should help largely offset the anticipated sales declines resulting from its losses of exclusivity. They include eczema drug Cibinqo, migraine drug Nurtec ODT, and cancer drug Padcev. Pfizer also has a robust pipeline featuring 108 candidates, 28 of which are in late-stage testing with another four awaiting regulatory approvals.