Dividend Boosters: Qualcomm, Southern, PACCAR Add Juice to Yield

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Important Points

Qualcomm shares started April on AI excitement, and the company continued to add to its strong dividend payout.
Southern generates strong demand from data centers with a profit margin of more than 3%.
Trucking giant PACCAR has raised its dividend despite seeing a decline in 2025.

Profits are rising for keywords across chips, accessories, and transportation. This includes one of the highest yielding stocks in the semiconductor industry. Investors are taking notice as the term is now getting its feet wet in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) buildout.

Qualcomm Sees Demand for Hyperscaler, High Yield Sports Among Chip Stocks

First up is semiconductor giant Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM ). Unlike many other semiconductor stocks, Qualcomm has posted disappointing returns in the past. From the beginning of 2025 until the end of March 2026, Qualcomm shares were down about 15%. This happened as the company could not participate much in the development of AI, getting most of its revenue from smartphone chips.

However, this narrative changed slightly in April. In its latest earnings call, Qualcomm said it is “entering the custom silicon space, starting our ramp with the best hyperscaler, and we expect the first shipments in the December quarter.” Notably, Qualcomm did not specify what types of chips it is building for this customer. However, it plans to reveal more at its Investor Day in June.

Overall, Qualcomm is up nearly 40% in April, with the biggest 15% gain coming after its earnings report. This pushes the stock's total return since early 2025 into positive territory, now sitting above 15%.

Qualcomm also announced a 3.4% dividend increase in April, moving its quarterly payout to 92 cents per share. This gives the stock a large implied yield of about 2.2%, and Qualcomm has the fifth highest yield among major US chip stocks. The company plans to pay its next quarterly dividend on June 25 to shareholders held as of late June 4.

Southern Data Center Utilization Up 42%, Productivity Up 3%

Next up is Southern Utilities (NYSE: SO). The stock has performed strongly since the start of 2025, offering a total return of more than 20%. This is behind only the S&P 500's average return during this period, which hovers around 25%.

In the South, 2025 was a strong year financially, with the company posting revenue growth of 10.6% year-on-year (YOY), a strong acceleration compared to 5.8% growth in 2024. Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) also rose 6%, reaching the “higher end” of its guidance range.

The maximum load demand, or the power demanded by the largest customers, increases. Data center capacity utilization rose 42% YOY in its most recent quarter, and the company has a pipeline of more than 75 gigawatts.

The company recently announced a modest increase of 2.7% in its quarterly budget. This brings the company's quarterly payout to 76 cents per share. Overall, this gives the stock a positive implied yield of close to 3.2%. This is below the average yield on commodities, which sits around 3.75%. However, it is much higher than the yield offered by the S&P 500 Index, which is around 1%. Southern plans to make its next quarterly payment on June 8 to shareholders of record as of the close on May 18.

PACCAR Eyes North American Recovery, Raises Dividend 6%

Truck manufacturer PACCAR (NASDAQ: PPAR ) underperformed the market through 2025, with a total return of 8%. However, the stock began to decline towards the end of the year. Since the beginning of November 2025, the shares have delivered a total return of more than 15%.

PACCAR faced a difficult situation in 2025, with prices hurting sales and profits. Revenue fell 17%, marking the company's worst year of growth since 2020.

In addition, the adjusted operating margin contracted by about 470 basis points, much larger than its decline from 2019 to 2020.

However, the company hopes to recover in 2026. PACCAR expects to sell between 230,000 and 270,000 of its Class 8 trucks in the North American market during the year. On average, this would be a 7.3% increase over its 2025 Class 8 unit sales of 233,000.

Meanwhile, it sees European sales of more than 16 tons holding firm, showing 300,000 units in the middle compared to 298,000 in 2025.

PACCAR also announced a strong 6% increase in its quarterly dividend, raising its payout to 35 cents per share. This gives the stock a reasonable implied yield of around 1.1%. PACCAR expects to make its next quarterly payment on June 3 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on May 13.

Qualcomm: Analysts Remain Cautious As Shares Rise

Among this group, Qualcomm is the most interesting name going forward. This giant chip company has been thought to be behind the AI boom. The hope that it can begin to participate in a meaningful way is a very good thing. This is even more true considering the reports that OpenAI is working with the company to develop chips for its smartphone push.

While Wall Street analysts have significantly raised their price targets on Qualcomm after its earnings, many have not forecast ahead. The MarketBeat consensus price target on Qualcomm is near $172, which means the shares are reasonably priced for early May. Additionally, the average price target revised after the company's latest financial report is low, at around $170. All in all, Qualcomm still has work to do to really take the narrative out of its stock.

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