Many dividend stocks have lost some appeal over the past year as rising interest rates boosted the yields of certificates of deposit and U.S. Treasury bills to more than 5%. Many investors might find it a prudent strategy to sell some of their stocks and buy those fixed-income plays as the macroeconomic and geopolitical headwinds continue to rattle the equity markets.

But for investors who are willing to tune out the near-term noise and hold their stocks for a few more years, it makes more sense to invest in dividend stocks because they traditionally outperform fixed-income investments over the long run.

That's because shares of well-run companies tend to gradually appreciate, and their reinvested dividends help your portfolio to compound over time to generate bigger total returns. Investors who want to pursue that strategy should consider buying these three blue chip dividend stocks right now: AT (NYSE: T), (NYSE: VZ), and Intel (NASDAQ: INTC).

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Source Fool.com