It's only July, but 2023 has already been a terrific year for most stocks. The benchmark S 500 index is up more than 17% since the end of 2022.

While this has been a great year for most of the stocks already in our portfolios, it's getting harder to find shares of reliable businesses to buy at reasonable valuations. The average stock in the Dow Jones Industrial Average is trading at nearly 23 times trailing earnings. A year ago, thayt figure was just 17.5 times trailing earnings.

It's harder to find reasonably priced businesses that can be relied on to pay rapidly growing dividends. Luckily, a stock market focused on short-term issues for these two health insurers is creating an opportunity to buy two exceptional dividend-paying stocks at prices that are more than fair.

Continue reading

Source Fool.com