3 Great Dividend Stocks Whose Payouts Could Double

With interest rates still hovering near record lows while overall dividend yields are similarly weak, it would be easy to eschew dividend stocks in this article -- even for income-minded investors. The S&P 500's average dividend yield right now is a paltry 1.6%, barely outpacing the country's current inflation rate of 1.2%. A bunch of popular stocks aren't even paying out that much.

But before you dismiss a stock because its dividend yield is just too low, take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Several of these low-yield names are actually growth stocks in the habit of improving relatively modest payouts in a big way.

For instance, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX), and A.O. Smith (NYSE: AOS) are surprisingly compelling income names not because they're dishing out huge dividends right now, but because their current dividends could double within the next few years. We know this sort of payout growth is possible since each name has already doubled its dividends over the course of the past five years. Let's find out a bit more about these three great dividend stocks.

Source Fool.com