Because both stocks have heavily sold off, the mortgage real estate investment trust (mREIT) stocks Annaly Capital Management (NYSE: NLY) and AGNC Investment (NASDAQ: AGNC) became widely discussed tickers this year. The increased interest is because both are currently generating a lot of passive income relative to their stock prices, with Annaly boasting a nearly 16% annual dividend yield and AGNC yielding about 13.6%.

Investors are not likely to be too miffed about stocks' performance if they can guarantee a consistently strong dividend. But the general rule on dividends is that if it looks too good to be true, then it probably is. A big point of focus among investors this year is whether or not Annaly and AGNC can sustain these monster dividends, especially with a challenging backdrop of an economy headed toward a recession.

The stocks recently got a boost when billionaire Bill Gross, who founded the global fixed-income investment firm PIMCO and is also known as the "Bond King," recently said that he has been buying shares of Annaly and AGNC. Should investors follow his lead? Let's take a look.

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Source Fool.com