For income investors, the objective is to build a portfolio filled with companies that have proved themselves resilient enough to raise their dividends consistently no matter the business conditions.

One stock that forms the foundation of my dividend growth portfolio is Lowe's Companies (NYSE: LOW). Few businesses can lay claim to as illustrious of a dividend growth streak as the home improvement retailer, which has boosted its payouts to shareholders for 61 consecutive years.

At the surface level, it would be appropriate to characterize results for the fiscal first quarter as discouraging, in my opinion. For the period that ended May 5, the home improvement retailer's net sales fell by 5.5% year over year to $22.3 billion. But a deeper dive into these results would offer reasons to think that they aren't so disappointing after all.

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Source Fool.com