We recently published a list of Why These Dividend Stocks Are Underperforming in 2025. In this article, we are going to take a look at where WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) stands against other dividend stocks that are underperforming in 2025.
Consistent returns from dividend stocks have long attracted many investors, becoming the cornerstone of many investment portfolios. However, significant changes have been recorded a month and a half into 2025 among these dividend stocks. Some of the most historically reliable dividend-paying companies have struggled to maintain attractiveness. As the market concentrates heavily on innovation and growth, the performances of many of the dividend stocks have begun to decline. The list in this article contains significant stocks, some of which may also be in your portfolio.
Are you curious to find out which? Stick around as we count from 10 to 1 and uncover the names falling behind this year.
Reasons matter as much as knowing the performance level of stocks. The reallocation of capital is a significant reason for the underperformance. Heavy investments have always favored sectors with high-growth potentials, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and technology space, as of 2025. Funds are being pulled from traditional dividend-paying industries like utilities, consumer staples, and real estate investment trusts (REITs) to invest in these sectors. Though major tech companies have been struggling recently, with the advent of DeepSeek–a Chinese AI model–their anticipated growth trajectories continue to be more than that of many dividend stocks. These changes in the market have consequentially depressed the performance of dividend-heavy sectors.
Even with these yield-wise underperformances, dividend stocks have become more attractive. When funds are pulled to invest in high-growth AI stocks, dividend stocks become undervalued, resulting in higher dividend yields. Investors who prefer consistent income are taking this opportunity to acquire quality dividend stocks at favorable valuations. This trend has provided a balancing effect for some sectors.
AI can be a significant reason for the underperformance of the stocks on our list, but it cannot be the sole reason. In our article, we will also look at other factors that led to the underperformance of these 10 dividend stocks. Interest rates, for instance, are among the vulnerabilities of many dividend-heavy sectors like utilities and REITs. With the Federal Reserve continuing to maintain higher interest rates, the attractiveness of dividend stocks may decline further compared to their income-generating counterparts. On the other hand, many tech giants make dividend payments, closing the gap between high growth and income investing. The entry of more AI-driven companies into the dividend-paying territory might cause some of the existing dividend stocks to lose their footing in the competition.
As of now, dividend-paying assets hold value for investors seeking stability and income, particularly regarding market volatility. A deflated AI bubble could potentially uplift the performances of dividend stocks in the future. Hence, understanding the factors contributing to their underperformance becomes necessary to make informed decisions about portfolios in 2025. Our list of 10 underperforming dividend stocks and the reasons behind their declining performance would assist in acquiring such understanding.
Our Methodology
Our list was put together by considering the negative year-to-date (YTD) returns generated by the companies as of February 15, 2025. We have included the stocks with a minimum dividend yield of 3%, which the income-focused investors would find attractive. Part of our selection also involved taking into account only those stocks with an average daily trading volume of more than 1 million units per day and a market capitalization of more than 500 million USD. These criteria helped select the prominent dividend-paying stocks, identified through their financial performance, trading activity, and market size. They put together the following list of 10 underperforming dividend stocks in 2025. The stocks are ranked according to their dividend yields.
At Insider Monkey we are obsessed with the stocks that hedge funds pile into. The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
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WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD)
Dividend yield: 3.63%
Dividend payout ratio: 47.49%
Ex-Dividend Date: February 21, 2025
Number of Hedge Funds: 11
The local bank, WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD), saw a sharp decline in value by 7.66% year-to-date on February 15, 2025. The decline may have been primarily contributed by the fall in the net income from $257 million to $200 million in FY 2024. The decline was followed by the bank announcing its exit from the single-family mortgage lending business, which the CEO Brent Beardall believed would cause the credit risk to rise. Ultimately, DA Davidson downgraded the stock from ‘Buy’ to ‘Neutral’ after it missed its first-quarter earnings for fiscal year 2025.
WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) has offered dividend payments for 43 consecutive years, signaling a strong commitment to its shareholders. Among them, the bank has raised its dividend for six straight years. Their dividend payout ratio stands at 47.49%, with an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and a yield of 3.50%.
Comparatively, it stands tall against the regional banks within the Russell index, which has an average dividend payout ratio of 25% over the past year and an average yield of 2.3%, suggesting that despite the underperformance of the stock, WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) continues to focus on its dividend payouts.
Overall, WAFD ranks 6th on our list of other dividend stocks that are underperforming in 2025. While we acknowledge the potential for WAFD as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than WAFD but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and Complete List of 59 AI Companies Under $2 Billion in Market Cap
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
