"As the tech industry has matured, some technology companies are beginning to devote some of their cash flow to dividends," explains George Putnam, who notes, "This helps reduce downside volatility and offers some positive return when the stock prices lag."

In his industry-leading The Turnaround Letter, the advisor highlights some dividend-paying tech stocks; here a look at three of those picks.

"Many tech stocks have underperformed for the last couple of years as capital spending on technology products has been weak. The sector will eventually rebound, but the timing is far from certain.

"A conservative way to play the industry is to focus on technology stocks that pay dividends. That way you at least get paid something while you wait for the rebound. The following technology stocks pay decent dividends, many of them higher than the average 2.1% dividend paid by the stocks in the S&P 500 Index.

I finally got around to investing a portion of my stimulus check. I had a few stocks in mind for the money, but at the end of the day, I decided that I should buy shares of a high-yielding blue chip for the very long term. It really wasn't a difficult decision. The winner of my stimulus-check buy was none other than General Electric (NYSE: GE).

I've been talking about GE a lot lately, but if you're an investor, you know there's a lot to talk about this conglomerate. No, I don't mean fundamentally, necessarily, I mean that its current yield is simply amazing. GE has dropped a lot this year, and it's gotten the attention of many value investors. In fact, I purchased some GE shares not too long ago when they were trading about six bucks higher than the current price for what I hoped would be a short-term trade. I admit it, I was wrong.

I still think my reasoning at the time was correct, and I continue to hold those shares, but I also hold a long-term position of GE that I add to several times a year with the intent of holding for the next couple decades, maybe even beyond that. It is this position that received the shares acquired through the beneficence of the government. Although some might argue that I should have improved the cost basis of my trade, I decided against such action, since I think GE might be down for a while. If I wanted to use the money for a trade, there are probably better ideas out there for it than GE. But long-term, GE's current 4.7% yield will probably turn into an effective yield of better than 20%, assuming the dividend continues to rise in the future as it has in the past (I believe it will).

The only other stock that provided real competition for my stimulus windfall is Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO). However, the GE yield was just too beautiful. Granted, Coke is obviously the more focused business, and its brand equity is impeccable. But a near 3% yield is no match for a 4.7% yield. I think I made the right decision, but time will tell. No matter what, though, anyone who buys GE now better be patient. Short-term traders might not be rewarded.

Disclosure: I own Coke and GE; positions can change at any time.

"Frontline Ltd. (NYSE: FRO) is the 'mac daddy' of the oil transport business," says growth and income expert Bryan Perry, who has added the shares to the model portfolio of his 25% Cash Machine.

"Frontline is doing a much better job of executing profits in the current market for transporting crude oil. FRO posted first quarter results that showed a jump in profits of 40%, with a dividend hiked to $2.75 for the quarter. That translates into a current annual yield of 18.25%. Even better, the company forecasts continued strength in operations and quarterly distributions.

"This kind of profit growth is a result of FRO being leveraged to the spot market for day charter rates for double-hull tankers. The company is by far-and-away the largest shipping company, with 76 vessels and a market cap of $4.4 billion.

If you ask me, General Electric (NYSE: GE) is being priced as if the Cloverfield monster will be attacking Wall Street any day now. Thank goodness that an insider apparently thinks that GE is a great buy at these levels.

According to the AP, vice chairman Michael A. Neal purchased 35,000 shares this past Wednesday. The price? $29.99 per share. Not bad. At $29.99, GE's stock sports a nice, juicy dividend yield of 4.1%. I was pretty happy when I read this piece of news because, frankly, I've been wrong about GE. As I wrote recently, I thought GE would have been trending higher by now. The exact opposite has happened. So, it's kind of cool that an insider is buying. Of course, I'm not naive or utterly seduced by insider transactions. They are definitely important enough to keep tabs on, but let's face it, GE is in a vicious downtrend, and I understand that the stock might be haunting these levels for a while to come. The economy and the markets are, to understate the fact, somewhat spastic these days.

Here's another thing about the GE story I find incredibly interesting. A Bloomberg article says that GE's shares haven't existed with a dividend yield over 4% since 1984. That's more than 20 years ago. Again, there's nothing in the rulebook that says Wall Street institutions have to start buying now just because of GE's super-income story. As far as I'm concerned, though, GE's stock has to be in a good position. The insider buying may or may not help, but that yield is objective, attractive, and certainly sustainable. I'll continue to hold my GE trade, no matter what the technicals may tell me.

Disclosure: I own GE; positions can change at any time.

"Dividend growth has become increasingly scarce on Wall Street," says says Chuck Carlson, an expert on dividend reinvestment plans. In his The DRIP Investor he looks at two stocks boosting their payouts.

"For the first time in five years, the number of companies in 2007 boosting their dividends declined nearly
6% from the previous year, according to Standard & Poor's. And the slowdown in dividend growth continued in the first quarter of 2008.

"The first quarter marked the seventh consecutive three-month period of year-over-year declines in the number of companies raising dividends. Through the first three months of this year, 19% fewer companies raised dividends than in the year-earlier quarter.

"Even more alarming, 83 companies decreased their dividends during the fi rst quarter, according to S&P. That's up from just 19 in the same period in 2007 and is the highest number of dividend decreases since 1991.

"Nevertheless, there are still plenty of companies willing to boost their dividends, and you can now buy such companies at bargain prices.

"Despite sharp intermediate setbacks, the bull market in energy is far from over," says Martin Weiss, editor of the Safe Money Report. Here, he looks at Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (NYSE: KMP).

"Earlier, there was some concern that a U.S. recession would dampen worldwide demand for oil, and that could still happen. But right now, the rapidly increasing consumption of crude oil by emerging markets is actually exceeding any declines in industrial nations.

"Kinder Morgan is an energy partnership that transports more than 2 million barrels of energy products every day - gasoline, jet fuel, natural gas liquids and more. It has two additional profit centers: Mammoth oil and gas storage facilities and a business supplying carbon dioxide, which is used to boost production from aging oilfields.

"All three of these businesses can be extremely lucrative in a rising oil market like this one. That's how KMP generated a record profit of $347 million in the first quarter - a big swing from a year-earlier loss of
$150 million.

"Partnerships like Kinder pay out quarterly dividends to 'unit holders' - the equivalent of shareholders in traditional public corporations. And KMP's latest payout is 96 cents per unit, up from 92 cents in the prior quarter and 83 cents a year earlier. The indicated yield is a hefty 6.5%.

"As much as we like KMP, we recognize that energy shares may be extended and could pull back in the near term. So here's what we suggest you do: Buy a half-position in KMP this month. Then hold back an equivalent amount of cash earmarked for a possible second bite at the apple later."

Each day, Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com offers the latest market commentary and favorite investment ideas from the nation's leading financial newsletter advisors.

"For global income investing, I ran a screen of Chinese ADRs, and my favorite from the list is Huaneng Power (NYSE: HNP), with an indicated yield of 5.3%," says Nilus Mattive, editor of Dividend Superstars.

"Tons of power is being consumed in China, and Huaneng is right there to serve it up - the company is China's largest independent power producer. All told, Huaneng owns 17 plants outright, controls another 12, and has minority interests in five power companies.

"Profits have been rolling in at a steady clip. However, investors have recently become concerned about shrinking profit margins at Chinese utilities.

"There is certainly cause for concern: Coal is the main power source for utilities' plants, and the price of the raw material has been rising because of increased demand around the world. To make matters worse, the severe winter weather that struck China in January pushed up coal prices even further and created a
whole host of other challenges for Chinese utilities.

"However, it looks to me like investors have been far too aggressive in their selling. They're now pricing Huaneng at 10.5 times next year's earnings. The stock is so oversold that it's currently yielding 5.3%.

"What about the coal situation? Well, I think supply and demand will come back in line, and I also think this politically well-connected company will be granted price hikes to compensate for its higher input costs. I recommend income investors buy at the market."

Each day, Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com offers the latest market commentary and favorite investment ideas from the nation's leading financial newsletter advisors.

Investment Quality Trends -- one of the most respected newsletters in the advisory field -- uses a proprietary strategy that assesses historic level of stock price to yield; it's goal is to buy those stocks offering the best potential for downside protection and upside appreciation.

Here, editor Kelley Wright explains his methodology and highlights his current "Timely Ten" stocks that best match his time-tested criteria.

"Investors who wished to hold every stock in that we currently rank in the 'Undervalued and Rising Trend' categories, would need to hold one hundred twenty six stocks as of March; clearly too many positions to be practical.

"Our Timely Ten, therefore, is our reasoned expectation based on our methodology and experience for what we believe will perform best over the next five years.

"Do we believe that all 10 will go up simultaneously or immediately? Of course not. Our four decades of research and experience, however, leads us to believe that these stocks, purchased at current Undervalued levels, are well positioned for appreciation.

"In bear markets, a traditional safe haven for investors has been to seek out stocks with high dividend yields and ideally the potential for share-price appreciation," notes Bill Martin.

In his exceptional trading and investing service, BullMarket.com, he notes, "One of our favorites for income is Hospitality Properties Trust (NYSE: HPT), a real estate investment trust, which offers an 8.5% yield.

"Hospitality Properties Trust invests in hotels and travel centers, the latter being otherwise known as truck stops. If it doesn't sound very glamorous, this REIT nonetheless currently pays a $3.08 a share annual dividend, good for a pre-tax 8.5% yield with the stock trading in the mid-$30s range.

"It buys hotels principally for income and secondarily for appreciation potential. All of its properties are run under long-term combination agreements that usually require the operators to pay the company minimum returns or rent plus a share of the increased cash flows realized over time.

"It doesn't favor any one hotel brand, operating under such names as Hyatt Place, Spring Hill Suites, Marriott Residence Inn, Radisson, Staybridge Suites, Crowne Plaza, and Courtyard hotels.

"The indiscriminate sell-off in the financial sector has left some banks at valuations that haven't been seen in 20 years," says value investor Nathan Slaughter.

In his Half-Priced Stocks newsletter, the advisors looks to one out-of-favor favorite among banks: Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB). Incidentally, he notes that Warren Buffett recently added to his position in the banking stock.

"US Bancorp is the nation's sixth-largest bank in terms of assets, with nearly $238 billion at last count. The firm operates over 2,500 branches in 24 states, mostly in the western and midwestern parts of the country, including an established presence in key markets such as St. Louis, Denver and Seattle.

"Over the past year, the company has seen solid increases in both loans and deposits. More importantly, it paid out just 3.8% on those interest-bearing liabilities, far below what it earned on loans and other investments -- with the net interest margin expanding to 3.91%.

"And, that rate could move even higher in the coming months thanks to a more favorable interest rate environment. And as for credit quality, U.S. Bank remains at the very top of its peer group.

"Although a slow-growing company, World Wrestling Entertainment (NYSE: WWE) offers a steady dividend close to 8%," says Harry Domash, editor of Winning Investing. Here's his "take down" on the stock.

"World Wrestling is the company behind the professional wrestling that you see on TV. It also produces live wrestling exhibitions worldwide, licenses its characters for merchandise and sells videos and DVDs showcasing its stars.

"WWE is a slow grower. Its yearly sales, currently running around $500 million, are only expected grow in the 5% to 10% range. However, WWE is very profitable, has plenty of cash in the bank, little
debt, and is generating more than $1 per share in excess cash annually.

"Even better, WWE seems eager to let its shareholders in on the action. In February, it hiked its quarterly dividend by 50% to $0.36 per share. We expect only modest share price appreciation. However, with a steady 8% or so dividend yield, WWE is a perfect holding for this turbulent market.

"WWE reported December quarter earnings of $0.30 per share, $0.13 above analysts' forecasts and 36% above year-ago. Sales rose 22% to $133 million. Buy to hold 6 to 12 months. Its next dividend payment -- $1.44 per share -- is expected in June for a yield of 7.9%."

Each day, Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com offers the latest market commentary and favorite investment ideas from the nation's leading financial newsletter advisors.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down about 150 points as I peck away on my laptop. I was looking to see what stocks were holding up on a down day, and sure enough one of my favorites showed up -- Precision Drilling Services TR (NYSE: PDS), a stock I recommended two months ago.

I apologize if I seem like a cheerleader, or a play-by-play announcer, but it was only two weeks ago that I posted on what were already strong gains, and this one keeps going up (even though its business is to drill down...). From my original December recommendation at $15.47 per share, PDS has moved up to $22.61 by midday today and climbing, for a 46% gain. This is when the Dow industrials are down almost 7%.

"We don't have to leave the US to find plenty of bargain buys in partnerships and pass-throughs," says Neil George in his new specialty service designed for income investors, The Partnership Letter.

In his search for "solid, heavy-cash-generating assets," the advisor takes a look at two of his new portfolio holdings, Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (NYSE: KMP) and Kinder Morgan Management (NYSE: KMR).

"Right now plenty of partnerships and pass-through entities in the US and around the world are down in price. The real work comes in finding and buying partnerships that have solid, heavy-cash-generating assets that make for bargains.

"And they need to pass two other tests. The first is that they need to be financially sustainable. With the ongoing credit crunch, partnerships we own need to be able to carry themselves without having to face a cash crunch.

"The second test is one of business sustainability: Can the operation behind the partnership keep running and expanding even if the global economy slows? are widely held by investors. And though neither has been relegated to the bargain, both represent solid deals.

"A decline in home ownership is good for companies who have apartments to rent," notes The Dave Dyer Newsletter. To benefit from this trend, he looks at Avalon Bay (NYSE: AVB)." Here is his review.

"After a 10 year period of consistent increases from 1995 to 2005, the trend toward increasing home ownership has reversed and is now clearly in decline. The subprime problems and tighter credit policies will only serve to increase the decline.

"One of the easiest ways to invest in this trend is to buy shares in a REIT that owns apartment properties. Avalon Bay (NYSE: AVB.) is a REIT that manages high quality apartment communities in the high barrier-to-entry markets like California, the Pacific Northwest, the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.

"In some cases, they develop their own properties; in others, they buy and remodel existing apartment complexes. They currently own 182 properties with about 52,000 apartments in total. AVB has 19 more properties under constructions and development rights for another 52.

"Harvest Energy Trust (NYSE: HTE) is exactly what we love – a company with incredible upside and hefty 'dividends' that's being ignored byWall Street," says Keith Fitz-Gerald.

The editor of Money Morning explains, "But the stock is not being ignored by the company's executives. In fact, insiders are buying like crazy. And while this by itself doesn't guarantee higher prices, it's an important indicator of things to come, especially when oil prices are destined to increase in the coming years.

"Harvest Energy is located in Calgary and functions as a Canadian royalty trust, which means its profits are funneled back to investors in the form of 'distributions.' Harvest engages in the exploration, development, production, and sale of petroleum, natural gas, and natural gas liquids in western Canada.

"And the best part is, it's been tamped down in the last two quarters. You see, management has reduced its distribution by 21%, citing volatile energy prices and the new tax rules set to take effect in Canada in 2012. It also carries a lot of debt after having consolidated purchases of other oil and gas trusts and large private producers over the last two years. The company also purchased a refinery complex – and that didn't come cheap.

"Now here's where things get really good: Plain and simple, Harvest is sitting on oil – a lot of it. Large multi-million barrel reserves, with an estimated 9.3 years of proven and probable reserves using conventional extraction techniques. It's also sitting on over 1 billion barrels of untapped oil sands.