Ares Capital Corporation

This article is part of our monthly series where we highlight five large-cap, relatively safe, dividend-paying companies offering significant discounts to their historical norms. We go over our filtering process to select just five conservative DGI stocks from more than 7,500 companies that are traded on U.S. exchanges, including OTC networks. In addition to the primary list that yields 3.7%, we present two other groups of five DGI stocks, each with moderate to high yields of up to 8%.

Retirement changes what a portfolio has to do. The paycheck that used to arrive every two weeks has to come from somewhere else, and for many retirees Social Security covers only part of it.

Two of the six stocks in this high-yield portfolio quietly drive most of the IRS bill, and a simple change in where you hold them could keep that money working for you.

Ares Capital remains a "Buy" for income-focused investors, despite a challenging Q3 marked by declining financials and investment activity. ARCC's 10% yield appears sustainable near-term, supported by robust liquidity, low leverage, ample spillover income, and a slight discount to NAV. The announced $2.6 billion mid-cap financial acquisition is expected to be modestly accretive and demonstrates ARCC's scale advantage in a tough environment.