Wolfe Research buyback basket highlights dividend stocks for defensive positioning

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Wolfe buyback dividend stocks

Highlights

Wolfe Research's 'Consistent Buybacks' basket highlights defensive stocks like Best Buy, Colgate-Palmolive, and JPMorgan Chase amid volatile markets and rising inflation.
Best Buy maintains a 5% dividend yield, returned $1.1 billion to shareholders in fiscal 2026, and announced CEO succession effective October 31, 2026.
Colgate-Palmolive hiked its dividend to 53 cents per share, set a $5 billion buyback program for March 2025, and shares are up 13% in 2026.

Buyback strategy gains appeal in choppy markets

As reported by CNBC, Wolfe Research says its “Consistent Buybacks” basket offers a defensive way to navigate current market turbulence by focusing on companies with at least a decade of uninterrupted share repurchases.

Chief investment strategist Chris Senyek says the basket tends to perform well across the cycle, including ahead of and during recessions. The backdrop remains unsettled, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite falling on Monday while investors also track inflation data, including the May consumer price index, which rose 4.2% from a year earlier, and the personal consumption expenditures price index due on Thursday.

Among the names that combine steady buybacks with dividends is Best Buy, which offers a dividend yield of about 5%. The retailer returned $1.1 billion to shareholders through repurchases and dividends in fiscal 2026, and its annual report says it has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years.

Best Buy also starts fiscal 2027 with a first-quarter earnings and revenue beat, even as it continues to manage a sales slump. Chief executive Corie Barry says consumers remain resilient despite elevated inflation, though she is set to step down on Oct. 31 and will be succeeded by 27-year company veteran Jason Bonfig.

Consumer and financial names add income support

Colgate-Palmolive is another stock in Wolfe’s list that pairs buybacks with dividends, with a yield of nearly 2.4%. The company raises its dividend earlier this year to 53 cents a share and announced a new $5 billion share repurchase program in March 2025, while its status as a Dividend Aristocrat underscores a 25-year record of annual payout increases.

Colgate shares rise 13% in 2026, and Morgan Stanley recently reaffirms the stock as a top pick with an overweight rating. Analyst Dara Mohsenian says the firm expects sustained 3% to 4% organic sales growth, supported by pricing power, emerging market exposure, Hill’s normalization and oral care share recovery.

Financial stocks also feature in the basket, including JPMorgan Chase, whose shares are up almost 3% this year and yield about 1.8%. The bank posts a first-quarter earnings and revenue beat in April, although it lowers full-year guidance for net interest income, while chief executive Jamie Dimon says in late May that JPMorgan could spend as much as $20 billion on an acquisition in coming years if a deal fits its core operations.

Honeywell, which yields about 2.1%, is up roughly 17% year to date and plans to spin off its aerospace business on June 29. The remaining company will operate as Honeywell Technologies with a focus on automation, a move chief executive Vimal Kapur links to stronger opportunities as artificial intelligence adoption expands.

In our earlier analysis of JPMorgan Chase (JPM), we highlighted the stock’s strong bullish technical structure as it traded above key short-, medium-, and long-term moving averages. We also noted that while momentum signals supported further upside, overbought readings and nearby resistance levels increased the risk of a pullback if buyers lost control.

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