Why selling these 3 dividend stocks could be a mistake

Investors are uncomfortable seeing losses, especially in stocks they rely on for steady income.

Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE: EPD), Pfizer NYSE:PFE and UPS (NYSE: UPS) all fit that uneasy profile as the share prices have been battered, and the yields are high enough to make some investors wonder whether the market is flashing a warning.

But the deeper read is different as all three companies are still producing cash, all three are still paying their dividends, and in each case the payout remains tied to a business model that is more durable than the stock chart suggests.

Current yields work out to about 5.7% for EPD, 6.5% for Pfizer and 6.8% for UPS at today’s prices.

EPD: Pipeline business built for ugly markets

Enterprise Products Partners is not an oil producer, so it does not live and die with commodity prices.

It is a fee-based midstream operator that gets paid to transport, store and process hydrocarbons through a sprawling US network.

That model matters because it turns EPD into something closer to a toll road than a bet on crude prices.

The company says it has raised its distribution for 27 consecutive years, and its first-quarter 2026 results showed why income investors keep coming back.

Enterprise generated $2.7 billion (approx. £2 billion) of distributable cash flow in the quarter and said that cash supported another 2.8% increase in the distribution.

That is the key point for anyone tempted to sell after a slump. EPD’s payout is not being funded by hope or leverage; it is being funded by recurring cash flow.

The company retained $1.5 billion (approx. £1.1 billion) of DCF in the quarter after distributions, money it can use for growth projects, buybacks, or debt reduction.

Pfizer: Market has already priced in a very grim future

Pfizer is the most bruised name in the group. The stock is far below its pandemic-era peak, but the business is not standing still.

Pfizer’s 2025 annual review says revenue came in at $62.6 billion (approx. £47.4 billion), and the company has continued to lean on cost cuts and its post-Seagen oncology portfolio as it tries to rebuild growth.

It also just declared another $0.43 quarterly dividend, its 350th consecutive quarterly payout.

The market’s problem with Pfizer is not that the story is broken; it is that expectations are extremely low.

The company reaffirmed its 2026 outlook for revenue of $59.5 billion (approx. £45 billion) to $62.5 billion (approx. £47.3 billion) and adjusted EPS of $2.80 to $3.00, while continuing to highlight cost savings and new-product momentum.

That leaves room for a re-rating if execution stabilizes.

In other words, investors selling now are not just taking a loss. They are also giving up a 6%-plus yield at a point when the stock is already priced for disappointment.

UPS: Dividend is living through a restructuring

UPS is the hardest of the three to own because the business has been shrinking in places that used to matter a lot.

But the company is clearly in a deliberate restructuring, not an uncontrolled decline.

Its latest quarter showed $21.2 billion (approx. £16 billion) in revenue, with management reiterating a 2026 revenue target of about $89.7 billion (approx. £67.9 billion) and an adjusted operating margin goal of 9.6%.

UPS has also said it is cutting Amazon volume sharply, while targeting about $3 billion (approx. £2.3 billion) in year-over-year cost savings in 2026 after roughly $600 million (approx. £454.2 million) of savings in the first quarter alone.

That matters because the dividend story rests on cash generation.

UPS approved a quarterly dividend of $1.64 per share, and the company’s annual report shows 2025 revenue of $88.7 billion (approx. £67.1 billion).

The yield is high because the share price is low, not because the payout has already cracked.