I made a big mistake. A few weeks ago, I vowed to uncover the future dividend aristocrats in the next issue of Investing Daily’s Utility Forecaster.

At the time, I thought it would be easy. Just find the stocks that have been boosting their payouts every year for 10 years, 20 years, or even longer, and then subject them to my usual stringent criteria.

But it turns out sifting through decades of dividend data is unbelievably tedious and time-consuming. Sometimes the data is spotty, other times it’s just plain wrong.

And the data aggregators don’t care. After all, how many people are looking at quarterly payouts going all the way back to 1996?

I was cursing myself as I burned the midnight oil to find longtime dependable dividend payers with superior fundamentals.

In the end, I think all my hard work paid off. In the next issue of Utility Forecaster, I’ll show you the 18 utilities that have boosted their annual payouts for at least 20 consecutive years.

While that kind of dedication to the dividend is becoming rarer and rarer these days, it’s still not enough.

To broaden the universe of long-term dividend payers, I found another 21 utilities that have been raising their dividends every year for at least 10 years.

With a total universe of 39 stocks, I then compared them across a number of different criteria to identify the future dividend aristocrats.

You’ll be able to see these dividend arrivistes, gentry, and aristocrats in the forthcoming issue of Utility Forecaster, which will be available at our website on Saturday, July 1. Don’t miss it!