Themost thermally efficient keep cool passive desert house in arizona new market year means income for investors.

As the Times Square ball drops and Fed

interest rates rise

, there's a happy medium where investors welcome 2019 with celebratory noisemakers of a different kind. And who wouldn't raise a righteous racket after buying into dividend stocks that show the promise of yearlong growth? Just as retailers seek to empty their shelves post-holidays, bargains will abound in a new market year that rewards the prudent investor. So now's the time to resolve on taking smart chances on underpriced stocks -- and picking up some dividends along the way. Here's seven that are worth a look.

Vodafone Group (ticker:

VOD

): Dialing for dollars.

First the bad news: VOD dropped 37 percent during 2018 in a steady slide. "The global wireless provider has had issues with high capital spending, merger costs and growing subscribers," says Mark R. Painter, president at EverGuide Financial Group in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey. But the 8.8 percent

dividend yield

is healthy. "The stability of VOD's cash flow should be attractive; with a new CEO, cost cuts and a diversified revenue stream, it will become particularly attractive to investors."

Citigroup (

C

): Banking on change.

Investors of late have punished Citigroup and its

banking

brethren: Its shares are off 27 percent since mid-September. Its 45-cent quarterly dividend represents a 3 percent yield. "Capital redeployment under Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review relief should allow for dividend growth and share repurchase," says Benjamin C. Halliburton, chief investment officer at Tradition Capital Management in Summit, New Jersey. Selling for about $51 per share, "It's crazy cheap with our estimate of fair value close to $80."

Walgreens Boots Alliance (

WBA

): A new prescription.

A pharmacy juggernaut that includes Walgreens, Duane Reade and Boots, WBA "is now the same price it was more than 3 1/2 ago," says David Gilreath, chief investment officer at Sheaff Brock in Indianapolis. But the stock is up 13 percent since July. WBA is also a

dividend aristocrat

, having raised its dividend for at least 25 years in a row. Its dividend yield is 2.6 percent.

AT&T (

T

): Buy and cell.

David Keller, president and chief strategist at Sierra Alpha Research in Cleveland, calls AT&T "an ideal dividend stock heading into the New Year." Though down about 23 percent from its 2017 high, "downward pressure is decreasing just as T approaches the upper $20 range, which is where it bottomed out back in 2014-2015." T's consistent

dividend

"equates to a yield of more than 6.5 percent. That's a compelling yield on a stock with a very attractive risk/reward configuration."

Consolidated Communications Holdings (

CNSL

): Wireless is more.

Focusing on internet, television, telephone and home security services, this Midwestern company has an annual dividend yield of more than 13 percent at its current share price of roughly $10, says David Tawil, president at Maglan Capital, based in New York. "The company has paid its dividend for 54 consecutive quarters, and is not at any near-term risk of elimination or reduction." As for the

stock

itself, two analysts call CNSL a "strong buy" and three others a "hold."

Qualcomm (

QCOM

): Cash in the chips.

On a roller coaster for all of 2018, QCOM trades for $57, down 11 percent this year. The chipmaker "has been snakebit and investors have given up," Halliburton says. Blame the U.S.-China trade war, which scuttled a deal with NXP Semiconductors (

NXPI

); "Apple is also playing hardball with licensing agreements." But its 62 cents-per-share quarterly dividend is up 9 percent from January. Halliburton predicts: "Apple (

AAPL

) settles before it goes to court in our opinion and the stock rallies."

iShares International Select Dividend ETF (

IDV

): Exchange-traded fun.

"Now is an interesting time to consider buying IDV," says Mark Eshman, CEO and chief investment officer at ClearRock Capital, with offices in Ketcham, Idaho and San Francisco. The exchange-traded fund's dividend yield "is currently 5.2 percent, almost three times the current S&P 500 yield." It also more than doubled between quarters -- from 30 cents in March to 61 cents in June. Adds Eshman: "Investor sentiment for international equities is terrible right now -- a good contrarian indicator."

Great dividend stocks to welcome 2019.

To review, here are seven dividend plays for investors in 2019:

-- Vodafone Group (

VOD

)

-- Citigroup (

C

)

-- Walgreens Boots Alliance (

WBA

)

-- AT&T (

T

)

-- Consolidated Communications Holdings (

CNSL

)

-- Qualcomm (

QCOM

)

-- iShares International Select Dividend ETF (

IDV

)

More From US News & World Report

9 Dividend Stocks to Sell Despite High Yield

7 Founder-CEOs Doing Fabulously for Shareholders

9 Safe Dividend Stocks to Buy for 2019

View comments