3 Rock-Solid Dividend Stocks That Will Grow Passive Income This Year

Dividend stocks have been a reliable cornerstone for those who want to anchor their portfolios when markets get shaky. These stocks give you a steady stream of income and often appreciate during market volatility as other investors rotate gains into risk-off assets.

We’re currently in such a volatile environment due to tariff-related uncertainty and an expected GDP contraction in Q1 2025. Investors are jittery, so moving some gains into dividend stocks is a good idea just in case things get worse.

Solid dividend growers fit the bill quite well in the current environment, especially if you’re reinvesting these dividends for the long run. A stock yielding 3% today might not sound thrilling, but if it hikes its dividend by 8% annually, you’re looking at a powerhouse down the road. Here are three dividend-growth stocks that have an even better outlook:

Interparfums (IPAR)

Interparfums (NASDAQ:IPAR) has a self-explanatory name, as the company is involved in the perfume/fragrance sector. It isn’t involved in making perfumes, but it operates as a general contractor by buying up licenses from luxury brands and then making its own brands out of those licenses. The company is very lean for a perfume company since it just manages distribution and outsources production.

That has allowed the company to have a stellar operating margin of 19.2%. You’re probably used to seeing even better margins in the software industry, but that operating margin is better than 90% of the company’s industry competitors. And unlike most software companies, Interparfums pays dividends.

It has a 3-year annual revenue growth rate of 17.8%, which is again better than 81.9% of its peers, along with a 23.5% 3-year annual EPS growth rate (excluding one-time costs).

In turn, this has allowed Interparfums to have a 3-year annual dividend growth rate of 44.2%. The dividend yield right now is at 2.71%, with a dividend payout ratio of 0.57. Naturally, I expect this growth rate to slow down with time as the company matures, but the dividend growth should still be well above average.

The consensus price target of $162.8 implies a 42.2% upside.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NVO)

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) seemed unstoppable in the post-COVID era as bears were proved wrong again and again. It delivered gains better than most tech stocks could. However, the past year has not been so kind to NVO stock.

NVO stock is down 45.82% in the past year as of writing. Earlier gains were driven largely by GLP-1-based drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Both are blockbuster treatments that are still flying off shelves. Sadly, the company is not riding that momentum as well as the bulls would have liked.

Phase 3 trial for the company’s next-generation weight-loss drug showed a weight loss percentage of 22.7%. In comparison, Novo Nordisk’s target was 25%. The target here is in line with Eli Lilly’s (NYSE:LLY) Zepbound drug’s upper end. That drug is already marketed, so many investors jumped ship. Further, another late-stage trial called Redefine 2 tested obese patients with type 2 diabetes. This also fell short as it reported a 15.7% weight loss. It also doesn’t help that this is a Danish company and could be hit hard with tariffs as Trump pursues Greenland.

The massive decline in its stock price prices in those setbacks, so I see this as a solid buying opportunity now. The company’s GLP-1 drugs are still being sold, and has lots of other drugs in its pipeline to keep driving growth. It is also investing in U.S. manufacturing with a $4.1 billion program.

Revenue grew 30% year-over-year, and net income grew 28.53%. These growth figures should allow it to comfortably maintain its 3-year annual dividend growth rate of 28.4%.

The consensus price target of $145.25 implies 112% upside.

NetEase (NTES)

NetEase (NASDAQ:NTES) is a Chinese IT company that mainly derives its revenue from the online gaming industry. And yes, that’s not a very profitable sector, but some companies have been very successful here due to their scale. NetEase is one of them.

This company owns some of China’s most popular mobile games and also has a cloud streaming platform that competes with Tencent Music.

NTES stock has done surprisingly well compared to the broader Chinese market. It did face a few selloffs due to gaming restrictions by the Chinese government but has managed to recover every time. The stock has gained 63.7% in the past five years, and the business is solidly profitable. Its dividends have grown at a rate of 42.3% annually on average in the past three years, and it currently has a dividend yield of 2.45%. That’s not the most generous dividend yield right now, but the dividend growth rate is solid and helps you realize solid gains when combined with the stock’s upside potential.

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