The Dogs of the Dow strategy was first published in 1991 and made popular in the mid 1990s. The strategy is simple, buy 10 companies from the Dow Jones Industrial Index starting with the highest dividend yield. As we have alluded in our past writing on this topic, these companies have the tendency to reappear on the list year-after-year due to the nature of their business and dividend policy.
Alternatively, we've attempted to alter the strategy to fit our thesis of buying at or near the low. Strategies to purchase the 10 companies from the Dow Jones Industrial Index trading closest to the 52-week low. For this strategy, we call it the Dogs of NLO.
Over the past 5 years, we have been back testing this strategy by making comparisons against Dogs of the Dow, S&P 500, and Dow Jones Industrial Average. Of the 5 years, Dogs of NLO outperformed Dogs of the Dow 60% of the time (3 years). The tables below show the result since 2013 - 2017.
We can't claim any victory based on these findings but we believe that buying at or near the low should be a factor when purchasing a long-term asset as displayed by the gains achieved from 2013.