9 High-Yield Stocks to Consider in Lieu of Bonds

BOSTON (TheStreet) -- Investors seeking the security of Treasury bonds in fear that Europe's ongoing economic woes will spread are getting the lowest yields on the 10-year note in almost 70 years.

But those investors are missing out on much more attractive alternatives that don't have a significantly higher degree of risk.

They are high-yielding stocks of top-notch companies that have a good chance for share-price appreciation when the market regains its equilibrium.

In order to find some of the best of them, I screened the Morningstar database for high-yielding stocks of companies with market values of at least $5 billion and financial fundamentals that put them among the best in their industry, which means their futures are sound.

I found five in this elite group with dividend yields more than three times that of the record low 1.53% rate being paid by the 10-year Treasury on Thursday and four others that are paying better than 4%.

One shining example is Southern Copper(SCCO) , a copper producer with the world's largest mine reserves.