5 High-Yield Stocks With Bullish Price Trends

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Who doesn't enjoy receiving statements with dividend income every month? I know I look forward to collecting dividends with capturing strategies or with longer-term holds.

If collecting big dividends was as easy as buying the highest-yielding stocks we would all be rich and holding a drink in our hand on the beach (not to mention how crowded the beach would be).

Fortunately, there are methods to filter out many of the dogs with fleas, and zero in on the Best in Show.

I start by examining stocks I already either trade or follow and have a large dividend. I add in a screen for large-yield stocks and add the ones that meet the following criteria:

A stock must be highly liquid, and trade with a small bid-ask spread to avoid slippage
The company must have a history of dividend payments and increases in payments
The company needs to demonstrate the ability to continue paying the current dividend or more
The stock chart must be in a bullish uptrend; there is no point in looking for an oversized yield if the shares are expected to drop as much or more in the next year

How does a dividend investor exploit the following list of dividend stock guidance? This should be your starting point, not an end-all for your research.

Make sure the industry and the company are a match for your investment objectives. Use your current professional knowledge as applicable to garner a market edge when entering or exiting a position.

Waste Management(WM)

Background: Waste Management provides integrated waste management services in North America and internationally. In North America, the company provides solid waste management services including collection, transfer, recycling and resource recovery services, and disposal services. Waste Management, Inc. trades an average of 5.4 million shares per day with a market cap of $15.9 billion.

Yield: 4.15%

Analyst opinion is mixed with a bearish overtone. It appears the market doesn't agree with the analysts on this one.

The mean fiscal year estimate price-to-earnings ratio is 15.8, based on earnings of $2.16 per share this year.