Editor’s Note: A 66% dividend increase in twelve months is the kind of income signal that draws attention — and raises the next question: which companies are still paying 4% or better? Fifty-two of the 500 biggest U.S. stocks do today; a generation ago, 4% was the average American stock. Nathan Slaughter counted them in September, one company at a time, and found seven still paying what the whole market used to. His High-Yield Investing report publishes what each one yielded on the day he bought it. The last 4% yields in America →

You never know where investment inspiration will strike.

Legendary Fidelity money manager Peter Lynch used to take shopping trips to the mall with his teenage daughter to gain insights into consumer trends and behaviors. He was also fond of Dunkin Donuts coffee on his way to the office, a daily habit that turned into a 1,500+ return on the stock.

In the same vein, I think investors can sometimes score big gains just by aligning their portfolio with the products and services they already patronize. It’s part of the “buy what you know” mantra.

Maybe you get gas and snacks each week at your neighborhood Casey’s General Stores (NSDQ: CASY). The stock is up more than 200% over the past five years.

Or you’re a fan of the 2026 National League East champion Atlanta Braves. Spun off from Liberty Media, the Atlanta Braves Holdings (NSDQ: BATRA) company has delivered a market-thumping 35% return in 2026.

Of course, it’s not just a popularity contest – don’t overlook valuation and other fundamentals. But there are plenty of great portfolio candidates hiding in plain sight.

I visited Camping World (NYSE: CWH) several years ago as a potential customer, not an investor. I didn’t buy an RV. But after looking at the books, I did buy the stock the following week – exiting with a nice gain a few months later.

I was thinking of all this recently while waiting for my plane to depart to Miami. Despite an abundance of in-flight entertainment, I always like to read the airline’s complimentary magazine cover to cover (including the technical information for various jets in the fleet). While other passengers were busy playing Candy Crush or watching the latest episode of Ted Lasso, I learned a few things about the CFM56 turbofan engine — whose 18,000+ pounds of thrust are what kept my plane in the air.

This is the world’s best-selling aircraft engine, powering the Boeing 737, the Airbus A320 family and many other narrowbody (single-aisle) jets. It has been a big seller for GE Aerospace (NYSE: GE). But that’s not the stock I want to point you toward. Because after nearly 50 years, commercial production ceased in 2020.

Yet, including military and cargo applications, there are still about 28,000 CFM56 engines currently in operation worldwide. Weighing as much as a Ford F150 and containing 30,000 individual parts, these engineering marvels require both regular maintenance and the occasional overhaul to stay in tip-top shape.

That’s where FTAI Aviation (NSDQ: FTAI) comes in. It’s one of the industry’s most trusted providers of maintenance, repair and exchange (MRE) services for the CFM56 engine (as well as the popular V2500).

The company purchases these engines in secondary markets and then repairs or rebuilds them at facilities in Miami, Montreal and Rome. They are then either sold, exchanged or leased though various contracts, commanding rental rates ranging from $60,000 to $100,000 per month and fetching sales prices of up to $5 million depending on flight hours and remaining lifespan.

FTAI has assembled an impressive client roster, including Air France, Finnair and dozens of other regional and global airlines. Some of these customers make outright purchases of engine modules and spare parts, while others sign up for outsourced maintenance… as well as exchanges whenever a module must come off the wing for extended work.

This is a booming $25 billion global market, and FTAI generates about $3.5 billion in annual revenues. It has quickly captured a 14% market share, which management aims to double to 25% in short order. Given its pricing advantage over other repair shops, I think that goal is attainable.

Over the past two years, quarterly EBITDA from this operation has already tripled from $90 million to $250 million.

Aside from its aerospace products division, FTAI is also actively involved on the leasing side. With financing from Citi, Deutsche Bank and a consortium of other lenders, it has built a rental fleet of close to 300 aircraft. These planes must have a minimum of 12 remaining months (average of 47) under lease before they are acquired.

The growing fleet is leased to 87 different airlines based in 40 countries. And every single one of these jets also has engine maintenance agreements in place with FTAI. That’s two recurring income sources from every plane.

There is a third business segment that repurposes retired jet turbines to generate electricity. These compact and mobile power plants can be installed in a matter of weeks and are already being used to support data center construction. While not yet a major contributor to the bottom line, this could soon be a strong growth driver.

For now, FTAI’s facilities produced nearly 300 CFM engine modules last quarter, generating $875 million in aerospace products sales – a healthy increase of nearly 80%. And with fixed expenses beginning to scale, the business churned out $290 million in EBITDA for the quarter.

Looking ahead, management is forecasting $2.3 billion in EBITDA next year, with the power division chipping in almost one-fifth of that following the recent award of a hefty $1.5 billion contract with a major cloud services provider.

As for the balance sheet, the company has $337 million in cash on the books and $4.5 billion in assets. And the transition to an “asset-light” business model has led to significant deleveraging, with net debt falling to just 2.7 times EBITDA.

All of which explains why FTAI is suddenly more generous with dividends. After a long stretch of $0.30 per share payments, distributions have been raised four times in the past four quarters… to $0.35, then $0.40, then $0.45 and now $0.50 per share.

That’s a powerful 66% surge in just twelve months – a clear vote of confidence. With just over 100 million shares outstanding, the annual distribution of $2.00 represents an outlay of approximately $200 million – a sliver of this year’s $1 billion free cash flow haul.

The market has taken notice of the company’s strengthening demand and accelerating growth prospects. Over the past five years, FTAI shares rocketed more than 10-fold from the lower-$20s to a peak above $300. But with recent rate tightening, the volatile stock has been cut in half in recent months, closing near $165 yesterday.

FTAI is now back where it was a year ago… a second chance for investors who missed the last flight.

I counted the S&P 500 this September, one company at a time: fifty-two still pay 4% or better, out of five hundred. Only eighteen pay 5%. Only eight pay 6%. A generation ago 4% was the average stock; today it is a search. That’s part of why a company that raises its dividend four consecutive times in one year draws so much attention — real income growth has gotten rare. In High-Yield Investing I hold fifty-seven income positions averaging 5.8% — more than five times what the index pays today — and my flagship report covers seven of them in detail, with one number I don’t see anyone else publish: what each position yielded on the day we bought it. Two of the seven yield more today than the day we entered. See the last 4% yields in America →