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NORMAN ROTHERY From Saturday's Globe and Mail Published Friday, May. 25, 2012 6:30PM EDT Last updated Friday, May. 25, 2012 7:08PM EDT

The bear market is back and Canadian investors have the claw marks to prove it.

The S&P/TSX composite is now down just over 20 per cent from its highs of early 2011. The European financial crisis and Chinas slowdown have taken a bite out of portfolios and continue to stalk the market.

Fortunately, there is good news even during a rough patch like this. Lower prices can be an opportunity for bargain hunters. In fact, a bear market can be an excellent time to track down a few juicy dividend stocks while theyre on sale.

To guide us in our hunt, lets follow the path of conservative dividend investors a group that has historically done quite well over the long haul.

Investors of this type tend to stick to larger companies because big guys tend to be more stable than small fry, which have the disconcerting habit of swooning after every economic twitch.

When it comes to size, I think its good to employ a two-stage test. Start by looking for firms with market capitalizations in excess of $500-million, then search for those with revenues of $500-million or more. Each factor weeds out slightly different stocks and they work well in combination. For instance, by demanding large revenues you effectively eliminate many speculative junior mining concerns from consideration.

You can get a full list of large Canadian common stocks that trade on the TSX by taking a quick trip to globeinvestor.com's stock filter. If you do so this weekend, youll likely find more than 200 stocks that pass the dual size test.

With such a long list of large Canadian stocks in hand you can develop a good sense of the dividend yields on offer. To form a picture of the dividend landscape, Ive sorted all the stocks into groups based on their yields; Ive then added up the number of stocks in each group. The result is displayed in the accompanying graph, which shows the distribution of large Canadian stocks by dividend yield.

Dividend investors should be pleased that most large Canadian stocks pay dividends because that diversity allows for a good deal of choice when it comes to selecting the best ones for your portfolio.

Continue reading here:
10 dividend stocks for safety-conscious bargain hunters