The longer we live in a zero interest rate world, finding quality investments to generate the income you might need from your portfolio becomes harder. However, yield-chasing is one of most dangerous activities investors can engage in.

Restrict your search to dividend stocks with solid fundamentals and avoid those where the potential for loss is far greater than the 3-4% dividend yield you might earn. Here are three risky stocks to sell:

Pfizer (PFE)

Pfizer (PFE) has been a yield-seeker favorite for many years now as it has always paid a generous dividend. In fact, PFE stock yields 3.54%, which is pretty attractive in a world of sub-3% treasury bonds.

However, business is fairly weak for Pfizer, and it recently failed to takeover AstraZeneca (AZN) and move to the more tax-friendly United Kingdom. PFE will be lucky to obtain single-digit growth rates for the next several years as Pfizer sales are expected to continue declining though 2015.

As the deterioration in fundamentals has continued for Pfizer, Portfolio Grader lowered PFE stock to an “F” and a “strong sell” this week.

General Electric (GE)

Some folks are fond of saying that when you buy General Electric (GE) you are basically buying the world economy because there are few businesses that GE is not involved in.  So, to a large degree, saying GE is representative of world economy is a true statement.

Unfortunately, with the world economy barely growing, maybe owning GE isn’t the wisest move right now.

While GE distributes an appealing 3.39% dividend, slow sales and earnings growth should decrease your interest in GE stock. Business is just not that great at GE right now, and Portfolio Grader lowered GE stock to “D” back in June. GE stock is a “sell” at current prices.

Mattel (MAT)

Investors might want to bottom fish Mattel (MAT) because of its generous 4.4% dividend yield, but the toy business is horrible right now.  According to Forbes, Mattel just lost the number one toy-maker spot to Lego.

Barbie is the backbone of the MAT empire, and sales have been sagging as of late. Mattel is taking steps to move the Barbie franchise into the digital age with a series of programs and apps, but so far, Mattel hasn’t gained much traction. MAT posted two huge negative earnings surprises in a row, and analysts lowered expectations for both 2014 and 2015.

Portfolio Grader downgraded MAT stock to an “F” back in June, and MAT stock remains a “strong sell.”

Buying shares of well-known companies with high dividend payouts may give investors comfortable, secure feelings initially, but those feelings will evaporate quickly when the shares fall by four or five times the dividend rate. When looking for yield, focus on high quality stocks with the best fundamentals.

Louis Navellier is a renowned growth investor. He is the editor of five investing newsletters: Blue Chip Growth, Emerging Growth, Ultimate Growth, Family Trust and Platinum Growth. His most popular service, Blue Chip Growth, has a track record of beating the market 3:1 over the last 14 years. He uses a combination of quantitative and fundamental analysis to identify market-beating stocks. Mr. Navellier has made his proven formula accessible to investors via his free, online stock rating tool, PortfolioGrader.com. Louis Navellier may hold some of the aforementioned securities in one or more of his newsletters.