Right there in the Q4 2017 earnings press release is the major reason investors flock to Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) and Verizon stock.

In 2017, Verizon paid out $9.5 billion in dividends to shareholders, 2.3% higher than a year earlier. On a per share basis, it boosted the annual payment by five cents to $2.32.

On Jan. 23, I provided a lukewarm endorsement of Verizon stock. 

“I don’t see any reason why income investors wouldn’t want to own VZ stock given its 4.5% yield,” I wrote at the time. “That said, it wouldn’t be on my top-ten list of stocks to buy, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be on yours.”

Now that Verizon stock is yielding 4.9%, I can’t think of any other reason for owning it. As dividend stocks go, Verizon breaks the mold.

Don’t Confuse the Issue

Around the same time as my article, Luke Lango, my InvestorPlace colleague, discussed two reasons why VZ stock could have a big year. 

The first catalyst being the addition of an estimated $4 billion in cash flow as a result of a lower corporate tax rate. Some of that will naturally be spent on capital expenditures. What’s left over is free cash flow, and some of that will go to increased dividends.

The problem with this catalyst is that AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) benefits equally from tax reform so it’s a wash in my opinion.

The second catalyst — rolling out 5G wireless across the U.S. including 3-5 cities in 2018 — will be partially paid for by the increased cash flow resulting from the tax cut.

While it very well could lead the way in the industry’s move to 5G, I’m not sure it’s enough of a catalyst to make me think there’s more to gain than 2%-3% capital appreciation on top of the 4%-5% dividend yield.

Only Income Investors Need Apply

To me, if there were a catalyst for delivering double-digit annual returns for VZ, it would be the company’s Oath segment — AOL and Yahoo — taking digital advertising market share from both Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) and Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) who absolutely own this segment of the advertising industry.

However, that’s not something I would bet my house on. But it could happen, and if it did, that would make non-income investors sit up and take notice.

In Q4 2017, Oath saw revenues increase year-over-year to $2.2 billion on higher holiday ad spending. In the third quarter, Oath revenues were approximately $2.0 billion, the first quarter since the Yahoo acquisition was completed. Annualize that and you get $8.0 billion, less than 10% of Verizon’s annual 2017 revenue of $126.0 billion.

So, even if it were able to bump Oath to 15% of total revenue, I’m not sure even that would be enough to wow investors.

At the end of the day, catalysts such as increased cash flow, 5G rollouts and higher ad revenue merely ensure the dividend keeps coming. And in my opinion, the dividend is the only reason to own Verizon stock, but a very rewarding one nonetheless.

As of this writing, Will Ashworth did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.