Stocks we love: 5 big dividends

The drug and medical device maker recently received FDA approval for cholesterol drug Simcor, which could be a worthy contender for Vytorin, a drug created by rivals Merck and Schering-Plough.

And sales of Abbott's important Humira arthritis drug grew 42% over the fourth quarter, a good sign for the company. JPMorgan analyst Michael Weinstein thinks Abbott is worth buying. He expects earnings to grow 14% in 2008.

Abbott currently trades at about 17 times 2008 estimates and offers a dividend yield of 2.6%. And Abbott's dividend has increased 7% annually, on average, over the past five years. To put that in perspective, rivals such as Merck, Wyeth have boosted their payouts to investors by just 1% and 4% on average over the past few years.