The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday, June 28, edition that in Canada, dividend investing is popular due to sectors like banking, utilities and telecommunications paying high dividends. The Globe's guest columnist Gary Christie writes that dividends offer growth and income to protect against market fluctuations. For the Cruncher column Mr. Christie attempts to identify outperforming Canadian stocks that have attractive dividends. He began by screening for Canadian stocks with a market capitalization of $1-billion or more, which accordingly limits his search to the largest and most stable stocks. To find stocks with attractive dividend levels, he screened for dividend yields of 3 per cent or more. To identify stocks with sustainable dividends, he screened for a dividend coverage ratio of 100 per cent or higher. He says this measure reveals how many times the company's earnings can cover the dividend payout -- higher dividend coverage ratios are preferred. Finally, he filtered for Canadian stocks that have outperformed the S&P/TSX 60 Index year-to-date. Mr. Christie's picks are Peyto Exploration & Development, Secure Energy Services, National Bank of Canada, and Manulife Financial.