Intro

Sean O'Reilly: Energy
In what amounts to a prime example of "throwing the baby out with the bath water", Foolish income-investors should strongly consider adding shares of Spectra Energy (NYSE: SE) to their portfolios. No, I'm not referring to the newest James Bond film, Spectre, I am of course referring to one of the largest natural gas pipeline operators in North America.

Pipelines are one of the last businesses that offer monopoly like characteristics to investors and, despite their "toll collector" nature, have been sold off along with the rest of the energy sector. Shares of Spectra have taken a drumming, falling 32.65%, over the last 12 months, which is even more drastic than the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF's (NYSE:XLE)22.3% drop. This makes little sense, as the company's revenues and profits have remained in line with results in previous years. Despite the fact that both oil and natural gas prices are at multi-year lows, Spectra will remain profitable as long as the United States produces and consumes natural gas. It's just that simple. With a current yield of 5.58%, income-oriented investors would be downright, well, foolish to ignore a rare opportunity to pick up a strong business amid industrywide turmoil.

Kristine Harjes: Healthcare
When it comes to finding a quality dividend-paying stock, I like to search for companies with a strong track record. Not only is Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) a Dividend Aristocrat (meaning it's increased its dividend every year for the past 25 years), it boasts a 53 year streak of dividend increases – greater than any other healthcare company's record – that has resulted in a current yield of 3.12%.

Speaking of bragging rights, J&J is also one of just three companies to boast an AAA credit rating. That's right -- Standard & Poor's considers J&J to have more financial strength and discipline in meeting its obligations than the U.S. government itself.

Johnson & Johnson appears to be in excellent financial shape too – on the back of 31 years of consecutive earnings increases, J&J's dividend payout ratio is a modest 50%, meaning the company has plenty of room to responsibly continue its increases.

Of course, past performance can only go so far – personally, I'm more intrigued by future prospects. And here's where J&J truly begins to shine. Most people know the Johnson & Johnson name from its flagship consumer products like Tylenol and Band-Aid. This consumer segment is certainly a robust business, steadily bringing in revenue year after year regardless of economic conditions (if you need Band-Aids, you need Band-Aids, recession or not) to the tune of $3.3 billion in Q3 2014.

However, the consumer business segment accounted for just 19% of last quarter's total revenue. Medical devices made up 36%, and the rest was attributed to the real driver of J&J's business: pharmaceuticals. It's J&J's continued innovation in this segment that makes me most bullish on the company's future. Drugs like blood-thinner Xarelto, diabetes treatment Invokana, and cancer therapy Imbruvica are some of the more recent success stories, and with plans to file 10 new products for approval by 2019 that each have the potential to cross $1 billion in annual sales, this pharmaceutical powerhouse should continue to be a staple for dividend-seekers.