The Globe and Mail warns investors in its Wednesday edition to watch out for yield traps when hunting for beaten-down dividend stocks. The Globe's Rob Carrick writes that many high yielding stocks on the TSX have been whacked in the recent market pullback, while others have been more resilient. It is the former group where you find the yield traps. As market conditions got stressful, investors chose to eject these stocks from their portfolios. If market conditions worsen, these stocks would presumably continue to plunge. That is what Mr. Carrick means about yield traps. You buy for the juicy dividend payout, but have to contend with a falling share price. Worst case, the plunge in share price foreshadows a dividend cut or suspension. Mr. Carrick says Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan and BCE are likely not yield traps. Potash has a 5.5-per-cent yield and a one-year loss of 3.5 per cent. Considering Potash is a commodity stock, it has held up rather well. The dividend was actually increased at the beginning of this year. BCE offers a yield of 4.9 per cent and a one-year total return of 12.7 per cent. BCE's had a yield in the 5-per-cent range for a while now. Mr. Carrick says that is normal for this stock.