The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday, Sept. 21, edition that dividend growth is great, but it is even better with a side order of dividend momentum. The Globe's Rob Carrick defines momentum as a company showing much stronger dividend growth in the past 12 months than in the previous five-year period. Mr. Carrick says this is only a rough guide to future dividend increases. A company might get cocky and increase dividends in a way that proves unsustainable. However, a spike in dividend growth can also suggest a company sees better times ahead. Mr. Carrick says check the financials of a company with recent dividend growth momentum to get a sense of whether it is a one-shot deal. For some ideas on companies to investigate, Mr. Carrick ran a screen in which stocks in the S&P/TSX 60 index were ranked by their one-year dividend growth rate. Mr. Carrick then pulled out stocks where the one-year growth rate was significantly higher than the annualized five-year rate. One name that came up was Fortis ($41.64). Mr. Carrick says this dividend growth stalwart boosted its payout by 10.3 per cent in the past 12 months, up from a five-year average of 5.3 per cent.