High-Yield Stocks You've Never Heard Of

Bruce Berkowitz, founder of the Fairholme Fund (FAIRX), recently added TAL International Group to his portfolio. Fairholme believes in a focused approach to investing, so the portfolio has low turnover rates. It was designed that way because Berkowitz believes that the more companies you own, the more difficult it is to understand all of them. Other favorite plays of Berkowitz include Berkshire Hathaway(BRKA Quote) and EchoStar Communications(DISH Quote). He was nominated by Morningstar as Domestic Stock Manager of the Year for 2006.

Another high-yield play is Seaspan(SSW Quote). Although the company is based in the Marshall Islands, it owns and operates deep-sea container transportation shipping vessels in Hong Kong. It has been paying dividends quarterly for the past seven quarters, and the stock currently yields 6% -- making it a component of our list of the Highest-Yielding BRIC Stocks, which includes the highest-yielding plays from Brazil, Russia, India and China.

Seaspan has a P/E of 25, but quarterly earnings growth was up 66% year over year on similar revenue growth. Investor's Business Daily recently made the company part of its 10 Top-Rated Dividend-Paying Stocks list of companies with solid dividends and healthy fundamentals. Other names on the list include Southern Copper(PCU Quote) and Excel Maritime Carriers(EXM Quote).

Also, Seaspan recently agreed to expand its borrowing limit to $1.3 billion in order to help expansion efforts. CEO Gerry Wang noted that the amended credit facility will help the company expand its fleet and manage its capital structure, as well as pursue acquisitions going forward. One last thing to consider is that retailers have drawn down inventories in recent months, so a buildup could come soon -- leading to a strong second half of the year for containership companies.