The smartest ASX dividend stocks to buy with $10,000 right now

The ASX dividend stock section of the market is a particularly compelling place to look for opportunities right now because of the better valuations we’re seeing.

When a share price falls, it leads to a higher dividend yield. For example, if a business with a 4% dividend yield sees a share price drop of 10%, the yield becomes 4.4%. There are some businesses that have fallen further than that and look like appealing ideas.

If I were given $10,000 to invest for passive income, these are some of the names I’d go for.

Pinnacle Investment Management Group Ltd (ASX: PNI)

It’s understandable that Pinnacle has suffered a significant decline because of the type of business it is.

Pinnacle takes stakes in fund managers, meaning management fees (from funds under management (FUM)) and performance fees are key aspects of Pinnacle’s profit generation.

I don’t know how Pinnacle’s aggregate FUM has changed during this period, but I’m optimistic that FUM will grow in the long term, particularly from this lower starting point, thanks to regular net inflows and the long track record of funds management outfits (affiliates) like Plato, Hyperion, Firetrail and Coolabah.

I also believe that the ASX dividend stock could expand its fund manager portfolio with new investments in the coming years – this could be a useful time to do so.

Using the dividend forecast on CMC Invest, it could pay a grossed-up dividend yield of more than 7% in FY27, at the time of writing.

L1 Long Short Fund Ltd (ASX: LSF)

L1 Long Short Fund is a listed investment company (LIC) that utilises long-term investing and short-selling to try to generate returns for shareholders.

The LIC could be a smart ASX dividend stock to buy because of its ability to make returns whether the market is going up or down.

The ASX dividend stock points out how, over 51 ‘ASX down market’ months, its long-short strategy has delivered an average return of negative 0.2%, compared to an average decline of 3.1% for the S&P/ASX 200 Accumulation Index (ASX: XJOA). Of course, past performance is not a guarantee of future performance.

Its average return in positive ASX months has been almost the same as the benchmark.

I like how a lot of the strategy’s returns have come from sectors like materials, industrials and communication services – areas that I don’t typically invest in for my own portfolio.

If the business continues growing its payout at the pace it has during FY26 to date, I expect the 2026 financial year grossed-up dividend yield could be 4.9%, including franking credits.

Centuria Industrial REIT (ASX: CIP)

The final ASX dividend stock I want to highlight is this real estate investment trust (REIT) which owns a portfolio of quality industrial properties across metropolitan Australian locations. It owns properties like logistics and distribution facilities, refrigerated warehouses, data centres and so on.

The ASX dividend stock has significant rental income locked in because it has a weighted average lease expiry (WALE) of approximately seven years with high-quality tenants.

Centuria Industrial REIT says that its portfolio is on average 20% under-rented, so as new rental contracts come up for renewal, I’m expecting a significant boost to rental income, which could then help accelerate distribution growth.

The business expects to grow its rental earnings per security by up to 6% in FY26 and the distribution is guided to increase by 3%, translating into a forward distribution yield of 5.4%, at the time of writing.

The post The smartest ASX dividend stocks to buy with $10,000 right now appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Why I just invested in these 2 exciting ASX shares
• 3 shares dumped from the ASX 200 index (and 3 new additions)
• How to invest $10,000 to aim for a 15% dividend yield
• Centuria Industrial REIT declares quarterly distribution for March 2026
• 2 ASX 200 shares I rate as top buys for growth

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has positions in L1 Long Short Fund and Pinnacle Investment Management Group. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Pinnacle Investment Management Group. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Pinnacle Investment Management Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.