In his latest column for MSN Money’s Top Stocks, Validea CEO John Reese highlights a handful of high-dividend stocks he thinks are worth a look right now. 

“In the months leading up to the fiscal deal, high-dividend stocks have been taking some hits,” Reese writes. “While fiscal cliff and higher taxes on dividends may not be the only reason, no doubt these concerns were playing some role in dividend stocks’ sluggishness.”

But, he says, the declines “have shaken some of the excess bullish sentiment out of high dividend plays, which had gotten fairly pricey earlier this year as investors, starved for yield in the current low-interest-rate environment, flocked to them. What’s more, there’s some intriguing research showing that, historically, high-dividend stocks haven’t suffered when dividend taxes have been high or increasing dramatically.”

Reese discusses that research, and looks at five high-dividend plays that his Guru Strategies — each of which is based on the approach of a different investing great — are high on right now. Among them: Japanese telecom NTT Docomo.