Don’t be fooled by a counter-trend bounce, Josh Brown said Tuesday, and stick to dividend stocks. “Distributed aristocrats are the place to be,” said the co-founder and CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management on CNBC’s “Halftime Report.” He added, “Companies that pay a dividend, companies that have great cash flow, quality balance sheets, international equities – of international value in particular – that’s where the disc is really going, and I think it will continue.” Prime rates are higher at the beginning of the year. In 2023, the heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped 6% as risk sentiment spurred investors to snap up beaten tech stocks. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 rose more than 2% and 4%, respectively. However, Brown urged investors to back off, because two consecutive weeks of gains don’t necessarily say how the rest of the year will go, especially in a rising interest rate environment. “Why would we all suddenly want to put an end to something that is so clearly mainstream just because of, say, seven great days for penny stocks and bitcoin?” Brown said. “Let’s all relax. The big picture is this: Investors in a rising price environment with kind of a picture, not quite sure, about the economy going forward, they’re going to pick on quality, cash flow, earnings. They do it every time. This. Time won’t be different. The playbook works.” Don’t try to be a hero and don’t try to anticipate the move after the move,” he said. One ETF that tracks so-called aristocrats is the ProShares S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats ETF (NOBL).