P&G’s earnings report was well received by the market last week. Currency-neutral earnings per share grew 12%, margins expanded nicely, and management’s expectations for improving organic sales growth trends were reaffirmed. After analyzing the report, we are happy to keep P&G in our Conservative Retirees dividend portfolio. However, many investors remain concerned about underlying volume trends [...]
From 2012 to 2014, CAT’s stock generated an annualized return of 2.8%, significantly trailing the market’s annualized return of 20%. Year-to-date, CAT is down 22% and lags the market by more than 20%. As the commodity super cycle fueled by China’s unsustainable infrastructure growth continues unwinding, it comes as no surprise to see CAT struggle over the [...]
At Simply Safe Dividends, we love nothing more than to find an easy-to-understand, time-tested, high quality dividend grower trading at a reasonable valuation. Not surprisingly, we frequently review our list of all 52 dividend aristocrats to hunt for companies that have demonstrated great consistency. During our review, we look for businesses with strong competitive advantages that protect [...]
AT&T (T) reports its first quarterly results including DirecTV this week. We think the cost synergies management expects to generate from the deal over the next three years are reasonable – greater negotiating power to buy content at cheaper rates, marketing synergies, more concentrated truck-rolls to service customers, supply chain benefits from set-top boxes, less [...]
PEP reported quarterly results last week, beating expectations and reinforcing the key reasons why we have like the stock. We continue to believe PEP has a clearer and, as of today, brighter future than Coca-Cola (KO). The ongoing trends that drove PEP’s strong quarter suggest that the strategic differences between PEP and KO will only [...]
EMR’s stock price has plunged by more than 25% in 2015. Many of the company’s markets are being impacted by falling oil prices, sluggish industrial spending trends, manufacturing weakness in China, and a strong US dollar. We believe the company’s dividend is very safe and will continue to grow each year, maintaining EMR’s status as [...]
While dividends have historically accounted for 20-40% of the stock market's total return, dividend investors need to remember that changes in the stock's price still account for the majority of returns. In our opinion, some of the biggest factors that can determine how much a stock moves are: (1) the industry it operates in; (2) [...]
With Q3 wrapping up last week, what did we learn from the market? One helpful form of analysis is to look at the best performing dividend stocks to see if any trends emerge. Our search for the 10 best dividend stocks of Q3 looked at dividend-paying stocks with market caps greater than $400 million and a current [...]
GM has been nothing short of an extremely disappointing business (and investment) for more than a decade. Market share losses, chronically unprofitable operations, ballooning pension and healthcare obligations, safety issues, vehicle recalls, a massive government bailout during the financial crisis, and more have left investors’ skeptical of GM since its relisting in late 2010. More [...]
Rapid growth in digital advertising is sending ripples throughout the marketing landscape. This year has seen an unprecedented level of media reviews by some of the biggest advertisers in the world as they seek to optimize their marketing spend and partner with the most tech-savvy advertising agencies. Not surprisingly, the dominant advertising agencies are scrambling [...]