Founded in 1863, MetLife (MET) offers a range of insurance products (life, dental, disability, vision, and accident and health coverages), annuities, employee benefits, and asset management. In total, the company's services are offered in over 50 countries around the world and serve more than 100 million individual and institutional customers. MetLife operates through five business [...]
Founded in 1994, GameStop (GME) is a video game, consumer electronics, and wireless services retailer. The company operates 7,200 stores in 14 countries in North America, Europe, and Australia. GameStop's core business model is selling new and pre-owned video games, as well as accessories like: controllers, gaming headsets, virtual reality products, memory cards. The company [...]
Individual retirement accounts (IRAs) were first created by Congress in 1974 to help workers take more control over their retirement savings. In 1978 the 401(k) was created, and the Roth IRA came into existence in 1997. With the decline in traditional pensions these individual retirement accounts have become a critical source of retirement income for [...]
High dividend stocks appeal to many investors living off dividends in retirement because their high yields provide generous income. Many of the highest paying dividend stocks offer a high yield in excess of 4%, and some even yield 10% or more. However, not all high yield dividend stocks are safe. Let’s review what high dividend [...]
Founded in 1885, Johnson Controls International (JCI) is a diversified global industrial conglomerate that provides: heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, industrial refrigeration products, energy management services, security products and systems, fire detection systems, and batteries for a variety of vehicles. The company sells to more than 4 million commercial, industrial, retail, residential, small [...]
Ford’s (F) dividend yield has not been this high since shortly before the company suspended its payout in 2006. Following the carmaker’s disappointing second-quarter earnings report and rather vague plans for large-scale restructuring in the years ahead, which sent Ford’s stock price to its lowest level since late 2012, some income investors are wondering if [...]
Founded in 1888 and formerly known as McGraw Hill Financial, S&P Global (SPGI) provide independent ratings, benchmarks, analytics, and data to the capital and commodity markets in 31 countries under several well-known brands including: Standard & Poor’s (S&P), S&P Capital IQ, Platts, and SNL. In 2017, S&P Global rated about $4 trillion in corporate and [...]
With roots tracing back to 1966, Blackstone Mortgage Trust (BXMT) is one of the largest commercial real estate mortgage REITs (mREITs). The firm is externally managed by BXMT Advisors, a subsidiary of Blackstone Group (BX), a world leader in real estate development and investment. BXMT itself has $120 billion in real estate assets under management [...]
Oil prices have soared 60% over the past year, helping drive strong total returns between 20% and 40% for most integrated oil giants such as Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.B), British Petroleum (BP), and Chevron (CVX). However, a notable exception has been Exxon Mobil (XOM), whose stock has returned just 5% during this period, significantly underperforming [...]
The short but heated bidding war between Comcast (CMCSA) and Disney (DIS) for most of Twentieth-Century Fox’s (FOX.A) assets is now mostly over. However, the M&A drama isn't truly done, at least not globally. Let’s take a look at Comcast's decision to give up on its bid, why Comcast continues to battle Disney to buy [...]
Founded in 1837, Deere & Company (DE) manufactures and distributes agriculture and turf, and construction and forestry equipment worldwide. Deere has three operating segments: Agriculture and Turf (68% of 2017 revenue): agriculture and turf equipment including large, medium, and utility tractors; tractor loaders; combines, cotton pickers, cotton strippers, and sugarcane harvesters. This segment also makes related [...]
On July 12, 2018, a Missouri jury ordered Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) to pay $4.7 billion to 22 women who had accused it of giving them ovarian cancer due to asbestos in its name-brand talcum powders. With over 9,000 additional talcum powder cases pending, some investors are worried that this beloved dividend king (55 straight [...]
Founded in 1898, International Paper (IP) is the world's largest global paper and packaging company with a No. 1 position in all of its key markets, which span North America, Europe, Latin America, North Africa, India, and Russia. The company owns over 290 facilities and has a total capacity of more than 20 million tons [...]
Wells Fargo has been fighting a number of scandals that are impacting its fundamentals. Let's take a look at how the bank's turnaround efforts are going and what they mean for dividend investors. More Scandals Continue To Surface At this point, Wells Fargo has become well-known for its ever-growing list of scandals which include: [...]
On July 12, just one month after the Justice Department's antitrust lawsuit to block AT&T's merger with Time Warner was rejected by U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon, the Justice Department appealed the ruling. What does this mean for dividend investors? After all, AT&T already merged with Time Warner on June 15. Let's take [...]