Founded in 1928, Genuine Parts Company (GPC) is one of the largest replacement part makers in the automotive, industrial, office equipment, and electronics industries. The company markets its products in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Mexico through a large network including over 100 North American auto and industrial distribution centers and over 6,700 [...]
Founded in 1940, McDonald's (MCD) is the world's largest quick-serve restaurant chain, with about 37,000 locations in more than 100 countries. Approximately 93% of its locations are franchised, meaning the stores are owned and operated by independent business owners. The company's goal is to eventually have 95% of its stores franchised. Under a typical franchise [...]
Hormel Foods (HRL) was founded in 1891 and has proven to be one of the most resilient food providers in the world. The company’s brands include Skippy peanut butter, SPAM meat, Dinty Moore stew, Wholly Guacamole dips, Jennie-O turkey, and numerous Hormel-branded meat products. Perishable products (fresh meats, frozen items, refrigerated meals) account for 56% [...]
VEREIT (VER) offers a high dividend yield near 6.5%, making the REIT potentially attractive for many income investors. However, with VEREIT's dividend frozen since 2015 and its adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) per share expected to decline for a fifth straight year in 2019, how safe is VEREIT's dividend? Let's take a closer look at [...]
Tanger Factory Outlet Centers' (SKT) dividend yield has soared from 4% in early 2017 to 7% today. Despite the REIT's track record of increasing its dividend each year since becoming a public company in May 1993, some income investors are worried about the payout's safety. Let's take a closer look at Tanger's recent struggles and assess [...]
BT Group (BT), the largest provider of broadband and mobile services in Britain, sports a 6% dividend yield. Given the generally stable nature of many telecom stocks, BT may appear to be an attractive holding for a retirement portfolio. However, with the company's turnaround efforts struggling, a new CEO taking the helm, and a need [...]
Public Storage (PSA) was founded in 1972 and is America’s largest self-storage REIT, owning over 2,400 storage rental properties in 38 states and seven European countries. The company also owns a 42% stake in PS Business Parks (PSB), which leases out commercial space to small and mid-size businesses, and 35% of Shurgard Europe, which owns [...]
Founded in 1994, Crown Castle International (CCI) began operating as a real estate investment trust (REIT) in 2014 for tax purposes and is the largest provider of shared wireless infrastructure in the country. Crown Castle owns and leases more than 40,000 towers and 65,000 miles of fiber supporting small cell networks across every major U.S. [...]
After a busy 2018 in which Enbridge (ENB) rolled up its MLPs to simplify its corporate structure, management delivered some bad news on March 1, 2019, announcing a one-year delay on the firm's $6.8 billion Line 3 Replacement Project. Shares fell as much as 6% the next trading day, causing some income investors to wonder what this [...]
In October 2018 Antero Midstream GP LP (AMGP) and Antero Midstream Partners LP (AM) announced plans for AMGP to acquire AM in a stock and cash deal. In connection with this transaction, AMGP converted into a corporation, was renamed Antero Midstream Corporation, and began trading under the ticker symbol AM on March 13, 2019. Antero Midstream Partners [...]
Shares of Boeing (BA) slumped more than 10% this week following news of the second crash of its most important plane model in the last five months. With regulators and airlines worldwide grounding their 737 MAX fleets until more is known, Boeing faces increased scrutiny and potentially fast-rising financial obligations. Income investors attracted to the [...]
Founded in 1945 in Bentonville, Arkansas, Walmart (WMT) is the world’s largest retailer and operates on a truly staggering scale. For example, its 2.2 million employees serve 275 million consumers per week in 27 nations via a network of more than 11,000 stores that collectively sell over $500 billion of merchandise per year. Approximately 50% [...]
Apple (AAPL) was one of the pioneers in personal computing but has since grown to become one of the world's most dominant forces in consumer electronics with more than $260 billion in annual revenue. Today the company produces numerous consumer devices, including smartphones, desktop and laptop computers, tablets, smartwatches, voice-controlled smart speakers, TV boxes, and [...]
Texas Instruments (TXN) is one of the oldest tech businesses in the world, having been founded in 1930. Over the course of nearly 90 years, the company has proven itself to not only be remarkably adaptive but also a leading pioneer in the semiconductor industry. In 1958, for example, Texas Instruments employee (and future Nobel [...]
American Tower (AMT) was founded in 1995 and converted to a REIT business structure in late 2011, minimizing its taxes on its real estate assets and kicking off its dividend program. The company owns a portfolio of approximately 171,000 towers that are located mostly in suburban and rural areas and leased out to wireless carriers [...]