Boeing (BA) reported first-quarter earnings this morning, telling investors it was withdrawing its 2019 financial guidance and suspending its share repurchases.  Such an announcement usually spells bad news for a stock and its dividend safety prospects, yet shares of Boeing finished the day higher by 0.4%.  All attention was on management's outlook for Boeing's 737 MAX plane [...]

Shortly after Anadarko (APC) agreed to be acquired by Chevron (CVX), Occidental Petroleum (OXY) offered $38 billion to buy Anadarko in a deal valued 20% higher than Chevron's agreement. Oxy has now made a total of three acquisition proposals to Anadarko since late March, and each was higher than the deal announced with Chevron on April 12, according to [...]

Given the historically low nature of interest rates, many income investors have flocked to high-yield industries like mortgage REITs, or mREITs. Apollo Commercial Real Estate (ARI) is one popular mREIT, thanks to its 10% dividend yield.However, while this stock might be an acceptable choice for higher risk investors during a strong economy, it isn't a great [...]

W.P. Carey (WPC) was founded in 1973 by Bill Carey, who helped to pioneer the triple net lease and sale-leaseback REIT business model. W.P. Carey went public in 1998 as a master limited partnership but converted to a REIT in 2012.Today the REIT owns over 1,100 properties located in 25 countries around the world. W.P. [...]

STORE Capital (which stands for Single Tenant Operational Real Estate) is a relatively new triple-net lease REIT, having gone public in 2014. However, the company is led by an experienced management team that previously built three successful triple net lease REITs (FFCA, Spirit Finance, STORE Holding) and has invested over $17 billion in more than [...]

On April 16, United Healthcare (UNH) reported earnings that spooked some investors as its share priced plunged as much as 7% at one point. That decline added to several months of weakness that resulted in the company's stock price falling more than 20% from its all-time high. Let's take a look at why the market is [...]

Founded in 1888, Abbott Laboratories (ABT) is one of the world’s largest medical companies, with a portfolio of leading offerings in diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and branded generic pharmaceuticals. Abbott spun off its research-based pharmaceuticals business AbbVie (ABBV) in January 2013 and has four main business units today. Abbott’s revenues are widely diversified across segments, [...]

Medtronic (MDT) is one of the classic American success stories, having been founded in 1949 by Earl Bakken and his brother-in-law, Palmer Hermundslie, in a Minnesota medical equipment repair shop.Over the course of nearly 70 years, the company has grown into one of the world’s largest medical equipment device companies. Today Medtronic's products help treat [...]

Kraft Heinz (KHC) has roots dating back to 1869, but the company was technically formed in 2015 by the $45 billion merger of Heinz and Kraft that was put together by a partnership of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) and Brazilian private equity firm 3G Capital. This created the fifth largest food maker in the [...]

Founded in 1937, T. Rowe Price (TROW) is one of the world’s largest investment managers. The company uses fundamental and quantitative analysis to create and manage a wide variety of equity and bond funds, which have historically beaten their indexes and thus attracted consistent inflows of investor capital. The company makes most of its money through [...]

Automatic Data Processing (ADP) was founded in 1949 and is one of the largest providers of human capital management (HCM) solutions in the world. ADP offers a wide range of cloud-based software solutions and services, which companies use to pay, recruit, staff, manage, and retain employees.Over 40 million people around the globe depend on ADP [...]

Blackstone (BX) announced it will convert from a publicly traded partnership to a corporation on July 1, 2019. Investors cheered the move, sending shares of BX higher by 7.5%. Let's review Blackstone's rationale for the change and what it could mean for income investors. Blackstone decided to convert from a partnership to a corporation due to tax [...]

Qualcomm (QCOM) shareholders received good news yesterday: the chip maker and Apple agreed to drop all litigation, sending Qualcomm's stock surging more than 20%. In February 2019 we outlined the significant legal risks Qualcomm's core licensing business faced. I recommend skimming our note for more background on the situation, but essentially Qualcomm was accused by Apple and others of [...]

Chevron (CVX) shares fell 5% on Friday after management announced a $33 billion deal to buy Anadarko Petroleum (APC).  As a result of this cash-and-stock acquisition, Chevron's debt load will increase and its payout ratio will rise. Let's take a closer look at why the company wants to buy Anadarko and how the transaction affects Chevron's dividend [...]

Last week Walgreens (WBA) shares fell 13% and reached a five-year low after the pharmacy chain reported a big earnings miss and reduced its guidance. WBA's dividend yield also spiked above 3% to its highest level ever. Let's review why the market has turned so bearish on Walgreens to see if the company's dividend remains [...]