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 [...]

Founded in 1911, International Business Machines (IBM) is one of the world's oldest tech companies. Today IBM is the largest IT provider for businesses around the world. It operates in five main business segments. Technology Services & Cloud Platforms (43% of revenue, 25% of operating income): provides cloud and project-based outsourcing services to help improve clients' [...]

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (MSFT) is most famous for its Windows operating system, which runs approximately 75% of the world’s computers. However, in recent decades the company has vastly diversified its operations to become a software and hardware powerhouse that operates three distinct business segments: Productivity and Business Processes (33% of sales, growing 20% a year): Office 365 [...]

Intel (INTC) was incorporated in 1968 and is the largest manufacturer of semiconductor chips in the world. Intel’s primary products are microprocessors and chipsets. A microprocessor acts as the brain of computers and many other electronic devices (e.g. servers, tablets, phones, wearable devices). It essentially controls and manages what a computer does by handling communications between the [...]

Qualcomm (QCOM) was founded in 1985 and is a leader in the development and commercialization of digital communication technologies called CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) and OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access), including LTE (Long Term Evolution). The company owns significant intellectual property applicable to products that implement any version of CDMA and OFDMA, including [...]

Newell Brands (NWL) has had an "Unsafe" Dividend Safety Score for more than a year. Meanwhile, the company's stock price has fallen about 40% over the past year and is down 70% from its mid-2017 high. That's sent NWL's dividend yield soaring to its highest levels since the Financial Crisis when the company had to [...]

Target (TGT) was founded in 1902, but the first discount Target store actually didn't open until 1962. Today, Target is one of America's largest retailers with annual sales of approximately $70 billion and more than 1,800 stores across the country. Target’s stores focus on convenient one-stop shopping and competitive discount prices, offering a broad range [...]

Founded in 1903 in Dearborn, Michigan, Ford (F) is one of the largest automakers. In 2018 the company sold 6 million cars, SUVs, and trucks under the Ford and Lincoln brands in North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Last year Ford's worldwide market share was 6%. Ford is a very [...]