Howard Marks, Chairman of Oaktree Capital Management, publishes memos that we enjoy following. He has been investing since the 1960s and maintains a very successful track record. Excerpts from his most recent memo, “It’s Not Easy,” are worth sharing. In the 15-page piece, Marks reviews more than 15 popular nuggets of investment “wisdom,” pointing out their [...]
Will rising interest rates hurt dividend stocks? Many income investors are asking themselves that question as it finally appears 2015 could be the year of higher interest rates. Many so-called “experts” expect the U.S. Federal Reserve to raise key interest rates by the end of the year. The last time the Federal Reserve raised rates was [...]
PM was spun off from MO in 2008, with MO serving the U.S. and PM retaining all international operations. With an industry as simplistic to understand as tobacco, there is temptation to assume that the major players are all similar enough to each other. As you will see, such an assumption is often dangerous...
Charles Dickens might as well have been describing the nature of highly cyclical businesses like CAT when he wrote, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, [...]
Investors were excited by MCD’s recent announcement that it would start selling all-day breakfast beginning next month. The stock finished up nearly 3%, outpacing the market (+1.8%) and its peers (+1%). We are less confident that all-day breakfast will reverse declining domestic store sales and keep MCD out of our Top 20 Dividend Stocks list [...]
At the end of June 2015, Warren Buffett owned nearly $120 billion worth of equities and more than 80 businesses. Buffett’s investment success is largely derived from his exceptional ability to combine common sense valuation principles with impeccable business judgment. Once he finds a company he believes will continue earning reasonably high returns on capital and [...]
As long-term dividend investors, beaten down dividend aristocrats always pique our interest. We often screen through the 150+ dividend stocks that have increased their dividends for at least 20 consecutive years, looking for those that have fallen out of favor. XOM has been one of the twenty worst performers on the list due to, you guessed it, [...]
As long-term dividend investors, we are primarily concerned with finding sources of safe, predictable, and growing income. We do not hold ourselves up nearly high enough to judge what is morally or ethically right or wrong, as practically every company has plenty of issues (both visible and hidden) that could be picked on – the [...]
AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ) are two classic dividend income plays. However, not all dividend yields are created equal - differences in growth rates, competitive advantages, balance sheet health, and more can significantly alter the riskiness of a dividend and a stock's total return potential. While T and VZ might have looked fairly similar several years ago, they have started to diverge in a pretty significant way...
The market is getting anxious after a big 7-year run. US stocks finished their worst week since 2011. Commodity prices are crashing. Interest rates remain near zero around the world. Central banks are stimulating at unprecedented levels. Many emerging markets are already in bear markets. China’s economy is starting to sniffle, which can cause the world to [...]
While WMT’s dividend is completely secure (96 Safety Score) and even offers reasonable growth prospects going forward (60 Growth Score), fundamental concerns about the company’s ability to grow its profits in an environment marked by increasingly upward wage pressure and sluggish sales trends keep the stock OUT of our Top 20 Dividend Stocks list and [...]
JNJ is a core holding in our Conservative Retirees dividend portfolio due to its 3% dividend yield, low business volatility, reasonable valuation, and rock solid fundamentals. The Conservative Retirees dividend portfolio contains 25 stocks with extremely safe dividends and above average dividend yields, providing steady and predictable income while preserving your capital. JNJ was added [...]
KO’s dividend is very safe (94 Safety Score), and it has slightly below average growth potential (47 Growth Score). The stock’s dividend yield is 3.2%, placing it in the 63rd percentile of all current yields (i.e. KO’s yield is higher than 63% of other dividend-paying stocks). For investors seeking moderate but safe income with less concern [...]
PEP is a core holding in our Top 20 Dividend Stocks portfolio because of its extremely safe dividend (94 Safety Score), above average dividend growth prospects (58 Growth Score), and reasonable dividend yield (2.8% yield is in the 56th percentile of all current dividend yields). The stock was added to the portfolio on...
P&G is a core holding in our Conservative Retirees dividend portfolio because of its extremely safe dividend (88 Safety Score) and relatively attractive dividend yield (3.5% yield is in the 67th percentile of all current dividend yields). The stock was added to the Conservative Retiree portfolio, which was built to provide safe and predictable dividend income, [...]