J.M. Smucker's (SJM) roots date back to 1897 when founder Jerome Monroe Smucker began selling apple butter from his horse-drawn wagon. Since then, Smucker has grown into a leading purveyor of numerous consumer packaged goods that can be found in an estimated 90% of U.S. households.Smucker's main product lines are coffee (32% of sales), dog food (17%), pet snacks (10%), cat food (10%), peanut butter (10%), and fruit spreads (4%). The company also sells shortening and oils, frozen foods, canned milk, flour, frosting, and baking mixes, but it has been realigning its portfolio to focus less on struggling packaged foods.

About 60% of America's coal is mined by companies that have been through bankruptcy in the past five years, according to data cited by The Wall Street Journal. Only three of the 10 largest U.S. coal producers have not declared bankruptcy during that period, demonstrating the industry's challenges (high capital intensity, secular decline in coal demand, cheap alternatives such as natural gas, etc.). Alliance Resource Partners (ARLP) is one of the few major producers that has not only remained solvent but also continued paying distributions, thanks to its solid balance sheet and low cost of production.

Occidental Petroleum (OXY) reported earnings on November 4, and beleaguered CEO Vicki Hollub kept trying to say all the right things: Oxy's investments will generate 10+% returns at $40 per barrel oilAnadarko cost synergies are on track Protecting Oxy's dividend is still the top priorityThe firm's $10 billion to $15 billion divestiture goal will be reached soonOxy set numerous new production records Management even used the word "excited" nine times on Oxy's conference call, but investors have been much less enthusiastic, sending Oxy's stock falling about 10% over the last two days. (For the sake of comparison, Exxon and Chevron combined to state they were "excited" just once on their latest earnings calls.)

AT&T (T) reported third-quarter results on Monday and provided a three-year capital allocation framework for its business. The company continues making progress paying down debt, underlying business fundamentals remain solid, and management plans to allocate capital more conservatively going forward, including a commitment to avoid big acquisitions. As a result of the firm's improving risk profile, we are upgrading AT&T's Dividend Safety Score to Safe from BorderlineSafe. AT&T investors have faced their fair share of uncertainty in recent years. The firm's major acquisitions of DirecTV in 2015 and Time Warner in 2018 left AT&T with an elevated leverage profile, a debatable growth strategy, and little margin for error.

Shares of Ventas (VTR) tumbled nearly 10% on Friday in an uncharacteristic move for this healthcare REIT known for its stability. Ventas' third-quarter earnings report was the driver. Management cited "unprecedented" weakness in the senior housing market, which drives just over half of the firm's net operating income (NOI). The firm's senior housing operating properties (SHOP), where Ventas partners up to run its own properties rather than lease them out as a landlord, generated 33% of the firm's NOI in 2019. SHOP's same-store NOI fell 5% last quarter.

Last year, we launched an all-new version of Simply Safe Dividends that's 100% free to upgrade to (no price hike, additional fees, etc). The new website improves upon virtually every aspect of the original site and adds ground-breaking new features to our service.For example, the new website's portfolio-monitoring tool adds import and export capabilities, locked table headers, customizable columns, realtime price updates, brokerage account syncing, dividend alert notifications, and more.We've also been investing a lot in our Dividend Safety Score system, and subscribers of the new website will now receive a notification anytime a score changes in their portfolio. That way you're never in the dark about why a score was upgraded or downgraded.There's lots more that's new and improved, [...]

In June, we warned that EQM Midstream Partners' (EQM) Dividend Safety Score could be downgraded if the firm's critical Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project faced further delays. Unfortunately, on October 22, EQM announced that the MVP's estimated completion date has been pushed back once more from mid-2020 to "late 2020" and its projected cost also increased by $500 million to between $5.3 billion and $5.5 billion. This latest setback likely keeps EQM's leverage higher for longer, making it more difficult for EQM to maintain its investment-grade credit rating which management has said is a priority. A downgrade to junk status would raise EQM's cost of capital, potentially hurting its ability to profitably fund its future growth projects.

Founded in 1886 by a pharmacist in Atlanta, Georgia, Coca-Cola (KO) has grown to become the world’s largest drink purveyor and the sixth most valuable brand in the world. It markets over 4,300 products through more than 500 brands in over 200 countries.In fact, Coca-Cola is so geographically diversified that North America accounts for just 37% of overall sales volumes and 28% of operating income. The vast majority of the company’s sales and profits come from a strong core of $1+ billion brands that the company produces in about 900 plants around the world and markets through 24 million global retail outlets.

In June, we warned that EQM Midstream Partners' (EQM) Dividend Safety Score could be downgraded if the firm's critical Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project faced further delays. Unfortunately, on October 22, EQM announced that the MVP's estimated completion date has been pushed back once more from mid-2020 to "late 2020" and its projected cost also increased by $500 million to between $5.3 billion and $5.5 billion. This latest setback likely keeps EQM's leverage higher for longer, making it more difficult for EQM to maintain its investment-grade credit rating which management has said is a priority. A downgrade to junk status would raise EQM's cost of capital, potentially hurting its ability to profitably fund its future growth projects.

General Mills (GIS) was founded in 1866, owning just a single flour mill at the time. After expanding into a number of different industries like restaurants, toys, and even apparel, the company refocused completely on consumer foods in 1995. Today, General Mills sells a diversified mix of packaged meals, cereal, snacks, baking products, yogurt, and more. No category accounts for more than 20% of total sales, and General Mills is also one of the largest U.S. producers of organic packaged food (over 5% of sales are from natural and organic products). The company’s largest brands are Cheerios, Betty Crocker, Yoplait, Pillsbury, Nature Valley, Old El Paso, and Haagen-Dazs, with each brand generating over $1 billion in annual sales.