Saturday, October 26, 2013

For Maximum Total Return, Go For Growth [Apple Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Starbucks Corporation, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc., Coach, Inc., Colgate-Palmolive Company, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp, Monster Beverage Corp] - Seeking Alpha

For Maximum Total Return, Go For Growth [Apple Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Starbucks Corporation, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc., Coach, Inc., Colgate-Palmolive Company, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp, Monster Beverage Corp] - Seeking Alpha: Disclosure: I am long AAPL, CTSH, MIDD, GMCR, JNJ, CL. (More...)

Introduction

Not all investors are the same. Therefore, not all investors share the same goals and objectives. Consequently, there are numerous strategies and investing methods available to choose from. Moreover, it also goes without saying that the investment strategy that's right for me may not be right for you. For that reason, it's imperative that each individual looks for the strategy that is right for their own individual goals, objectives, risk tolerances and status. By status, I'm referring to how many years you have left before retirement.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Dividend Contenders: 37 Increases Possible By New Year's Eve [NIKE, Inc., Ecolab Inc., Perrigo Company, Aaron's, Inc.] - Seeking Alpha

Dividend Contenders: 37 Increases Possible By New Year's Eve [NIKE, Inc., Ecolab Inc., Perrigo Company, Aaron's, Inc.] - Seeking Alpha: In compiling the Dividend Champions list (found here: http://dripinvesting.org/Tools/Tools.asp ) I get to see which companies are nearing the anniversaries of their previous dividend increases. Since most of these firms raise their payout about the same time every year, I can say with some confidence that they are likely to do so again. I have modified the Expected Increase series to reflect a more SA-friendly format by separating the Champions (25 or more years of higher dividends), Contenders (10-24 years), and Challengers (5-9 years) into distinct groupings, so please look for the other articles, which I hope will be published about the same time.


Friday, October 18, 2013

Trying To Beat The Market Is A Fool's Errand [The Coca-Cola Company, SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, PepsiCo, Inc., J.C. Penney Company, Inc., Celgene Corporation, Consolidated Edison, Inc., The Clorox Co, Monster Beverage Corp, Motorola Solutions Inc] - Seeking Alpha

Trying To Beat The Market Is A Fool's Errand [The Coca-Cola Company, SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, PepsiCo, Inc., J.C. Penney Company, Inc., Celgene Corporation, Consolidated Edison, Inc., The Clorox Co, Monster Beverage Corp, Motorola Solutions Inc] - Seeking Alpha: Introduction

Proponents of indexing as the best investment strategy seem to take great delight in reporting how the vast majority of professionally managed portfolios (mutual funds, separately managed accounts, hedge funds, ETFs, etc.) fail to outperform the S&P 500. Therefore, they argue, it is best not to even try. Investors should simply invest in index funds and forget about it.

At first glance, this would appear logical because in truth their statistics are true and valid. On a total return basis, the vast majority of investor funds that are professionally managed do in fact underperform the S&P 500 on a total return basis. However, with this article I intend to illustrate that there is a significant flaw with this line of reasoning.

Dividend Champions: 21 Increases Expected By December 31 [AFLAC Incorporated, Nucor Corporation, VF Corp, Vectren Corp, Cintas Corporation, Eaton Vance Corp, Stepan Company, Tennant Company] - Seeking Alpha

Dividend Champions: 21 Increases Expected By December 31 [AFLAC Incorporated, Nucor Corporation, VF Corp, Vectren Corp, Cintas Corporation, Eaton Vance Corp, Stepan Company, Tennant Company] - Seeking Alpha: In compiling the Dividend Champions list (found here: http://dripinvesting.org/Tools/Tools.asp ) I get to see which companies are nearing the anniversaries of their previous dividend increases. Since most of these firms raise their payout about the same time every year, I can say with some confidence that they are likely to do so again. I have modified the Expected Increase series to reflect a more SA-friendly format by separating the Champions (25 or more years of higher dividends), Contenders (10-24 years), and Challengers (5-9 years) into distinct groupings, so please look for the other articles, which I hope will be published about the same time.

Saturday, October 12, 2013

10 of The Best From The Buffett Table ? The Passive Income Earner

10 of The Best From The Buffett Table � The Passive Income Earner: Investing legend Warren Buffett is one of the greatest value investors of all time, but he is also a brilliant FX trader. Here are 10 FX nuggets from the Buffett table.

1. Buffett quote: “Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing.”
Some investors jump into FX trading looking for a quick profit. For the novice, currency trading carries increased risk due to the lack of a regulated exchange and the need to predict near-term currency movement driven by national policy. The real risk, however, is leaping without learning the ropes first.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Which Popular Dividend Growth Stocks Are 'Always' Undervalued? [Apple Inc.] - Seeking Alpha

Which Popular Dividend Growth Stocks Are 'Always' Undervalued? [Apple Inc.] - Seeking Alpha: This article is a companion to "Which Popular Dividend Growth Stocks Are Always Overvalued?"

Coming from the opposite direction from that article, here I use F.A.S.T. Graphs to identify which stocks from the 59 most commonly held dividend growth stocks persistently have traded at valuations that are lower than what F.A.S.T. Graphs presents as "earnings justified" valuation.

On the graphs in this article:

The orange line represents "fair value" as determined by F.A.S.T. Graphs, which apply Ben Graham's valuation formulas to each stock's earnings record.

Medtronic, Inc. (MDT): What Is Due Diligence? Here's How I Do It - Seeking Alpha

Medtronic, Inc. (MDT): What Is Due Diligence? Here's How I Do It - Seeking Alpha: The lexicon of the financial world is full of phrases and jargon that are often tossed about without considering that there may be those who are not exactly familiar with the true meaning of the terms. It recently came to my attention that due diligence may be one of those idioms. In my own writings, I routinely recommend that readers conduct their own due diligence and/or comprehensive research. However, I recently had a reader ask me exactly what due diligence was and how to do it?

AT&T Inc. (T): Why I Prefer AT&T To Apple [Apple Inc.] - Seeking Alpha

AT&T Inc. (T): Why I Prefer AT&T To Apple [Apple Inc.] - Seeking Alpha: Forget what you've read about iOS7, iPhone 5C, China sales and the rest of the various and sundry device hype. AT&T (T) is a better buy than Apple (AAPL).

If we've learned anything from the performance of Apple's business and stock over the past 18 months or so, it's that the iconic device provider is no sure thing. And although the tech company pays a fat quarterly dividend of $3.05 per share, investors shouldn't confuse this name for an income stock.

Monday, October 7, 2013

Which Popular Dividend Growth Stocks Are 'Always' Overvalued? [PepsiCo, Inc., The Clorox Co, Paychex, Inc.] - Seeking Alpha

Which Popular Dividend Growth Stocks Are 'Always' Overvalued? [PepsiCo, Inc., The Clorox Co, Paychex, Inc.] - Seeking Alpha: I have noticed a couple of themes emerging in dividend articles over the past year. One theme revolves around valuation, with some suggesting that dividend stocks were in a bubble or significantly overvalued. Another theme has centered on "high quality" companies, and whether investors need sometimes to "pay up" for quality.

Putting the two themes together very recently, there has been discussion about Coca-Cola (KO) being a high quality company that never seems not to be overvalued. In the course of those discussions, it became clear that many feel that KO "always" trades at a premium valuation, so if you want to own it, you might as well accept that you'll need to pay up for it.

Friday, October 4, 2013

'Overdue' Dividend Increases: 11 Streaks On 'Death Watch' [Intel Corporation, Best Buy Co., Inc., NuStar Energy L.P., TECO Energy, Inc.] - Seeking Alpha

'Overdue' Dividend Increases: 11 Streaks On 'Death Watch' [Intel Corporation, Best Buy Co., Inc., NuStar Energy L.P., TECO Energy, Inc.] - Seeking Alpha: In compiling the Dividend Champions list. I get to see which companies are nearing the anniversaries of their previous dividend increases. Most of these firms raise their payout about the same time every year, but some companies go longer before boosting their dividends, and this can raise concerns about their streaks of increases.

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

10 By 15: What Happens With Low-Yield High-DGR Stocks - Seeking Alpha

10 By 15: What Happens With Low-Yield High-DGR Stocks - Seeking Alpha: In "10 by 10 The Interaction of Dividend Yield and Growth," I discussed the interaction of various initial dividend yields (IY) with various dividend growth rates (DGR).

The context of the original 10 by 10 concept relates to achieving a target: 10% yield on cost in 10 years from dividend increases alone. In other words, given a particular starting yield, how long does it take to get to the target for various rates of dividend growth? (Dividend reinvestment, which speeds up the process, is ignored.)

Dividend Champions For October 2013 [Intel Corporation, Yum! Brands, Inc., Dynex Capital Inc, PennantPark Investment Corp., PetSmart, Inc., Tyco International Ltd., Kaydon Corporation, Met-Pro Corporation] - Seeking Alpha

Dividend Champions For October 2013 [Intel Corporation, Yum! Brands, Inc., Dynex Capital Inc, PennantPark Investment Corp., PetSmart, Inc., Tyco International Ltd., Kaydon Corporation, Met-Pro Corporation] - Seeking Alpha: The Dividend Champions spreadsheet and PDF have been updated through 9/30/13 and are available here. Note that all references to Champions mean companies that have paid higher dividends for at least 25 straight years; Contenders have streaks of 10-24 years; Challengers have streaks of 5-9 years. "CCC" refers to the universe of Champions, Contenders, and Challengers.