Wal-Mart: The World's Greatest Retailer, After a Long Hiatus, Is A Solid Buy - Seeking Alpha

Wal-Mart: The World's Greatest Retailer, After a Long Hiatus, Is A Solid Buy - Seeking Alpha: We are going to start the new year off by looking at Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT) , which we believe is a blue-chip growth and dividend income selection that can be purchased at a sound and attractive valuation. Additionally, we offer Wal-Mart with its historical business results and price performance as an excellent example extolling the principles of sound investing versus speculation. We believe the lessons that this analysis offers are both important and invaluable to investors.

Most rational thinking common stock investors intuitively understand, and we believe would agree, that shareholder value is ultimately created through the operating success of the business behind the stock.

Dividend Contenders Smackdown XXII - Seeking Alpha

Dividend Contenders Smackdown XXII - Seeking Alpha: In recent installments of the Smackdown series, I have screened the Dividend Champions (which can be found here) starting with the same factors that I used in the first two Smackdowns (back in mid-2010): Most Recent Percentage Increase (in November) and Yield (in December). This month, I'll start with a new column that I've titled Confidence Factor, which can be found in column BS.

(Note that I have separated the Champions, Contenders, and Challengers into different articles. Champions are 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. I use the same Roman numeral for all three articles.)

Dividend Challengers Smackdown XXII - Seeking Alpha

Dividend Challengers Smackdown XXII - Seeking Alpha: In recent installments of the Smackdown series, I have screened the Dividend Champions (which can be found here) starting with the same factors that I used in the first two Smackdowns (back in mid-2010): Most Recent Percentage Increase (in November) and Yield (in December). This month, I'll start with a new column that I've titled Confidence Factor, which can be found in column BS. (No, it's just a coincidence, really!)

(Note that I have separated the Champions, Contenders, and Challengers into different articles. Champions are 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. I use the same Roman numeral for all three articles.)

Dividend Champions Smackdown XXII - Seeking Alpha

Dividend Champions Smackdown XXII - Seeking Alpha: In recent installments of the Smackdown series, I have screened the Dividend Champions (which can be found here.) starting with the same factors that I used in the first two Smackdowns (back in mid-2010): Most Recent Percentage Increase (in November) and Yield (in December). This month, I'll start with a new column that I've titled Confidence Factor, which can be found in column BS. (No, it's just a coincidence, really!)

(Note that I have separated the Champions, Contenders, and Challengers into different articles to fit more closely into the format preferred by Seeking Alpha. Champions are 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. I use the same Roman numeral for all three articles.)

Wikio

Dividend Champions For January 2012 - Seeking Alpha

Dividend Champions For January 2012 - Seeking Alpha: The Dividend Champions spreadsheet and PDF have been updated through 12/30/11 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.

Patience Rewarded?

Last month, I wrote that I had not yet found the time to add a column for the Confidence Factor, but hoped to do so by year-end, along with the columns for 2011 dividends paid and for 2011 vs. 2010. The latest update now includes those columns and I have reset the formulas for 1-, 3-, 5-, and 10-year Dividend Growth Rate to use the 2011 dividends paid, instead of 2010, as well as expanded the ranges for the Mean and Standard Deviation to include the 2011-vs.-2010 dividend growth. Please note the following:

2012 Dogs Of The Dividend Contenders - Seeking Alpha

2012 Dogs Of The Dividend Contenders - Seeking Alpha: In compiling the Dividend Champions list (found here) I get a chance to screen the database using a number of criteria, and I often run across related strategies that might be of interest to readers. One such approach is the well known “Dogs of the Dow” strategy that simply picks the 10 highest yielding stocks from the Dow Jones Industrial Average at the start of the year and holds them until the end of the year. It was highlighted by the book Beating the Dow by Michael B. O'Higgins and John Downes in 1991 and even has its own website (here).

The success of the Dow Dog strategy has varied in recent years as its popularity has attracted more participants. And there are many variations of the approach, such as a “Small Dogs” version that suggests owning the five lowest-priced stocks from among the 10 high yielders. Naturally, attempts have been made to apply the “Dogs” strategy to other indices or groups of companies, and that brings us to this article.

2012 Dogs Of The Dividend Challengers - Seeking Alpha

2012 Dogs Of The Dividend Challengers - Seeking Alpha: In compiling the Dividend Champions list (found here) I get a chance to screen the database using a number of criteria, and I often run across related strategies that might be of interest to readers. One such approach is the well known “Dogs of the Dow” strategy that simply picks the 10 highest yielding stocks from the Dow Jones Industrial Average at the start of the year and holds them until the end of the year. It was highlighted by the book Beating the Dow by Michael B. O'Higgins and John Downes in 1991 and even has its own website (here).

The success of the Dow Dog strategy has varied in recent years as its popularity has attracted more participants. And there are many variations of the approach, such as a “Small Dogs” version that suggests owning the five lowest-priced stocks from among the 10 high yielders. Naturally, attempts have been made to apply the “Dogs” strategy to other indices or groups of companies, and that brings us to this article.