10 High Yield Momentum Stocks

Once per month I run a high-yield dividend stock momentum screen and use the results to manage a hypothetical stock portfolio on Scott's Investments. The strategy did relatively well in 2010 and is one I continue to track because of its promise. In recent months I have also done a variation of this strategy with the Dividend Champions list in which I only search stocks that have had a history of raising dividends for 25-plus years. The screen looks for high yielding high momentum stocks and last month's list is here. I screen the S&P 500 for stocks yielding greater than 4% and then rank them by six-month returns. There were 6 results on July 10th (as opposed to 47 last month) and per a previous... more

7 Tech Stocks With Rising Dividends and Good Liquidity Coverage

A company’s dividend can be funded from various sources, although some are preferred over others. The most preferable is cash from operations, but in the event that a company’s operations suffer from a temporary dip, the dividend can be maintained by cash holdings or selling other liquid sources such as securities. Therefore, highly liquid companies are often more likely to have sustainable dividends. We ran a screen on tech-sector dividend stocks for those that have seen significant increases in dividend per share, with the current year estimate at least 10% higher than last year’s dividend. We then searched for those with most recent quarter current assets at least 20% higher than current liabilities. We controlled for sustainable dividend yields below 7% and payout ratios below... more

Cummins Inc. Increases Dividend by More Than 50 Percent

The Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI) Board of Directors today increased the Company’s quarterly cash dividend on common stock by 52 percent to 40 cents per share from 26.25 cents per share.... more

ConAgra Foods Announces Dividend Payment

The board of directors of ConAgra Foods, Inc., (NYSE: CAG) approved a dividend payment of $0.23 per common share to be paid on Sept. 1, 2011, to stockholders of record at the close of business on July 29, 2011.... more

15 Dividend Stocks Trading Below Their Calculated Fair Value

Price is what you pay. Value is what you get. -Warren Buffett This is one of my all-time favorite Buffett quotes. In ten small words the entire philosophy of value investing is conveyed. The inherent message is that price and value aren't necessarily the same. This is how value investors make money in the stock market - buying stocks for less than their fair value. When selecting dividend growth stocks, I take a value approach in determining the maximum price I can pay and still obtain my long-term target. The focus is on the investment's value derived from the future dividend stream generated by the stock. Since I am looking at stocks differently than many other investors, I can often find value, as I have defined it, when others can not. Here is how I calculate Fair... more

6 Small-Cap Oil and Gas Equities That Yield More Than 7%

There is a great deal of yield to be found amongst the small cap oil & gas operators, and higher oil prices tend to be a positive for these petroleum explorers, drillers and distributors. Many of these companies have stalled recently, following oil prices. Some of these companies could present a strong investment to fight any future inflation. Nonetheless, many have moved up quite a bit over the past two years, so investors should be wary of buying high. In any event, the recent pullback in oil has generally brought down these equities, though not their yield. The following chart lists six American small-cap oil and gas equities that currently yield more than 7%; BBEP, CLMT, ENP, FGP, MMLP and MVO. Do... more

John Paulson's Favorite High-Dividend Stock Picks

John Paulson is the most successful hedge fund manager of the past four years. He made $4 billion by betting against subprime mortgage investments in 2007 and another $5 billion by betting on gold and the recovery of the economy in 2010. John Paulson’s dividend stocks gained 20.1% in the last 12 months, vs. a 28.9% gain for the S&P 500 (SPY). (See Paulson's current top holdings here ). WSJ reports that Paulson's Advantage Plus fund lost more than 13% this month through June 10, bringing its YTD losses to 19.65%. ( Here are the details ). We compiled Paulson's dividend stock picks at the end of March. We required a minimum dividend yield of 2%; yields were obtained from Yahoo Finance. Here are Paulson's favorite dividend stock picks: 1. Lorillard Inc... more

PACCAR Increases Quarterly Cash Dividend

PACCAR’s (Nasdaq: PCAR) Board of Directors today declared a 50 percent increase to the quarterly cash dividend to eighteen cents ($.18) per share from twelve cents ($.12), payable September 6, 2011, to stockholders of record at the close of business on August 18, 2011.... more

Managed High Yield Plus Fund Inc. Dividend Declaration and Fund Statistics

Managed High Yield Plus Fund Inc. (the "Fund") (HYF), a closed-end management investment company, today announced that the Fund’s Board of Directors has declared a dividend from net investment income of $0.0200 per share. The dividend is payable on July 29, 2011 to shareholders of record as of July 21, 2011. The ex-dividend date is July 19, 2011.... more

Finding the Best Dividends in Insurance

An insurance company can generate tons of cash. Just ask Warren Buffett; he built Berkshire Hathaway on the shoulders of insurance businesses. If you're unfamiliar with how this works, here's a very simplified version, using car insurance as our example: You buy a car insurance policy and pay monthly premiums to your insurer. The insurance company takes that money -- called the float -- and invests it. If you get in an accident, the insurance company pays your claim. If you don't, it keeps your money and continues to invest it. The investments that companies make with this money are incredibly important. In some cases, a company may pay out more in claims than it brings in on premiums -- but in the end, it's OK because the company invested the money wisely in the interim. These... more