Is Altera's Dividend Safe?

Here, we'll highlight a given company and its closest competitors to see just how safe their dividends are, with a little help from three crucial tools: The interest coverage ratio, or earnings before interest and taxes, divided by interest expense. The interest coverage ratio measures a company's ability to pay the interest on its debt. An interest coverage ratio less than 1.5 is questionable; a number less than one means that the company is not bringing in enough money to cover its interest expenses. The EPS payout ratio, or dividends per share divided by earnings per share. The EPS payout ratio measures the percentage of earnings that go toward paying the dividend. A ratio greater than 80% is worrisome. The FCF payout ratio, or dividends per share divided by free cash... more

Is McCormick's Dividend Safe?

Here, we'll highlight a given company and its closest competitors to see just how safe their dividends are, with a little help from three crucial tools: The interest coverage ratio, or earnings before interest and taxes, divided by interest expense. The interest coverage ratio measures a company's ability to pay the interest on its debt. An interest coverage ratio less than 1.5 is questionable; a number less than one means that the company is not bringing in enough money to cover its interest expenses. The EPS payout ratio, or dividends per share divided by earnings per share. The EPS payout ratio measures the percentage of earnings that go toward paying the dividend. A ratio greater than 80% is worrisome. The FCF payout ratio, or dividends per share divided by free cash... more

Is Service Corporation International's Dividend Safe?

Here, we'll highlight a given company and its closest competitors to see just how safe their dividends are, with a little help from three crucial tools: The interest coverage ratio, or earnings before interest and taxes, divided by interest expense. The interest coverage ratio measures a company's ability to pay the interest on its debt. An interest coverage ratio less than 1.5 is questionable; a number less than one means that the company is not bringing in enough money to cover its interest expenses. The EPS payout ratio, or dividends per share divided by earnings per share. The EPS payout ratio measures the percentage of earnings that go toward paying the dividend. A ratio greater than 80% is worrisome. The FCF payout ratio, or dividends per share divided by free cash... more

7 Vastly Undervalued, Dividend-Paying, Mining Opportunities

The following seven mining equities have been steeply sold off over the past month based on numerous catalysts. Ironically, none of these events has altered the underlying dynamics rousing the unbelievable run in these names. The emerging market demand for the some of the products these companies mine is in its early stages of growth. China, India, and Brazil are on the cusp of becoming developed nations and have insatiable needs that will not be quelled anytime soon. Regarding gold and silver, inflation created by the fiat currency wars will continue to create value in each of these precious metal commodities. The recent sell off should be seen as a buying opportunity created by oversold conditions and margin requirement adjustments. These stocks are depressed by an average of... more

2 High-Yield Short Squeeze Candidates

Here we offer a very interesting way to look for attractive income investments – by searching for short squeeze candidates that have enough operating cash flow and levered free cash flow to cover their high-yield dividends. We began this search by screening for high-yield stocks (between 4-7%) that were also short squeeze candidates, with short float above 10%.click for expanded image From this universe, we then searched for those stocks with enough TTM operating cash flow and TTM levered free cash flow to cover their annual dividend. Do you think these dividends are sustainable? Use this list as a starting-off point for your own analysis.1. CBL & Associates Properties Inc. (CBL): REIT Industry. Market cap of $2.77B. Short float at 12.31%, equivalent to 11.12 days of average... more

Why Dividend Stocks Are Not a Separate Asset Class

Fellow dividend investor Dave Van Knapp posted an interesting article explaining why dividend growth stocks could be seen as a separate asset class.An asset class is a group of securities that exhibit similar characteristics, behave similarly in the marketplace, and are subject to the same laws and regulations. The three main asset classes are equities (stocks), fixed-income (bonds) and cash equivalents (instruments). Some investors also classify real estate and commodities as a separate asset class.I certainly disagree that dividend stocks are a separate asset class. To say that dividend stocks are a separate asset class is similar to saying that growth stocks are a separate asset class as well. As I explained in a previous article, dividend stocks are equities and not a separate asset... more

30 Dividend Challengers of the (Near) Future

The Dividend Champions spreadsheet and PDF have been updated through 4/29/11 and are available here. N ote 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. The term “CCC” refers to the listing as a whole. Companies in Waiting As companies extend their streaks, usually with annual announcements of increases, Contenders graduate to Champion status and even more Challengers graduate to Contender status. That leaves it to new companies to replenish the Challengers list, and there are many firms working their way toward inclusion. Since last fall, I have been building a listing of those companies that have paid higher... more

Is Graco's Dividend Safe?

Here, we'll highlight a given company and its closest competitors to see just how safe their dividends are, with a little help from three crucial tools: The interest coverage ratio, or earnings before interest and taxes, divided by interest expense. The interest coverage ratio measures a company's ability to pay the interest on its debt. An interest coverage ratio less than 1.5 is questionable; a number less than 1 means that the company is not bringing in enough money to cover its interest expenses. The EPS payout ratio, or dividends per share divided by earnings per share. The EPS payout ratio measures the percentage of earnings that go toward paying the dividend. A ratio greater than 80% is worrisome. The FCF payout ratio, or dividends per share divided by free cash... more

Is Rockwell Collins's Dividend Safe?

Here, we'll highlight a given company and its closest competitors to see just how safe their dividends are, with a little help from three crucial tools: The interest coverage ratio, or earnings before interest and taxes, divided by interest expense. The interest coverage ratio measures a company's ability to pay the interest on its debt. An interest coverage ratio less than 1.5 is questionable; a number less than 1 means that the company is not bringing in enough money to cover its interest expenses. The EPS payout ratio, or dividends per share divided by earnings per share. The EPS payout ratio measures the percentage of earnings that go toward paying the dividend. A ratio greater than 80% is worrisome. The FCF payout ratio, or dividends per share divided by free cash... more

Are These Dividends Going to Be Around for Long?

But if anyone had a doubt about the power of dividends, they need only read Jeremy Siegel's The Future for Investors. In it, he writes: "Dividends matter a lot. Reinvesting dividends is the critical factor giving the edge to most winning stocks in the long run." An important metric for dividendsThe utility sector, in particular, is a gold mine for dividend investors, where the average industry yield is about 4%. Knowing how important dividends can be, it's important to examine how sustainable a company's dividend is.... more