The Great Debate: Dividend Growth Stocks vs. Growth Stocks. What's More Effective?

On March 8, 2011 David Van Knapp authored an excellent piece, You're Retiring: Where Is Your Income Going to Come From?, that was not only chosen as an editor’s pick, but additionally, at least to my knowledge, may have received the largest number of comments of any article published on Seeking Alpha. You can follow the link (above) to the article, however, I caution you that it may crash your computer due to the voluminous number of comments that are required to be loaded before reading it. Before I go on, I need to acknowledge that David Van Knapp has distinguished himself among his many readers as a knowledgeable expert on dividend growth investing strategies. In addition to authoring five books on the subject, David has published numerous insightful articles on the advantages and... more

The Most Promising Dividends in Petroleum Refining

Yields and growth rates and payout ratios, oh my! Before we get to those companies, though, you should understand just why you'd want to own dividend payers. These stocks can contribute a huge chunk of growth to your portfolio in good times, and bolster it during market downturns. As my colleague Matt Koppenheffer has noted: "Between 2000 and 2009, the average dividend-adjusted return on stocks with market caps above $5 billion and a trailing yield of 2.5% or better was a whopping 114%. Compare that to a 19% drop for the S&P 500."... more

Don't Miss These 7 Dividend Princes

Later in this article, I'll give you some ideas of dividend stocks that deserve a second look. But first, let me get you started looking in the right general direction. Dividend stocks 2.0Last week, I took a look at several stocks I believed could be tomorrow's dividend kings. They were all big-name bank stocks, and whether you love them or hate them, nearly everyone knows a lot about these companies -- all too well in most cases, because of their role in the financial crisis and the accompanying stock market meltdown two years ago. Their potential comes mostly from the prospect of their raising their dividend levels back to where they were before the crisis, at which point many of them were dividend-paying stalwarts that income investors counted on for their dependable payouts. After... more

Is Oracle the Best Tech Stock to Buy Now?

Shares of Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL ) are trading more than 3% higher today after reporting better than expected third-quarter results last night. Revenue soared 37% to $8.76 billion. Non-GAAP profits improved to $0.54 a share. Analysts were expecting $8.67 billion and $0.50 a share, respectively. Sun helped drive the gains. The company's $7.4 billion purchase of the one-time server superstar has helped Oracle to create a thriving hardware business. Revenue related to sales of its Exadata database appliance and Exalogic cloud-computing appliance more than tripled year-over year. Overall, hardware accounted for 19% of Q3 revenue.... more

The Best Dividends in Restaurants

The last month has been pretty tough on investors. Analysts and "Cramericans" are quick to feel peachy about the market when things are going well, like most of the last two years. But when the market gets tested, as seen below, they lose their senses and predict the apocalypse. As you can see the market totally sold off last May. I remember sitting in front of a Bloomberg screen during the infamous flash crash thinking my portfolio was ruined. This came two weeks after the BP (BP) disaster; on top of European countries defaulting like it was going out of fashion. The market did not recover until September. Then we had a tough November and everyone was worrying about unemployment and holiday sales and why gold has been killin’ it. We’ve seen crazy volatility over the last month... more

Dividend Scan: BBY, PETM, CPB, PEBO, MAS, ORCL, UBFO

Amid the positive movement of the US market, several companies declared their future dividend plans. Some notable dividend payers are discussed here. Best Buy Co., Inc (NYSE: BBY) declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of 15 cents per common share, payable on May 5, 2011 to shareholders of record on April 14, 2011. However, BBY was down 4.51 percent or $1.36 to $28.77. PetSmart Inc (Nasdaq: PETM) added 1 percent or $0.41 to $41.45 after it declared its quarterly dividend of 12.5 cents per share, payable on May 13, 2011 to shareholders of record on April 29, 2011. Campbell Soup Inc (NYSE: CPB) declared a quarterly dividend of 29 cents per share, payable on May 2, 2011 to shareholders of record on April 11, 2011. CPB gained 0.18 percent or $0.06 to $33.59. Peoples Bancorp... more

These All-Stars Are Swinging for Dividend Power

Not only were there significant increases in the number of utilities picks, but the largest gains came from the players that the CAPS rating algorithm has identified as the best. Last week, the number of top players picking utilities companies to outperform increased almost 130% over the 90-day trailing average. While there were increases across the sector, the stocks with the highest increases were almost entirely companies that pay higher dividends than their competitors. Here's a closer look: Company Industry Dividend Yield Industry Average Yield Increase in Picks The Laclede Group (NYSE: LG )... more

McGraw-Hill: Dividend Stock Analysis

The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. (MHP) provides various information services for the financial, education, and business information markets worldwide. It operates in four segments: Standard & Poor’s, McGraw-Hill Financial, McGraw-Hill Education, and McGraw-Hill Information & Media . The company is a dividend champion which has increased distributions for 38 years in a row. The most recent dividend increase was in January, when the Board of Directors approved a 6.40% increase to 25 cents/share. The major competitors of McGraw-Hill include Pearson, Moody’s and Meredith Corp. Over the past decade this dividend stock has delivered an annualized total return of 4.20% to its loyal shareholders.(Click to enlarge) The company has managed to deliver an impressive increase in EPS of 7.50% per... more

Checking Up On The 30Yr/2Yr Yield Curve & GSR

Just looking at this for the first time in a while, and I don't like it one bit. Readers are free to have their own opinions. Everybody's getting bullish again, and the excuse is relief post-Japan, as decent economic numbers roll in (in some areas). This is not an Armageddon blog and I am not a perma bear writer. The fact is however, that the curve has turned down strongly, as it did in 2008, pre-crash. Yet the Gold-Silver ratio has not yet responded (and may not, but then again...) by signaling an intense and acute liquidity suckage. I am just saying, you have profits?  It's legal to book some of 'em.  Cash is a position along with whatever else one favors. Me? I will wait for HUI to confirm something one way or the other. I am bullish the gold stocks either way, but then... more

13 Stocks Using Real Cash To Pay Higher Dividends

We have all heard it… Stodgy, for old people, yawn, boring! These have all been used to describe dividend growth investing. As a dividend growth investor, I sometimes think our strategy is the most misunderstood. It seems everyone understands a traders mentality and a high-yield mentality. Periodically, it is good to remind ourselves that dividend growth provides us with excellent long-term leverage. Below are several stocks using real cash to raise their dividends: Raytheon Company's (RTN) is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, homeland security and other government markets throughout the world. March 24th the company increased its quarterly dividend 15% $0.43/share. The dividend is payable on April 28, 2011 to shareholders of record as of the close of... more