The Most Promising Dividends in Variety Retail

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

12 Confident And Secure Companies Boosting Dividends

If income investing were as simple as picking the stock with the highest yield, everyone would be an expert. Most assume (rightfully so) that yield is heavily influenced by risk, but much more goes into determining yield. The industry the company operates in, legal considerations (REITs and MLPs), maturity and growth potential all have an effect on an individual stock's yield, along with the company's ability to grow its dividend. Below are several companies confident and secure enough in their business to increase their cash dividends: Air Products (APD) serves customers in industrial, energy, technology and healthcare markets worldwide with a unique portfolio of atmospheric gases, process and specialty gases, performance materials, and equipment and services. March 17th the company... more

These Stocks Could Be Tomorrow's Dividend Kings

But in the latest sign that the stock market has put its history behind it, the sector that the crisis arguably hit the hardest is about to get their stocks back on the dividend bandwagon. But will investors welcome those companies back to the dividend-paying fold with open arms? Or will memories of disappearing income and ugly brokerage statements keep investors skeptical about their futures? The moment you've been waiting forExpectations are building that big banks Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) and US Bancorp (NYSE: USB) will announce by next Monday their plans to raise their dividends. Currently, each of the three banks makes only a token payment of $0.05 per quarter, representing a yield of less than 1% in each case.... more

Colgate-Palmolive: Dividend Stock Analysis

Colgate-Palmolive Company (CL), together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets consumer products worldwide. The company is a dividend champion which has increased distributions for 48 years in a row. The most recent dividend increase was in February, when the Board of Directors approved a 9.40% increase to 58 cents/share. The major competitors of Colgate-Palmolive include Clorox (CLX), Procter & Gamble (PG), Church & Dwight (CHD) and Kimberly-Clark (KMB).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 9.60% per year since 2001. Analysts expect Colgate-Palmolive to earn $5.06 per share in 2011 and $5.50 per share in 2012. This... more

3 High Yield Telecom Stocks

According to the latest Forbes Magazine billionaire issue, the richest man in the world is Carlos Slim Helu, who made much of his money from the Latin American telecommunications company, America Movil (AMX). The company announced this week that it is proposing a two for one stock split and a stock buyback in excess of $4 billion. The stock trades at fourteen times current earnings and twelve times forward earnings. However, it only pays a nominal yield of 0.4%. Fortunately, there are plenty of other telecom stocks with high yields, as much as 8%. WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has updated its free list of over ten telecom stocks yielding 3% or more. For example, Alaska Communications Systems Group, Inc. (ALSK) is a provider of both wireless and landlines in the forty-ninth state. The company... more

12 Confident, Secure Companies Boosting Dividends

If income investing were as simple as picking the stock with the highest yield, everyone would be an expert. Most assume (rightfully so) that yield is heavily influenced by risk, but much more goes into determining yield. The industry the company operates in, legal considerations (REITs and MLPs), maturity and growth potential all have an effect on an individual stock’s yield, along with the company’s ability to grow its dividend. Below are several companies confident and secure enough in their business to increase their cash dividends:Air Products (APD) serves customers in industrial, energy, technology and healthcare markets worldwide with a unique portfolio of atmospheric gases, process and specialty gases, performance materials, and equipment and services. March 17th the... more

Dividend Stock ETFs: Somewhat Defensive but Not Enough to Withstand Market Stress

The week ending last Wednesday was not easy to investors: the biggest events in the week were Japan's biggest earthquake in the last 20 years and its increasingly dangerous nuclear reactors meltdowns (still unfolding). On the domestic economic side, housing starts (home construction) in February plunged to the lowest level in almost a year, indicating the housing situation has yet to stabilize. The performance of dividend stock ETFs for the week ending on Wednesday (3/16/2011) varied. Dividend ETFs clearly showed their defensive natures: for U.S. equities, the broadbased S&P 500 (SPY) dropped 4.7%, while SPDR S&P dividend (SDY) dropped 4.1%, iShares Dow Jones Dividend Select (DVY) dropped 4.2%. In fact, all of U.S. stock dividend ETFs fared better than the S&P 500. A standout was the... more

How to Profit From the Fed's Bank Dividend Decisions

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Federal Reserve is set to inform US banks on Friday about ability to raise dividends. While banks are not allowed to reveal any underlying findings or analysis, they will be able to announce their plans as early as Friday. Results for banks that announce a dividend increase will be straightforward for investors but banks that do not announce dividend payments could provoke investor suspicion regardless of how they frame their decision. Bank stocks could be big movers on any dividend announcements. As we have mentioned in previous articles, the best way for investors to leverage off of the bank dividend increases is through the TARP warrants. These warrants are long dated derivatives that include anti-dilutive features. For example, past a... more

Time to Look at Banks on Dividend Hopes?

Now may be a good time to look at the big international banks, as hopes increase the companies will be allowed to raise their dividends sometime in the next few months. Names like Citigroup (NYSE: C), J.P. Morgan (NYSE: JPM), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Capital One (NYSE: COF) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) would all likely benefit as they are allowed to increase the dividends they pay to investors. Dividend investors, mutual funds based on yield, as well as ETFs that are dividend specific would cause increased buying pressure in the names, thus boosting share prices. Executives like Jamie Dimon and Lloyd Blankfein would also benefit, and if these two benefit, it's not a bad idea to be on the same side of the trade. Dimon would likely reap around $6 million per year just from dividend... more

Contrarian Trade: An Oversold Uranium Dividend Stock With High Options Yields

Uranium stocks have had a meltdown in the wake of the Japanese nuclear reactor emergency, causing one of the major players to shed over 30% of its market value in March. We're talking about Cameco, (CCJ), which produces nearly 16% of the world's uranium, second only to Kazatomprom, a state-owned producer in Kazakhstan.Cameco's CEO states, in a video on their website, that Japan will probably only impact the company's sales by about 3 to 5%, and that this should be offset by greater Japanese consumption during the coming rebuild. He also points out that the impacted reactor is 40 years old, and that the new plants being built around the world have higher safety specs than the older plants. There are 53 reactors currently under construction and, by 2019, 91 new reactors (net) are forecast... more