Why Dividend Investors Should Consider Eli Lilly

By most measures, Eli Lilly (LLY) stock looks cheap. It trades at a P/E ratio of 7.7. It yields 5.6%, more than three times the yield on the S&P 500. But like other pharmaceutical companies, it faces a patent cliff, in this case beginning this year. Its bestselling drug, Zyprexa, loses U.S. patent protection in October. At $5.0 billion in sales, Lilly will be hard pressed to replace this 22% of revenue. And unlike some... more

4 Non-Bank Preferred Stocks for the Ultimate Yield-Junkie Portfolio

Investment Underground looked for a few solid non-financial Preferred shares for all you yield junkies out there. Here a a few picks:BioMed Realty (BMR.PA): BioMed Realty (BMR) is on solid ground with ample free cash flow and decent business tailwinds in 2011. The yield is 7.32% on the Series A. Symbol Open High Low Close Net Chg %Chg Vol 52 Week High 52 Week Low Div Yield YTD %Chg BioMed Realty Trust 7.375% Redeem. Series A BMR.PA 25.06 25.16 25.01 25.15 0.09 0.36 19,940 25.64 21.90 1.84 7.32 0.56 Comcast (CCW); Comcast (CMCSK, CMCSA) is a cash flow... more

12 High Ranked, High Yield Dividend Growth Stocks

When considering a dividend stock, yield is often the first number we consider. While yield is an essential component of any dividend stock, dividend growth and the sustainability of dividends should also be high priorities when selecting dividend stocks.Recently I have been spending a substantial amount of time focusing on stocks exclusively on the Dividend Champion list as well as my high yield/high momentum trading strategy, which will be updated tomorrow here. While stocks with 25 years of raising dividends (as in the case of Dividend Champions) is a great place to start any research, it is possible to find quality high yield dividend growth stocks elsewhere.Using Stockscreen123 I started with the entire universe of stocks excluding over-the-counter, I ran the following screen to... more

Time to Buy China Life Insurance: Surging Revenues, Solid Dividend, Low Stock Price

While the recent turmoil in many emerging markets had been detrimental to stocks the world over, it has also created a great long-term buying opportunity as well. Nowhere is this more the case than in the dynamic Chinese market. Chinese stocks have been slumping as of late thanks to fears earlier in the year over a rate hike and a subsequent cooling down period for the economy. Yet, just when most Chinese companies appeared to have shaken this negativity, the crisis in the Middle East began, once again sending demand for equities plummeting. While obviously a negative in the short-term, investors with capital ready to be deployed are left with a multitude of choices in the market. One particularly attractive firm is China Life Insurance available via ADR under the ticker LFC. The company... more

3 Small Cap Energy Stocks With a High-Yield Preferred Option

When researching a particular sector or stock, my attention is often temporarily diverted to other opportunities that were not originally contemplated when the research began. This was the case when researching small capitalization energy stocks. I found that a few of these companies have preferred shares with yields of nearly 9% and above. Of course, the higher yield is due to the higher risk associated with the investment. Therefore, these preferred stocks may not be appropriate for all income portfolios. However, soaring oil prices should help most energy stocks at least keep making their preferred dividend payments as long as they have exposure to oil and natural gas liquids. Below are a few of the companies I looked at that had high-yielding preferred shares outstanding.Double Eagle... more

Total: Invest in Future Oil Demand While Collecting a Substantial Dividend

With oil and energy stocks surging, it's harder (but not impossible) to find companies with reasonable valuations and growth prospects. Total (TOT) is a major integrated oil company, based in France, with operations worldwide. Their operations include exploration and production of natural gas and oil, refining of crude, manufacturing of specialty chemicals, and they operate thousands of retail gas stations. These shares have traded in a range between $43.07 to $62.31 over the past 52 weeks and currently trade for $60.11. Total is aggressively expanding in several areas to drive future growth. Recently, Total acquired interests in four shale exploration licenses located in Argentina. Total will conduct seismic studies for these new interests in 2011. Total made acquisitions of about $4... more

Dividend Champions: Focus on Food, Beverage and Tobacco

The Dividend Champions spreadsheet and PDF have been updated through 2/28/11 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. Together, all of these companies may be referred to using the abbreviation “CCC.” This is the seventh in a series of articles focusing on specific industries and isolating the CCC companies within those industries. The first six can be found under my articles page, beginning on March 2. Basic Sustenance and More It's hard to imagine a more basic necessity than food. No matter what the economic conditions or political situation may be,... more

In Defense of Johnson & Johnson: Half a Century of Increasing Dividends

Bad news seems to be hitting Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) from all angles these days, and much of it is wholly justified, but many fail to realize the long term reasons for holding this stock and buying more on weakness. JNJ operates in the medical device, prescription pharmaceuticals, and consumer health products. It’s an industry with many a setback but JNJ has been doing this since 1886 and has learned to deal with adversity. Listed below are some of the issues that JNJ investors need to be concerned with, but should not ultimately defer you from purchasing the stock. Product Recalls The Journal has put together a nice list of all of the recent recalls on the docket for JNJ. Yes, it is extremely disconcerting. The most recent developments are from subsidiaries, Animus (insulin... more

4 More Dividend Aristocrats for Income and Long Term Growth

Brokerage firms used to recommend a category of stocks called 'Income and Appreciation'. This concept remains valid. Below are four stocks with those characteristics. Each is an S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrat with a yield around 3%. Higher yields cause some investors to think that those companies do not take growth seriously. These yields give an optimum balance (blend) of yield and growth. Coca-Cola (KO) After 125 years in the business, Coca-Cola is the world's largest beverage company, with consumers in more than 200 countries. Last year, KO acquired the North American assets and liabilities of Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE), the largest bottler in the world, to integrate five business components into a complete bottling and service operation. Over $350 million of operational synergies... more

Man Can't Live on Dividends Alone for Income Investing

One Seeking Alpha contributor I read is David Van Knapp who writes about dividend investing in the context of drawing income for retirement. David had a post yesterday that among other things asked for input about how RIAs approach dividends thinking that they are often ignored by advisors. I don't think that is true but either way below is the conversation David and I had in the comments of his post: Me: I don't think RIAs ignore dividends in the manner you frame. In building a diversified portfolio there are likely to be quite a few companies with solid track records of dividend growth along with companies that pay no dividends.For what it's worth, I target a yield for the overall portfolio, 3% is... more