November 26, 2016

Bank Of America Corp (BAC): A Dividend Growth Stock That Benefits From Rising Interest Rates

Few investors will ever forget the terror of the financial crisis of 2008-2009, when the global financial system was on the verge of complete collapse and many people were convinced we were headed for another depression.

Shareholders of U.S. megabanks such as Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) were especially brutalized, when one of America’s largest banks came within a stone’s throw of complete insolvency and saw its shares fall over 90% from their all-time high.

Understandably, large banks have been incredibly out of favor since then, despite what has been one of the more impressive turnarounds in corporate America. In fact, Bank of America’s efforts allowed it to raise its dividend by 50% earlier this year, and more payout growth could be ahead. Warren Buffett owns a number of banks in his dividend portfolio as well.

Let’s take a look at just how far Bank of America has come since the dark days of the Great Recession and if its shares might represent a solid, if still high-risk, long-term opportunity for dividend growth investors.




November 25, 2016

Walt Disney Co’s Decline Is A Buying Opportunity (DIS)

A recent slide presents a new opportunity to jump into DIS stock


Walt Disney Co (DIS) stock is down 19% from its 52-week high. This may scare investors away from the stock. But investors should look at Disney’s drop as a good buying opportunity.

At one point a few years back, Disney was one of the market’s most beloved growth stocks. It had raced so high that it became overvalued, and unappealing.

Thanks to its share price decline however, Disney stock’s valuation and dividend yield have come back to its historical average since 2000.

The company is currently ranked as a ‘Buy’ and Top 10 dividend stock using The 8 Rules of Dividend Investing.

It appears the market is concerned about Disney’s cable television business, and in particular ESPN. On the other hand, the overall company continues to grow at a high rate, thanks to exceptional growth in its other businesses.

This growth means the company is still generating strong returns for shareholders. As a result, this could be a good time to buy Disney stock.



Source: InvestorPlace

November 24, 2016

Dividend Growth Stocks For A Successful Retirement Plan

The basic steps for getting to and living in retirement look something like this:

 --Save money.

--Invest that money wisely.

--When you have enough money, retire.

--Live comfortably by drawing down on what you have saved and invested over the years.

The conventional wisdom used to be that you could safely draw down about 4% of your portfolio in retirement without worrying about running out of money over a period of 30 years.

That wisdom is no longer conventional. It has fallen out of favor, in large part due to low-interest rates. When short-term treasury bills were yielding more than 4%, guaranteed, it was a lot easier to pull off. Now, at more like 1%, not so much.

Live The Dream


The dream scenario for a retiree is a guaranteed source of passive income, like a salary that you don't have to work for. Something that, through thick and thin, will always kick out monthly or quarterly checks for you. That way, you don't have to worry about low-interest rates or stock market fluctuations.

Now, "guaranteed" is a tough hurdle, and isn't a word you can often use when you're talking about the stock market. In fact, about the only thing that's guaranteed is that stocks will go up and down, and you won't be able to predict when, especially in the short term.

But with some stocks, you can get reasonably close to guaranteed about one other thing: Dividends. There are a lot of blue-chip names out there that have paid dividends--and annually increased their dividends--for many years, and even decades. Past performance is no guarantee of future results, as you may have heard, but dividends from some stocks might be as close to a sure thing as you can expect out of the markets.


Source: TalkMarkets

November 23, 2016

Starbucks Corporation (SBUX) Dividend Stock Analysis

Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) operates as a roaster, marketer, and retailer of specialty coffee worldwide. The company initiated its dividend in 2010 and has been growing distributions rapidly since then. While the company has only managed to increase dividends for four years in a row, I believe that it has the potential to reach dividend achiever status, and has the growth story to become as successful for its dividend growth investors.

The most recent dividend increase was in November 2016, when the Board of Directors approved a 25% increase in the quarterly dividend to 25 cents/share. The company’s competitors include McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD), Nestle SA (ADR) (OTCMKTS:NSRGY) and Dunkin Brands Group Inc (NASDAQ:DNKN).

Since the company initiated a dividend payment in 2010, the stock has returned 315%. Future investment returns will be dependent on growth in earnings and dividend yields obtained by shareholders, as well as the initial valuation (1) locked in at the time of investment.




November 21, 2016

5 Reasons To Be A Dividend Growth Investor

As a dividend growth investor knows, it’s not exactly a secret that the U.S. stock market has been one of the greatest long-term wealth generators in history.

In fact, between 1871 and 2015 the S&P 500 has recorded a compound annual growth rate, or CAGR, of 9.1%, increasing a staggering 285,436.41 times in value.

However, as with most things in life, actually reaping the potential rewards is much harder said than done.

For example, according to BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK), the world’s largest asset manager with $5 trillion in assets under management, the average retail investor has woefully underperformed the market over the past few decades. As seen below, the average investor generated an annualized return of 2.11% over the last 20 years compared to annualized returns of 8.19% and 5.34% from stocks and bonds, respectively.

Despite the market putting up very solid growth over that time, most investors ended up treading water, after accounting for inflation.

But there is great news for those who seek to harness the incredible power of the stock market to build long-term wealth and achieve financial independence over time.

Learn five ways that being a dividend growth investor can help you reach your financial goals and make you a better long-term investor. By keeping a steady hand and staying disciplined, investing in dividend growth stocks can provide a stable, growing income stream that can fund your needs, desires, and retirement over time.




November 20, 2016

4 Top Dividend Stocks to Buy Now

European Economy Improving Fast:


Between the Brexit and issues like refugees flooding in from war-torn Middle East countries, Europe has had its share of troubles over the past year. The good news for the region is many of the member nations economies are improving, and the recent strengthening of the U.S. dollar at least gives them a window to export goods and services at very reasonable prices.

We have noticed the improvement here at 24/7 Wall Street, and we also noticed that some of the top European companies are offering outstanding dividends to investors, many of which are higher than their U.S. counterparts. We screened the Merrill Lynch research database to find stocks that were rated Buy and also paid solid dividends. We found four that look very tempting now.



Source: WallSt. 24/7

November 16, 2016

3 Stocks to Buy With Dividends Yielding More Than 3%

Top dividend stocks with good yields and track records of success can be a powerful force in your portfolio.



Dividend stocks are great for generating portfolio income, and high-yielding dividend stocks are appealing to investors. But you also have to make sure you buy the highest quality dividend stocks you can find. Fortunately, you don't have to sacrifice yield in your search for the best dividend stocks. Below, you'll find out how Altria Group (NYSE:MO), Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB), and Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) have above-average yields, but have extremely impressive histories of growing their dividend payouts year in and year out.



Source: Motley Fool

November 15, 2016

These 3 Dividend Stocks Are the Place To Be Today

The dividend run is not over, and these stocks are positioned to pay



I’m the lucky dad of teenage boys. Financial markets remind me of teenage boys: brilliant, rewarding, inspiring at times and other times frustrating, erratic, and just plain stupid. I’ve found the key to dealing with both is consistency, clear objectives, and conviction.

And although many market observers may describe the language of the Federal Reserve as vague and obtuse, I’m starting to think that Dr. Yellen and Company share my “the market as teenage boy” philosophy. They want rates to return to some form of normalcy, but the economic conditions must warrant the action first.

They waited and waited before finally taking action in December 2015, raising the base federal funds rate a quarter of a percent. This signaled a desire to return to more realistic interest rates while reiterating that it will be an exceedingly long process to get back to their target rates.

And the market, like a teenager, pouted as the S&P 500 pulled back 11% from December 2015 to February 2016.


Source: InvestorPlace

November 12, 2016

Top Dividend Stocks: 3 Technology Names For 2017

Technology companies are usually not the ones which make it onto the list of top dividend stocks. In fact, investors who have more of an appetite for risk pick technology companies to capture the upside potential they offer as they develop the latest gadgets and technologies for the Internet economy.

Another reason why technology companies aren’t famous for paying top dividends is that they operate in a highly competitive industry where they have to deploy a lot of cash to invest in innovations to stay in the game.

But if you’re an income investor and looking for sustained growth in your income portfolio, you need to diversify your holdings in a way that it captures all segments of the economy. Today’s startups will reach their mature business cycle in the next few years, and that may be the time when those companies start returning cash to their shareholders in the form of dividends.

I’ve shortlisted the following technology companies with a solid track record of growing dividends each quarter and rewarding their investors who believed in their business models and their ability to ward off the competitive pressures.



Source:  IncomeInvestors

November 6, 2016

Is AbbVie's Dividend Worth the Risk?

An attractively high dividend rate may have AbbVie on income investors' radar, but there are a few things investors should know about this company before they dive in and buy the stock for its dividend payout.


AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) investors are being rewarded with an industry-leading dividend yield of 4.5%. However, patent threats to its best-selling medicine, Humira, make investing in this dividend-paying healthcare giant a bit of a gamble. Can AbbVie thwart its patent risk, or will the company take a big hit?



What's at stake

AbbVie's Humira is the world's best-selling medicine. It's an autoimmune disease drug that costs tens of thousands of dollars per year and that's used to treat patients with a range of diseases, including the blockbuster rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis indications.

In 2015, widespread global use resulted in Humira sales in excess of $14 billion, and in Q3, Humira's sales were running at an annualized $16 billion pace. Overall, Humira is solely responsible for 63% of AbbVie's total revenue, and that's potentially bad news, given that a key Humira patent expires in December.



5 High-Yield Dividend Stocks With Worrisome Payout Ratios

Dividends are an investor’s best friend. Not only do the payouts provide many investors with some much-needed income, but they also keep the management teams of companies focused on efficiency and profitability. Although some dividends have a lot of upside potential, not all dividends are so blessed or even guaranteed to last at all, and one of the first signs of potential trouble is a worrisome payout ratio.

In this article, we’ll examine five companies with somewhat high payout ratios that investors should look at with caution in terms of their sustainability. Those companies are Mattel, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAT), Telefonica S.A. (ADR) (NYSE:TEF), Royal Dutch Shell plc (ADR)(NYSE:RDS.A), Staples, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPLS), and Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ:STX).




General Electric: Be Careful What You Wish For









  • General Electric’s Oil and Gas division and Baker Hughes recently announced plans to join forces.

  • Some have suggested that this is a slam dunk win-win for all parties. I am not so sure.

  • General Electric may have bitten off more than the company can chew. This may cause margins to take a hit. The prospects for a dividend increase near term have diminished.

  • Nevertheless, there may be a silver lining for prospective and current shareholders. In the following article I provide my two cents for dividend growth investors to take or leave.



Source: SA

Why Starbucks Is Set To Become One Of The Very Best Income Stocks

Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) may not appear to be of interest to income investors at first glance. That's partly because it currently yields only 1.6% and also because it is often viewed as a consumer discretionary stock. With fears surrounding a potential restaurant recession building in recent months, many investors may therefore believe that Starbucks' sales, profitability and dividend payments could suffer.

However, in my view Starbucks is a consumer staple rather than a consumer discretionary stock. This means that its earnings and dividends may not be negatively affected by a slowdown in consumer spending. Further, Starbucks has the potential to grow its profitability abroad in markets such as China over the medium term. Alongside the introduction of new products and a high dividend coverage ratio, I believe this means that Starbucks will become one of the very best income stocks around over the medium term.


Source: SA

Nike Inc (NKE): A Quality Dividend Growth Stock

Should NKE be in your long-term dividend plans?


Since its founding in sleepy Beaverton, Oregon, in 1964, Nike Inc (NKE) has grown into the world’s most dominant sports apparel supplier, and 18th most valuable brand in the world. Along the way they have made countless long-term dividend investors very rich.


In fact, from 2006 through 2015, Nike has returned 20.9% per year (including dividends) compared to the S&P 500’s 7.4% annual return.

However, over the past year, concerns over slowing sales, increasing competition from the likes of adidas AG (ADR) (ADDYY) and Under Armour Inc (UA), and falling margins have sent shares nose diving over 20%.

Learn if the king of sports apparel could be unseated from its throne and if this recent sell off makes now a reasonable time to buy what could prove to be one of the best blue chip dividend growth stocks of the next decade.

Source: InvestorPlace