(New York)

Dividend stocks are a scary space right now. Not only are earnings likely to be very volatile, but companies have announced major dividend cuts and the suspension of buyback programs. With that in mind, here are some stocks that offer safe and rewarding dividends. Regulated utilities are a great place to turn because they have government-allowed profit margins and are very recession-resistant. Check out American Electric Power (3.3% yield), Dominion Energy (4.6%), FirstEnergy (3.5%), NextEra Energy (2.3%).

FINSUM: These seem like great bets. They are down a little since the COVID explosion, which has boosted yields, but utilities are generally great recession stocks.

We could not be more excited today, as Mark Cuban has featured COVID Loan Tracker and shared with his LinkedIn following.

COVID Loan Tracker was founded in Miami by husband and wife team Duncan and Rita MacDonald-Korth in order to help small business owners track when PPP loan money starts flowing and empower journalists with the data they need to hold the government accountable.

The site’s traffic jumped by 50x yesterday versus Friday and COVID Loan Tracker received an additional 4,000 survey submissions from small businesses yesterday. In total, CLT is now tracking 7,000 PPP loan applications amounting to about $3 bn in applications.

Thus far only about 4% of companies reporting have successfully received PPP Loans.

PLEASE FOLLOW MARK’S LEAD AND SHARE COVID LOAN TRACKER

(New York)

Goldman Sachs is making their position clear. The bank thinks that after all the volatility we have seen, the worst is behind us and stocks have already hit bottom. Goldman says that because of the Fed’s “do whatever it takes” attitude, it is unlikely the market will fall further. “The Fed and Congress have precluded the prospect of a complete economic collapse … These policy actions mean our previous near-term downside of 2,000 is no longer likely” for the S&P 500 Index, according to the bank’s strategists.

FINSUM: We are of two minds on this. On the one hand, Goldman makes a good point about the Fed propping up markets. On the other, there is a liquidity-induced real estate crisis brewing and the true ramifications of this downturn (including its expression in S&P 500 earnings) will not be felt for a few months.

(New York)

For many advisors, the idea of changing firms in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic might be the furthest thing from their minds. But the reality is that for many, this could be an ideal time to switch (or even a necessity) for a number of reasons. Firstly, many advisors feel under-supported by their firms during crises (of which this one is unprecedented), which may motivate them to switch associations. But additionally, because of the volatile to the market, recent valuations/production numbers might mean moving soon makes the most sense, as it will maximize the size of moving checks one can receive.

FINSUM: A lot of advisors seem to be worried about maintaining their employees and payroll given the big fall in fees.

COVID Loan Tracker was started by small business owners Duncan and Rita MacDonald-Korth to help their fellow small business owners understand when PPP and EIDL advance money starts flowing. The site works by crowdsourcing knowledge on applications and loan disbursements. Our goal is to help the small business community and empower journalists with the data they need to keep leaders accountable for the promises they made about the PPP program.

PLEASE HELP SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS BY FILLING OUT THE 60-second FORM

We have received an absolute torrent of attention today. Website traffic has jumped 50x since Friday and we are currently getting 6 complete surveys per minute. As of 2:30 PM we have about 5,000 businesses reporting around $2.5 bn PPP loan applications across all 50 states.

The overall picture is improving slowly, with 2.7% of companies saying they have received a PPP loan disbursement (i.e. actually deposited).

Data from Successful Applicants:
• Percentage of companies successfully receiving a PPP loan: 2.7%
• Average days from application to receipt: 5.9 days
• Median PPP loan size: $153,000
• Median employees: 18

Trends:
• The average timeline of a successful application is rising (as would be expected as time ticks on).
• The median loan size has shot up considerably, almost doubling to $153k since the last update.

Takeaways:

Overall, PPP loans are being paid, but the vast majority of applicants are still in the dark on their applications. Also, larger companies with larger payrolls and more employees seem to be getting receiving more of the early money. That said, there is a significant minority of smaller businesses receiving it too. Keep up the hope!

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