Displaying items by tag: dividends

(New York)

Everyone has heard of the “Dogs of the Dow”, or the strategy of buying the laggards of the Dow. It is has been of the few highly successful value-based strategies over the last decade. If you have liked the Dogs of the Dow approach then check out “Fast Dogs”, which could be a good strategy. The idea is to buy the ten stocks with the fastest dividend growth in the Dow. The strategy has performed well in the last three years and just edged out the S&P 500’s performance (it is hard to track it further because dividend growth rate data is historically spotty). What will likely make this strategy successful is that companies with rising dividend growth are naturally signaling improvement and a brighter future, so an increasingly optimistic outlook is de facto. And of course, investors love dividends.

FINSUM: We like this idea. It would probably work better in rising rate markets, but generally speaking it seems like a smart approach in any environment.

(New York)

The market is at all time highs, multiples are huge, and earnings are trending the wrong way. If you are looking to buy into some downside protection, take a look at these 4 tech names. These stocks have big dividends which should offer some significant downside protection as tech shares with lower multiples and good dividend yields provide insulation. Here are the names: IBM (4.7% yield), Broadcom (4.2%), Hewlett Packard (3.2%), and Cisco Systems (2.9%).

FINSUM: IBM trailed the tech market last year but still had a respectable 16% gain. Seems like a good choice given the big dividend yield.

(New York)

The stock market is a tough game right now. Valuations are sky high and earnings are trending the wrong way, which makes picking any stock difficult. Even buying popular high-priced stocks isn’t a good plan when earnings are falling, which makes it seem as though there are few good options. With that in mind, consider buying cash cows like Facebook, Google, and Ford. With such good earnings prowess and free cash flow, these kinds of companies have the money to keep buying back shares, which should drive their valuations over time.

FINSUM: Cash cows can feed their own market pricing even in really rich markets, so this seems like a smart call.

(New York)

If you are looking for dividends in this low rate world, you still have some good options. What about dividend growth stocks? They can be a nice investment in a low rate market, but where to look? Healthcare and tech stocks look like a great place. Analysts think dividends in those sectors will rise 10% and 9% respectively, handily outperforming dividend-focused sectors like utilities and REITs. Healthcare looks particularly healthy. Check out Abbvie (5.3% yield), Gilead 3.9%), Pfizer (3.9%), and Eli Lilly (2.2%).

FINSUM: Profits in healthcare have been ballooning and executives seem to be quite focused on returning money to shareholders.

(New York)

It should not be this easy to beat the Dow, but it is. In the last ten years, investors could have used a very simple strategy to outperform the index by a significant level. The strategy is called “Dogs of the Dow”, which is the method of buying the ten highest yielding stocks in the Dow. Over the last decade, the strategy outperformed the index in 7 years and overall outpaced the Dow by 1.7% per year, returning an average of 15% per year for a decade. It also outperformed the S&P 500 considerably.

FINSUM: Who sad value investing is dead? This is a classic strategy that has worked to great effect.