Displaying items by tag: yields

(New York)

One of the questions that not many are covering is how preferred stock will behave as interest rates rise. Preferreds have been seeing their dividend yields rise as investors have shed Treasuries and exited some preferred-focused ETFs. Some preferreds from prominent companies like JP Morgan and Bank of America are yielding 6%. The largest preferred ETF, PFF, currently yields 5.8%. “We’re incredibly constructive on the market now”, says a preferred fund manager at Nuveen.

FINSUM: Remember that preferreds have a major credit component to them and that issuers are not obligated to pay dividends like they are on bonds. However, corporations take doing so very seriously, which means you can often get junk-like yields from good companies, all with significantly less risk. That said, rates rising will probably spark some further losses.

(New York)

Barron’s ran an interesting article today chronicling the market views of famed investor Leon Cooperman. The legendary hedge fund manager argues that investors should stay away from bonds, but that stocks are “fundamentally cheap”. “My world is cash and stocks … I think bonds are the bubble”, says Cooperman. He argues that a big downturn in stocks is not in the cards because the economy “if anything, is too strong”.

FINSUM: This argument makes sense, bonds do seem overvalued. However, what if stocks and bonds are too pricey? That seems logical too.

(New York)

Short-term bonds are looking like an ever better buy right now. Two-year Treasury yields are at 2.87%, up from 1.55% a year ago, and well over the 1.9% average yield of the S&P 500. That means the spread between the two- and ten-year notes is only about 28 basis points. Considering the latter has significantly more rate risk, two-year bonds like a good bet right now.

FINSUM: There are many ultra short-term bond funds out there to choose from. Actually, given the breadth of ETFs in the space, there has never been a better or cheaper time to play defense in this kind of rate environment.

(New York)

How does a REIT with great long-term business fundamentals and eye-popping yields sound? If that sounds good, take a look at Ventas. The REIT owns 1,200 properties, many focused on senior and assisted-living facilities. The long-term business looks very healthy as demographics—including retiring Baby Boomers—are a major growth opportunity for the REIT. The dividend yield is a strong 5.7%, and it appears safe, according to Morningstar.

FINSUM: Definitely seems like a REIT worth some more investigation. We like the combination of good yield and strong long-term fundamentals.

(New York)

The markets took another dive yesterday, with the Dow losing well over a 1%, the S&P 500 down almost 1.5% and the Nasdaq down over 2%. That loss jolted investors out of the sense that things might be back to normal after a strong recovery in recent days. This all begs the question of whether it is really time to start worrying about a recession? A new study from Bank of America says no. The bank did analysis of economic performance going back to the sixties and have found that compared to previous pre-recession cycles, the US is actually moving away from recession now.

FINSUM: Relying on historical data is probably not going to be very fruitful right now as the pretext (artificially low rates etc.) is totally different for this economic cycle.