Dividend Increases for the Week Ending June 27
June 29, 2014
Let’s take a look at dividend increases for the week ending June 27.
Sizing Up Dividends in the Homebuilding Industry
June 28, 2014
Let’s evaluate the health and strength of the dividend of the highest-yielding homebuilder.
GE ‘Wins’ Alstom’s Assets
June 23, 2014
Over the weekend, General Electric (GE) announced that the Alstom Board of Directors has unanimously approved GE’s offer to buy the Power and Grid businesses of France-based Alstom. The US-based industrial giant’s bid prevailed over that of a convoluted offer from a Siemens (SI) and Mitsubishi consortium that had hoped to spoil the tie-up and prevent GE from strengthening its presence in Europe. Here are the details of the GE-Alstom transaction: GE’s offer to acquire the Power and Grid businesses of Alstom remains unchanged at $13.5 billion (€9.9 billion) enterprise value and $3.4 billion (€2.5 billion) of net cash, totaling $16.9 billion (€12.35 billion). The all-cash transaction is valued at 7.9 times pro-forma earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization
The Crash of 1929
June 23, 2014
An understanding of fear and greed is vital to understanding what moves stocks. Let’s take a look at a PBS special, the Crash of 1929. 53 minutes.
Dividend Increases for the Week Ending June 20
June 23, 2014
Below we provide a list of firms that raised/lowered their dividends during the week ending June 20. The dividend reports of covered firms on this list will be updated shortly with the new information. To access our dividend reports use the ‘Symbol’ search box in our website header. Firms Raising Their Dividends This Week Alexandria Real Estate Equities (ARE): now $0.72 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.70. Apollo Residential Mortgage (AMTG): now $0.42 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.40, First Bancorp (FNLC): now $0.21 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.20. Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB): now $0.13 per quarterly dividend, was $0.12. Horizon Bancorp (HBNC): now $0.13 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.11. John Wiley & Sons (JW.A): now $0.29 per
5 Minutes with Valuentum’s Brian Nelson
June 18, 2014
Valuentum: Brian, thanks for joining us today. Nelson: It’s my pleasure. Valuentum: So the markets continue to make all-time highs. What are you telling investors? Nelson: That depends. If you’re going to be in the market for more than 10 years, then you don’t have much to worry about. For long-term investors that are decades away from retirement and have absolutely no liquidity or income needs from their investments, one particular event resonates in my mind as to why they should have a full risk allocation to stocks. That event is the stock-market recovery from the Financial Crisis of 2008-2009 — which is the worst financial event of our generation. In just 5 or so years after the credit crunch,
Firms Leaving United States for More Reasonable Tax Rates Elsewhere
June 17, 2014
Considering Walgreen’s (WAG) and its plans to move to Switzerland, Pfizer’s (PFE) failed bid for UK-based AstraZeneca (AZN), and now Medtronic’s (MDT) acquisition of Ireland-based Covidien (COV), it’s very clear to us that many US-based companies want to escape the tax burden of the US. We have no interest in generating a political stance for or against tax inversion (i.e. re-incorporating overseas to reduce taxes), but Dividend Growth portfolio holding Medtronic is the latest to pursue such a strategy. The medical technology firm announced June 15 that it will acquire Covidien in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at ~$93 per share. According to the terms of the transaction, each outstanding ordinary share of Covidien will be converted into the right to
Valuentum’s June Edition of Its Best Ideas Newsletter!
June 16, 2014
Best Ideas Portfolio Working Overtime!, by Brian Nelson, CFA The past few weeks have been slow in terms of news flow, but the Best Ideas portfolio (see page 8) has been working overtime! Apple (AAPL) and Altria (MO) continue to advance nicely, and the portfolio benefited from the recent performance of DirecTV (DTV), which was removed from the portfolio May 23 at ~$84 per share. If you are not receiving our Best Ideas transaction alert emails, please be sure to let us know. For those following the portfolio closely, Apple completed a 7:1 stock split and Union Pacific (UNP) completed a 2:1 stock split. All told, the Best Ideas portfolio added 150 basis-points of outperformance since the last update. There are
Dividend Increases for the Week Ending June 13
June 16, 2014
Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending June 13. The dividend reports of covered firms on this list will be updated shortly with the new information. To access our dividend reports use the ‘Symbol’ search box in our website header. Firms Raising Their Dividends This Week Baytex Energy (BTE): now C$0.24 per share monthly dividend, was C$0.22. Best Buy (BBY): now $0.19 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.17. Caterpillar (CAT): now $0.70 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.60. Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment (CHMI): now $0.51 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.50. Essex Property Trust (ESS): now $1.30 per share quarterly dividend, was $1.21. FedEx (FDX): now $0.20 per share quarterly dividend, was
