Primer on the Banking Sector: Where Are We in the Cycle?

Image Source: GotCredit Three of our favorite banks are JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and US Bancorp. These are three very high-quality institutions which are also very well managed. They all benefit from cultures that encourage the right kind of risk/reward thinking. If these equities start to trade at a meaningful discount to our fair value estimates, they may be are worth considering as long-term investments, in our view. Summary We’ll talk about how banks make money, and the three most important costs of running a bank. The Great Financial Crisis revealed the tremendous risks of banking equities, and we’ll walk through these in depth. We’ll discuss how to conceptualize where we are in the banking cycle, and how that … Read more

Economic Commentary: Bank Earnings, US-China Phase One No Big Deal and More

Bloomberg recently reported that U.S. banks’ record-breaking earnings have likely peaked for this cycle. We’ll get the team’s thoughts on this, and we’ll also cover views on the corporate credit cycle, China GDP, and the US election cycle. We don’t think the US-China Phase One deal amounts to much, other than removing the uncertainty that it, itself, created. Let’s kick things off with our views on a recent Bloomberg piece, U.S. Banks’ Record-Breaking Earnings Streak Has Probably Peaked, “which notes that “global interest rates remain stubbornly low and geopolitical tensions (remain) high.” Matt Warren is Valuentum’s Independent Bank and Economic contributor, and we’ll start there. Matthew Warren: The views expressed in the article seem a bit overly bearish assuming the … Read more

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week Ending March 13

Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending March 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 Aberdeen Emerging Markets Equity Income Fund (AEF): now $0.054 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.045. Acushnet Holdings (GOLF): now $0.155 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.140. AGNC INVT 1000 DR REP 1 SRS F PRF (AGNCP): now $0.27222 per share quarterly dividend. Altius Minerals (ATUSF): now CAD 0.05 per share quarterly dividend, was CAD 0.04. American Tower (AMT): now $1.08 per share quarterly dividend, was $1.01. … Read more

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week Ending April 24

Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending April 24. 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 ASML Holding N.V. (ASML): final EUR 1.35 semi-annual dividend, was EUR 1.05. Canadian Banc Corp (CNDCF): now CAD 0.0517 per share monthly dividend, was CAD 0.0367. Centamin plc (CELTF): interim $0.0600 dividend, was $0.0400. Delek Logistics Partners (DKL): now $0.89 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.885. Dime Community Bancshares 5.50% Fixed Rate Non-Cum Pptl Prfd Stk, Series A (DCOMP): now $0.38 per share quarterly dividend. Dividend … Read more

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week December 18

Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending December 18. 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 ABM Industries (ABM): now $0.19 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.185. Acme United (ACU): now $0.13 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.12. Advanced Energy Industries (AEIS): now $0.10 per share quarterly dividend. Algoma Central Corporation (AGMJF): now CAD 2.65 per share special dividend, was CAD 0.12. Amgen (AMGN): now $1.76 per share quarterly dividend, was $1.60. Artis Real Estate Investment Trust (ARESF): now $0.04635 per share … Read more

Surveying the Clean Energy Landscape for Ideas

Image Source: American Electric Power Company Inc (AEP) – January 2021 IR Presentation By Callum Turcan There’s a lot of interest in clean energy these days! Though our favorite ideas within a portfolio context are always the ideas within the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio, the Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio, the High Yield Dividend Newsletter portfolio, and the Exclusive publication, we also highlight interesting ideas via our articles that we publish on our website. [For instance, we recently published work that covered the electric vehicle (‘EV’) industry; members can check out that article here.] In this article, let’s dig deep into the clean energy space. We’ll talk more about: 1) Ameresco (AMRC), one of the green energy ideas we highlighted in … Read more

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week April 23

Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending April 23. 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 1st Source (SRCE): now $0.30 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.29. Advance Auto Parts (AAP): now $1.00 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.25. AGCO (AGCO): now $0.20 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.16. Alpine Income Property Trust (PINE): now $0.25 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.24. Avery Dennison (AVY): now $0.68 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.62. The Bank of Princeton (BPRN): now $0.18 per share … Read more

Answering Some Questions from Our Members

Image Source: Eric By Callum Turcan and Brian Nelson, CFA Let’s answer some questions we received recently from our members. Please note that the wording of some of the questions was modified somewhat for clarity. Question: What do you think about Moderna (MRNA), as their mRNA technology can be used for far more than just Covid-19 vaccines? Answer: We are simply amazed at how fast the pharmaceutical industry, in conjunction with various partners and government programs (Operation Warp Speed and others), discovered a safe and viable vaccine for the coronavirus (‘COVID-19’). Moderna was key to making that possible after its COVID-19 vaccine received emergency approval from the US FDA in December 2020. With a vaccine efficacy of 94.1%, Moderna really was … Read more

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week November 12

Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending November 12. 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 Angel Oak Mortgage (AOMR): now $0.36 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.12. Assurant (AIZ): now $0.68 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.66. Astec (ASTE): now $0.12 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.11. Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure (AY): now $0.435 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.430. Atmos Energy (ATO): now $0.68 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.63. Autoliv (ALV): now $0.64 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.62. Automatic … Read more