Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week Ending December 20

Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending December 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 ABM Industries (ABM): now $0.185 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.180. ALPS Cohen & Steers Global Realty Majors ETF (GRI): now $0.5113 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.2705. ALPS ETF Trust – ALPS Equal Sector Weight ETF (EQL): now $0.4789 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.3609. ALPS ETF Trust – ALPS International Sector Dividend Dogs ETF (IDOG): now $0.5014 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.167. ALPS … Read more

The Success Equation Book Review: Is the Skill Paradox a Myth in Investing? We Think So

“If I’d just tried for them dinky singles, I could’ve batted around .600.” – Babe Ruth — “In investing, the trend toward conformity is clear. For example, portfolios today look more like their benchmarks than they did thirty years ago. The average active share, a measure of how different a mutual fund portfolio is compared to its benchmark, has fallen from 75 percent in 1980 to about 60 percent in 2010 in the United States. Leaders in sports as well as in business fear straying too far from convention, even in cases where the convention isn’t all that great (page 174).” – The Success Equation (2012) — This article was originally published October 16, 2020. — By Brian Nelson, CFA — … Read more

There Is Milk At The Store

This article first appeared in the September edition of the High Yield Dividend Newsletter. For more information about this publication, please see here. “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” — Winston Churchill By Brian Nelson, CFA Very few of us could have imagined that we’d witness the bull market that began on that fateful day in March 2009 that might very well mark a generational low. In 2009, major investment banks around the globe were struggling to survive, and the fallout in the mortgage markets left the banks holding paper that nobody wanted to own, let alone buy. The global financial system … Read more

2,350-2,750 on the S&P? Could the Coronavirus Catalyze a Financial Crisis?

Image: We think a rather modest sell-off in the market to the target range of 2,350-2,750 on the S&P 500 is rather reasonable in the wake of one of the biggest economic shocks since the Global Financial Crisis. The chart above shows how far markets have advanced since 2011, and an adjustment lower to the target range of 2,350-2,750 is rather modest in such a context and would only bring markets to late 2018 levels (note red box as the target range). The range reflects ~16x S&P 500 12-month forward earnings estimates, as of February 14, adjusted down 10% due to COVID-19. When companies like Visa talk about a couple percentage points taken off of growth rates, one knows that … Read more

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week Ending December 15

Below we provide a list of firms that raised/lowered their dividends during the week ending December 15. 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 Abbot Laboratories (ABT): now $0.28 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.265. AES (AES): now $0.13 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.12. Air Lease (AL): now $0.10 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.075. Altius Minerals (ATUSF): now CAD 0.04 per share quarterly dividend, was CAD 0.03. Amgen (AMGN): now $1.32 per share quarterly dividend, was $1.15. AT&T (T): now $0.50 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.49. Balchem … Read more

US Congress Is Getting Ready to Pass a Massive ~$2.2 Trillion Fiscal Stimulus Bill

Image Shown: US equities have started to recover some of their lost ground as the likelihood that the US Congress will pass a massive ~$2.2 trillion fiscal stimulus and emergency spending package, dubbed the CARES Act, has increased significantly over the past week as seen through the bounce in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY). President Trump has clearly indicated that he intends to sign such a bill into law as soon as possible, with the US House of Representatives expected to take up the legislation this upcoming Friday morning on March 27. By Callum Turcan On March 25, the US Senate worked late into the night to secure a bipartisan compromise on a massive ~$2.2 trillion fiscal stimulus … Read more

Industrial Bellwethers A Mixed Bag: GE, BA, CAT, DE, UNP

Image Source: Caterpillar Inc – May 2022 Caterpillar Investor Day Presentation By Callum Turcan In this article, we cover the industrial landscape by digging into the recent financial and operational performance of General Electric Company (GE), Boeing Co (BA), Caterpillar Inc (CAT), Deere & Company (DE), and Union Pacific Corporation (UNP). Common themes include robust demand for their offerings, healthy order backlogs, and meaningful pricing power, though headwinds include substantial inflationary pressures, supply chain hurdles, and in certain instances, geopolitical tensions. General Electric will soon separate into three different publicly traded companies, and on a consolidated basis the firm is doing much better than years past. In 2022 and on a non-GAAP basis, General Electric is guiding for a 150+ … Read more

5 Years Strong!

Image Source: Andy Maguire By Brian Nelson, CFA This month was an important one for our investment research firm, Valuentum, and its flagship newsletter, the Best Ideas Newsletter. The June 2016 edition means that we have now surpassed the 5-year anniversary of the inception of this newsletter’s portfolio (page 8). This is a critical time horizon that we and many others believe is a good one to assess the quality of any money manager. Money managers can be lucky or unlucky over very short periods of time, as in the case of perhaps a 12-24 month period, but those that can generate and retain outperformance over a 5-year period and longer typically are doing a lot of things right, even … Read more

Boeing’s Big Dividend Hike; Potential Deal with Embraer


Image Source: Boeing.

We love Boeing. The company has been one of our favorites for years, but its performance during 2017 has simply been amazing. The dividend growth giant upped its payout in a big way recently, too, even as it is reportedly pursuing merger discussions with Embraer.

Valuentum’s Economic Roundtable: Trade War, Factors and Beyond

Tickerized for holdings in the DIA. The markets rallied hard September 5 on relief that the US and China (FXI, MCHI) will go back to the negotiations table next month. This back-and-forth news cycle is enough to give any investor whiplash. Let’s catch up with the Valuentum Team on the latest developments, not only with the trade war but also with respect to factor investing, possible bubbles and beyond. Let’s kick things off with the following prompt from ForeignPolicy.com, released August 2: Trump Hired Robert Lighthizer to Win a Trade War. He Lost. Robert Lighthizer, the U.S. trade representative, agreed to serve in President Donald Trump’s cabinet in order to test his theory: that if the United States freed itself … Read more