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VBI Ratings Not as Impressive As We Would Have Liked in 2022

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Image: How the VBI rating system has ranked equities so far this year. By Brian Nelson, CFA At Valuentum, we use the Valuentum Buying Index (VBI) to source ideas into diversified simulated newsletter portfolios, and the VBI may be most applicable to the simulated Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio, where we generally like to include ideas when they register a high VBI rating and remove them when they register a low VBI rating. We always use the VBI in a portfolio setting and never by itself. But what about the Valuentum Buying Index ratings, themselves? How did they “perform” during 2022 in one of the worst years for stock market investors in history? Well, not as spectacular as we would have … Read more

The Dividend Cushion Ratio: Unadjusted Is Less Subjective, Adjusted Is More Subjective

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  Image Source: Mike Lawrence Question: I’m a subscriber. I’m looking at your Dividend Report for Enterprise Product Partners (EPD). It says your Valuentum Adjusted Dividend Cushion ratio for EPD is 1.8 (a ratio that includes future expected proceeds from capital raising endeavors in the coming years), but several lines below it says the Unadjusted Dividend Cushion ratio, which is your regular normal ratio (a ratio that does not include future expected proceeds from capital raising endeavors in the coming years), is 0.22. Please explain the difference between the two ratios, and what is considered a good ratio for the Unadjusted Dividend Cushion ratio, what is an excellent score, what is neutral and what is poor? Also, how much relative importance should … Read more

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week Ending July 29

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Below we provide a list of firms that raised/lowered their dividends during the week ending July 29. 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 Agnico Eagle (AEM): now $0.10 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.08. Alon USA Partners (ALDW): now $0.14 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.08. AmeriServ Financial (ASRV): now $0.015 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.01. BancorpSouth (BXS): now $0.125 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.10. BB & T (BBT): now $0.30 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.28. Capital Power (CPXWF): now C$0.39 per share quarterly dividend, was … Read more

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

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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

The Best Years Are Ahead

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By Brian Nelson, CFA — The wind is at our backs. — The Federal Reserve, Treasury, and regulatory bodies of the U.S. may have no choice but to keep U.S. markets moving higher. The likelihood of the S&P 500 reaching 2,000 ever again seems remote, and I would not be surprised to see 5,000 on the S&P 500 before we see 2,500-3,000, if the latter may be in the cards. The S&P 500 is trading at ~4,100 at the time of this writing. — The high end of our fair value range on the S&P 500 remains just shy of 4,000, but I foresee a massive shift in long-term capital out of traditional bonds into equities this decade (and markets … Read more

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week of March 17

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Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending March 17. 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                          Alpha Metallurgical (AMR): now $0.44 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.42. Andlauer Healthcare Group (AND:CA): now $0.08 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.07. ANGC Investment Series C Fixed-to-Floating Rate Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock (AGNCN): now $0.6213 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.5743. Applied Materials (AMAT): now $0.32 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.26. Arcos Dorados (ARCO): now $0.19 per share annual dividend, was $0.15. … Read more

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week of March 15

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Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending March 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                          Aboitiz Power Corporation (ABZPY): now $0.5667 per share annual dividend, was $0.4579. Acer (ACEYY): now NT$1.60 per share dividend, was NT$1.50. AG Mortgage Investment Trust (MITT): now $0.18 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.05. Applied Materials (AMAT): now $0.40 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.32. Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund (BPZZF): now CAD 0.113 per share monthly dividend, was CAD 0.107. Brambles (BXBLY): now … Read more

8 Announcements and Top Research You May Have Missed

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8 Announcements. This article was sent to members via email March 27. By Brian Nelson, CFA Hi everyone, Brian here. Trust you are doing great! Here are eight announcements I want you to be aware of: Everything we do is for our members. We’re very proud of the outperformance of the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio, that we’ve never had a dividend cut in the Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio, that our high-yield ideas are holding up very well, and the success rates of the Exclusive capital-appreciation ideas and short-idea considerations are running at approximately 80%. We’re proud to be your research partner. The odds of a Fed rate cut are going up as yield-curve inversion continues to threaten. The risks are more behavioral in … Read more

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week September 18

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Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending September 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 Alaris Royalty (ALARF): now CAD 0.31 per share quarterly dividend, was CAD 0.29. Ardagh Group (ARD): now $0.15 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.14. BIOQUAL (BIOQ): now $1.10 per share annual dividend, was $0.70. Brady (BRC): now $0.22 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.2175. Canadian Banc Corp (CNDCF): now CAD 0.0619 per share monthly dividend, was CAD 0.0534. Citizens Financial Services (CZFS): now $0.46 per share … Read more

High-Yielding Crown Castle Is One of Our Favorite REITs

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Image Shown: We include Crown Castle International Corp as an idea in our High Yield Dividend Newsletter portfolio. Image Source: Crown Castle International Corp – October 2021 IR Presentation By Callum Turcan Crown Castle International Corp (CCI) is a real estate investment trust (‘REIT’) that owns and operates cell towers, fiber networks, and small cell nodes in the US. These assets form the backbone of wireless infrastructure and are key to enabling the domestic rollout of 5G networks and supporting existing 4G networks. We include shares of CCI in our High Yield Dividend Newsletter portfolio as we are big fans of its strong dividend coverage (when taking its ability to tap capital markets into account), impressive growth outlook, and high-quality … Read more