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Best Ideas Newsletter Idea Dollar General Strong in Difficult Market

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Image shown: Dollar General has exceeded the market’s return by more than 50 percentage points since being added to the simulated Best Ideas Newsletter in April 2017. The dollar stores are a nice area to be when the economic environment grows more uncertain, and we continue to like Dollar General as the play in this area. It remains a staple in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio. By Brian Nelson, CFA There may be one certainty when it comes to the economic environment, and that is uncertainty. The markets have had one of the best bull-runs in history since the doldrums of the March 2009 bottom, and perhaps nobody could have predicted the magnitude of the pace of economic expansion since … Read more

Dividend Increases for the Week Ending April 25

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Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending April 11. 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 Corp (SRCE): now $0.18 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.17. Altra Holdings (AIMC): now $0.12 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.10. Apple (AAPL): now $3.29 per share quarterly dividend, was $3.05. Aspen Insurance Holdings (AHL): now $0.20 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.18. Avery Dennison (AVY): now $0.35 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.29. BCB Bancorp (BCBP): now $0.14 per share quarterly dividend, was … Read more

December Retail Sales Roundup

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Let’s take a look at retailers that still report monthly results. Nordstrom Nordstrom’s (click ticker for report: ) December was strong as usual, with same-store sales jumping 8.6% and total sales increasing 9.4%. We saw some weakness from the full-line Nordstrom store in November, but that trend was reversed by an 8.2% same-store sales gain in December. Nordstrom Rack continued to post fantastic results, with an 8.1% jump in same-store sales for December. All retailers benefitted from a more favorable calendar compared to 2011, but we think Nordstrom’s execution was strong regardless. Nordstrom continues to be among our favorite multi-line retailers, but we think its shares are fairly valued at current levels. Unlike other retailers, we aren’t worried about gross … Read more

More Special Dividends

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As we previously mentioned, special dividends are “in” this holiday season, as a few more firms declared one-time dividends. Louisiana-based bank Teche Holding Company (TSH) announced that it will pay out its regular quarterly dividend of $0.365 per share with an additional payment of the same amount. However, the firm intends to skip its dividend in the first quarter of 2013, and it was careful not to commit to resuming its dividend in the second quarter, though it says it is likely to resume. Teche is a pretty obscure bank with a market capitalization under $100 million, but the situation underscores the uncertainty felt by so many firms at the current juncture. Retailer Stein Mart (SMRT) followed suit, declaring a … Read more

March Retail Sales Speak to Strength in the US Economy

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Retail sales numbers issued Thursday by the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), which tracks 22 retailers, reinforced what we’ve been saying for some time: the US economy continues to grow and the pace of expansion may even be accelerating, even in the face of domestic political uncertainty, concerns about a slowdown in Chinese growth, and a recession in the Eurozone. According to ICSC data, retail sales rose 4.1% for March, with strong growth across all segments. We think the strong March retail sales performance and improving employment trends bode well for the US economy as we head into the second quarter. Though we liked the underlying March performance, we’re not making any changes to our fair value estimates for … Read more