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Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week Ending September 23

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Below we provide a list of firms that raised/lowered their dividends during the week ending September 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 8point3 Energy Partners (CAFD): now $0.2406 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.2325. ALPS Cohen & Steers Global Realty Majors ETF (GRI): now $0.382421 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.312204. Ameris Bancorp (ABCB): now $0.10 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.05. ATN International (ATNI): now $0.34 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.32. Bank of South Carolina (BKSC): now $0.14 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.13. BIOQUAL (BIOQ): … Read more

The Banking Industry Is All About Confidence

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Image Source: 401(K) 2012 The “5 Cs of credit” — character, capacity, capital, collateral, and conditions — is a widely-followed framework and generally-accepted guideline for lending to consumers, but for corporate entities, we think another C is much more important: confidence. By Brian Nelson, CFA The financial sector, and the underlying banking industry in particular, is distinctly different than most other sectors like industrials, retail, or healthcare, for example. Unlike the latter industries, banks use money to make money (net interest income), instead of using operating assets like property, plant and equipment (PPE) and raw materials to drive revenue and resulting free cash flow. This means that continued access to money and credit is the primary source of banks’ economic returns … Read more

The Next Banking Crisis? No… Well, Not Yet.

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Image Source: Berit Watkin “Washington Mutual customers withdrew $16.7 billion in cash from the thrift in the past nine days, a huge outflow that led to the largest bank failure in U.S. history, the institution’s regulator said Friday.” — MarketWatch, September 26, 2008 By Brian Nelson, CFA Let’s get this out of the way. We’re not sensationalistic or bombastic. We’re realistic, and we love focusing on the risks of investing because an investor that knows his downside risks is a much better investor than the one that is only looking at sunshine in the rear-view mirror. I’m going to put it bluntly. We’re starting to hear of some rather serious developments in the UK following Brexit. If the UK pound hitting … Read more

Part III: Nelson’s Evaluation of Berkshire’s 2015 Annual Report

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<< Go back to Part I << Go back to Part II By Brian Nelson, CFA It’s always a wonder to open up on the Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, BRK.B) annual report for a large variety of different reasons, but every time I do I can’t help but ponder yesteryear through the table on page 2, “Berkshire’s Performance vs. the S&P 500.” I think I have a unique knack for imagining what might have been if today’s standards would have been applied to Berkshire in the 1970s, perhaps in some ways how many baseball fans may think about whether the legends of the past would have put up the type of numbers that they did if presented with today’s dynamics. For … Read more

Dividend Increases for the Week Ending June 19

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Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending June 19. 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 Farmers & Merchants Bancorp (FMAO): now $0.22 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.21. FBR (FBRC): now $0.20 per share quarterly dividend, first dividend paid. First Bancorp (FNLC): now $0.22 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.21. Great Southern Bancorp (GSBC): now $0.22 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.20. Investar (ISTR): now $0.0078 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.0074. Medtronic (MDT): now $0.38 per share quarterly dividend, was … Read more

RE: Silly Rabbit, Dividends Do Matter…

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From: Brian Nelson, CFADate: July 21, 2014 12:47 pmTo: Readers of ‘Silly Rabbit, Dividends Do Matter…’ and ‘Dividends Don’t Matter…’ — Seeking Alpha  There is truth to both — that dividends do matter and that dividends don’t matter. For valuation experts, and in the context of a free cash flow to the firm (FCFF) model, the only thing that matters is what a firm generates in enterprise free cash flow (FCFF), not how that enterprise free cash flow leaves the business, per se (1). I’ll list the many different definitions of cash flow at the bottom of this memo. When calculating intrinsic value, dividends and/or distributions do not matter to valuation (other than when a dividend and/or distribution is paid, the … Read more

Dividend Increases for the Week Ending June 20

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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 … Read more

Valuentum Economic Castleâ„¢ Rating Update

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Read: Keeping the Horse Before the Cart: Valuentum’s Economic Castle™ Rating The Economic Castle Focuses on the Magnitude of Economic Value Creation The Valuentum Economic Castle™ rating is an enhancement of the competitive advantage framework (commonly known as economic moat analysis) that has become widespread and ubiquitous within the investing world. Whereas an economic moat framework evaluates a firm on the basis of the sustainability and durability of its competitive advantages, Valuentum’s Economic Castle™ rating evaluates a firm on the basis of the firm’s future economic profit spread (return on invested capital less its weighted average cost of capital). The companies with the strongest Valuentum Economic Castle™ ratings are poised to generate the most economic value for shareholders in the … Read more

Only One Bank Fails Fed’s Stress Test

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The banking industry is based almost entirely on the confidence of intermediaries and counterparties that make up the building blocks of the financial system. An investment in a bank or money center must come with the acknowledgement of the distinct possibility that another financial crisis may occur at an unknown time in the future. Though we don’t expect one anytime soon, it’s worth noting that there have been three significant banking crises during the past three decades alone: the savings and loan crisis of the late 1980s/early 1990s; the fall of Long-Term Capital Management and the Russian/Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s; and the Great Recession of the last decade that not only toppled Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Washington Mutual, … Read more