VFC

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

Dividend Increases for the Week Ending October 25

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Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending October 25. The dividend reports of covered firms on this list will be updated shortly with the new information. To access our dividend reports, please click here (or use our ‘Symbol’ search box in our website header). Firms Raising Their Dividends This Week American Midstream Partners, LP (AMID): now $0.4525 per share declares quarterly distribution, was $0.4325. Associated Banc-Corp (ASBC): now $0.09 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.08. Bar Harbor Bankshares (BHB): now $0.32 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.315. Cape Bancorp (CBNJ): now $0.06 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.05. Cintas Corporation (CTAS): now $0.77 per share annual dividend, was $0.64. Columbia Banking System … Read more

With M&A Popping, We Think More Deals Lie Ahead

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Monday morning, Barnes and Noble’s (BKS) Chairman Leonard Riggio announced that he will finance a bid to take the company’s retail operations private. This comes after the announcement of several other major deals, including the OfficeMax/Office Depot Merger, Berkshire (BRK.A) and 3G Capital’s acquisition of Heinz (HNZ), and Michael Dell’s bid for Dell (click ticker for report: ). Let’s take a look at some potential targets. Apollo Group Results in the for-profit education space have experienced significant downward pressure during the past few years. Apollo Group (click ticker for report: ), owner of the University of Phoenix, has seen its share price cut by 64% during the past year, after being a cash-generating darling just a few years ago. The … Read more

Are Any Rumored Buyouts Worth Betting On?

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Buyouts and private-equity acquisitions can provide powerful stock moves and often act as the catalyst to drive stock prices to intrinsic value. In the portfolio of our Best Ideas Newsletter, we had held shares of Collective Brands. We liked the company’s valuation, relatively small size, and its attractiveness to other companies (among other things). And while we’d never own a stock solely on speculation of M&A activity, a buyout turned out to be the catalyst for our call on Collective Brands to work out for members. Shares proceeded to appreciate over 35% on our cost basis! In recent months, we’ve heard rumors of cash-heavy companies and private equity funds interested in several different deals. Let’s take a look at a few higher-profile names. … Read more

A Dual Focus on Valuation and Yield Is the Best Way to Combat Changes in Future Dividend Tax Rates

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With a potential hike in the dividend tax rate just around the corner, there is no more important time than now for income investors to evaluate their existing portfolio holdings to determine whether they are well-positioned for a higher-tax environment. Assuming there are no changes to the current trajectory, the top dividend tax rate is expected to rise to 39.6% next year (up from 15% currently), and the highest-income earners will see a Medicare surtax on top of that. Evaluate All Aspects of a Dividend Investment First of all, we think those investing in high-yielders (firms) at any price (HYAAP) may be most affected by this change in tax rates. These high-yielders at any price (HYAAP) tend to be favorites of those at or near retirement, particularly given the paltry payouts on fixed … Read more

Search Dividend Reports by Company Name: Q to Z

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Going forward, please use the ‘Symbol’ search box to download stock and dividend reports of companies you are interested in. The ‘Symbol’ search box can be found in our website header. Image shown from above. Use the active search box in the website header above. Learn more about your membership >>  Note: We have now discontinued this list. Please use the ‘Symbol’ search box in the website header for stock and dividend reports. Please read about our Valuentum Dividend Cushion score (ratio) here. Just having access to this valuable metric alone could save your income portfolio thousands of dollars! The past meets the future as we showcase the Valuentum Dividend Cushion scores of Dividend Aristocrats in this article (click here). The dividend reports below … Read more