Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
>>> Costco Wholesale (COST) -- a membership-only discount retailer with a market capitalization of nearly $250 billion, pays a quarterly dividend of $1.02 per share. The annual yield of 0.73% isn't impressive on the surface, but the company has raised its dividend annually since 2004.
https://www.fool.com/investing/2023/09/17/3-top-dividend-stocks-to-buy-now/?source=eptyholnk0000202&utm_source=yahoo-host&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=article
It also pays a special cash dividend roughly every three years. Given that pattern, shareholders can reasonably anticipate another special dividend in the near future since the last one was paid in December 2020 at $10 per share.
With Costco's business model, monitoring membership growth is an essential measure of health and future growth with membership price increases. In its last 12 reported months, the company grew its number of cardholders from 116.6 million to 124.7 million, resulting in a roughly 7% increase.
Costco's annual membership fees generate approximately $4 billion in high-margin revenue. The company's historical pattern indicates it raises these fees about every five or so years, and the most recent change occurred in June 2017, so it stands to reason that an increase in fees is likely on the horizon, which would boost membership revenue even more.
If there is a downside to investing in Costco, it begins and ends with its valuation. Using the standard valuation metric for mature companies of price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio, the stock trades at a P/E of 41.4, significantly higher than competitors Target and Walmart at a P/E of 16.8 and 31.6, respectively. Costco's five-year average P/E is 37.4, meaning the stock is currently trading at an even higher valuation than usual.
Despite maintaining a consistently high valuation, Costco's stock has demonstrated its status as a long-term winner, delivering a total return of 146% over the last five years. When combined with an impressive balance sheet with $7.2 billion more in cash than debt, Costco emerges as an essential holding for long-term dividend-focused investors.
<<<
---
>>> Winmark -- While many consumers might be unaware of small-cap stock Winmark (WINA), they are probably aware of its franchise-based retail companies that specialize in buying and selling secondhand goods: Music Go Round, Once Upon a Child, Plato's Closet, Play It Again Sports, and Style Encore.
https://www.fool.com/investing/2023/09/17/3-top-dividend-stocks-to-buy-now/?source=eptyholnk0000202&utm_source=yahoo-host&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=article
Winmark's stock has demonstrated remarkable performance, surging 53% year to date, and even more impressively, delivering a total return of 145% over the past five years.
Like Costco, Winmark has a relatively low annual dividend yield and frequently pays a special dividend. Its yield is 0.9%, and it has paid a special dividend each of the last three years at an average of $4.97 per share. With the announcement of its special cash dividend typically in October, it is possible another one could be soon.
As a franchise business, Winmark is incentivized to expand its network because its revenue is primarily derived from franchise fees and royalties. Prospective franchisees must make an initial franchise payment of approximately $25,000 in the United States and contribute 4% to 5% of their weekly gross sales. CEO Brett Heffes believes there are 2,800 open territories for franchises, with only 1,303 locations as of July 1, 2023.
If there is a negative for Winmark, the recent stock run-up has made its valuation expensive, with a current P/E of 32.7. For comparison, Winmark averaged a P/E of 23.2 over the past five years. Nonetheless, with record revenue of $83.2 million and near-record net income of $39.9 million over the trailing 12 months, the market might finally be taking notice of the resale company valued at a market capitalization of $1.3 billion.
<<<
---
>>> CBIZ ACQUIRES AMERICAN PENSION ADVISORS
PR Newswire
July 5, 2023
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cbiz-acquires-american-pension-advisors-200100069.html
CLEVELAND, July 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- CBIZ, Inc. (NYSE: CBZ) ("the Company"), a leading provider of financial, insurance and advisory services, announced today that it has acquired American Pension Advisors, Ltd. ("APA") of Indianapolis, IN, effective July 1, 2023.
Founded in 1997, APA provides full-service retirement plan consulting and administration assisting more than 1,200 clients in the design, implementation, and administration of all types of retirement plans including 401(k), 403(b), 457(b), defined benefit and cash balance. APA has 14 employees and approximately $2.9 million in revenue.
Jerry Grisko, President and CEO of CBIZ, said, "The acquisition of American Pension Advisors brings valuable talent, expertise, and capacity to bolster our growing Retirement Investment Services business. At the same time, this acquisition also strengthens our presence and visibility in the Indianapolis metro market and complements another acquisition in the same market we completed earlier this year. Working together, we will be able to offer our collective clients a broader array of services. I am pleased to welcome the APA team to CBIZ."
David Behrmann, of APA, stated, "We are so excited to join forces with a nationally recognized company like CBIZ. We look forward to offering the additional services and expertise of CBIZ to help our clients grow and succeed. I'm pleased that our team members will now have access to additional technical support, resources and tools that will make them more successful and better serve our clients."
About CBIZ
CBIZ, Inc. is a leading provider of financial, insurance, and advisory services to businesses throughout the United States. Financial services include accounting, tax, government health care consulting, transaction advisory, risk advisory, and valuation services. Insurance services include employee benefits consulting, retirement plan consulting, property and casualty insurance, payroll, and human capital consulting. With more than 120 Company offices in 33 states, CBIZ is one of the largest accounting and insurance brokerage providers in the U.S. For more information, visit www.cbiz.com.
<<<
---
>>> Why trash hauler Republic Services thinks the U.S. is going green despite the politics: ‘To be environmentally sustainable, it’s got to be economically sustainable’
Fortune
by Phil Wahba
September 8, 2023
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-trash-hauler-republic-services-120000584.html
Jon Vander Ark doesn't mind anyone calling the company he leads, Republic Services, a garbage company. After all, founded in 1996, the company made its name hauling trash and still makes 5 million collections a day. But Vander Ark, CEO since 2021 and a 13-year veteran of Republic Services, has been working to modernize its business model to go after the higher-growth, higher-profit recycling market.
"I've seen us go from a garbage company to a waste company to a waste and recycling company to now an environmental services and sustainability company," says Vander Ark.
Last year, Republic managed 8 million tons of recyclable items, and extracted 2.4 million tons of materials that can have a second life. This strategy has boosted its stock in the last two years and given the company a market cap of $45 billion. What's more, under Vander Ark, Republic has gone after the fast-growing environmental services and consulting business, making a number of acquisitions. Vander Ark's moves raised revenue 20% last year to almost $14 billion.
The CEO says the way for Republic to thrive in this hyper-politicized environment around climate change is to simply be pragmatic about the focus on cost savings and revenue potential as Americans recycle more. For instance, Republic now has a fast-growing business recovering plastic consumer packaging for circularity, a term that refers to components being constantly re-used. It takes thrown away plastics and recycles them to produce high-quality plastic used by consumer packaged goods companies. "We think about circularity and de-carbonization as two fundamental mega-trends," says Vander Ark.
This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.
Fortune: How do we in the U.S. become a less wasteful society? And if we manage to do that, is that bad for business?
It would not hurt business. In fact it helps. We're already seeing that in terms of shrinking solid waste on a per capita basis. Typically a market grows with population, but solid waste is shrinking because we're diverting more and recycling is growing faster to make up the difference. Our aspiration is to accelerate that trend. So we look at every ton that goes into a landfill and challenge ourselves and ask, "How could we take that out and create value with it?" I pay for something to go to a landfill. But if I can recycle it, I get value for it on the other end.
When you look at how far along many European countries are in recycling in contrast to how much Americans throw out as trash, it's tempting to see Americans as lazy. Can recycling really become part of our culture?
We're certainly behind the Europeans. They're a very source-separated environment and things are very clearly separated for plastic, aluminum, glass and paper. That's how the U.S. was originally and recycling rates didn't really move for a period of time. When it did take off is when we moved to single stream, which is to put everything in one big container, which made it easier for people to recycle. But that has complications. You have some people who don't care and they're still putting garbage in and contaminating that load. And then you have at the other end, the wishful recycler who wants that greasy pizza box to be recycled so badly, but it can't be.
It seems like a lot of packaging is wasteful and impedes recycling. What can be done?
Take plastic packaging. Not all plastics are recyclable. So take a clamshell that is used for your take-out chicken rotisserie. It was made with post-consumer recycled content (material made from the items that consumers recycle every day such as aluminum, cardboard boxes, paper, and plastic bottles). But that shell itself is not going to be recycled, it's going to the landfill. So part of the opportunity is to design for recyclability upfront.
What do you make of the current pushback against ESG (environmental, social, and governance) standards for publicly traded companies? Could this hurt your business, or does this ESG emphasis march forward?
"ESG" needs to be unpacked. It's like a pig, a chicken and duck that get lumped together. All different, but all worthy topics. The "E" part of this is here to stay. We think about circularity and de-carbonization as two fundamental mega-trends that whatever the political sentiment, companies are investing billions of dollars in. There's a global consensus there and we see those as tailwinds for our business.
Another CEO recently told me that you can get consumers on board with green initiatives more easily if one doesn't mention climate change, and by emphasizing reducing waste and saving money. Do you agree?
We're not running away from climate change. We get that the world is heating up and humans are a factor in that and we don't hide from that. I would say this: if something's going to be environmentally sustainable, it's got to be economically sustainable. So we don't do things as science projects or for charity. It's our business and we're going to make money and grow.
You have a goal that by 2030, half of your new garbage and recycling trucks will be electric vehicles. That's ambitious but what stops you from going even faster?
Just like a passenger car, if you retrofit a diesel truck, you add too much weight with the batteries and so it becomes economically inefficient. But when you design it from scratch, you take enough weight out so it can run a full 10.5-hour day and 125 miles without having to stop, so you don't lose productivity.
Do you ever get offended by someone calling Republic Services a garbage company despite all the push you've made into recycling and environmental services?
We're not offended by that because people get too easily offended. That's what we called ourselves a decade ago and I've seen us go from a garbage company to a waste company to a waste and recycling company to now an environmental services and sustainability company. And as that's evolved, so has our mindset. We still have landfills and they are going to be with us for a long time, so we don't run from that. But we're way bigger and way more than that now.
<<<
---
>>> IDEXX Announces Novel Diagnostic Test for Kidney Injury, Expanding the Veterinary Industry's Most Comprehensive Renal Testing Portfolio
Yahoo Finance
June 15, 2023
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/idexx-announces-novel-diagnostic-test-110000814.html
The IDEXX Cystatin B Test can help veterinarians detect kidney injury before changes in kidney function, promoting better patient outcomes
WESTBROOK, Maine, June 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ: IDXX), a global leader in pet healthcare innovation, today announced the launch of the first veterinary diagnostic test for detecting kidney injury in cats and dogs. According to a recent IDEXX survey, as many as one-third of kidney cases seen by veterinarians are related to kidney injury, and a diagnosis can be challenging due to subtle or nonspecific signs.1 The IDEXX Cystatin B Test will be included in test panels assessing renal health, uncovering new clinical insights for an estimated two million patient visits annually. These tests will be run at IDEXX Reference Laboratories starting later this year in the U.S. and Canada, with plans to introduce the test in Europe in 2024.
The kidneys are vital to the overall health of a patient, regulating blood pressure, electrolyte balance, and red blood cell production, and removing toxins. IDEXX SDMA testing provides veterinarians with unmatched insights into kidney function, and the IDEXX Cystatin B Test will enhance their view into kidney health by detecting injury and providing additional clarity when a change in kidney function may not be apparent. Together, the IDEXX Cystatin B and IDEXX SDMA® tests offer a comprehensive view of the kidneys by uncovering structural injury and impaired kidney function.
"With the addition of the IDEXX Cystatin B Test, we are pleased to offer the industry's first biomarker for kidney injury," said Jay Mazelsky, IDEXX President and Chief Executive Officer. "The IDEXX portfolio of tests and technologies enables veterinarians to intervene earlier, advance treatment, and now detect kidney injury, resulting in better outcomes throughout the lives of their patients."
The IDEXX expanded renal testing portfolio now includes:
IDEXX Cystatin B Test, detecting kidney injury with or without changes in kidney function, providing valuable insights in cases such as early toxin exposure.
IDEXX SDMA® Test and creatinine, helping to establish a baseline for kidney function for monitoring and early kidney disease detection.
IDEXX FGF-23 Test, allowing for more confident recommendations of targeted therapy for cats diagnosed with chronic kidney disease (CKD) by monitoring phosphorous overload.
Urine testing, providing a deeper understanding of total kidney health by examining the physical and chemical properties of urine.
For more information on the IDEXX Cystatin B Test and IDEXX kidney health solutions, please visit IDEXX Cystatin B.
A joint statement from three founding members of the American College of Veterinary Nephrology and Urology accentuates the value this novel biomarker holds in the industry and aligns with a recent statement from the International Renal Interest Society (IRIS):
"The advent of diagnostic biomarkers capable to detect the presence of acute kidney injury as well as active and ongoing kidney injury in advance of or in the absence of changes in conventional markers of kidney function forecast an important advance in the evaluation of acute and chronic kidney disease in dogs. The development and validation of Cystatin-B as an active kidney injury biomarker in dogs that will be readily available to veterinarians has the potential to reshape the future diagnostic and therapeutic directions of kidney disease. As nephrologists, we anxiously await this new era of early disease discovery and management."
Dr, Gilad Segev, DVM, Dip. ECVIM-CA (Internal Medicine)
American College of Veterinary Nephrology and Urology, Founding Member
Associate Professor of Veterinary Medicine
Head, Small Animal Internal Medicine
Koret School of Veterinary Medicine
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Dr. Shelly Vaden, DVM, PhD, DACVIM (SAIM)
American College of Veterinary Nephrology and Urology, Founding Member
Professor Internal Medicine (Nephrology and Urology)
Medical Director, Extracorporeal Therapies
Chief of Staff, Small Animal
North Carolina State University, College of Veterinary Medicine
Larry D. Cowgill, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVIM (SAIM)
American College of Veterinary Nephrology and Urology, Founding Member
Professor, Department of Medicine & Epidemiology
2108 Tupper Hall
School of Veterinary Medicine
University of California-Davis
About IDEXX
IDEXX is a global leader in pet healthcare innovation. Our diagnostic and software products and services create clarity in the complex, constantly evolving world of veterinary medicine. We support longer, fuller lives for pets by delivering insights and solutions that help the veterinary community around the world make confident decisions—to advance medical care, improve efficiency, and build thriving practices. Our innovations also help ensure the safety of milk and water across the world and maintain the health and well-being of people and livestock. IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. is a member of the S&P 500® Index. Headquartered in Maine, IDEXX employs nearly 11,000 people and offers solutions and products to customers in more than 175 countries. For more information about IDEXX, visit: idexx.com. For media inquiries, please get in touch at media@idexx.com.
<<<
---
Old Dominion - >>> 3 Top Trucking Stocks Under Heavy Accumulation
FX Empire
by Lucas Downey
February 6, 2023
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/3-top-trucking-stocks-under-130904222.html
Here are three companies under heavy accumulation.
Old Dominion Freight Line Inc. (ODFL) Analysis
First is the less-than-truckload hauler Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL). The trucking stock is up 30% in 2023.
Healthy institutional accumulation has likely helped lift the shares higher, which you can see via the MAPsignals chart below. Since November there’ve been 6 unusually large volume inflows (green bars):
With a 12-month forward P/E of 30.8, shares could be attractive after a pullback. According to FactSet, the company is estimated to earn $13.30 per share in fiscal year 2024.
One thing is for sure, the shares have been in demand lately.
Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (KNX) Analysis
Next up is Knight-Swift Transportation (KNX) which is another trucking company that operates in 3 segments: trucking, logistics, and intermodal. At MAPsignals, we believe in following large institutional flows. With the stock gaining 18% in 2023, we believe healthy accumulation is part of the story.
Since late November there’ve been 8 days where the stock jumped in price alongside outsized volumes. That can mean there’s institutional interest:
The 12-month forward P/E is pegged at 15.2X according to FactSet. Also, the company is expected to earn $4.64 per share in fiscal year 2024.
This unusual trading action suggests investors are expecting upside for the company in 2023.
Schneider National Inc. (SNDR) Analysis
The number 3 trucking firm racing higher this year is Schneider National (SNDR). This company provides transportation and logistics services. The market cap is just over $5.2 billion.
The stock has been an outperformer recently, jumping 26% in 2023. Notably, the shares have seen 4 large accumulation signals since November:
There’s no question the stock could be extended at these levels. However, this is one of the most in-demand trucking stocks according to MAPsignals research.
Strong sector leadership could mean there’s more upside for the group in 2023.
Bottom Line
ODFL, KNX, & SNDR represent 3 of the top trucking stocks so far in 2023. Healthy institutional accumulation signals make these stocks worthy of extra attention.
<<<
---
ZTS, ODFL, TSCO, ASML - >>> 4 Top Stocks With High Dividend Growth to Buy in 2023 and Hold Forever
Motley Fool
By Josh Kohn-Lindquist
Jan 28, 2023
https://www.fool.com/investing/2023/01/28/4-stocks-with-high-dividend-growth-to-buy-in-2023/?source=eptyholnk0000202&utm_source=yahoo-host&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=article
KEY POINTS
Undeniable trends in semiconductor chips and veterinary care should buoy ASML and Zoetis.
Old Dominion's earnings per share have spiked eightfold over the last decade.
Tractor Supply's surprisingly strong rewards program highlights its customer loyalty.
While high-yield dividend stocks generate more excitement than the lower yielders, dividend growth stocks may be better for buy-and-hold-forever investors. That's because many high yields are unsustainable. And the remaining group that is well-funded can often only afford tiny payout raises -- just enough to keep their annual dividend increase streak intact.
With this in mind, let's focus on four fast-growing dividends that may offer more long-term passive income potential than their high-yield counterparts. Posting annual dividend growth rates between 25% and 46% since 2018, ASML (ASML -2.41%), Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL 4.55%), Tractor Supply Company (TSCO -0.46%), and Zoetis (ZTS -1.82%) could make sense for investors looking to maximize their future passive income.
1. ASML
While ASML's lithography technology -- using light to make patterns on the silicon wafers used in semiconductor chips -- is undeniably complex, its investment thesis is far more straightforward. Do you believe the need for semiconductor chips will grow over the next few decades?
If you answered yes, ASML's dominant leadership position in its niche might make it a classic buy-and-hold-forever investment. Holding a monopoly with its bleeding-edge extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography system and a roughly 80% share of the more mature deep ultraviolet (DUV) market, ASML is of paramount importance to the semiconductor industry.
Thanks to this dominant positioning, the company has averaged a 26% free cash flow (FCF) margin across the last decade. With this incredible cash generation, ASML handsomely rewards its shareholders, as evidenced by its annual dividends skyrocketing 1,600% from its first payment in 2008.
In fact, using the last 12 months' figures, ASML could triple its 0.8% dividend and still have excess free cash flow. Going forward, ASML plans to make quarterly dividend payments, as opposed to their semi-annual payments in the last few years. This is great news for dividend reinvestment plans as they will now receive ASML shares at various price points throughout the year via its quarterly payouts.
As countries weigh becoming more technologically independent, the company's lithography systems should continue to see healthy demand. Trading at 27 times FCF, ASML brings incredible dividend growth potential at a reasonable price.
2. Old Dominion Freight Line
Boasting a total return north of 1,200% over the last decade, less-than-truckload (LTL) hauling specialist Old Dominion Freight Line has smashed the market.
Almost exactly as it sounds, LTL hauling consists of picking up partial loads from multiple locations and delivering them to one or many drop-offs. While far more complicated than traditional truckload hauling, this complexity acts like a moat for Old Dominion. With nearly 11,000 tractors, 43,000 trailers, 24,000 employees, 255 service centers, and linehaul dispatchers and software needed to coordinate everything, successful new entrants to the industry are rare.
Equally as important for investors, Old Dominion's operations are best in class. Consider its profit margin and return on invested capital (ROIC) -- a measure of a company's profitability from its debt and equity -- compared to its LTL peers.
Thanks to this outsized profitability, Old Dominion decided to initiate a dividend in 2017 and has raised it by 284% in the years since. Though the company's dividend yield of 0.4% may seem diminutive, it only amounts to 9% of its net income -- leaving an incredible runway for future increases.
To top everything off, Old Dominion's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 27 is well below the 40 level it often saw in 2022. Posting 43% earnings per share (EPS) growth through the first three quarters of 2022, Old Dominion looks more enticing than ever.
3. Tractor Supply Company
With 27 million members in its Neighbor's Club rewards program, Tractor Supply and its 2,100 stores are a dividend growth success story in the footsteps of Home Depot and Lowe's. Since 2010, Tractor Supply has boosted its quarterly dividend payments from $0.035 per share to $0.92 today, an increase of over 2,200%. Buoyed partly by these dividends, the company has outpaced the market over the last five years.
So how exactly does Tractor Supply do it with behemoths like Home Depot and Lowe's in its backyard? In the simplest terms, it's by being the rural version of its giant peers. Consider that almost half of the company's sales come from its livestock and pet category. Through this niche offering, Tractor Supply draws millions of farmers, ranchers, and even suburban gardeners to its stores with its adjacent, yet quite distinct, product offering and hometown feel.
Once in the company's ecosystem, these customers often sign up for its rewards program and become loyal members. For example, since the pandemic's start, Tractor Supply saw 19 million new customers -- 55% of which became repeat purchasers.
The shares trade at just 23 times earnings, and the company's 1.8% dividend only uses 35% of its total net income. Raising its last dividend by 77%, Tractor Supply makes for a fascinating dividend-growth selection to hold forever.
4. Zoetis
In a recent survey by The Human Animal Bond Research Institute and Zoetis, 86% of pet owners and veterinarians said they would pay whatever was necessary for extensive vet care. While it is sad to consider any adverse outcomes concerning our beloved pets, the fact remains that Zoetis and its array of pet and livestock vaccines and medicines should only continue growing in importance.
In fact, since going public via a spinoff from Pfizer in 2013, Zoetis posted a total return of nearly 500%. Over the last five years, the company has almost tripled the returns of the S&P 500 Index despite falling by 19% in the previous year.
In the $45 billion animal health industry, Zoetis generates 61% of its sales from companion animals (cats and dogs) and 39% from livestock. Boasting a leadership position in pets, cattle, and swine (not to mention North America, Latin America, and Asia -- geographically speaking), the company maintains a portfolio of over 300 products.
Riding this success, Zoetis has grown sales and EPS by 9% and 13%, respectively, over the last three years. Over this same time, the company raised its dividend by 25% annually and now yields 0.9% with a small payout ratio of 26%. Thanks to the megatrends working in its favor and its steady growth, Zoetis trades at a rich 37 times earnings but makes for an outstanding dividend growth stock.
<<<
---
>>> The Hershey Company (HSY), together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of confectionery products and pantry items in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: North America Confectionery, North America Salty Snacks, and International. It offers chocolate and non-chocolate confectionery products; gum and mint refreshment products, including mints, chewing gums, and bubble gums; pantry items, such as baking ingredients, toppings, beverages, and sundae syrups; and snack items comprising spreads, meat snacks, bars and snack bites, mixes, popcorn, and protein bars. The company provides its products primarily under the Hershey's, Reese's, Kisses, Jolly Rancher, Almond Joy, Brookside, barkTHINS, Cadbury, Good & Plenty, Heath, Kit Kat, Payday, Rolo, Twizzlers, Whoppers, York, Ice Breakers, Breath Savers, Bubble Yum, Lily's, SkinnyPop, Pirates Booty, Paqui, Dot's Homestyle Pretzels, and ONE Bar brands, as well as under the Pelon Pelo Rico, IO-IO, and Sofit brands. It markets and sells its products to wholesale distributors, chain grocery stores, mass merchandisers, chain drug stores, vending companies, wholesale clubs, convenience stores, dollar stores, concessionaires, and department stores. The company was founded in 1894 and is headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
<<<
---
NextEra Energy - >>> 3 Dividend Stocks That Will Thrive in a Low-Carbon Future
Motley Fool
By Daniel Foelber, Scott Levine, and Lee Samaha
Nov 3, 2022
https://www.fool.com/investing/2022/11/03/3-dividend-stocks-thrive-low-carbon-energy-future/?source=eptyholnk0000202&utm_source=yahoo-host&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=article
KEY POINTS
NextEra Energy is finally hitting its stride.
Johnson Controls can help reduce carbon emissions for building owners and operators.
Brookfield Renewable operates a massive portfolio of renewable energy assets.
The energy transition offers immense opportunity for long-term investors.
The energy transition presents economic and environmental opportunities for the public and private sectors. Whether it's lowering emissions for legacy industries and existing processes or implementing new technologies that can support a lower carbon future, there is a heightened focus on sustainable growth and environmental, social, and governance investing.
NextEra Energy
NextEra Energy (NEE 1.17%), Johnson Controls International (JCI 5.74%), and Brookfield Renewable (BEP -0.20%) (BEPC 0.59%) are three quality dividend-paying companies with prospects that are aligned with the energy transition.
Improved profitability is the key for NextEra Energy
Daniel Foelber (NextEra Energy): Last Friday, NextEra Energy reported another excellent quarter. The regulated electric utility posted 13% growth in adjusted earnings per share (EPS) in the third quarter versus a year ago.
The company has two main business units. Florida Power & Light (FPL) is the legacy business that supports more than 12 million folks across Florida. That unit alone made over $1.07 billion in net income for the quarter. Meanwhile, NextEra Energy Resources (NEER) is the company's (mostly) renewable energy arm. It finances and operates utility-scale projects across North America. NEER's profitability has improved over the years. It made $722 million in adjusted earnings for the quarter.
NextEra Energy has grown to become the largest renewable energy operator in North America, mainly by using excess free cash flows from FPL to fund NEER's development. It's worth noting that FPL is also investing in solar to shift its energy mix away from natural gas. But NEER's improved profitability is an excellent sign that the business unit is becoming self-sufficient.
Over time, NEER's profitability should help NextEra Energy pay down debt and fund future dividend raises. Having paid and raised its dividend for 28 consecutive years, NextEra Energy is a Dividend Aristocrat with a proven track record of returning value to shareholders.
NextEra Energy is also a reliable business that is able to accurately forecast performance multiples years into the future. For the full year 2022, it is guiding for adjusted EPS of $2.80 to $2.90. For 2023, it expects adjusted EPS of $2.98 to $3.13 followed by $3.23 to $3.43 in 2024 and $3.45 to $3.70 in adjusted EPS in 2025. It also expects to grow its dividend by 10% per year through at least 2023 and 2024. NextEra Energy remains a well-rounded utility stock with a nice blend of growth and reliable passive income from its 2.3% dividend yield.
Johnson Controls International
Long-term growth prospects are excellent for Johnson Controls
Lee Samaha (Johnson Controls): Around 50% of carbon emissions come from the built environment, including 27% from building operations. Building owners and operators must invest in their properties to meet their net-zero emissions goals. That's the driving force behind the case for buying Johnson Controls stock.
The company has a multiyear opportunity to benefit from a cycle of retrofit investment by building owners. And the global pandemic has created an increased awareness of the need for adequately ventilated, healthy, clean buildings. Throw in the dramatically increased gains in building efficiency from using digital technology to manage structures' operations better, and it's not hard to see why building owners are likely to invest.
This speaks to an opportunity for Johnson Controls to grow sales of its heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, building controls, and fire & security products. Indeed, a quick look at revenue and order trends across its industry in 2022 confirms how vital the industry is now.
That said, Johnson Controls did disappoint investors earlier in the year. It's not that orders and backlog growth aren't firm; it's more the case that management was too optimistic over its ability to overcome supply chain pressures. For example, the company found it challenging to execute on its backlog of higher-margin building controls, given an undersupply of semiconductors.
Still, those supply chain pressures will likely ease, and the company's long-term prospects look good. Throw in a 2.8% dividend yield, and the stock is attractive for income-seeking investors.
Brookfield Renewable Corporation Inc.
A powerful path to pocketing some passive income
Scott Levine (Brookfield Renewable): While some companies dip their toes in low-carbon initiatives, Brookfield Renewable is fully immersed. The business includes more than 6,000 power-generating facilities in its portfolio of assets that represent a variety of renewable energy sources: solar, wind, hydropower, and energy storage.
Located around the globe, these assets account for about 24 gigawatts (GW) of generating capacity. For income investors interested in exposure to companies that will prosper from the growing push toward low-carbon power sources, Brookfield Renewable (with a forward dividend yield of 4.2%) is a worthy consideration.
Management's commitment to rewarding investors is undeniable. Since its start in 2000, Brookfield Renewable has increased its distribution to unitholders at a 6% compound annual rate, from $0.38 per unit in 2000 to $1.28 per unit in 2022.
And it's likely that the distribution will continue powering higher for the foreseeable future. Brookfield Renewable consistently articulates a target of annual distribution growth of 5% to 9%. Skeptics might question whether management's dedication to shareholders is jeopardizing the company's financial well being, but the fact that the company has an investment-grade credit rating of BBB+ from Fitch Ratings should allay those concerns.
Brookfield Renewable has a robust pipeline of projects -- about 62 GW of generating capacity -- to support future growth. From 2021 to 2026 alone, management expects to increase its portfolio by 3% to 5% from those projects in its pipeline, additions that will help the company to grow its funds from operations by about 10% per unit.
But growth isn't solely coming from organic sources. Brookfield recently demonstrated its interest in acquisitions with the announcement that it plans on partnering with Cameco to acquire Westinghouse Electric, a global leader in nuclear services.
<<<
---
$RGC - A Small Cap Bioscience Company - Treatment Findings and Company Mission and Goals
Regencell Bioscience Holdings ($RGC: Nasdaq) is a an early-staged bioscience healthcare company focusing on R&D and commercilisation of Traditional Chinese Medicine (”TCM”) for the treatment of neurocognitive disorders and degenerations.
Regencell Bioscience’s formulation for the treatment of ASD and ADHD disorders was developed by Mr. Sik-Kee Au, a TCM practitioner of over 30 years and Company Founder, who has used the formula to treat patients with ASD and ADHD.
Currently, the Company is working towards standardization and commercialization of its formula.
The formula is based on “Sik-Kee Au TCM Brain Theory” hypothesis ) that ASD and ADHD stem from inadequate blood flow and creation of neurotransmitters in the developing brain.
For over a year (Mar 2020 - Aug 2021), RGC has established protocols and procedures for conducting Evaluation and Assessment of RGC-COV19 TCM through a Holistic approach **(EARTH)** efficacy trial in Malaysia and the United States.
The first EARTH effacacy trial (EARTH-A TRIAL) showned promising results which showned mild-moderate symtomps eliminated (except for Sensory Dysfunctional or occasional cough) on 97.3% of patients tested of the 37 patients gathered. EARTH-A TRIAL was conducted with the DELTA Variant.
Additional effecacy trial (EARTH-B TRIAL) was also conducted later, followed the same procedures as its predecessor effecacy trial but on a larger scale patient scale. In this trial, 80% of the COVID-19 caeses were of Omicron variant for patients gathered in Malaysia.
Readers who are interested in listening to the interview done by SSN Network, where RGC’s CEO Jay Lee and Independant Director, Paul Niewiadomski shares their story of the Company, TCM and also the results of TCM Treatments and Recent Efficacy Trial Results.
[https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rgc-second-investigational-study-rgc-094600752.html](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rgc-second-investigational-study-rgc-094600752.html)
RGC’s company goal is “to be the global leader in the research, development and commercialization of Traditional Chinese Medicine (“TCM”) for the treatment of the coronavirus disease particularly COVID-19, for which there are unmet holistic medical needs in the global market.”
The company mission is short, simple yet powerful; "Our primary goal is to save lives” and they are planning on achieve the company mission through their deployment of TCM treatments to improve the betterment and also save lives of all people.
More information about the companys Goal, Mission, Management and Services can be found on their official website
[https://regencellasia.com/](https://regencellasia.com/)
>>> Service Corporation International (SCI) provides deathcare products and services in the United States and Canada. The company operates through Funeral and Cemetery segments. Its funeral service and cemetery operations comprise funeral service locations, cemeteries, funeral service/cemetery combination locations, crematoria, and other businesses. The company also provides professional services related to funerals and cremations, including the use of funeral facilities and motor vehicles; arranging and directing services; and removal, preparation, embalming, cremation, memorialization, and travel protection, as well as catering services. In addition, it offers funeral merchandise, including burial caskets and related accessories, urns and other cremation receptacles, outer burial containers, flowers, online and video tributes, stationery products, casket and cremation memorialization products, and other ancillary merchandise. Further, the company's cemeteries provide cemetery property interment rights, such as developed lots, lawn crypts, mausoleum spaces, niches, and other cremation memorialization and interment options; and sells cemetery merchandise and services, including memorial markers and bases, outer burial containers, flowers and floral placements, graveside services, merchandise installations, and interments, as well as offers preneed cemetery merchandise and services. Service Corporation International offers its products and services under the Dignity Memorial, Dignity Planning, National Cremation Society, Advantage Funeral and Cremation Services, Funeraria del Angel, Making Everlasting Memories, Neptune Society, and Trident Society brands. As of December 31, 2021, it owned and operated 1,471 funeral service locations; and 488 cemeteries, including 299 funeral service/cemetery combination locations covering 44 states, eight Canadian provinces, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. The company was incorporated in 1962 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.
<<<
---
>>> Kinsale Capital Group, Inc. (KNSL), a specialty insurance company, provides property and casualty insurance products in the United States. The company's commercial lines offerings include construction, small business, excess and general casualty, commercial property, allied health, life sciences, energy, environmental, health care, inland marine, public entity, and commercial insurance, as well as product, professional, and management liability insurance. It markets and sells its insurance products in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands primarily through a network of independent insurance brokers. The company was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia.
<<<
>>> Abbott Labs
By Justin Pope
Mar 17, 2022
https://www.fool.com/investing/2022/03/17/want-1-million-in-retirement-invest-150000-in-thes/?source=eptyholnk0000202&utm_source=yahoo-host&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=article
The healthcare conglomerate has gone through some changes since spinning its pharmaceutical business out as AbbVie almost a decade ago. Today, Abbott Labs ( ABT 0.77% ) is positioned primarily in consumer products, medical devices, analytics, testing, and making generic drugs for emerging markets.
Abbott is positioned to cater especially to the cardiology and diabetes fields, which are both fast-growing; heart disease and diabetes are among the most prevalent health conditions in the population. Abbott sells devices for them, including pacemakers, catheters, stents for cardiovascular applications, and a glucose monitoring system for diabetes patients. The company's revenue growth has picked up, growing more than 15% annually over the past five years.
This renewed growth could set the company to perform well over the next decade. Analysts believe Abbott will grow EPS an average of 10% annually over the next three to five years. Abbott also has a storied dividend history that goes back decades before its split with AbbVie. Investors can get a dividend yield of 1.6% on today's share price, which results in low-double-digit total investment returns if the stock's valuation remains constant.
<<<
>>> American Tower (AMT) Announces Deal to Buy CoreSite for $10.1B
Zacks Equity Research
November 16, 2021
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/american-tower-amt-announces-deal-135801583.html
American Tower Corporation AMT has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire CoreSite Realty Corporation COR for roughly $10.1 billion. The combined company will cater to the growing need for convergence between mobile network providers, cloud service providers, and other digital platforms amid accelerating global 5G deployments.
The data center management company, CoreSite, consists of 25 data centers, 21 cloud on-ramps and more than 32,000 interconnections in eight major U.S. markets. As of Sep 30, 2021, CoreSite generated annualized revenues and adjusted EBITDA of $655 million and $343 million, respectively. Hence, the property buyout is likely to increase American Tower’s scale.
Moreover, with the addition of CoreSite’s data and cloud management capabilities to its mobile edge compute business American Tower will be able to offer a huge variety of 5G and cloud solutions.
Per management, “We expect the combination of our leading global distributed real estate portfolio and CoreSite’s high quality, interconnection-focused data center business to help position American Tower to lead in the 5G world.”
The transaction, expected to close by the end of this year, will likely be accretive to American Tower’s adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) per share and be increasingly accretive over time.
This marks American Tower’s second acquisition deal this year. Previously, AMT agreed to acquire Telxius Towers for $9.4 billion in cash in January. In June, it closed the first tranche of this previously announced acquisition, which comprised roughly 20,000 communications sites in Germany and Spain.
Shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have appreciated 5.9% compared with its industry's 10.9% growth, in the past six months. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
However, tenant concentration is very high for American Tower. In fact, of its top three customers, Verizon VZ and AT&T T accounted for majority of the company’s total revenues.
Hence, loss of either Verizon or AT&T, consolidation among them, or reduction in network spending will significantly hamper American Tower’s top line.
<<<
Johnson & Johnson - >>> Reactions to J&J's plans to split into two companies
Reuters
November 12, 2021
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/reactions-j-js-plans-split-184232951.html
(Reuters) - Healthcare conglomerate Johnson & Johnson is spinning off its consumer health division that sells Listerine and Baby Powder, to focus on the more-profitable pharmaceutical and medical device market.
Following are a few comments from analysts and investors:
JEFF JONAS, ASSET MANAGER, GAMCO INVESTORS
"It (spin off) makes sense in that it's a lower growth, lower margin business. Frankly, it's a struggle, ever since those manufacturing issues ... It's been a long, difficult recovery from that. And then COVID didn't really help and the lack of a cough cold season last year didn't really help."
"They've always done a lot of smaller deals and occasionally done a big deal like Actelion. They certainly have a balance sheet that could afford to do anything. Ultimately, when they do finish the consumer spin off, they'll probably raise a little bit of cash and put a little bit of debt on the consumer business, which would give them more money to do deals."
JOANNE WUENSCH, ANALYST, CITI
"Combined, each will likely deliver a dividend at least at the same of JNJ today and seeking to maintain its AAA rating."
"We believe this decision was likely accelerated by the pandemic and the increasing move towards personal healthcare, telehealth, and technology-driven products."
DAMIEN CONOVER, ANALYST, MORNINGSTAR
"The firm's timing is surprising, as we don't see any major catalyst for the move. However, if the consumer division no longer holds the deep pockets of the combined company, the risk of future consumer product litigation--such as the large talc settlement--may decrease."
"While we agree with management's assessment that the breakup will allow both new companies to operate with more focus and agility, we don't believe the current structure has impeded much operational execution in the past."
ASHTYN EVANS, ANALYST, EDWARDS JONES
"For pharma companies, this has been something pretty common over the last 12+ years. We see more and more companies focusing on innovative drugs."
"But this does come as a surprise, because J&J has been this huge healthcare conglomerate for so long, and the most diversified healthcare company in the world. So it does come as a surprise that they are choosing to end that, at least on the consumer side."
S&P GLOBAL RATINGS
"We view this as incrementally weakening the business strength, given the reduction in diversity and scale, even as this enhances the company's growth rate and profitability."
JOSHUA JENNINGS, ANALYST, COWEN AND CO
"We do not believe JNJ's ongoing talc litigation spurred the decision, and we expect investors to look favorably on the transaction."
SHANNON SACCOCIA, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER, BOSTON PRIVATE
"I think this is just an example of delivering value to shareholders by specializing the businesses. I don't think (talc liabilities) were a prevailing factor in this decision."
"The J&J management has realized that fact that the value that's been afforded to them by the market is probably not as much as one should expect given the strength and the leadership in those three businesses."
MOODY'S INVESTORS SERVICE
Views announcement as credit negative, which reflects "the reduction in scale, diversity and earnings that will ensue from the transaction."
"Moody's will continue to evaluate the credit implications of the separation as more details become available and as the transaction date gets closer"
<<<
>>> Is Danaher a Buy in a Post-Pandemic World?
Analyzing the investment case for buying stock in the high-flying life sciences and diagnostics company.
Motley Fool
by Lee Samaha
Aug 4, 2021
https://www.fool.com/investing/2021/08/04/is-danaher-a-buy-in-a-post-pandemic-world/?source=eptyholnk0000202&utm_source=yahoo-host&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=article
Key Points
The pandemic has enhanced the company's long-term growth potential.
Current trading continues to exceed expectations.
Non-COVID-19 related revenue is back in growth mode.
Life science and diagnostics company Danaher (NYSE:DHR) is one of the big winners from the COVID-19 pandemic. Its diagnostic tests help detect the coronavirus, and its life sciences tools help medical bodies research and develop vaccines and therapies for it.
That said, what happens to the company's growth rate after the pandemic is over? Are investors in the stock about to be left holding a stock trading on a high valuation that's just about to see earnings growth prospects deteriorate?
Three reasons Danaher can keep on delivering
I think there's reason to believe that Danaher can keep growing at a very healthy clip, even in a post-pandemic environment.
Current earnings momentum is robust across all its businesses, COVID-19 related and non-COVID-19 alike.
Management's guidance for non-COVID-19 related revenue growth in 2021 has been upgraded and demonstrates underlying strength in the business.
The pandemic has strengthened the company's core business and growth prospects.
Strong earnings momentum
The company recently delivered its second-quarter earnings, and it managed to sail past management's previous guidance. For example, management had previously forecast second-quarter core revenue growth would come in within the mid-20% range, but it came in at 31.5%. As such, management upgraded its expectation for full-year core revenue growth from "high teens" to "approximately 20%."
As you can see below, the life sciences and diagnostics segments continue a powerful run, boosted by the pandemic (more on that in a moment), and the environmental and applied solutions (EAS) business is also back in growth mode. For reference, life sciences contributed $2.3 billion of operating profit in the first half compared to $1.3 billion from diagnostics and $565 million from EAS.
EAS is a collection of water quality and product ID businesses. During the earnings call, CEO Rainer Blair noted that both business platforms grew strongly in the quarter as the reopening of the economy increased sales and order rates as customers were investing in "larger projects" again.
Non-COVID-19 growth is strong too
The burning question on everybody's lips is, what kind of growth rate can investors expect after the pandemic? To help answer it, Danaher's management breaks out its guidance into COVID-19 related revenue and its "base business." As noted earlier, the full-year core revenue growth guidance was raised to "approximately 20%."
Going into more detail on the matter, Blair said "We anticipate that COVID related revenue tailwinds will be an approximately 10% contribution to the core revenue growth rate, and in our base business, we now expect that core revenue will be up 10% for the full year, an increase from our prior expectation of high single-digit."
In other words, the ramp up in the guidance primarily comes down to an increase in the guidance from the base business. That bodes well for Danaher's post-pandemic growth prospects.
The pandemic has structurally enhanced Danaher's growth
This is a subtle and critical point to understand. It's not just that the pandemic provided a temporary boost to Danaher's prospects. In life sciences, the investment made worldwide in vaccine and therapeutic science to combat the coronavirus is likely to spill out into broader-based research that can benefit Danaher for years to come.
Meanwhile, Blair outlined that monoclonal antibody-based therapies in development have increased 50% "from just five years ago." Turning back to COVID-19, there's always the possibility that a third booster shot and wide-scale vaccination of children will provide a near-term boost to Danaher's sales.
Danaher has increased its installed base of diagnostic platforms by over 40% since the pandemic started. That's important because the diagnostics business works based on the "razor/razor blade" business model. In other words, more platform sales lead to more opportunities for Danaher to sell new tests into the installed base. For example, Blair pointed out that assays (tests) for sexual health and hospital-acquired infections were up 30% in the second quarter. Also, Danaher is continually working on new assays.
Danaher is ramping up capital spending from $790 million in 2020 to around $1.5 billion in 2021, partly to build on the growth in assay development and fuel growth in the Cytiva biopharma business bought from General Electric in 2020.
Is Danaher a buy?
The exciting thing about Danaher's valuation is that it trades on roughly the same enterprise value (market cap plus net debt)-to-earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) valuation as it did before the pandemic started.
Therefore, if you believe in relative valuations, then Danaher is an attractive stock because the pandemic has enhanced its long-term growth potential. On the other hand, it's still a pretty hefty valuation to trade on, and cautious investors might want to wait for a dip to buy into a very attractive company.
<<<
McCormick - >>> 3 Beaten-Down Growth Stocks to Buy in September
It's a great time to dip into these unloved investments.
Motley Fool
by Demitri Kalogeropoulos
8-28-21
https://www.fool.com/investing/2021/08/28/3-beaten-down-growth-stocks-to-buy-in-september/?source=eptyholnk0000202&utm_source=yahoo-host&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=article
McCormick
Several consumer packaged-food stocks have been ignored by Wall Street recently, but McCormick stands out as particularly attractive. Sure, the spice and flavorings specialist isn't putting up huge growth numbers. But its latest 8% sales spike constitutes market share gains in the valuable condiments and flavorings niche. The company is likely to grow faster than peers like PepsiCo and General Mills in 2021, partly thanks to that focus.
McCormick brings other great investment factors to the table, including a rising annual cash flow level that just crossed $1 billion. Margins are improving, too, thanks to increased prices and a flood of innovative product releases. And management has demonstrated a willingness to keep cash payouts rising for this Dividend Aristocrat.
These characteristics lay the groundwork for better overall returns for shareholders, especially those buying at a time when many investors are looking elsewhere for growth.
<<<
Scotts Miracle-Gro - >>> 3 Beaten-Down Dividend Stocks to Buy Right Now
These dividend stocks appear to be poised to bounce back.
Motley Fool
by Keith Speights
8-23-21
https://www.fool.com/investing/2021/08/23/3-beaten-down-dividend-stocks-to-buy-right-now/?source=eptyholnk0000202&utm_source=yahoo-host&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=article
A cannabis supplier facing temporary headwinds
Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) has been a household name for decades thanks to its consumer lawn and garden products. In recent years, though, the company has also positioned itself as the leading supplier of hydroponics products to the cannabis industry. It offers a reliable dividend that currently yields 1.7%.
The stock is nearly 40% below its high from a few months ago. CEO Jim Hagedorn explained why in Scotts' second-quarter conference call earlier this month, stating that the company was "finally at the inflection point everyone knew was coming."
Hagedorn acknowledged that Scotts faces more challenging year-over-year comparisons. The company's consumer and cannabis businesses soared in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, consumers are now returning to their normal routines.
In addition, Scotts has encountered other headwinds. Hagedorn blamed adverse weather conditions for constraining the company's growth. He noted that snow in some key markets on Mother's Day weekend, which is typically the biggest weekend of the gardening season, hurt sales. Much of the Midwest and the northeast U.S. experienced record cold on Memorial Day. Heat and drought out west negatively affected Scotts' business as well.
The company's margins have also been pressured due to rising commodity prices. Scotts has been affected by higher prices for urea, diesel, and resin. Grass seed prices have also soared.
There's good news, though: These should be temporary issues. Scotts will move past the difficult year-over-year comparisons. The weather won't always be bad. Scotts will be able to pass on higher commodity prices by increasing its own pricing.
Even better, Scotts' growth prospects remain very good. The U.S. cannabis market continues to expand. It's possible that federal cannabis reform could provide an even greater boost to the cannabis industry. Like Brookfield Renewable, Scotts is a beaten-down dividend stock that isn't likely to remain beaten down for too much longer.
<<<
Pepsico - >>> Questor: it may not be Tesla or Amazon but Pepsi is quietly delivering for shareholders
Telegraph
by Richard Evans
August 24, 2021
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/questor-may-not-tesla-amazon-140613993.html
The recent history of corporate America has been dominated by a small group of charismatic, noisy “big men”: Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Tesla’s Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook. But some of its stock market champions take a quieter approach to generating profits for their shareholders.
Questor doubts, for example, that many readers are familiar with the name of Pepsi’s chief executive, Ramon Laguarta. This is because Pepsi lacks a “big man culture – it is not the creation of one man, a Musk or a Bezos”, says Rob Burgeman of Brewin Dolphin, the wealth manager, which holds the stock of behalf of some of its clients.
“Laguarta is not someone who comes in and shakes everything up,” Burgeman adds. “Pepsi hasn’t suddenly got a new team at the top. For us, this illustrates good governance, good corporate culture, which has always been important at Pepsi.”
The company’s great rival is of course Coca-Cola, which is perhaps more firmly anchored in the public’s mind and can count Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway as a major shareholder. Buffett has said he will never sell a single share in Coca-Cola. But Burgeman says Pepsi offers investors the better opportunity.
“Right now the business case for Pepsi is stronger because it sells a greater variety of products,” he says. “Coca-Cola is pretty much beverages, whereas Pepsi offers a range of soft drinks, bottled waters and foods.” Its products include Gatorade, SodaStream and Quaker Oats and it can boast 23 brands that generate annual sales of more than $1bn (£700m).
“It’s a company you think you know but there is more to it,” Burgeman says. “And it is investing in growth. While its range of brands has not changed much in the past few years, it is always tweaking them so that they move along with the times. It is switching to low-sugar versions of its drinks, for example. Continuously investing money in your brands like this creates value. If you don’t do it you will start to go backwards.”
Pepsi’s efforts to grow also involve seeking new markets for its products. “Pepsi is more US-focused than Coca-Cola, so there is an opportunity to sell more beyond its home market,” he adds. “The company has proved itself to be a good allocator of capital, which allows it to make high returns on capital and generate lots of cash. In other words, it’s a good compounder.”
He acknowledges the threat from greater regulation as governments attempt to tackle obesity but says Pepsi has “dials it can twiddle” in response. “It could move towards baked versions of crisps, for example. Given enough time it could probably change its entire range to healthy products. But I can’t see snacks and drinks coming under the same kind of pressure as smoking,” he says.
“We like core blue-chip stocks and Pepsi is one of the first to go into the discretionary funds we run for our clients. There’s a lot to like about it.”
Questor says: buy
Ticker: Nasdaq: PEP
Share price at close: $155.89
Update: Axon
<<<
>>> A Look Inside Bill Gates' Stock Portfolio Reveals His Big Winners
Investor's Business Daily
MATT KRANTZ
05/06/2021
https://www.investors.com/etfs-and-funds/sectors/sp500-a-look-inside-bill-gates-stock-portfolio-reveals-his-big-winners/?src=A00220
Bill Gates' recent divorce filing is drawing attention to his financial assets. And now investors get a glimpse at his stock picks that are blowing away the S&P 500 and which ones he's willing to part with.
Seven out of the 13 U.S.-listed positions disclosed in Gates' secretive Cascade Investment LLC investment fund, including AutoNation (AN), IBD 50 member Deere (DE) and Waste Management (WM), are beating the S&P 500 this year so far, based on an Investor's Business Daily analysis of data from S&P Global Market Intelligence and MarketSmith. And four of his big holdings are topping the S&P 500 in the past year.
Gates, who is worth more than $130 billion, remains a large Microsoft shareholder. He's the eighth-largest shareholder in the software giant. His 103.4 million shares, valued at $26 billion, account for 1.3% of Microsoft's shares outstanding. But a majority of his wealth shifted to Cascade Investment over time as he sold Microsoft stock.
All Eyes Are On Cascade
Cascade, owned by Bill Gates but managed by Michael Larson, is already making adjustments.
The firm transferred stock valued at more than $1.8 billion to Melinda Gates this week, says The Wall Street Journal. That included a shift of more than 14 million shares of Canadian National Railway (CNI) and more than 2.9 million shares of AutoNation.
Canadian National is among the largest positions in the Cascade portfolio. And they're not among the top performers lately, rising just 0.1% this year and 37% in the past 12 months. AutoNation, on the other hand, continues to be one of Bill's very best stocks.
The couple filed divorce paperwork in King County Superior Court in Washington State. This is just the start of the division of a massive estate.
Bill Gates' Top S&P 500 Stock: AutoNation
Giving away AutoNation stock was likely a bit painful. It's the top-performing stock in Gates' Cascade Investment fund, by far.
Shares of auto retailer AutoNation are up 49.6% just this year alone. It's Cascade's top-performing stock this year. That tops the S&P 500's 11% gain this year. And over the past 12 months, AutoNation stock is up 184%, absolutely demolishing the 45.3% rise in the S&P 500 during that time. The company is expected to make $9.99 a share this year, up more than 40% from 2020.
It's a big position for Cascade. As of February, AutoNation owned more than 18 million shares or nearly a quarter of the company's shares outstanding.
Gates And Cathie Wood Agree On This S&P 500 Stock: Deere
Here's an interesting coincidence: Gates and star money-manager Cathie Wood of ARK Invest are betting big on Deere. Why do people known for high-tech prowess agree on an agricultural play?
As of the end of last year, Cascade owned owned more than 31 million shares of the farm equipment maker. That's more than 10% of the company's shares outstanding. And it's been a lucrative position, too. Shares of Deere are up 40.8% this year and 180.3% in the past 12 months. IBD Stock Checkup assigns Deere stock a 93 Composite Rating. That puts it among the leaders in the seven-stock farm machinery industry group.
That's helped Deere land a spot in two of Wood's ARK ETFs: ARK Autonomous Technology & Robotics (ARKQ) and ARK Space Exploration & Innovation (ARKX). Deere is the No. 7 holding in ARK Autonomous Technology & Robotics. The fund owns more than 295,000 shares of Deere valued at roughly $112 million.
So while the Gates divorce goes on, at least the couple has some top S&P 500 winners to split.
Gates' Hot Hand With Stocks
Top U.S.-listed stocks held by Cascade Investments
Company Symbol Stock 1-year % ch. YTD % ch. Sector Position Date Composite Rating
AutoNation (AN) 184.2% 49.6% Consumer Discretionary Feb-16-2021 97
Deere (DE) 180.3% 40.8% Industrials Dec-31-2020 93
Waste Management (WM) 43.0% 20.1% Industrials Dec-31-2020 77
Republic Services (RSG) 41.1% 13.6% Industrials Mar-31-2021 71
Diageo (DEO) 33.3% 13.2% Consumer Staples Mar-01-2021 54
Arch Capital Group (ACGL) 69.3% 11.4% Financials Feb-16-2021 78
Otter Tail (OTTR) 10.1% 11.5% Utilities Feb-20-2020 70
Vroom (VRM) n/a 8.4% Consumer Discretionary Dec-31-2020 31
Ecolab (ECL) 17.9% 5.4% Materials Mar-09-2021 36
Fomento Economico Mexicano (FMX) 21.4% 2.5% Consumer Staples Mar-24-2021 37
Western Asset Inflation-Linked Opportunities & Income Fund (WIW) 22.7% 1.5% Financials May-08-2020
Canadian National Railway (CNI) 37.0% 0.1% Industrials Mar-23-2021 54
Western Asset Inflation-Linked Income Fund (WIA) 21.6% -2.3% Financials Dec-30-2020
Sources: IBD, S&P Global Market Intelligence
<<<
>>> NEOGEN Analytics Helps Food Processors Accelerate Data-driven Safety and Quality During Pandemic
April 6, 2021
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/neogen-analytics-helps-food-processors-140000997.html
Intelligent analytics platform available at no financial risk to help food and beverage brands automate environmental monitoring and improve food safety compliance
NEOGEN Corporation (NASDAQ: NEOG) has made its NEOGEN Analytics environmental monitoring program (EMP) available to qualified food and beverage manufacturers for a full year, at no cost.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210406005089/en/
NEOGEN Analytics enables remote, automated EMP management across all production facilities, providing centralized data gathering and 'always on' reporting and analytics.? For a limited time, we are offering this groundbreaking technology to qualified food suppliers at no cost for the first full year of service. ?(Graphic: Business Wire)
NEOGEN, a leading provider of environmental monitoring solutions for the food and beverage industry, is helping companies reduce risk by increasing access and visibility to food safety testing results. The NEOGEN Analytics EMP, powered by Corvium, enables remote monitoring of multiple processing plant sites, centralizes environmental testing data, automates reporting for compliance and conformance and improves food safety and quality for food companies and consumers.
Customer needs during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as demands for greater transparency in food safety and initiatives such as the FDA’s Blueprint for a New Era of Smarter Food Safety, point toward increasing expectations, rules, and eventual mandates requiring food and beverage companies to implement data-driven environmental monitoring programs.
"COVID-19 has accelerated the food industry’s movement toward its goal of automating and centralizing data collection for immediate visibility and response," said John Adent, president and CEO of NEOGEN. "Disruption of the industry over the last 12 months has made it even more imperative to move away from manual safety and quality monitoring and adopt intelligent platforms that offer visibility into all of a company’s facilities, whether around the block or around the globe."
Intelligent Tools Drive Fast Return on Investment
Food processors using NEOGEN Analytics EMP can eliminate time-consuming and error-prone manual data entry, reducing risks associated with delays or mishandled lab communications. Through the digital cloud-based platform, food safety and quality assurance (FSQA) teams gain transparency into company-wide food safety testing metrics in order to immediately address any safety or quality issues. The solution automates testing and response workflows, assuring the right corrective actions are assigned and completed. The platform also analyzes diagnostic lab data and generates real-time alerts and management reports.
For Colorado Premium, a large manufacturer of premium protein products, NEOGEN Analytics will lead to better visibility and control over the safety and quality programs: "By providing new visibility and control of our food safety programs, it allows us to improve resource allocation and empower our food safety professionals to maintain our high food safety standards and continue to reduce risk," said John Ruby, vice president of Food Safety and Quality at Colorado Premium. "Having complete control of our sanitation and pathogen testing programs gives us more confidence in the entire process."
Reports needed for audits and inspections are accessible and accurate in real-time. This fundamentally changes the way brands work with auditors and regulatory inspectors, providing, for the first time, access to fully transparent processes and documentation at a moment’s notice.
Return on investment for the platform is significant, as customers find immediate value with reduced food risk, improved production efficiencies, better consistency of product quality, and increased employee and customer satisfaction.
No-Cost 12-Month Licenses Available to Qualified Food and Beverage Brands
NEOGEN will waive the NEOGEN Analytics EMP workflow automation module licensing fee for a period of one year, removing the up-front financial uncertainty associated with adopting new technology, such as automating EMP functions. During this time, NEOGEN will provide full-service support of the platform to help FSQA teams maximize the value of the platform for their businesses. There is no commitment required. Visit https://www.NEOGEN.com/NEOGEN-analytics/ to learn more.
About NEOGEN and NEOGEN Analytics
NEOGEN Corporation develops and markets products dedicated to food and animal safety. The NEOGEN Analytics platform is used by leading food and beverage suppliers to streamline and optimize key functions within food safety programs including environmental monitoring, product testing, sanitation management, compliance and conformance, and reporting and analytics. NEOGEN Corporation has an exclusive development and licensing agreement with Corvium, Inc. to market software under the NEOGEN Analytics brand.
<<<
Ray Dalio - >>> 10 Best Growth Stocks To Buy Now According To Ray Dalio
Yahoo Finance
Sorina Solonaru
November 26, 2020
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/10-best-growth-stocks-buy-220447261.html
In this article, we present the list of 10 best growth stocks to buy now according to billionaire Ray Dalio. Click to skip ahead and see the top 5 best growth stocks to buy now according to Ray Dalio.
Ray Dalio is the Founder, Co-Chairman, and Co-Chief Investment Officer of Bridgewater Associates, the largest hedge fund in the world with over $140 billion in assets under management. Under his leadership of nearly four decades, the firm has grown into the fifth most important private company in the US, according to Fortune Magazine.
Bridgewater Associates has been one of the most successful hedge funds in the world, delivering average annualized gains of 10.4% since 1991. However, the fund had not evaded the negative impact of COVID-19 as its flagship Pure Alpha II fund had lost 18.6% through August.
Dalio is known for his grounded long-term perspectives. Although the fund suffered losses during the dot-com crash in 2000 (22%) and the financial crisis in 2008 (20%), it managed to bounce back with 20%+ gains between 2002 and 2004 and 45% and 25% gains in 2010 and 2011 respectively. Regarding the pandemic, Dalio commented previously that “We’re now in a wonderful revolution in terms of the capacity to think and use that in a way. I would say that is absolutely the most treasured thing in the future.” Undoubtedly, this year has provided plenty of opportunities for growth investments, not only in the usual tech space. Progress in medicine, conditioned in part by COVID-19, makes the health-care sector increasingly attractive. E-commerce is another industry that takes advantage from the pandemic, becoming the preferred buyer market worldwide. Dalio is giving special attention to Chinese stocks, given the relative attractiveness of China’s capital markets. In this vein, Bridgewater has arguably the most diversified portfolio in a decade, with massive investments made during Q3 in consumer staples, healthcare, e-commerce, and education stocks.
Hedge funds’ reputation as a whole has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn’t keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. That does not mean their consensus stock picks can’t provide great value. Insider Monkey’s research was able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the S&P 500 ETFs by more than 66 percentage points since March 2017 (see the details here). That’s why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to. You can subscribe to our free newsletter on our website to receive our stories in your inbox.
For the list of the best growth stocks to buy right now, we looked into Ray Dalio’s top positions in his fresh 13F filing and identified the 10 growth stocks with a P/E ratio of 30 or higher among these biggest positions. Here are the best growth stocks to buy right now according to billionaire Dalio:
10. New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. (NYSE:EDU)
We begin with New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. (NYSE::EDU), the most recognized brand in Chinese private education, currently valued at $3.7 billion. Having previously said that “not investing in China is risky”, Bridgewater expects great performance from the stock. Dalio's EDU position was worth $42 million at the end of September after boosting his EDU holdings by 46.3% in Q3.
The most recent news is New Oriental’s secondary listing on the Hong Kong stock exchange, closing on its first day of trading at HK$1,365, a 14.7% increase from its offer price. The company plans to invest the net proceeds in its business growth and geographic expansion. According to Yahoo Finance, EDU is trading at a trailing P/E of 72. The Chinese education company had total revenues of $2.45 billion in FY2018 and managed to increase this to $3.6 billion in FY2020.
9. Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX)
Next is Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX), the giant chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves, valued at $115.3 billion. Dalio’s SBUX position was worth $47 million at the end of September after an incredible increase in holdings of 4524% in Q3. Clearly, Dalio has a tiny position in SBUX in Q2 and decided to build this into a full position.
Pershing Square Capital Management, which repurchased its stake in Starbucks in March, underlines the stock’s swift adaptation to the pandemic given its dominant position in the Chinese market. Here is what they had to say in their Q2 2020 Investor Letter:
"Despite short-term sales headwinds from Covid-19, Starbucks remains one of the world’s best businesses, which we believe will emerge even stronger from the current crisis. Starbucks results reported since we re-established our position have demonstrated that the company’s recovery plan is working. The company’s stock price has begun to reflect its business progress generating a total shareholder return of 39% from our average cost to repurchase our stake in the company.
Given the company’s leading presence in China, Starbucks was well-prepared for the arrival of Covid-19 in the U.S. After an outstanding start to the calendar year with same-store sales growth between 6% and 7% through mid-March, the company rapidly shifted to a drive-thru and delivery-only model. With 44% of the store base open, April same-store sales declined and bottomed at negative 65%. As management steadily reopened both locations and in-store ordering, same-store sales improved to negative 14% in July, with 96% of stores open. The sales recovery has been driven by store re-openings and underlying sales momentum, with same-store sales of stores open throughout the year improving from a low of negative 25% in April, to positive 2% in July. The recovery path in the U.S. closely parallels what Starbucks has achieved in China, albeit with a lag of about one quarter given the later arrival of the virus in U.S."
8. Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT)
Bridgewater added 433,463 shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) to its 13F portfolio during Q3, establishing a position worth $47.17 million. Hedge funds have been bullish regarding the health-care stock throughout Q2 and Q3, with all-time high ownership of 67 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey.
Polen Capital Management added ABT to its portfolio in Q2, and highlighted the company’s successful response to COVID-19 in its Q3 investor letter:
“Abbott Laboratories has also shown resilience. Abbott’s consumer-facing businesses collectively grew almost 10% in the first half of the year. Its Medical Devices business has also recovered swiftly with procedure volumes returning to 90% of pre-COVID levels in the quarter, and the company has been a leader in the development of various COVID-19 diagnostic tests.”
7. TAL Education Group (NYSE:TAL)
TAL Education Group (NYSE: TAL) is another Chinese company in the education sector that investors have been enthusiastic about in Q3. Bridgewater raised its stake in the company by 53%, valued at $52 million at the end of September. A total of 40 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey had holdings in the stock at the end of June, an increase of 5% from 2020 Q1 and the highest figure for this statistic.
According to Yahoo Finance, TAL is trading at a trailing P/E ratio of 1801 and is currently valued at $44 billion. Total revenues in FY2018 amounted to $1.72 billion and increased to $3 billion in FY2020. Nevertheless, the stock’s recent performance is a bit disappointing for its investors, as the stock returned only 8% since the end of June and underperformed the market's 18% gain.
6. McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD)
Next in the list of the best growth stocks held by Dalio’s Bridgewater Associates is McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD). It is a new addition to Bridgewater’s 13F portfolio, worth $77.02 million and consisting of 350,908 MCD shares.
Other hedge funds that see growth potential in MCD, currently trading at a trailing P/E ratio of 33, are Citadel Investment Group and D E Shaw with stock worth $205.7 million and $205.5 million, respectively at the end of September 2020. This is in contrast with the overall bearish sentiment towards MCD, as 14% less hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey hold positions in the stock in Q3 compared to the previous quarter.
5. Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST)
Fifth in the list of the best growth stocks bought by Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater Associates is the American multinational Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST). The fund purchased 218,662 COST shares worth $77.63 million at the end of September. 61 hedge funds were long in the stock at the end of Q2, down by 10% compared to the first quarter.
Costco is trading at a trailing P/E ratio of 43, according to Yahoo Finance, and the company’s latest e-commerce revenues figure is $26.05 billion. The biggest positions in the stock belong to Berkshire Hathaway and Fisher Asset Management, worth $1313.9 million and $995.4 million, respectively at the end of Q3. Saturna Capital Corporation, the investment management company of Sextant Mutual Funds, stated the following about COST in its Q1 2020 Investor Letter:
“For those not signed up for Amazon Prime, there’s still Costco, another firm in an enviable position when consumers are stocking for hard times.”
4. Pinduoduo (NASDAQ:PDD)
1,094,888 shares of Pinduoduo (NASDAQ:PDD), the Chinese Internet giant, is the amount held by Bridgewater in its 13F portfolio on September 30, giving the firm a stake worth $81.2 million at the end of September. Not only Dalio has great expectations from PDD’s performance, as hedge fund sentiment towards the stock has been bullish since Q2, when the number of hedge fund positions increased by around 7% from the previous quarter.
Pinduoduo’s fast growth is indisputable, as the e-commerce channel registers a year-over-year revenue growth of about 89% for Q3, amassing 14.2 billion Chinese Yuan ($2.2 billion). Continuing its customer-centric approach, PDD launched in August a new service called Duo Duo Maicai, hoping to expand market share against its rivals. Nevertheless, Tao Value, an investment management firm that has held bullish positions in PDD for a long time, signals the challenges that the company might face. Here is that Tao Value had to say in its Q3 2020 investor letter:
“Pinduoduo (ticker: PDD) dragged 93 bps this quarter. Investors had high expectation on Pinduoduo coming into this quarter, yet the reported Q2 GMV & revenue fell short of such hype. The stock dropped 14% on the earnings day alone. On business side, management indicated its strategic shift to develop technology solutions for the vast, yet under-digitalized agriculture value chain in China. I think it is a difficult but meaningful problem to tackle.”
3. JD.Com, Inc. (NASDAQ:JD)
Dalio slightly increased the position in JD.Com, Inc. (NASDAQ:JD), the technology-driven Chinese retailer. Bridgewater’s stake in the JDD is currently worth $129.5 million at the end of September, up by 21% from a quarter earlier. 87 hedge funds held positions in the stock at the end of June against the all time high of 90 at the end of the first quarter.
JD.com announced a positive earnings surprise of 30% in Q3, and its stock returned 35.5% since the end of June (through 10/16), outperforming the market by an even larger margin. According to our calculations, JD.Com, Inc. ranked #27 in our 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds, 2020 Q1 rankings. Here is Dan Loeb’s optimistic review of the two e-commerce giants, JD and Alibaba:
“During the quarter, we took advantage of jitters about China’s relationships with Hong Kong and the U.S. that created an air pocket in trading of Chinese-related shares to establish new positions in e-commerce leaders Alibaba and JD.com. As we have articulated in prior letters3, our outlook for Alibaba and the broader Chinese e-commerce market is bright. We believe online gross merchandise value (“GMV”) will grow at a mid-teens CAGR over the next five years, propelled by both (1) rising consumption per capita, as the Chinese retail market is equal in size to the U.S. despite four times as many consumers, and (2)increased penetration of retail by online, a trend which we believe has been structurally accelerated by the COVID- 19 pandemic.
As the e-commerce market matures, we believe Alibaba & JD will leverage scale and growing repositories of transaction data to increase monetization of their platforms through targeted advertising to improve revenue yields (revenues as a percentage of GMV) from a starting point of less than 4% today. As a point of comparison, brick-and-mortar retail store rent expenses in China are greater than 10% of sales on average, which provides a significant umbrella for online marketplaces to take a greater share of GMV through a combination of commission and advertising spending as online retailer cost structures converge with brick- and-mortar retail.”
2. Alibaba Group (NYSE: BABA)
Bridgewater fortified its stake in Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) during Q3 by 40%, valued at $392.2 million, a much larger position relative to the one in Alibaba’s rival, JD.Com. The stock was in the portfolios of 166 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey at the end of September. Our calculations also showed that BABA ranks #4 among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
BABA gained around 30% from the end of Q2 (through November 24). In its Q3 2020 Investor Letter, Rowan Street Capital highlighted Alibaba’s control over the entire value chain:
“Alibaba’s integrated ecosystem connects and controls the whole value chain of branding, broadcasting, sales conversion and sharing. That’s very different from how it works in the U.S., where internet giants such as Amazon, Facebook and Alphabet are individually dominant in certain parts of the value chain, but not in the complete manner that Alibaba has achieved. None has an ecosystem that connects the entire marketing and commerce value chain from branding, broadcasting and sales conversion. Alibaba connects the entire value chain.
[…] We believe the odds are still in our favor to earn long-term double-digit compounded returns from our Alibaba investment even from current market levels.”
You can read more about their analysis of Alibaba here.
1. SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD)
This isn’t really a growth stock you might think. However, it really is. Investors buy gold because they think its price in terms of US dollars will or could go up. It may go up a lot if printing trillions of dollars out of thin air to cover the budget deficits becomes the standard operating procedure of the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury. Investors usually invest in gold as a hedge.
There were a total of 65 hedge funds with long GLD positions at the end of the third quarter. There are also other hedge fund managers who invest directly in physical gold, so the actual number of hedge funds that invest in gold is much higher. The total value of hedge funds’ GLD positions was nearly $3.5 billion. Ray Dalio has the largest position in GLD among all hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey. Dalio’s GLD bet was worth $967 million.
<<<
>>> Want a 'slice' of a stock? Demand booms for fractional shares as markets soar
by Ethan Wolff-Mann
Yahoo Finance
June 12, 2020
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fractional-shares-trading-demand-as-stock-market-rally-180837763.html
If you wanted to throw $200 into Amazon stock (AMZN) a few years ago because you saw a UPS guy with nothing but brown boxes with blue tape, you’d have been annoyed.
The stock— which cost $1,700 per share two years ago and is now over $2,600 — had a sticker price similar to a carbon-fiber bicycle, or a month or two (or three) of rent, depending on where you live.
But last year, popular stock-trading apps Robinhood and SoFi started giving investors the chance to buy less than a single share of stock, something called “fractional” or “partial” shares. Though these products can have a few limitations, they allowed anybody to buy a stock based on a dollar amount. (Well, not anybody; Robinhood has a waitlist with over 1 million people.)
This spring, fractional shares have been extremely popular as new investors have jumped to own shares — or shares of shares — of companies they couldn’t before. Big players like Fidelity and Schwab (SCHW) have joined, bringing the phenomenon to the investing mainstream.
The boom in fractional shares has coincided with a stock market boom, as the S&P 500 bounced up by around 40% from its low in late March.
It led many to wonder whether a new class of investor is a factor in the gains, enabled by stimulus money, no sports or betting, and perhaps the ability to buy small chunks of big stocks. (Barclays research analysts, for what it’s worth, says no, though this is hotly debated.)
Huge demand for tiny pieces of big stocks
Fractional shares have existed for many years, usually as a part of dividend reinvestment plans. A dividend for a stock position might not kick off enough to buy a whole new share, so a person reinvesting was allowed to end up owning a number of shares with a decimal point.
But in the past few years, people thought: What about just buying stocks that way? M1 Finance was one of the first companies to offer fractional shares in 2017. SoFi added the feature a year ago, and Square’s CashApp and Robinhood followed — giving the trend enough gas to convince Fidelity to launch in January.
Since the coronavirus crisis, fractional shares have taken off to a startling degree, and just last month Schwab joined in on the fractional share bandwagon. Everybody seems to be “democratizing” investing by letting people buy small, and a lot of people are doing just that.
According to SoFi, a broker that offers both free trades and fractional shares, 40% of all trades are fractional versus whole shares and 52% of customers' first trades are fractional.
M1 Finance CEO Brian Barnes told Yahoo Finance that roughly half of its 200,000 trades per day on its platform come in sizes of less than one share.
For CashApp, fractional investing saw the fastest adoption of any product on the platform, with the average customer buying around $20 worth of stock per purchase. And in April, when stimulus checks hit many accounts, CashApp's stock brokerage volumes saw their highest monthly totals ever.
<<<
>>> 7 American Manufacturing Stocks to Buy Before Recovery
InvestorPlace
Louis Navellier
July 2, 2020
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/7-american-manufacturing-stocks-buy-185641230.html
The Institute for Supply Management supplies a monthly look at the U.S. manufacturing market. In April, that index hit an 11-year low.
But since then, the numbers have been rising. They’re not going wild, but they’re rising.
You have seen this in the housing market where new home purchases are growing — mortgage demand is increasing — and in other spots that show the consumer moving back into the economy and taking advantage of low interest rates.
This is why the consumer is so fundamental to the economy. When they are buying durable goods and housing, manufacturers benefit from the increased demand.
7 Utilities Stocks to Buy With Reassuring Dividends
These 7 American manufacturing stocks to buy now are benefiting from the expanding consumer demand for goods. And they should benefit further as the U.S. economy rights itself and starts to grow again.
Builders FirstSource (NASDAQ:BLDR)
AAON Inc (NASDAQ:AAON)
Generac Holdings (NASDAQ:GNRC)
Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT)
YETI Holdings (NYSE:YETI)
Illinois Tool Works (NYSE:ITW)
Lumentum Holdings (NASDAQ:LITE)
Remember many of these stocks were hammered over the spring when investors were still expecting the worst from the COVID-19 lockdowns. And right now, all of them are a “Buy” in the Portfolio Grader tool I use to find Growth Investor plays.
Builders FirstSource (BLDR)
This likely isn’t a name consumers know offhand, since it’s fundamentally a supplier to the homebuilding market, supplying goods such as roof and floor trusses, vinyl windows, drywall and lumber.
But it is a Fortune 500 company and does about $7 billion worth of business across more than 400 locations around the US.
Again, you’re not going to see a lot of advertising on television for BLDR, but it is a major homebuilding supplier in the U.S. That means when housing is growing, so is BLDR.
The stock has been on a ride in the past year, growing well through the second half of 2019, only to erase much of those gains in March this year. But BLDR is up 80% in the past 3 months and still up 22% in the past 12 months.
AAON Inc (AAON)
This firm specializes in commercial, industrial and residential HVAC. This is another sector that goes hand in hand with an expanding economy. New facilities need new equipment.
Also, with low-cost loans available, upgrading old, inefficient equipment for more efficient HVAC can actually be cost-reducing in the long term. That also goes along with businesses that are expanding or downsizing their plants and offices.
Remember, the locksdowns have sent many people home to work, which is also an ideal time to do the necessary upgrades to HVAC units. Work-from-home, to a much greater extent than it was pre-pandemic, is here to stay, and that’s been a source of great buys for Growth Investor.
7 Utilities Stocks to Buy With Reassuring Dividends
AAON stock has stayed positive throughout the COVID-19 troubles and currently is up 10% year to date. It also offers a small 0.7% dividend, which is still better than a lot of CDs out there.
Generac Holdings (GNRC)
As our world becomes more gadget-centered — TVs, computers, smartphones, etcetera — it also needs reliable sources of power to supply these devices and the equipment and devices that run them.
Given that our power grid hasn’t changed much from the grid that Thomas Edison helped develop, demand is beginning to outstrip supply increasingly often. And as we recently saw in California, harsh weather combined with stresses on this antiquated system can turn catastrophic.
Many people are coming to realize that having back-up power when their utility goes down is a smart play. And that bodes well for leaders in the field such as Generac.
The stock has taken off in the past few years as consumers and industrial clients see the need and value in being able to manage ‘off the grid’. And it’s also easier and more convenient than ever before to integrate backup power into your business set-up.
GNRC is up 70% over the past year, 21% year to date. This is a long-term trend beyond the traditional business cycle.
Applied Materials (AMAT)
Usually when you think manufacturing, you think big machines, sparks and hard hats.
Well at AMAT, it’s more about lab coats and sterile rooms.
Since 1967, AMAT has been a leading manufacturer of semiconductor equipment. They build the machines that etch, measure, inspect and conduct all other aspects of wafer production.
Most tech investors think of chipmakers as the superstars of the industry, but it’s behind the scenes players like AMAT that keep their stars burning. And being a key supplier for more than half a century in such a dynamic industry shows you that they’re every bit as cutting edge as they used to be. That’s a recipe for strong fundamentals and popularity with the “smart money” on Wall Street, which is where I find compelling opportunities for Growth Investor.
Tech remains a cyclical industry. And right now, tech is hot. The S&P 500 has even adjusted its weighting to favor tech stocks. That’s great news for AMAT.
YETI Holdings (YETI)
If the pandemic lockdown did one thing beyond flattening the curve, it was to drive cabin fever to a pitch like nothing has in recent memory.
People were itching to get out of the house. And many, respecting the need for social distancing, didn’t head to the cities, but instead to mountains and lakes and beaches.
And the fact that they may have given up summer holidays or had fewer options to spend money, saw YETI as a great place to pick up on some premium outdoor recreation products.
YETI is known for its top of the line coolers, drinkware and just about anything else outdoor gear oriented. It has also become somewhat of a status symbol brand among those in the know, which is a big deal for consumers with disposable income.
The stock has been on a tear, up 136% in the past 3 months and 41% in the past year. This is the most directly consumer-driven stock of the bunch.
Illinois Tool Works (ITW)
This firm has been around since 1912 — that’s the year Woodrow Wilson beat William Taft for the presidency.
That’s a long time to be making tools. At this point, the company carries a $55 billion market cap and is diversified across a number of industries, including electronics, automotive, food, polymers and welding.
That kind of diversification is what has helped keep this giant so successful for so long. ITW isn’t a sexy company by any means, but what it lacks in sizzle it makes up for in steak.
The stock delivers a solid 2.4% dividend and has a proven record of weathering even the most catastrophic storms. Currently, it’s up 17% for the past 12 months and 27% in the past 3 months.
Lumentum Holdings (LITE)
One of the most fundamental advances in our digital world was discovering how to use light to transfer data. Photo optics had a huge beginning in the 1990s when it was still fairly theoretical and didn’t have enough demand to support the expense.
The sector had its reckoning when the dotcom bubble burst. But since then, it has continued to grow and mature.
Now fiber optics are at the core of most high-power commercial and consumer telecom systems.
LITE is a core provider of optical and photonics products. That means it provides the components and subsystems that move data around the country (and world) as well as building commercial grade lasers that are helping industries as diverse as sheet metal processing, precision machining, biotech and drilling circuit boards.
The company started just 5 years ago and already has a $6 billion market cap — that’s some serious growth. In the past 12 months, LITE is up 50%, 18% in the past 3 months. This growth stock will keep its momentum through our current events.
Speaking of momentum, you’ll notice that many of these buy-rated manufacturers are serving the tech industry. That’s because there are some huge megatrends gearing up now for high demand around the world. Which brings me to the next big opportunity I have for you today:
The 5G Buildout Is an Incredible Opportunity
If you’re like me, then COVID-19 really underscored the importance of good, fast internet at home. Plenty of Americans, especially essential workers, still have to venture out to keep the country going. But many of us can conduct daily life at home, around the clock.
So, while the press releases from Big Telecom will emphasize the “cool factor” of 5G, and how it’s up to 100 times faster than 4G, I want you to think about it more practically.
5G is what’s going to keep us all connected in the modern economy. If you live somewhere without reliable (or any!) broadband access, you might have trouble keeping up with shopping or even finances in the “new normal.” That is, until ultrafast 5G wireless changes all that for you.
Mobile providers like AT&T and Verizon need 5G to maintain their edge – and get people into new smartphone contracts. But the big profits will come from the companies that help create 5G.
One such company I like now is much lesser known than the Big Telecom companies but has excellent growth prospects.
This company is already one of the biggest semiconductor equipment manufacturers in the world. These days, its products for machine learning, optics, sensors and analytics are getting deployed for all sorts of next-generation technologies: the self-driving cars, robotics, cloud computing and the larger Internet of Things (IoT).
<<<
>>> When Stocks Are Down, Grab Your Wish List
Kiplinger
by James K. Glassman
June 4, 2020
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stocks-down-grab-wish-list-221300756.html
Like every other investor, I felt sick watching the Dow Jones industrial average lose three-eighths of its value in just 40 days in February and March. But I felt a little thrill as well. I had a list. I could buy stocks I loved at a discount. Or, to put it a little differently, I could now become a partner in some of the best businesses in the world at bargain prices.
Incredibly enough, many investors are resistant to bargains. They think of stocks as different from, say, sweaters. Imagine you have had your eye on a sweater in a store window, but it's just too expensive. A few weeks later, it goes on sale at 10% off, but you wait--not enough of a deal. The next week, it's marked down by another 20%, and you buy a gorgeous sweater to enjoy for life.
Waiting to buy at a sale price is a natural human endeavor, but stock investors often do the opposite. They buy when prices are rising--as though a store were beckoning you to buy a sweater by shouting, "Now Priced at 20% Extra!" Investors often see higher prices as a validation of a stock's worth: It must be a good company if it keeps costing more to buy a share. Conversely, they think it must be a dog if the price keeps dropping.
Pretzel logic. That reasoning, however, is twisted. The very same company's shares are offered, from day to day, at very different prices. Often the decisive factor, according to the late Benjamin Graham, the Columbia University polymath who was Warren Buffett's mentor, is the mood of "Mister Market," a guy who is sometimes full of optimism and sometimes horribly gloomy. Unfortunately, purchasing stocks when Mister Market is pessimistic requires discipline. A good trick is to make a wish list, whether on your computer, on paper or just in your head. What are the great companies you really want to own that are just too expensive now? Almost certainly, at some point, they will get cheaper. If they just keep going up, you may feel frustrated, but don't worry. Dozens of great companies are out there. Wait for your price.
A good example is Starbucks (symbol SBUX, $74), which fell from $93 a share to $56 during the first two months of the global COVID-19 scare. When I bought Starbucks during this period, I did not, of course, pick the precise bottom. Nor do I know if Starbucks might again be back in the $50s (or lower) sometime soon. What I do know is that for years I have wanted to own part of this company, with its dominant global franchise, attractive locations and smart management. In addition, it's a company with 4,200 stores in mainland China that have already undergone the cycle of coronavirus suffering and recovery and can educate their U.S. counterparts. (Prices are as of May 15, unless otherwise noted.)
Frame of mind is critical in wish-list investing. In 1987, Buffett wrote that when he and partner Charles Munger consider a stock purchase, "we approach the transaction as if we were buying into a private business." Buffett and Munger see themselves as "business analysts" rather than stock analysts. Buffett explained that they "look at the economic prospects of the business, the people in charge of running it, and the price we must pay. We do not have in mind any time or price for sale.
Indeed, we are willing to hold a stock indefinitely." I determine what I call a partnership price, one based not on strict calculations of return on investment or price-earnings ratio but simply linked to rough market capitalization (number of shares times price), a figure that I adjust to take into account balance sheets that are heavy with debt or cash. In other words, I make a loose estimate of what the company is worth, mainly by comparing it with other companies. In the case of Starbucks, its market cap was about $100 billion when the stock was riding high early this year; debt and cash were not too significant. With the stock near its low, Starbucks' market cap was $60 billion, or less than half the current market cap of McDonald's (MCD), about one-third that of Netflix (NFLX) and one-fifth that of Procter & Gamble (PG). Rough comparisons like those persuaded me that Starbucks could come off my wish list and into my portfolio.
Wish-list investing is a variation of buying on dips. With that strategy, you typically own shares of a company already and purchase more when the price goes down. And you're guessing it won't fall more. With a wish list, you are not timing the market but making a long-term commitment to a company you love--ready, as Buffett says, "to hold a stock indefinitely."
A wish-list company is one you are proud to own. One of those is Salesforce.com (CRM, $171), a leader in relationship management software, which helps companies acquire customers and service them via the cloud. Revenues at Salesforce are doubling every three years. Profits are minuscule, but it's the business that counts--and the price of partnership, which fell from $193 a share on February 20 to $124 by March 16. I made my commitment. At the same time, I took the opportunity to buy another business I have wanted to own for a long time: Bank of America (BAC, $21), which lost half its value in little more than a month. I also decided it was time to buy companies in Europe, using the vehicle iShares MSCI EAFE (EFA, $55), an exchange-traded fund that owns such stocks as Nestlé, Novartis and SAP.
My fifth purchase during the COVID crash was also European: Paris-based Hermès International (HESAY, $72), the luxury maker and seller of leather goods, dresses, scarves, jewelry and furniture in 310 stores around the world. Hermès has extensive sales in China, and so the stock started its coronavirus decline in mid January, sliding from $80 to $55 in two months. At 31%, that loss looked modest compared with the decline of Starbucks or Bank of America. But family-controlled Hermès is a steady stock, and opportunities to pounce don't come along often. I wrote about Hermès in the February issue of Kiplinger's: "Can there possibly be a better business than one in which demand so exceeds supply?" At the time, the stock was trading at $75. I liked it then, but it didn't come off my personal wish list until March.
Similarly, I bought Oneok (OKE, $32), the venerable natural gas pipeline and processing company that I wrote about in the April issue. Since then, the stock fell from $75 to $15, with the double-whammy of COVID and the petroleum-price collapse.
What's still on the wish list? Wynn Resorts (WYNN, $78), the best of the casino companies, also began to fall in mid January because of its holdings in Macau, dependent on gamblers from China. Shares fell by two-thirds in just two months; I just didn't pull the trigger. (You can't buy all the sweaters that are on sale.) Nor did I take the occasion to buy Johnson & Johnson (JNJ, $148), one of the best-run health care companies in the world, or Chevron (CVX, $88), which hit a 10-year low.
Also, I regret that I have not (yet) bought Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B, $169), a stock which, except during 2008-09, has gone nearly straight up. Berkshire fell about 30% but, unlike Hermès, hasn't gained much of the loss back. The company is sitting on $128 billion in cash. Buffett certainly has his own wish list. Time to take Berkshire off mine and buy shares at last?
James K. Glassman chairs Glassman Advisory, a public-affairs consulting firm. He does not write about his clients. Of the stocks mentioned in this column, he owns Bank of America, Hermès, Oneok, Salesforce.com and Starbucks. His most recent book is Safety Net: The Strategy for De-Risking Your Investments in a Time of Turbulence.
<<<
>>> 12 Stocks to Buy That Are Already Positive
by Neil George
InvestorPlace
Mar. 25, 2020
https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/12-stocks-to-buy-that-are-already-positive-1029032553#
Global lockdowns are bringing carnage to the economy and the stock market. Extreme selling over the past few weeks has resulted in plenty of losses for individual investors. Some are looking for stocks to buy, but many more are acting out of fear.
Now we’re starting to get massive monetary assistance from the Federal Reserve and fiscal assistance from President Donald Trump’s administration. Both should begin to provide some relief to companies, the markets and the broader economy.
But status is critical right now. What is each company doing right now to survive? How do they stand with creditors and their debt?
In my Profitable Investing, I continue to do what I did before the current mess. I evaluate a company’s credit before making a recommendation. This includes looking at cash and cash coverage of current liabilities going out up to one year. And it also includes looking at bank loans, credit lines, bonds and preferreds outstanding.
What I’m presenting to you today is that there are many companies with stocks in my model portfolios that retain positive trailing 12-month returns. These companies are performing well despite the unprecedented fall in the stock market.
They are from differing industries and market sectors, but all have common attributes of focusing on delivering in-demand goods and services to eager customers and working well with their suppliers and employees to get their jobs done. And, they are all successfully managing their credit.
These stocks to buy have all delivered positive returns over the last year, and as we move past this current mess, they are all poised to do better in 2020. They also pay you to own them with attractive dividends.
Positive Stocks to Buy: Technology
Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) is a great real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on data centers returning 5.3%. Cloud computing is mission critical for companies and individuals — made even more crucial during the current mess as more workers are off-site or at home. And DLR is keeping the data and communications flowing. It yields a tax-advantaged 3.6%.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is my favorite recurring-revenue technology company returning 25.5%. While other big tech companies have faltered in getting past relying on unit sales, Microsoft succeeded in moving toward a subscription model. And the Azure cloud business is now mission critical with more folks working remotely. It yields 1.4%.
Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) is a technology company focused on animal health, including critical vaccines addressing past, present and future epidemics. ZTS stock returns 8.4%. The coronavirus from China likely originated from animals at markets. Zoetis continues to identify risks to both livestock and our pets at home, and develops the vaccines and medications needed to keep animals healthier. It yields 0.8%.
Samsung Electronics (OTCMKTS:SSNLF) is the globe’s leader in developing and making electronic components. It returns 10.1% in its local market and 1.4% in U.S. dollar terms. Point a finger at nearly any electronic item — including every modern vehicle — and you will find Samsung components inside. It yields 2.8%.
Utilities
NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) is one of many utility and essential services companies that I recommend, and it has returned 5.3%. NEE has a dependable base of regulated power for cash flows that can get it through thick and thin. And the company also has one of the world’s largest wind and solar power operations. It yields 2.7%.
Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) is another impressive essential services company returning 3.8%. The company provides power and natural gas to both regulated local markets and wholesale markets throughout the U.S. And like NextEra, it is ramping up wind power facilities. Its dividend yields 3.2%.
Consumer Goods Stocks to Buy
Nestle (OTCMKTS:NSRGY) is a prime example of a consumer products companies that fixed costs and has a great focus on the right products, returning 4.6%. Nestle is one of my few global stocks to buy that even now is working through the challenges. And it pays a dividend yielding 2.8%.
Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) is another of my consumer goods companies. It finally revamped its product lines and has a 12-month return of 2.6%. Consumer tastes and needs changed, and many consumer goods companies missed this shift. But Procter & Gamble is working to ramp up its performance — and it’s only aided by the rising needs of households during the lockdowns. And yes, the Charmin Bears and their toilet paper aren’t hurting the bottom line. It is paying a yield of 3%.
Specialty Companies
Franco-Nevada (NYSE:FNV) is my gold and mineral royalty stock to buy, returning 49.3%. Way back last year I made my call for gold to fare better. And even with the recent pullback, gold is up. This means that revenues for FNV should remain positive. And unlike traditional gold, FNV pays a dividend yielding 0.9%.
Easterly Government Properties (NYSE:DEA) is another REIT with a perfect tenant — the U.S. government. Over the trailing 12 months DEA has returned 31.4%. While many companies are curtailing their on-site operations and may jeopardize their lease payments, the U.S. government will continue to pay their leases now and for years to come. It yields 4.6%.
B. Riley Financial (NASDAQ:RILY) is a specialized collection of business units, and those units have some unique focuses, like shutting down distressed retailers. RILY stock has returned 4.9%. This company also has brokerage, business lending and asset management units. But it is really cashing in on closing stores. It yields 10.7% on an annual basis through its regular and ongoing special dividend distributions.
Amazon (AMZN)
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) is a company that I have followed for years — like nearly everyone else — and it has returned 7.4%. But it has always been a company focused on growth at nearly any cost, prioritizing growth over profitability and shareholder dividend distributions.
However, like for Microsoft with its Azure cloud services and Digital Realty with its data centers for cloud services, Amazon has its mission critical Web Services that are empowering remote work. And its sales and product platform as well as its delivery services should only become more ubiquitous.
<<<
>>> Leggett & Platt (LEG), Incorporated designs and produces various engineered components and products worldwide. It operates through four segments: Residential Products, Furniture Products, Industrial Products, and Specialized Products. The Residential Products segment offers innersprings, wire forms, and machines to shape wire into various types of springs; industrial sewing/finishing machines, conveyor lines, mattress packaging, and glue-drying equipment, as well as quilting machines; and structural fabrics, carpet cushions, and geo components. It serves manufacturers of finished bedding, upholstered furniture, packaging, filtration, and draperies; retailers and distributors of carpet cushions; and contractors, landscapers, road construction companies, and government agencies using geo components. The Furniture Products segment offers molded plywood components; bases, columns, back rests, control devices, and casters and frames; private-label finished furniture; beds and bed frames; adjustable beds; and steel mechanisms and hardware, and springs and seat suspensions. It serves upholstered and office furniture manufacturers; department stores and big box retailers; e-commerce retailers; and mattress and furniture retailers. The Industrial Products segment offers drawn wires, bedding and furniture components, automotive seat suspension systems, and steel rods. It serves packaging and baling companies, mechanical spring manufacturers, and wire distributors. The Specialized Products segment offers mechanical and pneumatic lumbar support and massage systems, seat suspension systems, motors and actuators, and cables; titanium, nickel, and stainless steel tubing, formed tube, and tube assemblies; and engineered hydraulic cylinders. It serves automobile and mobile equipment OEMs, and aerospace suppliers. The company sells its products through sales representatives and distributors. Leggett & Platt, Incorporated was founded in 1883 and is headquartered in Carthage, Missouri. <<<
>>> Johnson & Johnson Agrees to Settle Ohio Opioid Lawsuits for $20.4 Million
Settlement comes ahead of trial scheduled for this month; J&J is fourth drugmaker to settle with two Ohio counties suing over opioid epidemic
Johnson & Johnson said the settlement allows it ‘to avoid the resource demands and uncertainty of a trial as it continues to seek meaningful progress in addressing the nation’s opioid crisis.’
Wall Street Journal
By Sara Randazzo
Updated Oct. 1, 2019
https://www.wsj.com/articles/johnson-johnson-agrees-to-settle-ohio-opioid-lawsuits-for-20-4-million-11569977306
Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday said it has agreed to a $20.4 million deal to avoid a coming trial accusing the company of helping spark an opioid-addiction crisis in two Ohio counties.
The settlement makes J&J the fourth drugmaker to reach such a deal ahead of the trial, slated to begin later this month in federal court in Cleveland. The trial is considered a bellwether for thousands of opioid-related lawsuits that municipalities and states have filed against drugmakers.
The company said Tuesday the settlement allows it “to avoid the resource demands and uncertainty of a trial as it continues to seek meaningful progress in addressing the nation’s opioid crisis.”
Yet the deal, which includes no admission of liability, still leaves J&J facing hundreds of other opioid lawsuits.
The two Ohio counties behind the lawsuit, Cuyahoga and Summit, are home to cities including Cleveland and Akron that have been hit hard by the opioid crisis.
As in thousands of other opioid-related lawsuits filed by local and state municipalities, the counties accused J&J and other companies of contributing to widespread addiction through aggressive marketing practices and lax distribution policies.
J&J said Tuesday the company is “open to identifying an appropriate, comprehensive resolution of the overall opioid litigation” but is also prepared to defend its marketing and other actions.
Lawyers for the two counties said the settlement provides urgently needed funds for programs like those to treat babies born to opioid-addicted mothers. The lawyers said they are continuing to prepare for trial “to hold the remaining opioid makers and distributors accountable for fueling the crisis that has led to thousands of deaths in Ohio and across the country.”
Earlier this week, drugmaker Mallinckrodt PLC completed a $30 million deal with Cuyahoga and Summit counties. Endo International PLC had previously agreed to pay the counties $10 million, while Allergan PLC had agreed to pay $5 million to avoid the trial.
J&J’s settlement includes a $10 million cash payment, a $5 million reimbursement of legal expenses the counties incurred in relation to the trial, and $5.4 million in charitable contributions to opioid-related nonprofits in the counties.
The company is among drugmakers exploring a way to use the bankruptcy of another defendant in the opioid cases, OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, to try to reach a global resolution of the cases, The Wall Street Journal reported this week.
Addiction experts are in wide agreement on the most effective way to help opioid addicts: Medication-assisted treatment. But most inpatient rehab facilities in the U.S. don’t offer this option. WSJ’s Jason Bellini reports on why the medication option is controversial, and in many places, hard to come by.
The litigation has weighed on J&J, of New Brunswick, N.J. The company lost the first opioid case to go to trial, in Oklahoma. A state-court judge there ordered the pharmaceutical and consumer products company to pay $572 million for contributing to the state’s opioid crisis. The company is appealing the verdict.
As settlements by drugmakers pile up, the Ohio trial is now shaping up to focus mostly on the companies that distribute drugs. Companies still included in the case as of Tuesday include AmerisourceBergen Corp., McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health Inc. and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc.
Those companies have denied the allegations against them and argued they ran legal businesses that were heavily regulated.
J&J’s involvement in the lawsuits stems primarily from two opioid painkillers: the fentanyl patch Duragesic and Nucynta, a tapentadol pill. J&J also owned two companies that supplied the active pharmaceutical ingredients and narcotic raw materials to other drugmakers for their own opioid painkillers.
J&J still makes Duragesic but sold Nucynta in 2015 and exited the opioid-ingredients businesses by 2016.
<<<
Animal health care - >>> Millennials help drive growth of pet health care
Fidelity Insights
Shilpa Mehra
September 11, 2019
https://www.fidelity.com/trading/overview
"I've continued to favor the health care sector and am especially excited about companies focused on the health of animals," says Shilpa Mehra, portfolio manager of Fidelity® Trend Fund (FTRNX).
According to Mehra, the animal health segment has been expanding at a faster clip than the US economy, and she thinks the niche has been underpenetrated by investors.
Several secular trends are driving revenue growth in the segment, Mehra says. Most notably, many in the millennial generation, born between 1981 and 1996, have delayed getting married and having children, and a large number have made pets a very important part of their families.
Also, in recent years there's been more interest in preventive care for pets, she says, as opposed to sending pets to the veterinarian when there's an obvious problem. This, she says, also is a revenue driver in the segment.
She sees other advantages in the pet-care niche, including few competitors, dominant market positions for some companies, high barriers to entry, and fewer regulatory hurdles, compared with health care companies that develop products to treat people.
As of July 31, related positions in animal health included Idexx Labs (IDXX), which makes medical diagnostic equipment for pets; Zoetis (ZTS), a market leader in animal drugs that is best known for its flea, tick, and heartworm treatments; and Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DCHPF), a UK-based animal pharma company.
<<<
>>> 7 “Boring” Stocks With Exciting Prospects
These stocks will chug right along, growing their stock price and delivering solid dividend yields
By Louis Navellier
Editor, Growth Investor
Aug 23, 2019
https://investorplace.com/2019/08/7-boring-stocks-with-exciting-prospects/
When I say “boring” stocks, that might seem like I’m talking about stocks that aren’t worth your attention.
Quite the opposite.
The market has been on a roller coaster ride recently. We’ve had a couple yield curve inversions, the Dow Industrials lost 800 points in one day, and the trade war with China continues unabated.
Europe is headed into recession, negative interest rates reign, and Brexit looks like it’s going to be messy.
Wouldn’t it be nice in all this turmoil to have some stocks that will chug right along, growing their stock price and delivering solid dividend yields, most of which outpace inflation?
That’s what I call boring stocks. They aren’t unicorns or in sexy, headline-grabbing industries. But they do make money slowly and steadily. And they are all investor-friendly.
These seven boring stocks with exciting prospects below are the perfect antidote to the prevailing winds tossing this market around.
American States Water (NYSE:AWR) is an interesting utility because it reaches across a couple lines of business. It’s a company that manages water resources for over 80 communities in California, particularly around Los Angeles.
But it also has divisions that provide electricity and contracted services to over a million customers in nine states.
Water is becoming an increasingly important resource. And water utilities are becoming key assets to manage these resources. As we have seen in Michigan and Georgia, as well as many other states, old infrastructure is endangering the lives of citizens.
In agricultural states like California, wise management of resources for business and the citizenry is becoming ever more complex.
AWR stock has had a run in the past year, up 46% in the past 12 months and 33% year to date. Given that move, its dividend has diminished, but it still delivers at almost 1.4%, which may not beat current CD rates, but they don’t offer the growth potential of AWR stock, either.
York Water (NYSE:YORW) is the oldest investor-owned utility in the country. It started in 1816, when a group of local businessmen in York County, Pennsylvania got together and issued shares in a company that could mange water resources for the growing city of York.
As the city grew, it needed a reliable source of water for the community, as well as water at the ready for any structure fires. Bucket brigades weren’t going to be able to serve the growing city.
In recent years, YORW has gone into the wastewater business as well. This is just managing the flow on a different set of pipes and adds value to the overall business.
But YORW has stuck to its knitting. It has grown with the needs of the two counties it serves, but it isn’t looking to take on risky expansion. Its sub-$500 million market cap means you’re getting a small, focused utility with great relations with the utility regulators and a well-established infrastructure.
The stock is up 25% in the past 12 months, 17% year to date and delivers a trusty 1.9% dividend to boot.
ONE Gas (NYSE:OGS) is a natural gas utility that operates in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. It provides gas for commercial and residential customers.
The nice thing about this company is that it’s focused. There are plenty of big utilities that have natural gas as well as renewables along with their electric generation and distribution mix.
OGS just does natural gas. And that’s a good thing, especially if you already have a bigger utility or two in your portfolio. Its two million customers make it one of the largest natural gas utilities in the U.S.
Natural gas is one of the great energy resources in the U.S. While coal is still around, much of its production is getting shipped overseas because it’s not as efficient as natural gas.
Fracking operations in Texas and Oklahoma as well as many other places in the U.S. have unearthed significant natural gas assets. This spells growth for years to come.
Most of OGS stock’s gains came in 2019 – it has return 16% year to date and 14% in the past year. It delivers a solid 2.2% dividend yield that’s outpacing inflation.
Chesapeake Utilities (NYSE:CPK) can recall its roots back in 1859 as the Dover Gas Light Company. Remember, gas lights were all the rage in the late 19th century and early 20th century until reliable electricity would supplant them.
CPK is from Delaware, the home of the powerful DuPont family, which means it had not only a consumer base but also a significant industrial base.
CPK operates on the Delmarva peninsula, some of the most popular beach traffic on the East Coast, as well as in Florida, as Florida Public Utilities.
Its operation has also expanded beyond natural gas and now encompasses propane, electricity, and even steam. It also has regulated and unregulated business divisions.
The regulated business helps keep business steady and reliable and the unregulated side takes advantage of opportunities that pop up in the market to make bigger gains.
With a market cap of $1.5 billion, it’s not a big company, but it is rock-solid. It’s up 19% year to date and delivers a 1.7% dividend. Nothing fancy, just a solid utility with a steady customer base in growing areas.
NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) is the largest utility holding company by market cap.
That’s right, we’re going to talk about a big-cap utility that operates in one of the fastest-growing states in the U.S. and has a very strong market position in one of the hottest growth sectors in the utilities sector – renewable energy.
This hardly sounds like a boring stock, right?
Well, just remember all this is in the utility sector, so it’s all relative. But NEE stock is getting a lot of attention, even from people who don’t usually consider utilities.
It has two divisions: regulated and unregulated. Its regulated division is FPL, formerly known as Florida Power and Light. FPL delivers electricity to about 10 million customers across nearly half of Florida (mostly the southern and western half) and is the third-largest utility in the U.S.
Its unregulated division is the largest producer of wind and solar in the world. Other utilities looking for carbon futures make this a huge growth opportunity for NEE.
NEE stock is up 29% in the past 12 months and delivers a near 2.3% dividend. And none of this is subject to trade wars, GDP or a strong dollar.
Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) has 7.7 million customers across six states: Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and Indiana. It is a diversified monster that provides electricity generation and distribution as well as natural gas distribution services.
The company started in 1904 when it took over the Catawba Hydro Station in South Carolina to help industrialize the south. The goal was to power the Victoria Cotton Mills and look for a way to diversify the economy of the agrarian south.
Nowadays, DUK has continued to lead, but now is known for being one of the most proactive renewable energy utilities in the nation. This has been an effort of the company long before it was cool to look at renewables as a way to generate power for most big utilities.
DUK has nine subsidiaries that operate across its territories, including an array of unregulated operations that help power the regulated side of the business as well as trade with other utilities and power customers.
While DUK stock hasn’t been on fire – up 5% year to date and 12% in the past year – its dividend is generous (4.1%) and about as reliable as they come. That means you’ll get paid inflation beating returns come what may with the rest of the market.
TerraForm Power (NASDAQ:TERP) is certainly a 21st century energy company. Its single mandate is to operate, own, and acquire wind and solar assets in North America and Europe.
Right now, that means nearly 30 U.S. states and territories as well as Canada, Chile, Spain, Portugal, Uruguay and the UK.
It has more than 3,700 megawatts of capacity, that’s split 64/36 wind and solar. The revenue split on its generation platforms is 51% solar, 49% wind.
Bear in mind, this is all unregulated. TERP isn’t a utility in the traditional sense since it doesn’t have a regulated business. It sells it power to utilities and other power producers that want to add renewables to their energy mix.
It also means that utilities don’t have to buy or expand power generation operations, but they can simply power from TERP until the demand becomes significant enough to justify the larger expansion expense.
Buying renewable energy also helps manage utilities’ carbon credits. While the federal government has loosened its regulatory grip on clean energy, many states and other countries haven’t.
The company is just five years old, so it’s still a baby in this sector, but it’s growing fast. TERP stock is up 55% year to date as low interest rates mean it can continue to expand its operations and lower its operating costs. Its 4.8% dividend is also attractive, but bear in mind that it’s not as secure as a utility like Duke or Dominion Energy (NYSE:D).
<<<
NextEra - >>> Why Energy Storage Is Proving Even More Disruptive Than Cheap Renewables
Forbes
Aug 2, 2019
by Jeff McMahon
Green Tech
TESLA POWER PACK
Tesla Inc. Powerpacks and inverters stand at the Southern California Edison Co. Mira Loma energy storage system facility in Ontario, California, U.S., on Thursday, June 1, 2017. The Mira Loma substation houses nearly 400 Tesla Powerpack units
The falling price of renewable energy has been dominating the headlines, but more dramatic change is happening behind the scenes, where battery storage is disrupting the way utilities provide power.
The change is driven not just by cheap renewables and cheap batteries, but by the electronics that link them together, said Mark Ahlstrom, the president of the non-profit Energy Systems Integration Group.
"Unlike all the old spinning generators that were electromechanically coupled to the grid, these are using power electronics, computers, state-of-the-art technologies that scale really well, as we’ve seen with other industries," said Ahlstrom, who also serves as vice president for renewable energy policy at NextEra Energy. "And it really is the digital revolution finally hitting the power industry.
"We saw it coming a little bit with wind and solar and what we're really doing with storage is going to push it over the edge in a big way."
In the past, utilities had to "take what they could get" from slow, inflexible fossil-fuel plants, Ahlstrom said. Their primary concern was having enough energy to meet peak demand.
Now, utilities will have abundant cheap power from renewables. Paired with batteries, that power can be deployed by computer in microseconds to ensure reliability or fulfill other ancillary services.
"What really surprised me—this is all I work on now—is hybrid projects," Ahlstrom said at a workshop hosted by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. "What happens when you tightly couple storage with solar PV, what you end up with of course is a solid-state computer-controlled power plant. When you really step back and think about what this means, we’re really talking about virtual power plants becoming real. It’s very dramatic."
"We’re a time of just amazing transition here. We’re going from slow and heavy to fast and light. These new resources can move at lightning speed," Ahlstrom said. "We’ve always worried about having enough energy. In the future we’re going to have lots of energy and what we’re going to need is flexibility and balancing. The reliability of the grid is dependent on keeping the balance."
"I do think the days of top-down control of how we run our resources is going to be replaced by what we’ve seen in all the other industries that have been digitized in the digital revolution. It’s going to eventually be a much larger population of intelligent agents that are going to cooperate to figure this out," he said. "It's a different world, guys."
Less than a week after Ahlstrom made these remarks, NextEra announced a new 700 MW renewables+battery hybrid plant—described as America's largest so far—in Anadarko, Oklahoma, the heart of oil country.
<<<
>>> J&J Denials of Asbestos in Baby Powder Spur Criminal Probe
Bloomberg
By Jef Feeley
July 12, 2019
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-12/j-j-denials-of-asbestos-in-baby-powder-spur-u-s-criminal-probe
Grand jury is examining what officials knew about cancer risks
J&J scientists wrote memos warning of asbestos-laced talc
The U.S. Justice Department is pursuing a criminal investigation into whether Johnson & Johnson lied to the public about the possible cancer risks of its talcum powder, people with knowledge of the matter said.
The criminal probe, which hasn’t been reported previously, coincides with a regulatory investigation and civil claims by thousands of cancer patients that J&J’s Baby Powder talc was responsible for their illness. Now, a grand jury in Washington is examining documents related to what company officials knew about any carcinogens in their products, the people said.
Baby Powder accounts for only a tiny fraction of J&J’s annual revenue, but it’s been a core brand for the company for more than a century. Questions about the product’s safety have led to more than 14,000 lawsuits from consumers asserting that the company’s talc products caused their ovarian cancer or mesothelioma, a rare form of the disease linked to asbestos exposure.
J&J disclosed in February that it had received subpoenas, but little was known then about the investigation behind them, including whether the matter was civil or criminal. The filing didn’t mention a grand jury.
The company said in a statement Friday that there had been no new developments. “We have been fully cooperating with the previously disclosed DOJ investigation and will continue to do so,” said J&J spokeswoman Kim Montagnino. “Johnson’s Baby Powder does not contain asbestos or cause cancer, as supported by decades of independent clinical evidence.”
Shares of J&J declined by 4.2% to close at $134.30.
Internal Memos
J&J, the world’s largest maker of health care products, has said safety tests of its Baby Powder over many decades have shown no presence of asbestos. But some of the lawsuits have turned up internal memos as far back as the 1960s and ’70s that contain warnings from company scientists that asbestos detected in J&J’s talc was a “severe health hazard” that could pose a legal risk for the company.
Justice Department prosecutors, FBI agents and Securities and Exchange Commission regulators are almost surely looking at whether J&J officials’ public denials that their talc-based products ever contained asbestos were truthful, legal experts said. SEC spokeswoman Judy Burns declined to comment.
Nearly a dozen juries have concluded J&J knew that some of their Baby Powder and former Shower-to-Shower products had at least trace amounts of asbestos and failed to disclose that to consumers. Over the past three years, jurors have awarded a total of more than $5 billion to people who blame the powders for their cancers.
The company has said it has set aside money for legal costs related to talc claims but hasn’t said how much. Bloomberg Intelligence estimates that civil settlements could cost J&J as much as $15 billion overall. J&J says it has no liability because the products are safe.
Shares of J&J plunged as much as 17% in December -- erasing billions in value -- after news reports about memos appearing to show that J&J executives knew the products were contaminated with asbestos as early as the 1970s.
Document Requests
The February document requests from the Justice Department, the SEC and the top Democrat on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions sought information about the company’s knowledge of asbestos in its talc-based products. J&J said it would be “cooperating with these government inquiries and will be producing documents in response.”
The grand jury was impaneled after the Justice Department’s fraud unit started an investigation. Investigators are probably looking for more internal communications that might conflict with the company’s public statements, said Henry Klingeman, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice in New Jersey.
“Since J&J is a public company, they are probably looking at whether their statements amounted to fraudulent statements to consumers and regulators,” Klingeman said in an interview. “I’d also think they’d be looking at whether they violated securities-fraud laws.”
The grand jury inquiry is likely to influence any talks between J&J and plaintiffs over resolving their claims out of court, said Peter Henning, a law professor at Wayne State University in Detroit.
“This will make it more difficult for Johnson & Johnson to settle the civil cases as long as there is a continuing criminal investigation, which may require employees to testify before a federal grand jury,” Henning said. “Civil plaintiffs may not want to settle until they know better whether criminal charges will be filed, which they can use to aid their cases.”
Investor Suits
In addition to the consumers’ suits, some J&J investors have accused the company of defrauding them, arguing in lawsuits that J&J failed to disclose that its powder was tainted and that the company’s shares were artificially inflated as a result.
Jacob Frenkel, a former SEC trial lawyer now in private practice in Washington, said there’s no timeline for grand-jury investigations and no certainty it will result in charges. “This could be a high-profile government investigation that goes nowhere,” he said. “Regardless of the outcome, the timetable for such investigations can measure in years, not months,” he added.
Baby powder is mostly talc, a mineral used to keep skin dry and as an astringent to prevent diaper rash. It’s also used in consumer products such as makeup, paint and dietary supplements. But geological formations that contain talc also yield asbestos, a mineral once used in products such as building insulation.
Scientists have found strong links between asbestos and mesothelioma, while plaintiffs’ lawyers claim that studies have also shown a link between talc and ovarian cancer. In court filings, J&J has disputed both contentions.
Indemnity Agreement
J&J sold the rights to its Shower-to-Shower talcum powder to Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. in 2012. Valeant, which changed its name to Bausch Health Cos last year, has an indemnity agreement with J&J covering asbestos suits tied to the powder.
Juries in states such as Missouri, California and New Jersey have ruled for some of the plaintiffs since suits started going to trial in 2016. However, some of those verdicts have been thrown out by judges and others are on appeal. Some other cases have resulted in hung juries or outright wins for J&J.
Most of the ovarian cancer cases, along with investors’ suits, have been consolidated before a federal judge in New Jersey for pretrial information exchanges and test trials. The first trials of those cases haven’t yet been set.
<<<
>>> 7 Tests of Defensive Stock Selection From Investor Benjamin Graham
BY JOSHUA KENNON
April 10, 2019
https://www.thebalance.com/seven-tests-of-defensive-stock-selection-356432
Benjamin Graham's "Intelligent Investor" offers principles that are timeless, unquestionably accurate, and contain a sound intellectual framework for investing that has been tested by decades of experience.
Even Warren Buffett considers Graham's book "the greatest book on investing ever written." The unforgettable seven tests prescribed by Graham in Chapter 14, "Stock Selection for the Defensive Investor," serve as a filter to weed out the speculative stocks from a conservative portfolio. Note that these guidelines only apply to passive investors seeking to put together a portfolio of solid companies for long-term appreciation.
Defensive Investing Tips From Benjamin Graham
An investor who is capable of financial statement analysis, interpreting accounting decisions, and valuing an asset based on discounted cash flows may take exception to any of the following as long as they are confident their analysis is both conservative and promises safety of principal. Keep these seven tips in mind when putting your portfolio together.
1 - Adequate size of the enterprise: In the world of investing, there is some safety attributable to the size of an enterprise. A smaller company is generally subject to wider fluctuations in earnings while a large company is generally more stable by comparison. Graham recommended [in 1970] that an industrial company should have at least $100 million of annual sales, and a public utility company should have no less than $50 million in total assets. Adjusted for inflation, the numbers would work out to approximately $465 million and $232 million, respectively.
2 - A sufficiently strong financial condition: According to Graham, a stock should have a current ratio of at least two. Long-term debt should not exceed working capital. For public utilities, the debt should not exceed twice the stock equity at book value. This should act as a strong buffer against the possibility of bankruptcy or default.
3 - Earnings stability for companies: The company should not have reported a loss over the past 10 years. Companies that can maintain at least some level of earnings are, on the whole, more stable.
4 - Dividend record of common stock: The company should have a history of paying dividends on its common stock for at least the past 20 years. This should provide some assurance that future dividends are likely to be paid.
5 - Earnings growth and profit of a company: To help ensure a company's profits keep pace with inflation, net income should have increased by one-third or greater on a per-share basis over the course of the past 10 years using three-year averages at the beginning and end.
6 - Moderate price-to-earnings ratio: For inclusion in a conservative portfolio, the current price of a stock should not exceed fifteen times its average earnings for the past three years. This acts as a safeguard against overpaying for security.
7 - Moderate ratio of price to assets: Quoting Graham, "Current price should not be more than 1 1/2 times the book value last reported. However, a multiplier of earnings below 15 could justify a correspondingly higher multiplier of assets. As a rule of thumb, we suggest that the product of the multiplier times the ratio of price to book value should not exceed 22.5 (this figure corresponds to 15 times earnings and 1 1/2 times book value. It would admit an issue selling at only 9 times earnings and 2.5 times asset value, etc.)".
More Information on "The Intelligent Investor"
Benjamin Graham's "Intelligent Investor" should be a required read for any investor. Within its pages are multitudes of facts and information that will provide you with an excellent foundation of investment knowledge and wisdom, and arm you with the necessary skills to unravel the complexities of investment valuation and analysis.
<<<
>>> Heart Replacement Valves From Edwards and Medtronic Beat Surgery
Bloomberg
By Michelle Cortez
March 16, 2019
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-16/heart-replacement-valves-from-edwards-and-medtronic-beat-surgery?srnd=premium
Edwards valve cut death, stroke and rehospitalization rates
Two new studies found that for patients with damaged aortic valves, it may be safer and more effective to thread a replacement valve into the body with a catheter rather than cracking open the chest for open-heart surgery.
For decades, surgeons have repaired leaky aortic valves with one of medicine’s most dramatic procedures, splitting the sternum and stopping the heart to sew a new valve in place while the patient is kept alive by machines. The new valves from Edwards Lifesciences Corp. and Medtronic Plc can be inserted through an incision in the leg, threaded up to the heart, and then fixed in place far less invasively.
The new valves are already used in the about 20 percent of patients who are too sick to withstand open-heart surgery or may have complications from the operation. The latest company-sponsored findings, presented at the American College of Cardiology meeting in New Orleans, suggest Edwards’s and Medtronic’s valves should be used in almost all patients.
The heart procedures make up 61 percent of Edwards’s revenues, and expanding use of the devices is a key part of Wall Street’s optimistic view about the company. In the U.S., there are about 90,000 diagnosed, low-risk patients, said Jason McGorman, an analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence. He called the expanded use a $2.5 billion opportunity.
Patients given Edwards’s Sapien 3 valve were almost half as likely to die, suffer a stroke or need to be hospitalized again within the first year of treatment as those who underwent a traditional operation. A study of Medtronic’s Evolut yielded similar benefits after one year and found that the procedure wasn’t inferior to surgery after two years, the primary goal of the study.
“The default until now has been surgical valves, unless you are in one of these high-risk groups,” said Joseph Cleveland, professor of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. “Surgery will be only for cases where TAVR won’t work. This is a game-changer.” TAVR stands for transcatheter aortic valve replacement.
Cleveland wasn’t involved in the trials; he reviewed the results for the cardiology society.
More Questions
As the valves are used in younger and healthier patients, it’s not clear how they’ll hold up over the long term compared with surgically implanted valves that have a much longer track record.
The Edwards study followed 1,000 healthier, lower-risk patients, finding that 8.5 percent who got Edwards’s Sapien 3 valve died, had a stroke or were rehospitalized in the first year, compared with 15.1 percent of surgery patients.
In the Medtronic trial of 1,468 patients who got the company’s Evolut device, 5.6 percent of patients died, had a disabling stroke or were hospitalized for heart failure in the first year, compared with 10.2 percent of surgery patients.
After two years, the patients who got the less-invasive procedure did just as well as surgery patients on death and disabling stroke, though Evolut patients were more likely to have blood flowing backward into the heart or need a pacemaker after treatment.
<<<
>>> Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (EW) provides products and technologies for structural heart disease and critical care monitoring in the United States and internationally. It offers transcatheter heart valve therapy products comprising transcatheter aortic valve replacement, and transcatheter mitral and tricuspid therapies for the nonsurgical replacement of heart valves. The company also provides surgical heart valve therapy products, such as pericardial valves for aortic and mitral surgical valve replacement; aortic heart valves; annuloplasty rings; and cardiac cannula devices, as well as various procedure-enabling platforms to advance minimally invasive surgery. In addition, it offers critical care products, such as hemodynamic monitoring systems to measure a patient's heart function in surgical and intensive care settings; pulmonary artery catheters; Oximetry Central Venous catheters, as well as clinical monitoring platforms that display a patient's physiological status; Acumen Hypotension Prediction Index, an advanced algorithm that indicates the likelihood of a patient developing hypotension; and disposable pressure monitoring devices and closed blood sampling systems to protect patients and clinicians from infection. The company distributes its products through direct sales force and independent distributors. Edwards Lifesciences Corporation was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Irvine, California.
<<<
>>> Danaher Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets professional, medical, industrial, and commercial products and services worldwide. The company's Life Sciences segment provides mass spectrometers; cellular analysis, lab automation, and centrifugation instruments; microscopes; and genomics consumables. This segment also offers filtration, separation, and purification technologies to the biopharmaceutical, food and beverage, medical, aerospace, microelectronics, and general industrial sectors. Its Diagnostics segment provides chemistry, immunoassay, microbiology, and automation systems, as well as hematology and molecular diagnostics products. This segment offers analytical instruments, reagents, consumables, software, and services for hospitals, physicians' offices, reference laboratories, and other critical care settings. The company's Dental segment provides consumables, equipment, and services to diagnose, treat, and prevent disease and ailments of the teeth, gums, and supporting bone. This segment offers implant systems, dental prosthetics, and associated treatment planning software; orthodontic bracket systems and lab products; endodontic systems and related consumables; restorative materials and instruments; infection prevention products; digital imaging systems and software; air and electric powered handpieces, and consumables; and treatment units. Its Environmental & Applied Solutions segment offers instrumentation, services, and disinfection systems to analyze, treat, and manage water in residential, commercial, industrial, and natural resource applications. This segment also provides analytical instruments, software, services, and consumables for consumer, pharmaceutical, and industrial products. The company was formerly known as Diversified Mortgage Investors, Inc. and changed its name to Danaher Corporation in 1984. Danaher Corporation was founded in 1969 and is headquartered in Washington, the District of Columbia.
<<<
>>> GE Deal With Danaher Shows Culp Is All About the Balance Sheet
The sale of its biopharmaceutical business indicates creditors are the CEO’s top priority.
Bloomberg
By Brooke Sutherland
February 25, 2019
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-25/ge-deal-with-danaher-shows-culp-is-all-about-the-balance-sheet?srnd=premium
All about the balance sheet.
General Electric Co.’s latest deal shows that CEO Larry Culp is putting creditors in the driver’s seat, and shareholders can come along for the ride for now.
GE announced on Monday that it’s selling its biopharmaceutical business to Danaher Corp. for $21 billion in cash plus the assumption of $400 million in pension obligations. The deal has a bit of intrigue — Culp spent 13 years as Danaher’s CEO — but it’s a huge step forward in his push to attack GE’s bloated balance sheet and reduce one of the largest unfunded pension balances in the S&P 500 Index. The biopharmaceutical business makes up the bulk of GE’s life-sciences operations, which were the most attractive part of the health-care division it had planned to take public. As such, Culp is putting those IPO plans on ice for now and will contemplate other options for its core imaging business. Taken together, it’s clear that GE’s creditors, rather than its stockholders, are Culp’s top priority.
Long Way to Go
GE shares spiked more than 15 percent in early trading on Monday as shareholders cheered the influx of cash to address the company's balance sheet woes. That only gets the stock back to where it was in October, though.
Recall that Danaher reportedly expressed interest in the life sciences operations in early 2018, but GE, led by John Flannery at the time, rebuffed its overtures. Flannery tried to juggle an obvious need to reduce GE’s leverage with an effort to conserve upside for aggrieved equity investors. Culp has torn up that blueprint to refocus the company’s divestiture drive on raising cash. Flannery was hesitant to pull the trigger on a wind-down of GE’s stake in the Baker Hughes energy business; Culp kick-started the sale just six weeks into his role as CEO. Flannery structured the merger of GE’s transportation unit with Wabtec Corp. to give GE shareholders a bigger stake in the combined entity than the company itself; Culp rejiggered that deal at the 11th hour to raise more cash to tend to the balance sheet. Flannery planned to spin off 80 percent of GE’s health-care business to shareholders; the life sciences deal with Danaher gives nothing to shareholders directly and it seems likely that any future divestiture of the remaining health-care operations will also be focused on raising cash, rather than providing shareholders with an ongoing interest.
It’s a bitter pill, and GE’s decision to sell some of its better assets for cash speaks to the depth of the challenges it faces in its power unit and GE Capital financial arm. I don’t think Culp would be doing this if he thought GE could just muddle through another few years of power losses. Time is not on his side; more than three-quarters of business economists expect the U.S. to enter a recession by the end of 2021, according to a semiannual National Association for Business Economics survey released Monday. A downturn is likely to undermine the aviation unit that has been GE’s primary savior throughout its recent struggles. The benefit of scrapping the health-care IPO for now is that GE gets to milk the cash flow from that business awhile longer. Notably, GE said it would at long last release its outlook for 2019 on March 14 and also booked a March 7 date for a presentation focused solely on its long-term care insurance liabilities. That suggests the additional detail on the insurance business that GE has promised to provide in its 10K annual filing is likely to be complicated and seemingly ugly.
While the balance between bond and equity holders is always tricky, I think Culp is doing the right thing by putting creditors first. These are hardly the actions of a company operating from a position of strength, but it’s the most logical path. And at this point, GE’s stock price is so contingent on what happens with the balance sheet that you could argue the interests of bond and equity holders are aligned for the time being. That’s why I have advocated in the past for an equity raise to put those leverage concerns to rest once and for all. The life-sciences deal and delayed divestiture of the remaining imaging business most likely mitigates any imminent need for a share sale. But you still have to wonder what GE is going to look like once Culp is finished and what its growth story will be. The health-care business was one of GE’s better cash-generating assets and, one way or another, it likely will be gone eventually. GE risks following the path of fallen industrial giants before it like Tyco International or Westinghouse and breaking itself up until it’s a shadow of its former self.
<<<
Recap of performance for the main indices in 2018 -
(12.0%) - Russell
(6.2%) - S+P 500
(5.6%) - DJIA
(3.9%) - Nasdaq
(25.0%) - Oil (West Texas)
(16.0%) - Emerging Markets
(15.0%) - Asia Pacific
(13.0%) - Europe
Current 10 year Treasury yield - 2.68%
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-30/asian-stocks-may-get-relief-after-trump-xi-talk-markets-wrap?srnd=premium
>>> AptarGroup (ATR) to Hike Prices for Beauty Products by 5-10%
Zacks
November 19, 2018
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/aptar-announces-price-increases-140000877.html
AptarGroup, Inc. ATR recently announced that the company will implement a price hike by 5-10% for its beauty, personal care and home care products in North America. The price hike, which will be effective with shipments beginning on Jan 1, 2019, has been implemented to counter significant cost inflation on raw materials, freight and other inputs.
Notably, AptarGroup witnessed raw-material inflation of about $4 million in its Beauty + Home segment in third-quarter 2018.Moreover, AptarGroup’s Food + Beverage segment witnessed about $2 million cost inflation in the Sep-end quarter, hitting the bottom line. The company expects the inflationary environment to prevail, and raw-material and transportation costs to depress margins.
Nevertheless, AptarGroup’s price adjustments in North America and other regions will help offset these escalating costs. The latest price hikes will be in addition to any price adjustments related to import tariffs.
AptarGroup expects that its core sales will grow in each segment in the ongoing quarter. The company remains committed to execute its growth strategy in order to create long-term value for all stakeholders. Furthermore, it is poised to gain from business-transformation plan, product roll outs and acquisitions.
Share Price Performance
Shares of the company have outperformed the industry, over the past year. The stock has gained around 24% while the industry recorded a loss of around 5% during the same time period.
AptarGroup carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked stocks in the same sector include CECO Environmental Corp. CECE, Flowserve Corporation FLS and Mobile Mini, Inc. MINI. All these stocks carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 (Strong Buy) Rank stocks here.
CECO has a long-term earnings growth rate of 15%. The stock has surged around 56% in a year’s time.
Flowserve has a long-term earnings growth rate of 17.3%. The company’s shares have been up 28% during the past year.
Mobile Mini has a long-term earnings growth rate of 14%. Its shares have rallied 21% in the past year.
<<<
!!!!$TREP to test .30 Fast growing company 90% gains in last night's published Q announcement
>>> 10 Boring Stocks Growing Like Weeds
InvestorPlace
Louis Navellier
September 14, 2018
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/10-boring-stocks-growing-weeds-170550082.html
Most investors love a good story — or should I say, a sexy story. In looking for stocks to buy, they like the stories of the companies that are transforming an entire industry or are exploiting a niche that no one even knew existed 20 minutes ago. It’s the rags-to-riches tale, the ground-floor-stock temptation.
But generally speaking, for real, long-term investors, you want a lot more than wings — you want roots. Stocks that are proven. Stocks that have history. Stocks that have been around for decades, even though few people even know that they’re publicly traded.
Even hot-shot tech companies have to grind out their quarterly numbers after all the hype leaves them. Giant growth can be a fickle asset as a company matures, since double- and triple-digit growth is never sustainable in the long run.
These 10 boring stocks growing like weeds will not only endure, but they will thrive. They may not impress your friends on the golf course, but they’ll certainly keep your portfolio heading in the right direction.
SVB Financial Group (NASDAQ:SIVB) is a bank, but it’s a unique kind of bank — the SVB stands for Silicon Valley Bank. It has become kind of a boutique investment bank for some of its customers.
Say you launched a start-up and got bought out for a few million dollars. A customer like you is in a very special place to launch new firms similar to the one that you have already successfully launched. And SIVB can provide that capital to seed those new firms.
And now SIVB is expanding across the U.S. In a tech driven world, this bank has big potential, which is why it’s up 86% in the past year.
IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ:IAC) is certainly not a name that rolls off the tongue. But behind this imposing name lies some of the most familiar apps that the romantically inclined use regularly.
IAC runs the The Match Group (NASDAQ:MTCH), as in the dating sites Match.com, Tinder, PlentyOfFish and OkCupid. Another division runs home services sites Homeadvisor and Angie’s List. And yet another division runs Vimeo. And it has a publishing segment that run The Daily Beast, Ask.com, Dictionary.com and others.
7 Stocks to Buy to Actually Make America Great Again
The fact is, IAC is an online subscription and advertising-based behemoth. It’s no surprise that IAC stock is up 90% in the past year. The cross-pollination of all these divisions means it is creating a self-sustaining information and entertainment empire for digital natives.
Paycom Software (NYSE:PAYC) is a cloud-based SaaS (software as a service) company that specializes in human capital management software. Basically, that means it outsources most human resources needs from recruitment to retirement.
As small businesses continue to expand, one of the biggest challenges is building out a human resources department. Most business owners know their trade but understand little about the laws and procedures governing HR. And this can impact the scalability of a business. That’s where PAYC comes in. Business owners can contract out this piece of the business and concentrate on what they do best.
PAYC stock is up a whopping 103% year to date, and the momentum is continuing to grow.
Texas Pacific Land Trust (NYSE:TPL) has been around since 1888, when it was created as a holding company when the Texas and Pacific Railway Company was reorganized. It took over 3.5 million acres of land. Now, it manages 888,333 acres of that land.
That’s land that has oil and gas on it. Land that has housing, commercial and government development on it. And all those royalties and rents are managed by TPL.
As the shale boom continues, especially in Texas, TPL is at the epicenter of its boom times.
15 Digital Ad Stocks to Buy for the Long Run
TPL is up 86% so far this year and as Texas continues to boom, the stock will grow.
DexCom (NASDAQ:DXCM) was the No. 2 company last year in Forbes’ list of Most Innovative Growth Companies last year. The year before it was No. 4.
The point is, DXCM isn’t just sitting on its laurels, it’s continuing to dominate a growing niche that is dying for better tech.
DXCM makes continuous glucose monitoring solutions (CGM) for diabetics. Sadly, this is a growth business. But up until now, the old monitoring solutions — pricking your finger and putting your blood on a test strip that measures glucose levels on a device — was the only game in town.
There were some CGMs out there, but they have been a bit clunky — and clunky for a child makes it a tough option. DXCM in a game-changer in this sector and now has devices that can be read off an app on your phone or smart watch.
It’s up 148% year to date and has plenty of headroom left.
Callaway Golf (NYSE:ELY) is one of the most well-known brands in golf. From its revolutionary oversized drivers that have now become the standard on the pro tour and the public links to its line of clothes and bags, ELY is a niche brand that has a devoted and diverse following.
While every year, there is hand-wringing about the demise of the sport with younger generations, the numbers show just the opposite. Golfers’ numbers continue to grow. Youth participation is up. And ELY continues to adapt to the new generation of golfers that come along. This is not a stodgy, “clubby” brand. It has always been known for innovation, and that continues to this day.
The fact that the stock is up 64% in the past year is proof enough that ELY is still finding opportunity on and off the course.
Chart Industries (NASDAQ:GTLS) has a classic tag line for a “boring” stock: “You may never use the products we make, but everyone uses the products we make possible.” And that is certainly accurate, if not heart pounding. GTLS makes cryogenic equipment that are used to separate gasses and other compounds out of liquified natural gas (LNG).
This is a crucial phase of “refining” for LNG. And it means that as the economy grows and energy (and materials production) demands grow, so will GTLS.
GTLS stock is up over 110% in the past year and the economy is just getting started, which means so is this stock.
Synalloy Corporation (NASDAQ:SYNL) has been around since 1945, yet it’s likely you’ve never heard of it.
Based in Richmond, Virginia, it makes stainless steel and nickel alloy pipe, liquid storage systems and heavy wall seamless pipes and tubing. Think storage tanks and equipment for oil and gas exploration and production.
SYNL also has a chemicals division that supports the metals, mining, carpet, automotive and other industries.
7 Trucking Stocks to Buy as Retail Markets Shift Into Higher Gear
The fact is, while it has a core business that has kept it chugging along since the ’40s, it thrives when the economy is expanding — like now. SYNL stock is up over 100% in the past year.
Kimbell Royalty Partners LP (NYSE:KRP) is a relative newcomer to the oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) game in Texas, having organized just a few short years ago.
But if there’s a time to be in the E&P game, this is it. Domestic energy production is booming and the current political climate is getting rid of regulation, so it’s more profitable than ever to be a part of the U.S. energy business.
While KRP has been operating as a private company for nearly two decades, it has truly come into its own recently. As of July, it now holds 11.1 million gross acres in 28 states. It has 84,000 wells on its properties, with 34,000 wells in the Permian Basin alone.
Up 40% year to date, this limited partnership has a bright future. And its 7.5% dividend is a nice addition to the growth.
Ladder Capital (NASDAQ:LADR) is an interesting real estate investment trust (REIT).
Usually REITs own properties and then distribute their after tax profits to shareholders in the form of dividends. While LADR does have a generous 7.6% dividend, it doesn’t derive most of its revenue from leases. It specializes in commercial real estate financing solutions. It is a lender to companies looking to lease properties.
Granted, it has a few properties, but the bulk of its operations are funded by its financing arm. And with a recovering economy, this is a very good spot to be in.
7 Dividend Stocks to Buy Amid This Tough Market Environment
LADR stock is up 26% year to date, and that doesn’t include the dividend. This isn’t hot tech-stock growth, but for a REIT in a unique niche, this is a very tempting total return play for the long term.
<<<
>>> Utilities New Jersey Resources, South Jersey Industries Hold Merger Talks
Rising revenue has fueled takeover interest in natural-gas producers
By Dana Mattioli and Dana Cimilluca
April 4, 2017
https://www.wsj.com/articles/utilities-new-jersey-resources-south-jersey-industries-hold-merger-talks-1491322741
New Jersey Resources Corp. NJR -0.33% is considering a combination with South Jersey Industries Inc., SJI 0.15% a deal that would bring together two natural-gas utilities in the state, according to people familiar with the matter.
Details of the talks couldn’t be learned and it is possible that there won’t be a deal. As of Tuesday morning, New Jersey Resources had a market value of $3.4 billion. South Jersey Industries was valued at $2.8 billion.
New Jersey Resources, based in Wall, N.J., provides natural gas and other services to homes and businesses from the Gulf Coast to Canada, according to its website. It is the parent company of New Jersey Natural Gas, which serves more than 486,000 customers in Monmouth, Ocean, Middlesex, Morris and Burlington counties. New Jersey Resources also operates a 6,700 mile natural-gas transportation and distribution network serving almost 500,000 customers, according to the website.
South Jersey Industries, based in Folsom, N.J., traces its roots back more than 100 years to two Atlantic City gas companies. It provides natural gas to about 377,000 customers in the southern part of the state, according to the company’s website.
Rising revenue has fueled takeover interest in natural-gas producers and there has been a flurry of deal making over the past year. In January, Canada’s AltaGas Ltd. agreed to buy WGL Holdings Inc., Washington, D.C.’s natural-gas utility. NextEra Energy Inc. has agreed to buy bankrupt Energy Future Holdings Corp.’s Oncor electricity-transmission unit, one of the largest such businesses in the country, but Texas regulators have moved to block the deal.
<<<
>>> 7 ways to invest more like Warren Buffett
8-31-18
Motley Fool
by Keith Speights
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/savingandinvesting/7-ways-to-invest-more-like-warren-buffett/ss-BBKPRi1?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=mailsignout#image=1
What it takes to be a 'superinvestor'
Warren Buffett once wrote about the “superinvestors of Graham-and Doddsville,” referring to the successful investors who followed the investing approach taught by famed economists Benjamin Graham and David Dodd. Buffett himself became a “superinvestor” by following this approach, but he also added his own tweaks along the way.
1. Think like an owner
Perhaps the most important way to invest more like Warren Buffett is to think like an owner. That means viewing a stock as a part of a business -- not just a slip of paper with a dollar value. Before buying a given stock, ask yourself, “If I could own a business, would this be it?” That's the best way to decide whether a stock is a worthy investment.
Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A and BRK-B) often buys a business outright instead of buying only a stake in the company. But the mindset of thinking like an owner is the same whether Berkshire buys a percentage of shares or the entire business.
2. Understand the business
A key part of thinking like an owner is to first understand the business of any stock you buy. Warren Buffett sticks to buying stocks inside his “circle of competence.” This principle doesn’t mean, however, that you can’t buy a stock in an industry where you’re not an expert. It simply requires that you take the time to learn about the company’s business strategy, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
3. Find companies with moats
Medieval castles were encircled with water-filled moats to help fend off attackers. Warren Buffett likes to buy stocks of companies that have the equivalent of these moats -- competitive advantages that protect them from competitors. One example of a competitive advantage is operating at lower costs than competitors. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway owns the stocks of several companies in this category, including Costco (COST), Southwest Airlines (LUV), and Walmart (WMT).
4. Buy at a fair price
Warren Buffett started out as a value investor looking only for bargain buys. Over time he modified his views somewhat, saying, “It’s far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price.” But price is still very important. Buffett’s famous “Rule No. 1” of investing is to “never lose money.” Rule No. 2 is “never forget Rule No. 1.” The best way to keep both rules is to not pay too much for a stock when you buy it.
5. Take advantage of great buying opportunities
One of the best Warren Buffett quotes of all time is: “When it rains gold, put out the bucket, not the thimble.” In other words, take advantage of great opportunities to buy stocks. The best opportunities of all are when fear causes the valuations of great businesses to become very attractive. As Buffett said, “Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.”
6. Think long-term
It’s become a cliché, but the key to successful investing really is to have a long-term perspective. Warren Buffett put it this way: “If you aren’t willing to own a stock for 10 years, don’t even think about owning it for 10 minutes.” The greatest advantage an individual investor has is time. If you’re patient -- like Buffett has been and still is -- you can beat the market over the long run.
7. Sell when the business loses its edge
Although Buffett always thinks long-term when he buys a stock, he also knows that some businesses don’t perform as well as he hopes they will. For example, he sold IBM stock after acknowledging that he underestimated the technology giant’s competition. The key is to admit your mistakes as quickly as possible and cut your losses. If you discover that the business doesn’t have the competitive advantages you initially thought it had, sell the stock.
<<<
>>> Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX) connects the world's leading businesses to their customers, employees and partners inside the most-interconnected data centers. In 52 markets across five continents, Equinix is where companies come together to realize new opportunities and accelerate their business, IT and cloud strategies. <<<
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/EQIX/profile?p=EQIX
Equinix EQIX, -0.62% runs data centers in the U.S., Japan and Europe, providing cloud services to more than 9,800 companies.
>>> AT&T’s Huge Debt Load Isn’t Sinking Shareholders—Yet
By Alexandra Scaggs
Barrons
Aug. 22, 2018
https://www.barrons.com/articles/at-ts-huge-debt-load-isnt-sinking-shareholdersyet-1534963585?mod=yahoobarrons&ru=yahoo&yptr=yahoo
Wells Fargo thinks AT&T (T) is serious about reducing its debt—and that its shareholders could pay the price.
Analyst Jennifer Fritzsche downgraded AT&T’s shares to Market Perform from Outperform on Wednesday, in part because its status as the most-indebted nonfinancial U.S. company could force it to play nice with bondholders at shareholders’ expense.
She also expressed concern about the profitability of its entertainment group, which includes DirecTV, and a slowdown in growth in the part of its business that provides companies with advanced communications services. Shares were down 1.4% at $32.93 at 1:08 p.m..
AT&T certainly has a lot of debt to pay off—more than $180 billion, some $82 billion of which is a result of its acquisition of Time Warner. That means it needs to pay down or refinance $9 billion to $12 billion every year from 2019 to 2024.
Fritzsche and Wells Fargo’s credit analysts believe that means the company must deliver on its previously stated goal to cut leverage to 2.5 times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (Ebitda) by the end of 2019. Wells Fargo estimates that will require about $30 billion of debt reduction.
“The pendulum has currently shifted in favor of bond holders given the fact one of AT&T leading priorities for cash is debt reduction,” the analysts wrote. “We believe AT&T has to meet its aggressive delevering goal in order to remain in the good graces of bond holders and to preserve future access to debt capital.”
The risk, in Fritzsche’s view, is that the company could give cash to bondholders when it should be investing in programming, capital improvements, and the race to 5G.
We have our doubts about that. Netflix’s (NFLX) second quarter shows that higher spending does not always lead to better results. The platform spends five times more on programming than HBO does, but as of the end of 2017, HBO had 142 million subscribers, while Netflix had 118 million. (Netflix forecasts its subscriber count will reach 135 million during the third quarter.)
Second, AT&T doesn’t seem to have much trouble getting people to buy their bonds, no matter how much debt they have. Last week, its sale of a $3.75 billion five-year floating-rate note, likely the largest in a decade, was met with strong demand, according to Bloomberg. Investment-grade bond managers may want to stay on AT&T’s good side. New bonds are usually issued at a discount to secondary-market prices, so buying into deals can provide a needed boost to returns as rising rates hurt the entire sector’s performance.
And there’s still the question of whether AT&T will actually follow through on its debt-reduction plans. Company treasurers have a patchy history of reducing leverage after deals, even when they say reducing debt burdens is a priority. That’s because shareholders prefer that the companies they own raise financing with debt, rather than diluting their stakes.
There are plenty of examples of companies that have not fulfilled promises to reduce leverage. Five years ago, when Verizon Communications (VZ) announced its megadeal to acquire Vodafone Group’s (VOD) minority stake in Verizon Wireless, the company said it expected to reduce debt and regain its single-A credit rating in “somewhere between four and five years.”
For that, Verizon would need to reduce its net debt to two times Ebitda. Today Verizon’s net debt is 2.4 times Ebitda, according to Bloomberg, essentially unchanged from 2014, the year the deal closed. AT&T’s net debt load is larger, at 3.6 times Ebitda.
The main risk this debt poses to company investors—shareholders and bondholders alike—is that the company’s credit rating gets downgraded below investment grade. Moody’s and S&P Global Ratings currently rate the debt two levels above junk.
For bond investors, a so-called fallen angel with more than $180 billion of debt outstanding would hurt the high-yield bond market as a whole. And shareholders are essentially the last line of defense against such a downgrade: The easiest source of cash in a pinch would be to cut its 50-cent dividend, which it has raised for 34 consecutive years.
Fritzsche and her colleagues do not think the dividend is at risk, however.
“We note no part of this call is our concern about dividend sustainability–we continue to view this as secure,” they wrote.
<<<
>>> ATT showdown with DOJ over Time Warner finally gets a decision today
Washington Post
6-12-18
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/%E2%80%98everything%E2%80%99s-on-the-line%E2%80%99-atandt%E2%80%99s-showdown-with-doj-over-time-warner-finally-gets-a-decision-today/ar-AAyxvG1?OCID=ansmsnnews11
A federal judge is expected to rule Tuesday on whether to block AT&T's $85 billion Time Warner merger, in what has become America's most closely watched antitrust trial in decades.
The opinion by Judge Richard Leon could determine AT&T's future in digital entertainment as the company seeks to go toe-to-toe with tech titans such as Facebook, Google and Netflix. But the stakes are equally high for the Justice Department, which has not litigated a case of this kind since the Nixon administration. A court victory for the government, analysts say, could symbolize the beginning of a tough new era in antitrust enforcement. But an AT&T win could give pause to regulators — and perhaps deter them from blocking mergers in the future that might otherwise be deemed anticompetitive.
Though the Justice Department has sought to tamp down concerns about the AT&T case being a bellwether, analysts widely anticipate more deals to be announced in the event of an AT&T court victory, particularly mergers involving corporations that primarily operate in different industries. These types of so-called "vertical" deals are becoming more popular. In recent months, Verizon has purchased the digital media companies AOL and Yahoo. Amazon.com expanded its grocery business by buying Whole Foods. (Amazon chief executive Jeffrey P. Bezos also owns The Washington Post.) Comcast, meanwhile, is gearing up to fight Disney for control over 21st Century Fox.
"Everything's on the line now for the Department of Justice," said Gene Kimmelman, a former DOJ antitrust official who now leads the consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge. "They either come out as enormous victors … or they’ll face an avalanche of new transactions if they lose this case."
Analysts predict a wide range of possible outcomes in the trial. Leon could determine the merger poses a competitive threat and block the deal outright, siding with the Justice Department. He could rule for AT&T and approve the entire acquisition without conditions, making it possible for the deal to close by June 18. Or he could strike a middle ground, imposing his own changes to the deal or asking the two sides to help him tweak it.
No matter how he rules, the full implications will take time to digest — and will likely hold implications for a string of other mergers and acquisitions on the horizon. Leon has previously said to expect at least a 200-page written opinion.
The lengthy decision reflects the grueling six-week legal assault that government lawyers mounted against AT&T and Time Warner this spring in a dim, windowless Washington courtroom. Both AT&T and the Justice Department declined to comment for this story.
The merged firm, prosecutors argued, would anticompetitively unite AT&T's massive distribution infrastructure — its cellular and wired broadband networks — with Time Warner's premium content including HBO, Warner Bros. and Turner Broadcasting, whose assets include the cable channels CNN, TBS and TNT.
AT&T executives defended the merger in court as a major strategic shift for the telecom giant, one that could prove as significant as the company's decision more than a decade ago to enter the market for broadband and mobile data. In reinventing itself for an age of streaming media, AT&T aspires to deliver more television content over Internet connections to mobile and digital devices. With the viewing data it gathers from smart TVs, computers, tablets and smartphones, AT&T plans to build a targeted advertising empire resembling that of the Web's biggest ad giants.
That effort could be aided by another major milestone this week: The official repeal on Monday of the federal government's net neutrality rules. The rules, targeted for elimination by the Federal Communications Commission in a vote last year, had banned providers like AT&T or Verizon from prioritizing their own content over that of other websites. And they had laid the foundation for more stringent — though now also repealed — privacy regulations governing ISPs' handling of customer data.
Winning the antitrust case could allow AT&T to capitalize on that deregulation, analysts say.
"Consumer groups are worried that the court will give AT&T powerful new content, and that the FCC will let them monetize it in anticompetitive ways," said Paul Gallant, an industry analyst at Cowen & Co. "But investors are more sanguine. They like the hedge of AT&T owning content."
Antitrust attorneys litigating the Time Warner case relied on complex economic models and testimony from AT&T's competitors to outline a nightmare scenario in which AT&T could allegedly use its newfound control over Turner Broadcasting to unfairly benefit DirecTV, AT&T's own subscription television service.
Turner's control over live sports, news and other desirable programming would encourage AT&T to seek more money for that content when licensing it to competing TV services, the Justice Department argued. Those higher prices would allegedly be passed along to consumers to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars per year. Meanwhile, the attorneys said, DirecTV would reap rewards by luring away any customers dissatisfied with the price hikes at other cable companies.
"AT&T would not want Time Warner content distributed in ways that increase competitive pressure on DirecTV," the government wrote in its closing brief to the court.
Attorneys for AT&T and Time Warner lashed out at the government's antitrust claims, calling them "preposterous." Thanks to new targeted advertising revenue, AT&T argued, the deal would lead to price decreases for TV viewers, not increases. And to highlight its good faith in content negotiations, AT&T pointed to 1,000 letters it sent to rival TV services last year committing to an arbitration process after the merger, in the event those competitors felt they were being overcharged for Time Warner content. Opponents of the deal said the arbitration offer was insufficient, though in his questioning in court, Leon expressed significant interest in it.
AT&T's legal team sought to dismantle the Justice Department's economic analysis of the deal, poking holes in research done by the agency's star witness, a University of California economist named Carl Shapiro. Shapiro's analysis failed to consider enough real-world examples of programming disputes, AT&T argued, instead drawing on surveys and long-term projections to arrive at the conclusion that consumers will be harmed by the merger.
Hanging over the trial was also the political shadow of President Trump, who has publicly and repeatedly criticized the merger as concentrating too much power "in the hands of too few." Arguing that it was being unfairly singled out for punishment, AT&T briefly demanded that the Justice Department hand over White House communications logs that could prove whether Trump inappropriately directed the agency to block AT&T's merger. But Leon denied that request, focusing narrowly instead on the core antitrust arguments in the case.
Wall Street will be looking for clues in the AT&T decision as to whether the government is likely to challenge those deals.
"At the simplest level, the market will draw a conclusion as to whether this administration is laissez faire or interventionist when it comes to big deals," he said.
<<<
Summary of stocks -
AGRO -
Scotts Miracle-Gro (SMG) - Consumer lawn and garden products (5 Bil)
_________________________________________________________________________
BASIC MATERIALS -
Balchem (BCPC) - Chemicals, ingredients for food, nutritional, pharma, steriliz (1.6 Bil) - 0.5%
Berry Plastics Group (BERY) - Plastic packaging and engineered materials (3 Bil) -----
Dupont (DD) - Chemicals (67 Bil) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.5%
Lyondell Basell (LYB)-Chemicals, polymers, gasoline components(39 Bil)(Netherlands) 3.7%
PolyOne (POL) - Specialized polymer materials (4 Bil) ------------------------------------------- 0.8%
PPG Industries (PPG) - Coatings and specialty products (28 Bil) ----------------------------- 1.3%
Quaker Chemical (KWR) - Specialty chemicals (1.0 Bil) ----------------------------------------- 1.6%
RPM International (RPM) - Coatings, sealants, building materials (6 Bil) ------------------- 2.2%
Sherwin Williams (SHW) - Paints and coatings (20 Bil) ----------------------------------------- 1.0%
WD-40 Company (WDFC) - WD-40 and multi-purpose maintenance products (1.0 Bil) - 1.9%
Weyerhaueser (WY) - Timberland, lumber
WR Grace (GRA) - Specialty chemicals and materials (7 Bil) ----------------------------------- 0%
_________________________________________________________________________
CONSUMER - BEVERAGES - NON-ALCOHOL -
Coca Cola (KO) - Beverages (177 Bil) -------------------------------------------------------------- 3.2%
Fomex (FMX) - Beverages (Mexico) (32 Bil) ------------------------------------------------------ 3.4%
Monster Beverage (MNST) - Non-alcoholic beverages (24 Bil) ------------------------------ 0%
National Beverage (FIZZ) - Beverages (1 Bil) ----------------------------------------------------- 0%
PepsiCo (PEP) - Beverages, snack foods (142 Bil) --------------------------------------------- 2.8%
CONSUMER - BEVERAGES - ALCOHOL -
Anheuser Busch (BUD) - Beer (198 Bil) (Belgium) -------------------------------------------- 2.1%
Boston Beer (SAM) - Alcoholic beverages (3 Bil) ----------------------------------------------- 0%
Brown Forman (BF.B) - Distiller, Jack Daniels, many others (20 Bil) ---------------------- 1.3%
Compania Cervecerias Unidas (CCU) - Beverages, alcohol + non-alc (4 Bil)(Chile)- 3.1%
Constellation Brands (STZ) - Wine, beer, spirits (22 Bil) ------------------------------------- 0%
Diageo (DEO) - Alcoholic beverages , UK (72 Bil) ----------------------------------------------- 2.3%
CONSUMER - FOOD -
ConAgra Foods (CAG) - Packaged foods (15 Bil) ----------------------------------------------- 2.9%
Flowers Foods (FLO) - Packaged bakery products (4.2 Bil) ---------------------------------- 2.4%
General Mills (GIS) - Packaged foods (32 Bil) ---------------------------------------------------- 3.2%
Hormel (HRL) - Meat and food products (12 Bil) -------------------------------------------------- 1.7%
J+J Snack Foods (JJSF) - Snack foods (1.8 Bil) ------------------------------------------------- 1.4%
Kellogg (K) - Cereal, convenience foods (23 Bil) ------------------------------------------------- 3.1%
Kraft Heinz (KHC) - Packaged food, beverages (Bil) -------------------------------------------- 3.8%
Mondelez Intl (MDLZ) - Food products (formerly part of Kraft) (60 Bil) --------------------- 1.7%
Nestle (NSRGY) - Food products, (Switzerland) (242 Bil) -------------------------------------- 3.2%
Smucker (SJM) - Food products (11 Bil) ------------------------------------------------------------ 2.3%
Snyders-Lance - (LNCE) - Snack foods (2 Bil) ---------------------------------------------------- 2.1%
Treehouse (THS) - Packaged foods (3.4 Bil) ------------------------------------------------------- 0%
CONSUMER - FOOD - MISC -
B&G Foods (BGS) - Packaged food and household products (1.6 Bil) --------------------- 3.9%
Calavo Growers (CVGW) - Markets and distributes avacados (604 mil) ------------------- 1.9%
Cal-Maine Foods (CALM) - Eggs (1.9 Bil) ---------------------------------------------------------- 2.3%
Ingredion (INGR) - Food ingredients (6 Bil) -------------------------------------------------------- 2.1%
Lancaster Colony (LANC) - Specialty foods, glassware, candles (2.5 Bil) ---------------- 1.9%
Unilever (UL) - Food, beverages, pers care + cleaning products, UK / Dutch (123 Bil) - 3.1%
CONSUMER - FOOD - RETAIL + RESTAURANTS -
Kroger (KR) - Grocery stores (37 Bil) ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1.0%
McDonalds (MCD) - Fast food restaurants (93 Bil) ---------------------------------------------- 3.5%
Yum Brands (YUM) - Fast food restaurants (31 Bil) --------------------------------------------- 2.1%
CONSUMER - FLAVOR + FRAGRANCES -
Givauden (GVDNY) - Flavors and fragrances, Switzerland (15 Bil) --------------------------3.3%
Intl Flavors + Fragrances (IFF) - Flavor and fragrance products (8 Bil) ------------------- 1.9%
McCormick (MKC) - Spices, herbs, flavorings (9 Bil) -------------------------------------------- 2.2%
Sensient (SXT) - Flavors and fragrances (2.5 Bil) ------------------------------------------------ 1.8%
Symrise (SYIEY) - Flavors, colors, fragrances, Germany (6.5 Bil) --------------------------- 1.9%
CONSUMER - PERSONAL CARE + CLEANING PRODUCTS -
Church + Dwight (CHD) - Household and personal care products (9 Bil) ----------------- 1.8%
Clorox (CLX) - Cleaning, household products (11 Bil) ------------------------------------------ 2.6%
Colgate Palmolive (CL) - Personal and home care products (60 Bil) ----------------------- 2.2%
Ecolab (ECL) - Cleaning and sanitizing products and programs (33 Bil) ------------------- 1.0%
Kimberly Clark (KMB) - Paper based personal care products (40 Bil) --------------------- 3.3%
Orchids Paper Products (TIS) - Paper towels, tissues (246 mil) ---------------------------- 4.9%
Proctor & Gamble (PG) - Personal care and cleaning products (228 Bil) ----------------- 3.1%
CONSUMER - TOBACCO -
Altria (MO) - Tobacco products (102 Bil) ----------------------------------------------------------- 4.3%
British American Tobacco (BTI) - Tobacco products (101 Bil) (UK) ---------------------- 2.9%
Philip Morris (PM) - Tobacco products (110 Bil) ------------------------------------------------- 5.0%
Reynolds American (RAI) - Tobacco products (38 Bil) --------------------------------------- 3.4%
Schweitzer Mauduit Intl (SWM) - Specialty paper for tobacco products (1.4 Bil) ------- 3.4%
Vector Group (VGR) - Tobacco products (2.5 Bil) ----------------------------------------------- 6.6%
CONSUMER - MISC -
Core Mark Holdings (CORE) - Distribution for the convenience retail industry (1.4 Bil) 0.87%
Crown Crafts (CRWS) - Products for infants and toddlers (80 mil) -------------------------- 4.0%
Leggett & Platt (LEG) - Diverse furnishings, fixtures, materials (6 Bil) ---------------------- 2.9%
_________________________________________________________________________
ENERGY -
Chevron (CVX) - Oil, gas, chemicals, mining, power generation (193 Bil) ----------------- 5.6%
Exxon Mobil (XOM) - Oil, gas, petrochemicals (353 Bil) --------------------------------------- 3.3%
Isramco (ISRL) - Oil and gas, Israel (332 mil) ----------------------------------------------------- 0%
New Market Corp (NEU) - Petroleum additives, real estate devel (5 Bil) ------------------ 1.1%
Oneok (OKE) - Natural gas utility and production (10 Bil) ------------------------------------- 6.8%
UGI Corp (UGI) - Distribution and marketing of energy products (6 Bil) -------------------- 1.8%
World Fuel Services (INT) - Fuel products to aviation, marine, other (3 Bil) ------------ 0.4%
ENERGY - PIPELINES -
Enbridge (ENB) - Oil and gas pipelines (39 Bil) (Canada) ------------------------------------- 3.3%
Pembina (PBA) - Oil and gas pipelines (11 Bil) (Canada) ------------------------------------- 5.4%
TransCanada (TRP) - Oil and gas pipelines, electric power plants (Canada) ------------ 3.8%
ENERGY / OTHER LPs -
Amerigas Partners LP (APU) - Distributor of propane gas (4 Bil) -------------------------- 7.5%
Buckeye Partners LP (BPL) - Oil and gas pipelines (10 Bil) --------------------------------- 6.1%
Enterprise Products Partners LP (EPD) - Oil and gas pipelines (61 Bil) ---------------- 4.6%
EQT Midstream Partners LP (EQM) - Oil and gas pipelines (5 Bil) ----------------------- 2.9%
Magellan Midstream Partners LP (MMP) - Oil and gas pipelines (18 Bil) -------------- 3.5%
MarkWest Energy Partners LP (MWE) - Oil and gas pipelines (11 Bil) ----------------- 5.8%
Rose Rock Midstream LP (RRMS) - Oil and gas pipelines (2 Bil) ------------------------- 5.2%
Summit Midstream Partners LP (SMLP)Nat gas gathering,compress (2 Bil) ---------- 6.8%
Sunoco Logistics Partners LP (SXL) - Oil and gas pipelines (9 Bil) ---------------------- 3.7%
Terra Nitrogen LP (TNH) - Agro chemicals (3 Bil) --------------------------------------------- 6.8%
Western Gas Partners LP (WES) - Nat gas pipelines, processing (9 Bil) ---------------- 4.1%
________________________________________________________________________
FINANCIAL - SERVICES -
Cardtronics (CATM) - ATMs, automated financial services (2 Bil) ------------------------- 0%
Equifax (EFX) - Financial services (12 Bil) ------------------------------------------------------- 1.2%
Factset Research Systems (FDS) - Finance / investment data (5 Bil) ------------------- 1.3%
Fidelity National Info Services (FIS) - Banking and payment technol svcs (16 Bil) -- 1.7%
Fiserv (FISV) - Financial services technology solutions (19 Bil) ----------------------------- 0%
PRA Group (PRAA) - Receivables collection services (3 Bil) -------------------------------- 0%
Wire Card (WRCDF) - Outsourcing electronic payment transactions, Germany (5 bil) 0.46%
FINANCIAL - INSURANCE -
AmTrust Financial (AFSI) - Insurance (5 Bil) ----------------------------------------------------- 1.8%
Arch Capital Group (ACGL) - Insurance (8 Bil) -------------------------------------------------- 0%
Chubb (CB) - Insurance --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.2%
Erie Indemnity (ERIE) - Insurance (4 Bil) ---------------------------------------------------------- 3.3%
Everett Re (RE) - Insurance (7.8 Bil) ---------------------------------------------------------------- 2.1%
Maiden Holdings (MHLD) - Insurance (1.0 Bil) (Bermuda) ------------------------------------ 3.7%
ProAssurance Corp (PRA) - Property and casualty insurance (3.2 Bil) --------------------2.0%
RLI Corp (RLI) - Insurance (2 Bil) -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.4%
Travelers (TRV) - Insurance (32 Bil) ----------------------------------------------------------------- 2.4%
FINANCIAL - CREDIT CARDS -
Mastercard (MA) - Financial services, credit transactions (88 Bil) --------------------------- 0.6%
Synchrony Financial (SYF) - Credit and consumer fincl svcs (General Electric)
Visa (V) - Credit services (132 Bil) -------------------------------------------------------------------- 0.7%
FINANCIAL - BANKING -
Bar Harbor Bankshares (BHB) - Regional bank (215 mil) ------------------------------------- 2.8%
First Financial Bankshares (FFIN) - Regional bank (2 Bil) ------------------------------------ 2.1%
Signature Bank (SBNY) - Regional bank (6 Bil) -------------------------------------------------- 0%
_______________________________________________________________________
HEALTHCARE -
Abbott Labs (ABT) - Diverse healthcare products (66 Bil) ------------------------------------- 2.2%
Acadia Healthcare (ACHC) - Behavioral healthcare services (5 Bil) ------------------------ 0%
Cerner (CERN) - Health care information technology (25 Bil) --------------------------------- 0%
Chemed (CHE) - Hospice and palliative health care svs, Roto Rooter (1.7 Bil) ---------- 0.9%
DaVita (DVA) - Kidney dialysis services (18 Bil) --------------------------------------------------- 0%
Healthcare Services (HCSG) - Laundry + maint to h.care facil, dietary svcs (1.9 Bil) -- 2.3%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) - Diverse healthcare related products (285 Bil) --------------- 2.8%
Mednax (MD) - Neonatal and pediatric medicine, anesthesiology (8 Bil) ------------------- 0%
Reckitt Benckiser (RBGLY) - Healthcare, hygiene, home care products, UK (62 Bil) -- 2.3%
HEALTHCARE - LONG TERM CARE -
Addus Homecare (ADUS) - Services for elderly and disabled (248 mil) ------------------- 0%
Capital Senior Living (CSU) - Senior living communities (660 mil) ------------------------- 0%
Ensign Group (ENSG) - Skilled nursing and rehabilitative services (746 mil) ------------ 0.85%
HEALTHCARE - MEDICAL DEVICES / EQUIPMENT -
Abiomed (ABMD) - Medical devices for cardiology (4.1 Bil) ----------------------------------- 0%
Align Technology (ALGN) - Invisalign orthodontics (8.6 Bil) ---------------------------------- 0%
Atrion (ATRI) - Medical equipment and supplies (725 mil) ------------------------------------ 0.8%
Becton Dickinson (BDX) - Medical devices, instruments, reagents (29 Bil) -------------- 1.7%
Cantel Medical (CMD) - Medical equipment (2 Bil) ---------------------------------------------- 0.2%
Cooper Companies (COO) - Contact lenses, medical devices for women's health (7.6 Bil)
CR Bard (BCR) - Medical, surgical, diagnostic products (11 Bil) ----------------------------- 0.6%
ICU Medical (ICUI) - Medical devices for infusion, oncology, critical care (1.8 Bil) ------- 0%
LeMaitre Vascular (LMAT) - Medical devices for peripheral vascular disease (244 mil) 1.2%
ResMed (RMD) - Products for sleep apnea (10 Bil) ---------------------------------------------- 1.6%
Teleflex (TFX) - Single-use medical devices (5.7 Bil) -------------------------------------------- 1.0%
Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO)- Analytical instruments, equipment, reagents(50 Bil)0.49%
Varian Medical (VAR) - Medical devices for cancer, other conditions (8 Bil) -------------- 0%
HEALTHCARE - DISTRIBUTION -
Cardinal Health (CAH) - Drug and medical product distribution (27 Bil) -------------------- 1.8%
Dentsply (XRAY) - Dental products (7 Bil) ---------------------------------------------------------- 0.6%
Henry Schein (HSIC) - Dental / medical products (10 Bil) -------------------------------------- 0%
McKesson (MCK) - Pharmaceutical distribution, medical supplies, IT services (53 Bil) 0.4%
Owens & Minor (OMI) - Distributor of medical and surgical supplies (2 Bil) --------------- 3.0%
HEALTHCARE - ANALYTICAL / RESEARCH -
Mettler-Toledo Intl (MTD) - Precision instruments for diverse applications (8.3 Bil) ----- 0%
Perkin Elmer (PKI) - Diverse analytical technologies, products, svcs (5 Bil) --------------- 0.6%
Waters Corp (WAT) - Analytical instruments (10 Bil) --------------------------------------------- 0%
HEALTHCARE - CROs -
Icon PLC (ICLR) - Biopharma development outsourcing services (4.7 Bil) (Ireland) ----- 0%
Parexel Intl (PRXL) - Biopharma development outsourcing services (3.9 Bil) ------------- 0%
Quintiles (Q) - Biopharma development outsourcing services (9 Bil) ------------------------ 0%
HEALTHCARE - DIAGNOSTICS -
Abaxis (ABAX) - Blood analysis systems (1 Bil) -------------------------------------------------- 0.90
Agilent (A) - Bio analytical solutions and services (14 Bil) ------------------------------------- 0.9%
Bio-Rad Labs (BIO) - Biochemical analysis services for research, other (4.4 Bil) ------- 0%
Bio-Techne (TECH) - Biotechnology products and diagnostics (4 Bil) ---------------------- 1.3%
Genomic Health (GHDX) - Genomic based lab services for cancer (815 mil) ------------ 0%
Idexx Labs (IDXX) - Veterinary diagnostic products and services (6 Bil) ------------------- 0%
Lab Corp of America (LH) - Diagnostic testing services (12 Bil) ----------------------------- 0%
Neogen (NEOG) - Food safety testing (2 Bil) -------------------------------------------------------- 0%
NeoGenomics (NEO) - Cancer-focused testing laboratories (397 mil) ----------------------- 0%
Quest Diagnostics (DGX) - Diagnostic testing services (9.7 Bil) ---------------------------- 2.3%
HEALTHCARE - DRUGS -
AbbVie (ABBV) - (96 Bil) - Research unit from Abbott Labs ( Bil) ---------------------------- 4.2%
Amgen (AMGN) - Biotechnology (129 Bil) --------------------------------------------------------- 1.9%
AstraZeneca (AZN) - Pharmaceuticals (89 Bil) --------------------------------------------------- 2.7%
Biomarin (BMRN) - Biotechnology (20 Bil) --------------------------------------------------------- 0%
Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY) - Parmaceuticals (104 Bil) --------------------------------------- 2.3%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) - Pharmaceuticals (115 Bil) ------------------------------------------- 5.9%
Novartis (NVS) - Pharmaceuticals (244 Bil) ------------------------------------------------------- 2.9%
Novo Nordisk (NVO) - Pharmaceuticals (129 Bil) ----------------------------------------------- 1.6%
Pfizer (PFE) - Pharmaceuticals (203 Bil) ----------------------------------------------------------- 3.4%
Taro Pharmaceuticals (TARO) - Pharmaceuticals, OTC, generic (Israel) (6 Bil) -------- 0%
Valeant (VRX) - Pharmaceuticals, OTC products, medical devices(Canada) (80 Bil) --- 0%
Zoetis (ZTS) - Veterinary drugs and vaccines (24 Bil) ------------------------------------------- 0.7%
HEALTHCARE - DRUG - MISC -
Cambrex (CBM) - Active pharmaceutical ingredients (1 Bil) ----------------------------------- 0%
West Pharmaceuticals (WST) - Drug packaging and delivery systems (4.1 Bil) ------- 0.81%
HEALTHCARE - DRUG DISTRIBUTION -
Amerisource Bergen (ABC) - Drug distribution (17 Bil) --------------------------------------- 1.25%
CVS Caremark (CVS) - Drugstores, retail products (91 Bil) ----------------------------------- 1.4%
Express Scripts (ESRX) - Phamacy benefit management ------------------------------------
HEALTHCARE - GENERIC DRUGS -
Allergan (AGN) - Generic drugs, other (115 Bil) -------------------------------------------------- 0.1%
Dr. Reddy's Labs (RDY) - Generic drugs (9 Bil) -------------------------------------------------- 0.5%
Mylan Labs (MYL) - Generic drugs (25 Bil) -------------------------------------------------------- 0%
_________________________________________________________________________
INDUSTRIAL -
Ametek (AME) - Advanced instruments, motors for diverse industries (12 Bil) ------------ 0.7%
AO Smith (AOS) - Water heaters and boilers (6 Bil) ---------------------------------------------- 1.2%
AZZ Inc (AZZ) - Galvanizing + welding svcs, equip to power + other industries (1.3 Bil) 1.1%
3M Company (MMM) - Diverse products - industrial, electric, energy, etc (106 Bil) ------ 1.5%
Carlisle Companies (CSL) - Diversified manufacturing, products (6 Bil) -------------------- 1.2%
Danaher (DHR) - Diverse industrial conglomerate (52 Bil) -------------------------------------- 0.5%
Dover (DOV) - Industrial products and equipment (12 Bil) --------------------------------------- 2.3%
General Electric (GE) - Power generation, jet engines, medical equip ----------------------
John Bean Technol (JBT) - Products for food processing + air transport indust (1.0 Bil) 1.0%
Lennox (LII) - Heating, air conditioning, refrigeration, ventiliation equipment (5 Bil) ------ 1.1%
Middleby (MIDD) - Cooking and industrial equipment (6 Bil) ----------------------------------- 0%
Nordson (NDSN) - Dispensing systems for diverse applications (5 Bil) ---------------------- 1.1%
Snap-On (SNA) - Tools and equipment (8 Bil) ------------------------------------------------------ 1.5%
Stanley Black & Decker (SWK) - Tools and household hardware (15 Bil) ------------------ 2.2%
United Technologies (UTX) - Diverse conglomerate (97 Bil) ---------------------------------- 2.2%
INDUSTRIAL - AEROSPACE -
Astronics (ATRO) - Prods for aerospace, defense, cons elect, s.conductor industries (1 Bil)
Heico (HEI) - Aerospace, defense, and electronics (3.3 Bil) ------------------------------------ 0.3%
Hexel (HXL) - Structural materials for aerospace, industrial (4.5 Bil) ------------------------- 0.85%
Transdigm (TDG) - Aerospace components for commercial + miltary (12 Bil) -------------- 0%
Woodward (WWD) - Control systems for aerospace and energy industries (2.8 Bil) ----- 0.9%
INDUSTRIAL - DISTRIBUTION -
Fastenal (FAST) - Industrial and construction supply distributor (13 Bil) --------------------- 2.2%
WW Grainger (GWW) - Distributor of maint, repair, and operations supplies (16 Bil) ----- 1.7%
MSC Industrials Direct (MSM) - Marketer and distributor of industrial products (5.5 Bil) 1.5%
INDUSTRIAL - FILTRATION -
Donaldson (DCI) - Filtration systems (6 Bil) --------------------------------------------------------- 1.6%
INDUSTRIAL - GASES -
Air Products + Chemicals (APD) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.3%
Praxair (PX) - Industrial gases (38 Bil) ---------------------------------------------------------------- 2.5%
________________________________________________________________________
PACKAGING + CONTAINERS -
Aptar Group (ATR) - Product containers, dispensing systems (4 Bil) ------------------------ 1.8%
Ball Corp (BLL) - Packaging, aerospace (8.6 Bil) -------------------------------------------------- 0.8%
Crown Holdings (CCK) - Containers for beverages, food, other (7 Bil) ---------------------- 0%
Kap Stone Paper + Packaging (KS) - Paper, corrugated products (3 Bil) ------------------ 1.2%
Packaging Corp of America (PKG) - (8 Bil) Packaging, containers -------------------------- 2.8%
Silgan Holdings (SLGN) - Packaging, containers (3 Bil) ----------------------------------------- 1.2%
UFP Technologies (UFPT) - Packaging, component products (175 mil) ---------------------
_______________________________________________________________________
REITS - HEALTHCARE -
HCP Inc (HCP) - Healthcare facilities REIT (18 Bil) ---------------------------------------------- 6.2%
HealthCare REIT (HCN) - Heathcare related properties REIT (25 Bil) ---------------------- 5.2%
National Health Investors (NHI) - Healthcare facilities REIT (3 Bil) ------------------------ 6.1%
Omega Healthcare (OHI) - Healthcare facilities REIT (5 Bil) ---------------------------------- 3.7%
Ventas (VTR) - Healthcare facilities REIT (23 Bil) ------------------------------------------------ 3.3%
REITS - STORAGE -
Extra Space Storage (EXR) -Self storage facilities REIT (8 Bil) ----------------------------- 2.9%
Public Storage (PSA) - Self storage facilities REIT (33 Bil) ----------------------------------- 3.0%
Life Storage (LSI) - Self-storage properties REIT (Sovran) (3 Bil) -------------------------- 3.3%
REITS - RETAIL -
Federal Realty Investment Trust (FRT) - Retail REIT (10 Bil) ------------------------------ 2.4%
National Retail Properties (NNN) - Retail REIT (5 Bil) ---------------------------------------- 5.0%
Realty Income (O) - Retail / commercial REIT (12 Bil) ---------------------------------------- 5.0%
Retail Opportunity Investments Corp (ROIC) - Retail REIT (1.7 Bil) --------------------- 3.9%
Simon Property Group (SPG) - Retail REIT (61 Bil) ------------------------------------------- 3.0%
REITS - RESIDENTIAL -
American Campus Communities (ACC) - Student housing REIT (5 Bil) ---------------- 3.7%
Equity Lifestyle Properties (ELS) - Residential REIT (5 Bil) -------------------------------- 2.5%
Essex Property Trust (ESS) - Residential REIT (14 Bil) -------------------------------------- 2.7%
REITS - MISC -
CoreCivic (CXW) - Private prisons REIT (5 Bil) ---- ----------------------------------- 7.2%
CorSite Realty COR) - Data centers REIT (1 Bil) ------------ ----------------------------------- 3.6%
GEO Corp (GEO) - Private prisons REIT (3 Bil) -------------------------------------------------- 8.3%
_________________________________________________________________________
RETAIL - STORES -
Casey's General Stores (CASY) - Convenience stores, self service gasoline (2.6 Bil) 1.2%
Costco (COST) - Discount variety warehouse outlets (67 Bil) -------------------------------- 0.9%
Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS) - Sporting goods retailer (6 Bil) ------------------------------ 1.1%
Dollar General (DG) - Variety stores (23 Bil) ----------------------------------------------------- 1.2%
Dollar Tree (DLTR) - Variety stores (17 Bil) ------------------------------------------------------- 0%
Home Depot (HD) - Home improvement and construction products (153 Bil) ------------ 2.0%
Lowes (LOW) - Home improvement and construction products (65 Bil) ------------------- 1.6%
Ross Stores (ROST) - Discount apparel and home fashion (22 Bil) ------------------------ 0.9%
TJX (TJX) - Discount apparel and home fashions (48 Bil) ------------------------------------- 1.0%
Wal-Mart (WMT) - Discount department stores (269 Bil) --------------------------------------- 2.4%
RETAIL - ONLINE STORES -
Amazon (AMZN) - Internet retailer (173 Bil) ------------------------------------------------------ 0%
VIP Shop Holdings (VIPS) - Online discount retailer (China) (12 Bil) ----------------------
RETAIL - MANUFACTURING -
Hasbro (HAS) - Toys and games (10 Bil) ---------------------------------------------------------- 2.4%
Nike (NKE) - Athletic footwear, apparel, accessories (87 Bil) --------------------------------- 1.1%
VF Corp (VFC) - Apparel and footwear design, manufacturing, sourcing (27 Bil) ------- 1.7%
Williams Sonoma (WSM) - Houswares, specialty products (7 Bil) -------------------------- 1.6%
Wolverine (WWW) - Footwear, apparel accessories (3 Bil) ----------------------------------- 0.8%
________________________________________________________________________
SERVICES -
Accenture (ACN) - Business management services, Ireland (50 Bil) ---------------------- 2.4%
Alliance Data Services (ADS) - Marketing and loyalty solutions (16 Bil) ----------------- 0%
Amerco (UHAL) - Moving and storage (6 Bil) ---------------------------------------------------- 0%
Automatic Data Processing (ADP) - Business outsourcing solutions (42 Bil) ---------- 2.3%
Bright Horizons Family Solutions (BFAM) - Child care services (3.8 Bil) -------------- 0%
Cintas (CTAS) - Rental uniforms, first aid, safety, fire protection svcs (9.7 Bil) --------- 1.0%
Exponent (EXPO) - Engineering and scientific consulting services (1 Bil) ----------------1.4%
Gartner (IT) - Independent IT research and analysis (6 Bil) ---------------------
IHS Markitt (INFO) - Information and analysis to diverse industries (8 Bil) (UK) -------- 0%
Maximus (MMS) - Business services to govt health + human svs agencies (4.1 Bil) -- 0.3%
Rollins (ROL) - Pest control services (4 Bil) ------------------------------------------------------ 1.4%
United Parcel Service (UPS) - Package delivery services (86 Bil) ------------------------- 3.0%
SERVICES - STAFFING -
On Asssignment (ASGN) - Diversified professional staffing (1.6 Bil) -----------------------
SERVICES - WASTE MANAGEMENT -
Stericycle (SRCL) - Medical waste (10 Bil) ----------------------------------------------------- 0%
US Ecology (ECOL) - Radioactive and hazardous waste disposal, recycling (1 Bil) - 1.6%
Waste Connections (WCN) - Waste services (6 Bil) ----------------------------------------- 1.0%
Waste Management (WM) - Waste services (25 Bil) ----------------------------------------- 2.8%
SERVICES - AUTOMOTIVE -
AutoNation (AN) - New and used automotive sales and parts (7 Bil) --------------------- 0%
CarMax (KMX) - Used car dealerships & financing (13 Bil) ---------------------------------- 0%
Copart (CPRT) - Online auctions, vehicles (4 Bil) ---------------------------------------------- 0%
_________________________________________________________________________
TECHNOLOGY - BUSINESS SOFTWARE / SERVICES -
Amdocs (DOX) - Business software and svcs for communications (Israel) (8 Bil) ------ 1.3%
Cognizant Technology (CTSH) - IT outsourcing (38 Bil) ------------------------------------- 0%
Sapiens Intl (SPNS) - Software for insurance industry (Israel) (392 mil) ------------------ 0%
TECHNOLOGY - INTERNET SOFTWARE / SERVICES -
CGI Services (GIB) - Diverse IT and business services (Canada) (14 Bil) --------------- 0%
J2 Global (JCOM) - Internet services (3 Bil) ----------------------------------------------------- 1.7%
NetEase (NTES) - Internet services, China (11 Bil) -------------------------------------------- 1.6%
TECHNOLOGY - IT SERVICES -
EPAM Systems (EPAM) - Software engineering, IT consulting (3 Bil) -------------------- 0%
Scientific Applications Intl (SAIC) - IT svcs for govt + military (1.9 Bil) ----------------- 3.0%
ServiceNow (NOW) - Service management software (12 Bil) ------------------------------- 0%
Syntel (SYNT) - IT services and consulting (4 Bil) ---------------------------------------------- 0%
Tyler Technologies (TYL) - IT services for the public sector (4 Bil) ----------------------- 0%
Virtusa (VRTU) - IT services (1 Bil) ----------------------------------------------------------------- 0%
TECHNOLOGY - APPLICATION SOFTWARE -
Ansys (ANSS) - Engineering simulation software (8 Bil) -------------------------------------- 0%
Ellie Mae (ELLI) - Software solns + svcs for residential mortgage industry (2.2 Bil) --- 0%
Intuit (INTU) - Business and financial management solutions (23 Bil) -------------------- 0.9%
Magic Software Enterprises (MGIC) - Software (Israel) (282 mil) ------------------------- 3.0%
NIC Inc (EGOV) - IT services for Federal, state, local governments (1 Bil) -------------- 0%
Open Text (OTEX) - ECM software, Canada (7 Bil) ------------------------------------------- 1.3%
Oracle (ORCL) - Enterprise software (177 Bil) -------------------------------------------------- 1.2%
Salesforce (CRM) - Enterprise cloud computing solutions (34 Bil) -------------------------
TECHNOLOGY - SECURITY SOFTWARE / SERVICES -
Check Point Software (CHKP) - Software + hardware for IT security (Israel) (15 Bil) - 0%
Nice Systems (NICE) - Software for customer interactions, security (Israel) (4 Bil) --- 1.1%
Proofpoint (PFPT) - Security software (2 Bil) --------------------------------------------------- 0%
TECHNOLOGY - ELECTRONICS -
Amphenol (APH) - Electrical, electronic, and fiber optic connectors (16 Bil) ------------ 1.1%
IPG Photonics (IPGP) - Optical fiber lasers and amplifiers (5 Bil) ------------------------- 0%
Nova Measuring Instruments (NVMI) - Optical technol for semiconductors (313 Bil) 0%
Teledyne (TDY) - Digital imaging systems, electronic (3.3 Bil) ------------------------------ 0%
TECHNOLOGY - SOCIAL NETWORKING -
Facebook (FB) - Social networking (239 Bil) -----------------------------------------------------
LinkedIn (LNKD) - Social networking service (33 Bil) ---------------------------------------- 0%
_________________________________________________________________________
TELECOM -
ATT (T) - Telecom (173 Bil) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.7%
American Tower (AMT) - Wireless + broadcast communic towers REIT (39 Bil) ------ 1.8%
Atlantic Tele-Network (ATNI) - Telecom networks (1 Bil) ------------------------------------ 1.8%
Crown Castle Intl (CCI) - Wireless towers ( Bil) ------------------------------------------------- 4.2%
InterDigital (IDCC) - technology to enhance wireless communications (1.7 Bil) -------- 1.6%
SBA Communications (SBAC) - Wireless communication towers (14 Bil) --------------- 0%
Verizon (VZ) - Communications, information, entertainment (203 Bil) --------------------- 4.9%
_________________________________________________________________________
TRANSPORTATION -
CH Robinson Worldwide (CHRW) - Freight logistics (11 Bil) ------------------------------- 2.0%
JB Hunt Transport Services (JBHT) - Trucking (10 Bil) -------------------------------------- 0.9%
Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL) - Trucking (6 Bil) ----------------------------------------- 0%
XPO Logistics (XPO) - Transportation logistics (4 Bil) ---------------------------------------- 0%
TRANSPORTATION - RAILROADS -
Canadian National Railway (CNI) - Railroads, Canada (55 Bil) ---------------------------- 1.4%
CSX Transportation (CSX) - Railroads (35 Bil) ------------------------------------------------- 1.8%
Kansas City Southern (KSU) - Railroads (12 Bil) ---------------------------------------------- 1.1%
Norfolk Southern (NSC) - Railroad (34 Bil) ------------------------------------------------------ 2.1%
Pioneer Railcorp (PRRR) - Railroads (OTC) ---------------------------------------------------- 0%
Union Pacific (UNP) - Railroads (90 Bil) ---------------------------------------------------------- 2.0%
Wabtec (WAB) - Products and svs for freight and passenger rail industries (8 Bil) ----- 0.3%
TRANSPORTATION - AUTO PARTS -
Advance Auto Parts (AAP) - Automotive replacement parts (11 Bil) ---------------------- 0.2%
Autozone (AZO) - Automotive replacement parts and accessories (22 Bil) -------------- 0%
Delphi Automotive (DLPH) - Automotive parts (22 Bil) (UK) -------------------------------- 1.2%
Dorman Products (DORM) - Automotice replacement parts (1.8 Bil) --------------------- 0%
Genuine Parts (GPC) - Automotive + industrial replacement parts (15 Bil) -------------- 2.6%
Monroe Muffler & Brake (MNRO) - Auto repair and tire services (2 Bil) ----------------- 0.8%
O'Reilly Automotive (ORLY) - Aftermarket auto parts retailer (16 Bil) -------------------- 0%
TRANSPORTATION - MISC -
Grupo Aeroportuario Del Sureste (ASR) - Airport operators, Mexico (41 Bil) --------- 2.5%
Polaris Industries (PII) - Off road vehicles (10 Bil) --------------------------------------------- 1.5%
Seaboard (SEB) - Diversified conglomerate, ocean transport, agro, energy (5 Bil) ----- 0%
Tata Motors (TTM) - Automotive manufacturing, India (28 Bil) ------------------------------ 0.3%
_________________________________________________________________________
UTILITIES - WATER -
American States Water (AWR) - Water utility ( Bil) --------------------------------------------- 2.1%
American Water Works (AWK) - Water utility (9 Bil) ------------------------------------------- 2.4%
Aqua America (WTR) - Water utility ( Bil) ---------------------------------------------------------- 2.5%
Connecticut Water Service (CTWS) - Water utility (420 mil) -------------------------------- 2.8%
UTILITIES - NATURAL GAS -
Atmos Energy (ATO) - Natural gas utility (6 Bil) -------------------------------------------------- 2.9%
Chesapeake Utilities (CPK) - Natural gas utility (747 mil) ------------------------------------- 1.9%
Dominion Resorces (D) - Natural gas and electric utility (42 Bil) ---------------------------- 3.7%
DTE Energy (DTE) - Natural gas and electric utility (14 Bil) ----------------------------------- 3.5%
Eversource Energy (ES) - Natural gas and electric utility (16 Bil) --------------------------- 3.4%
Spire (SR) - Natural gas utility (formerly Laclede) ------------------------------------------------ 3.7%
New Jersey Resources (NJR) - Natural gas utility (3 Bil) -------------------------------------- 3.5%
South Jersey Industries (SJI) - Natural gas utility (2 Bil) -------------------------------------- 3.8%
Vectren (VVC) - Natural gas utility (3.7 Bil) --------------------------------------------------------- 3.5%
WGL Holdings (WGL) - Natural gas utility (3 Bil) --------------------------------------------------3.6%
UTILITIES - ELECTRIC -
CMS Energy (CMS) - Electric utility (9 Bil) --------------------------------------------------------- 3.4%
Consolidated Edison (ED) - Electric utility (17 Bil) ---------------------------------------------- 4.1%
Goldfield (GV) - Electricity transmission infrastructure (67 mil) ------------------------------- 0%
IDA Corp (IDA) - Electric utility, hydroelectric, natural gas (3.1 Bil) -------------------------- 3.2%
MGE Energy (MGEE) - Diversified utility, electricity, natural gas (1.5 Bil) ------------------ 2.7%
NextEra Energy (NEE) - Electric utility, conventional, wind, solar (45 Bil) ----------------- 3.1%
NI Source (NI) - Diversified utility ( Bil) -------------------------------------------------------------- 2.5%
PG&E (PCG) - Electric utility, natural gas pipelines (24 Bil) ------------------------------------ 3.7%
Scana Corp (SCG) - Electric utility (8 Bil) ---------------------------------------------------------- 4.2%
Southern Company (SO) - Electric utility (40 Bil) ------------------------------------------------ 5.0%
Wisconsin Energy (WEC) - Diversified utility (11 Bil) ------------------------------------------- 3.5%
Xcel Energy (XEL) - Electric utility, diverse (17 Bil) ---------------------------------------------- 3.8%
___________________________________________________________________
ACQUIRED -
ACE Limited (ACE) - Insurance, (Switzerland) (Chubb merger)
Actavis (ACT) - Generic drugs, Ireland (81 Bil) (Allergan)
Airgas (ARG) - Industrial, medical, specialty gases (Air Liquide)
BioReference Labs (BRLI) - Diagnostic tests (Opko)
Chemtura (CHMT) - Specialty chemicals (1.8 Bil) (Lanxess of Germany)
Chubb (CB) - Insurance (ACE Limited)
Clarcor (CLC) - Filtration, packaging (Parker Hannifin)
CR Bard (BCR) - Medical, surgical, diagnostic products (Becton Dickinson)
Cyberonics (CYBX) - Neuromodulation medical devices (Sorin merger)
Direct TV (DTV) - Direct broadcast satellite service provider (ATT)
Dr Pepper Snapple (DPS) - Beverages (Keurig, JAB Holding of Germany)
Family Dollar (FDO) - Variety discount stores (Dollar Tree)
HCC Insurance Holdings (HCC) - Insurance (Tokio Marine)
iGate (IGTE) - IT services -- (Capegemini)
ITC Holdings (ITC) - Electric utility, electricity transmission (Fortis)
LinkedIn (LNKD) - Social networking service (33 Bil) (Microsoft)
Lorillard (LO) - Tobacco products -- (Reynolds American)
Mead Johnson Nutrition (MJN) - Pediatric nutritional products (Reckitt Benckiser)
Panera Bread (PNRA) - Retail bakery cafes (5 Bil) (JAB of Luxembourg)
Piedmont Natural Gas (PNY) - Natural gas utility (Duke Energy)
Plum Creek Timber (PCL) - REIT, timberland, lumber prods, minerals, nat gas (Weyerhaueser)
Sigma Aldrich (SIAL) - Chemicals, biochemicals, and equipment (Merck)
Syngenta (SYT) - Agro chemicals, seeds (Switzerland) (ChemChina)
Team Health Holdings (TMH) - Healthcare staffing and administrative svcs (Blackstone)
Valspar (VAL) - Coatings, paints (Sherwin Williams)
Vascular Solutions (VASC) - Products for cardiology, catheter systems (Teleflex)
>>> Scotts Miracle-Gro shares slip after $450 million acquisition announced
By Tonya Garcia
Apr 18, 2018
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/scotts-miracle-gro-shares-slip-after-450-million-acquisition-announced-2018-04-18?siteid=bigcharts&dist=bigcharts
Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. SMG, +0.45% shares are down 2.2% in Wednesday trading after the lawn and garden company announced an agreement to acquire Sunlight Supply Inc., a hydroponics distributor, for $425 million in cash and $25 million in Scotts Miracle-Gro equity upon completion of the deal. The deal will create a distribution model for The Hawthorne Gardening Co., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Scotts Miracle-Gro. Hawthorne had 2017 sales of about $290 million and has a portfolio of brands that includes Gavita and Botanicare. Sunlight has a 350,000-square-foot distribution center in Vancouver, Wa. along with three other North American facilities. Hawthorne Gardening and Sunlight Supply are expected to have about $600 million in annualized sales. In fiscal 2018, the deal is expected to be dilutive by 30 cents to 40 cents per share on an adjusted basis. The company expects to achieve $35 million in financial synergies by the end of fiscal 2019 and incur about $15 million to $20 million in restructuring charges to achieve the synergies. Benefits are expected to improve year-over-year by 60 cents to 80 cents per share on an adjusted basis in fiscal 2019. Scotts Miracle-Gro will announce fiscal second quarter results on May 1. "Strategically, we like the transaction as it fits extremely well with Scotts Miracle-Gro's Hawthorne hydroponics subsidiary," Raymond James analysts wrote in a note. "As with its core U.S. Consumer business, the new vertically-integrated operating model is likely to bring Hawthorne closer to its retailer customers and improve its visibility, while also yielding cost synergies which Scotts Miracle-Gro estimates at $35M by FY19." Raymond James rates Scotts Miracle-Gro market perform. Scotts Miracle-Gro shares are down 22.2% for the year so far while the S&P 500 index SPX, -0.85% is up 1.3% for the period.
<<<
>>> 10 Safe Dividend Stocks for the Second Quarter
These stocks have been paying their shareholders for a long time
https://investorplace.com/2018/04/10-safe-dividend-stocks-for-the-second-quarter/
By Brian Bollinger
Simply Safe Dividends
With the U.S. stock market fresh off its first quarterly loss since 2015, many conservative investors are in need of dividend stock ideas that can provide safe income and preserve their capital over the long term.
Using Dividend Safety Scores, a system created by Simply Safe Dividends to help investors avoid dividend cuts in their portfolios, we identified 10 high-quality dividend stocks from traditionally defensive sectors like telecom, healthcare and consumer staples.
These stocks have an impeccable record of paying continuous dividends over the years given their durable business models, strong cash flows and disciplined approach to capital allocation.
Many of these companies are also in Simply Safe Dividends’ list of the best high dividend stocks here and trade at yields above their five-year averages, providing an attractive combination of current income and growth.
Let’s take a look at 10 of the best safe dividend stocks for the second quarter.
AT&T (T)
Sector: Telecom Services
Industry: Integrated Telecommunication Services
Dividend Yield: 5.6%
5-Year Average Yield: 5.2%
AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is a global leader in telecommunications, media and technology. The company provides wireless and wireline communications services, including data, broadband and voice, digital video services, telecommunications equipment and other services.
AT&T has a huge customer base consisting of 157 million wireless subscribers, over 12 million internet subscribers and around 25 million video customers.
Few companies can compete with AT&T’s massive scale, which allows it to invest heavily in the quality and coverage of its cable, wireless, and satellite networks. In fact, AT&T is planning to deploy the next generation 5G wireless technology in 12 U.S. markets by late 2018.
Should AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner be completed, the deal has potential to create value for shareholders and customers by combining its strong distribution capabilities with Time Warner’s large content portfolio.
While this deal will increase AT&T’s debt burden, Simply Safe Dividends estimates that the combined company’s free cash flow payout ratio will sit around 70% to 80%, which is sustainable for a cash cow with recession-resistant services like AT&T. Investors can read the firm’s in-depth dividend stock analysis on AT&T here.
AT&T has recorded 34 consecutive years of quarterly dividend growth and last raised its payout by 2% in late 2017. An improving balance sheet and moderately growing demand for faster delivery of video and data services should enable the company to continue raising its dividend at a low single-digit pace.
Pfizer (PFE)
Sector: Healthcare
Industry: Pharmaceuticals
Dividend Yield: 3.8%
5-Year Average Yield: 3.5%
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) is a global biopharmaceutical giant engaged in the development and manufacture of healthcare products. It is one of the largest global pharmaceuticals companies, with 2017 revenues exceeding $52 billion.
Founded in 1849, Pfizer has come a long way to become a leading healthcare company, with manufacturing sites in 63 locations and sales in 125 countries. The company has a wide portfolio of medicines, vaccines and consumer healthcare products and is known for popular drugs like Prevnar and Viagra, among others.
The company’s business can be divided into two distinct business segments — Pfizer Innovative Health (focusing on six therapeutic areas like oncology) which accounted for 60% of 2017 revenues and Pfizer Essential Health (legacy drugs that have lost patent protection) comprising the remaining 40%.
A relatively recession-proof business model, diversified portfolio of R&D intensive products, and global scale create a competitive moat around the company.
Pfizer is also benefiting from U.S. tax reform, which has driven the firm to repatriate most of its cash held overseas and aggressively return cash to shareholders.
The company last raised its dividend by 6.3% in December 2017, and mid-single-digit growth is likely to continue. In fact, management expects 11% earnings growth in 2018, and rising global demand for healthcare should continue to serve as a long-term tailwind.
Income investors can read Simply Safe Dividends’ comprehensive analysis on Pfizer’s business here.
Procter & Gamble (PG)
Sector: Consumer Staples
Industry: Household Products
Dividend Yield: 3.5%
5-Year Average Yield: 3.1%
Procter & Gamble Co (NYSE:PG) is a leading global consumer goods company. With more than 180 years of existence, the company is today an international household name, selling products in more than 175 countries.
Accounting for 32% of total sales in 2017, fabric and home care is Procter & Gamble’s biggest segment, followed by baby, feminine and family care (28%), beauty (18%), grooming (11%) and health (11%) segments.
By geography, North America is P&G’s largest market (45% of sales) while developing economies account for 35% of its total sales.
A diverse portfolio of iconic brands (Ariel, Bounty, Braun, Olay, Pantene etc.), strong consumer loyalty, and a global sales network have made P&G one of strongest consumer goods companies in the world.
In recent years the company has restructured its brand portfolio (from 170 in 2013 to 65 today) to focus more on stronger product lines with faster growth and greater profitability. The company also has targeted to save $10 billion in operating costs between fiscal year 2017 and 2021.
Despite its modest growth profile, Procter & Gamble has an impeccable record of paying consecutive dividends over the last 127 years. It last raised its dividend by 3% in 2017, marking it the 61st consecutive dividend increase and reinforcing its status as a dividend king (see all the dividend kings here).
The company is targeting up to $70 billion in capital returns through fiscal 2019 and 5% to 7% in core earnings per share growth. This should enable the company to comfortably continue its dividend growth streak.
United Parcel Services (UPS)
Sector: Industrials
Industry: Air Freight and Logistics
Dividend Yield: 3.4%
5-Year Average Yield: 2.9%
United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS) is a holding in Warren Buffett’s dividend portfolio here and is the world’s largest package delivery and logistics company. It is also a premier provider of global supply chain management solutions.
The company operates through three segments: U.S. Domestic Package (62% of 2017 revenue), International Package (20%) and Supply Chain & Freight (18%).
UPS has a balanced presence globally delivering 20 million packages and documents each day in more than 220 countries. The US is its largest market with 79% of sales while Europe is the largest among international markets (21%).
The company has an extensive global logistics and distribution system consisting of 2,500 worldwide operating facilities, 119,000 vehicles and over 500 aircraft. Upstarts and smaller rivals cannot afford to invest in such a transportation network, and they lack UPS’s package volumes which help the company achieve meaningful cost efficiencies.
Thanks to its advantages, UPS has been paying generous cash dividends for the last 50 years. The company’s recent payout boost in late 2017 represented a 10% increase over the prior year, and analysts expect 2018 adjusted diluted earnings per share to grow by 20% thanks largely to tax reform.
Given the continued surge in global online shopping trends and long-term growth in global trade, the company should be able to continue increasing its dividend comfortably in the high single to low double-digit range.
Verizon Communications (VZ)
Sector: Telecom Services
Industry: Integrated Telecommunication Services
Dividend Yield: 4.9%
5-Year Average Yield: 4.5%
Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) is the biggest provider of wireless service in the U.S. with 116.3 million retail customers and enjoys a duopoly position with AT&T, Sprint Corp (NYSE:S) and T-Mobile US Inc (NASDAQ:TMUS).
The company has the largest 4G LTE network (with 97.9 million retail postpaid connections) and is available to over 98% of the U.S. population. Although wireless operations generate over 80% of the company’s cash flow, Verizon’s superior fiber-optic technology also enables high speed broadband internet and has been ranked No.1 for internet speed ten years in a row by PC Magazine.
Customers prefer Verizon for its highly reliable wireless services, which are made possible by substantial investments in its network each year. The company also owns highly valuable and scarce telecom spectrum licenses, which form a strong entry barrier for new entrants.
Verizon is also leading the 5G wireless technology development over the last few years to reinforce its strong position, and it has plans to launch 5G wireless residential broadband services in three to five U.S. markets this year.
With tax reform freeing up several billion dollars more of cash flow this year, and management’s plans to cut $10 billion in costs by 2022, Verizon’s dividend remains on solid ground.
Verizon recorded its 11th consecutive dividend increase in 2017 with a 2.2% raise, and low-single-digit growth is likely to continue in the years ahead as the company trims its cost base and benefits from growing demand for high speed data and internet.
Coca-Cola (KO)
Sector: Consumer Staples
Industry: Soft Drinks
Dividend Yield: 3.5%
5-Year Average Yield: 3.2%
The Coca-Cola Co (NYSE:KO) is one of the largest beverage companies in the world, manufacturing and distributing more than 500 non-alcoholic drink brands. It owns four of the world’s top five sparkling soft drink brands — Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Fanta and Sprite.
Coca-Cola’s activities can be grouped into five operating segments — Europe, Middle East and Africa (21% of 2017 revenues); Latin America (11%); North America (24%); Asia Pacific (14%); and Bottling Investments (30%).
Coca-Cola owns the world’s largest distribution system that enables seamless sales to 27 million customer outlets in more than 200 international markets. This distribution network serves as a major advantage as the company evolves its product mix.
As a result of increased customer health awareness, the company is focusing on constructing a healthier portfolio by introducing products like Coca-Cola zero sugar.
The Coca-Cola Company is a dividend aristocrat (see all the aristocrats here) that has increased dividends in each of the last 56 years and last raised its payout by 5%. The company has a target of a 75% payout ratio and 7% to 9% earnings growth over the long term.
Given its industry leading position, strong brands, and huge international presence, Coca-Cola should be able to continue delivering mid-single-digit dividend growth in future.
Merck (MRK)
Sector: Healthcare
Industry: Pharmaceuticals
Dividend Yield: 3.6%
5-Year Average Yield: 3.1%
Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) is a global healthcare company with a rich operating history exceeding 120 years. The company provides a host of prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies and animal health products.
Geographically, the U.S. is its largest market with 43% of 2017 revenues, followed by EMEA, Asia Pacific, Japan, Latin America and others.
Merck’s core product categories include drugs for diabetes and cancer as well as vaccines and hospital acute care. A few of Merck’s best-selling products are Januvia (industry leading diabetic drug), Keytruda (cancer drug), Zetia and Remicade. The company’s 12 main drugs accounted for 53% of total sales in 2017.
The company spends heavily on R&D (18% of sales in 2017) to continuously rebuild its drug pipeline and deliver innovative health solutions. As a result, Merck is in a solid position to benefit from the growing demand for oncology treatments. The company has also been restructuring its business to cut long-term costs.
Merck has a rich history of paying uninterrupted dividends for nearly three decades and has increased dividends for seven years in a row. Its last dividend was raised by 2%, which is in line with its 10-year annual dividend growth rate.
Given the company’s disciplined capital allocation and reasonable payout ratio below 50%, Merck is poised to continue growing its payout in the future.
Altria (MO)
Sector: Consumer Staples
Industry: Tobacco
Dividend Yield: 4.4%
5-Year Average Yield: 4.0%
Altria Group Inc (NYSE:MO) is the undisputed market leader in the U.S. tobacco industry. The company has exclusive rights to sell cigarettes under a handful of leading brands including Marlboro, Virginia Slims, Parliament and Benson & Hedges. Altria also sells cigars, chewing tobacco and wine.
Marlboro has been the leading U.S. cigarette brand for over 40 years, and Copenhagen and Skoal account for more than 50% of the smokeless products category. Cigarette brands tend to have a high degree of stickiness, with customers having a very low preference to switch to other brands and a greater tolerance to pay higher prices given the addictive nature of tobacco.
With a long history of manufacturing cigarettes dating back 180 years, Altria has built a dominant market position over the years, resulting in a steady and growing stream of cash flow that has funded solid dividend growth.
In fact, Altria’s latest dividend raise earlier this year was 6%, representing its 52nd dividend increase in the past 49 years. Altria has a target dividend payout ratio of 80% with annual earnings growth of 7% to 9% expected over the long term. This should allow the company to keep growing dividends at a mid to high single-digit clip going forward.
AbbVie (ABBV)
Sector: Healthcare
Industry: Biotechnology
Dividend Yield: 4.2%
5-Year Average Yield: 3.5%
AbbVie Inc (NYSE:ABBV) is a research-driven global healthcare company, focusing on developing and delivering drugs in therapeutic areas like immunology, oncology, neuroscience, virology and general medicine. The company generates over 60% of its revenue (and an even greater share of profits) from its arthritis drug Humira.
Humira’s revenue stream in the U.S. is expected to be largely protected from competition through 2022 thanks to a number of patents owned by AbbVie. Meanwhile, AbbVie’s R&D expertise has helped the company develop a strong late-stage pipeline of promising medicines across several therapeutic areas which could potentially be converted into successful products in the near future.
The company recently experienced a setback as Rova-T, a lung cancer drug that was a key part of AbbVie’s plans to diversify its future profits, experienced achieved disappointing trial results, suggesting its overall impact on the company’s future results would be somewhat muted.
However, the company remains a cash cow with a handful of growth drivers and a reasonable payout ratio near 50%. Management continues cranking up the dividend, most recently announcing a 35% boost earlier this year.
New product launches and increasing demand for medicines both from developed and developing economies should help AbbVie grow its dividends at a solid rate going forward, but investors considering the stock do need to have a stomach for volatility given AbbVie’s drug concentration.
Cisco (CSCO)
Sector: Information Technology
Industry: Communications Equipment
Dividend Yield: 3.2%
5-Year Average Yield: 3.2%
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) is a leading global technology company inventing new technologies and products that have been powering the internet for more than three decades.
Product sales account for approximately 75% of total sales while services comprise the remainder of the business. Switching and routing are the most prominent product categories followed by collaboration, data center, wireless, security and service provider video.
The company’s service revenue is composed of software, subscriptions, and technical support offered across its different segments. Cisco’s customers are highly diversified and include businesses of all sizes, public institutions, governments and service providers.
Cisco has a large worldwide sales and marketing network with field offices in 95 countries, strong R&D capabilities, and a massive patent portfolio. Market leadership, breadth of portfolio, global scale and customer loyalty are its key competitive advantages. Investors can read in-depth analysis of Cisco’s business here.
Cisco is also shifting its business towards a software and subscriptions model which will lead to a higher visibility of its cash flows. Currently, recurring revenue accounts for 33% of total sales, and more than half of software revenue is subscription based revenue.
Cisco recently increased its dividend by 14% and has targeted to return at least half of its free cash flow to shareholders annually. The company’s solid cash flow and sub-50% payout ratio should allow for continued dividend growth in the years ahead.
<<<
>>> K-Cup owner Keurig grabs Dr Pepper Snapple
Siddharth Cavale
1-29-18
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-dr-pepper-snapp-m-a-keurig/k-cup-owner-keurig-grabs-dr-pepper-snapple-idUSKBN1FI1II
(Reuters) - Keurig Green Mountain Inc will buy soda maker Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc (DPS.N) in a deal worth more than $21 billion, bringing the world’s biggest single-serve coffee brand K-Cup and beverages such as 7UP, Snapple and Sunkist under one roof.
The deal marks Germany’s JAB Holding Co latest push into the U.S. beverage market, after buying Keurig owner Green Mountain Coffee Roasters in 2016 and Mondelez’s international coffee business earlier.
JAB said it would make an equity investment of $9 billion to finance the transaction for which the companies did not give an overall value. Including an $18.7 billion cash payout to Dr Pepper Snapple shareholders, Thomson Reuters calculations put the value of the deal in excess of $21 billion dollars.
Dr Pepper Snapple shareholders will receive $103.75 per share as a special cash dividend and own 13 percent of the combined company, which will be called ‘Keurig Dr Pepper’, the companies said.
Shares of Dr Pepper jumped nearly 37 percent in premarket trading to $131 on Monday and were set to open at a record high. The company had a market capitalization of $17.3 billion as of Friday’s close of $95.65.
Keurig Chief Executive Bob Gamgort will head the combined company, while its Chief Financial Officer Ozan Dokmecioglu will be the chief financial officer.
The new company expects total net debt at closing, foreseen in the second quarter of 2018, to be about $16.6 billion.
Cadbury maker Mondelez International Inc (MDLZ.O) separately said that as part of the deal, it would exchange its stake in Keurig for an equity interest in the new company.
Keurig Green Mountain was taken private by a JAB-led investor group, that included Mondelez, for about $13.9 billion in 2016. That deal created a global coffee giant that set its sights to take on industry leader Nestle NESN.VX.
Goldman Sachs was the lead financial adviser to Keurig and Credit Suisse advised Dr Pepper Snapple on the deal.
<<<
Volume | |
Day Range: | |
Bid Price | |
Ask Price | |
Last Trade Time: |