A good play that can work is to short a stock just before it's ex-dividend date, It's more than likely to drop the amount of the dividend.
The only problem with that strategy is that you, the short-seller must pay the dividend amount to the buyer of the stock you sold. The original owner receives the dividend from the company, but the guy who bought from you also qualifies for the dividend, so you have to pay it to him. On top of that, if the stock price does not drop at least the amount of the dividend, you have lost both on the dividend and on the price. If anything, far, far better to buy rather than sell prior to ex-div date.
Newly
