Wednesday, October 23, 2019

SQUEEZE TINY 5" RECORD


I love my record collecting hobby.  After filling up my office with records, I tend to focus on oddities like, flexis, cardboard records from cereal boxes, odd shaped picture discs, 10" singles, etc.

One of my favs is this 5" Squeeze single from 1980, "If I Didn't Love You" / "Another Nail In My Heart".  Plays at 33rpm.   Does not have the greatest sound quality, but I just could not turn down this little thing the moment I laid eyes on it.

5" single - very flexible..

I thought A&M would release more 5" singles in this series, but it appears this is a one off.  Bummer. Fortunately, this can be had for under $10 on Discogs.

The B side is one of the most perfect pop songs ever made.  Every different part of this song is a catchy melody.
Difford and Tilbrook may be the best songwriting team since Lennon and McCartney IMO.

Here's the official clip....


Love that tie!

Till next time.  Cheers.

Sunday, October 20, 2019

HOW I SCREEN FOR STOCKS

How do I pick from the thousands of companies to choose from to invest in?  

I keep it fairly simple with 7 parameters that companies need to meet in order to make.   I use four of them to formulate my list of companies to watch.  Once there, I then use 3 more to narrow the field.  

BTW,  here's a cute bunny....

Ok, back to the subject at hand...  Here are the 4 main things companies have to do to make muster.

A TRACK RECORD OF DIVIDEND INCREASES
 
      This is the most important requirement to be a dividend growth investor.  Duh...  I look for a company with a track record of a few solid years of increasing their dividend.  Sharing profits with owners of the company is the whole reason I invest.  Well, that and retiring someday thanks to the effect of compounding dividends.

The ones with the longest track record are the S&P 500 "Dividend Aristocrats".  These companies have increased their dividend payout for 25 or more consecutive years and have a market capitalization of $3 billion or more.  right now there are 57 companies that have made the list.

But there are many, many more companies that have a solid track record of increasing dividends.

Here's a list of  Dividend Champions, Contenders, and Contenders    Pick from this list.

Another thing to consider is to see if their increases surpass the current inflation rate.

A LOW P/E RATIO

A look into the Price to Earnings ratio is a good way to see if the stock is under or overvalued.   It's the ratio of the share price to the companies' earnings per share.  It's the price of expecting a profit in the future.  The S&P 500 is around 22X as of October 2019.   It also varies within sector and industry.

I look to find companies that are under about 19.  I also look to see how they compare with their competition in the industry they are in.

A LOW DIVIDEND PAYOUT RATIO

Can a company sustain their dividend and have room to raise it?   A company that is paying out a large majority or all of their profits have a hard time keeping up their dividend in the long run.  Ive been burned by some of them in the past few years and now pay close attention to this.

I look for companies that are under 60% or so.  The lower the better, as long as they pass the other parameters.   For example, Apple is around 26% at the time of this writing.  This means they have lots of free cash flow (as long as their debts are low) and have plenty of room to grow that dividend.

A MARKET CAPITALIZATION OF $3 BILLION OR MORE

I prefer companies with scale and a size advantage.  Small cap companies are more risky.   This is why I started with large cap companies.  Once I grew a nice buffer of 50 companies, I then began looking for smaller companies.

Once a company meets these 4 categories (or at least 3 and real close on the 4th), I will start looking at some other parameters.

AN EARNINGS PER SHARE GROWTH OF 5% OR MORE

I am hesitant of a company that is stagnant and has difficulties growing.  Of course there are exceptions to this, like with AT&T.   It's a challenge for them to grow at fast clips unless they assimilate another company like a Borg.

A LOW PRICE TO EARNINGS GROWH

Ideally at 1%. This is a measure of the price of growth.  I would rather not overpay for a company becasue they are growing at a good clip.   In bull markets, this is more of a challenge, but can be found.

A LONG TERM TRACK RECORD OF EPS GROWTH

If a company has a long track record of growth, I believe that the odds of keeping up that growth is better than companies that do not have a tack record.

After all of this, I look at other things

I may look at  which month of the quarter they pay the dividend in an attempt to balance out my earnings.

Or I may look at how much of their industry I already own (exactly why I still do not own Smuckers or Walgreens)


Of course, this is just a guide.

PLEASE DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH.  I AM NOT RECOMMENDING ANY COMPANY WHATSOEVER OR TO  FOLLOW MY RESEARCH METHODS.

This is just how I narrow a list from thousands of companies to a small handful.


Monday, October 14, 2019

AN IGNORANT ARTICLE ABOUT F.I.R.E.


Just spent a few hours half way watching the Monday Night Football game and surfing the internet looking at financial articles.

Then I stumbled across this article on Fox business that made me do a spit take.     Millennials turn to extreme saving method to retire early

This article explains the F.I.R.E. strategy and brings in their "expert" who totally shits on the idea.   Here's the quote that I could not unsee...

F.I.R.E. drew criticism from FOX Business’ Kristina Partsinevelos. 
“I think this strategy won't work because, in the past, from 2009 to 2012 — great period to invest in, risky stocks going forward — you can't really make as much of a gain," Parsinevelos said. “This is predicted by BlackRock; a lot of investment funds, so I'm not sure it's the right strategy.”

You have got to be shitting me.   

Risky stocks?  You don't buy shares to look for equity gain when doing the F.I.R.E. thing.   You buy shares to earn dividends and hold onto forever.   You still make the dividends even though the market slows.   It's a defense against a recession. As long as the company is financially strong (and most Dividend Champions and Aristocrats are on very solid footing), your dividend will keep on paying out, even if the price drops by 20% or more......

Ms. Partsinevelos has no clues as to what she is talking about.   

The biggest risk to F.I.R.E. is massive inflation.  It would drive many back to work. 

It actually made me wonder if she is just promoting the corporate slave strategy - work until you can't work anymore and then hopefully have enough saved to not outlive it.   

Well, I strongly disagree.   

Live frugally, buy dividend growth stocks of strong companies, earn dividends.  Never sell them.  Lather, rinse , repeat.

Have a kid and pass the shares to them.  Build generational wealth.  

But why am I surprised?  This is Fox New after all....



Monday, October 7, 2019

SEPTEMBER 2019 DIVIDEND INCREASES AND BUYS

This is just a quick summary of the dividend increases, purchases, and 3 sales I saw in the month of September.   I just posted my dividends earned for last month.


Here are the dividend increases....


TICKEROLD DIVNEW DIV% Gainold annualnew annualINCREASEYield Yield on Purchase
VZ$0.6025$0.61502.1%$185.57$189.42$3.854.22%4.72%
STOR$0.3300$0.35006.1%$179.52$190.40$10.883.78%4.78%
O0.2265$0.22700.2%$182.11$182.51$0.403.59%4.57%
ANH$0.1100$0.1000-9.1%$500.28$454.80-$45.4811.87%8.59%
MSFT$0.4600$0.510011%$62.56$69.36$6.801.47%1.74%
BBL$1.1000$1.5600
42%
$191.40$271.44$80.047.25%6.78%













$1301.44$1357.93$56.49




Not too shabby!

Here's the end result of my purchases for the month (and the sales).  I explained why I sold out of 3 companies here and here.

TickerDateQTYPricetotalDIV INC / Yr
EAT9/330$30.098$1177.910$45.60
CSCO9/1113$49.999$649.990$18.20
RTN9/204$196.380$785.520$15.08
ANH (SOLD)9/301137$3.350-$3808.870-$454.80
AGNC (SOLD)9/30200$15.965-$3192.910-$384.00
NLY (SOLD)9/30400$8.705-$3481.880-$400.00
SYY9/3024$79.039$1901.890$37.44
CSCO9/3037$49.485$1835.900$51.80
MCD9/309$214.91$1934.19$41.76
RTN9/304197.815$788.74$15.08
BAC9/301729.255$497.34$12.24
DAL9/306858.203$3957.86$109.48
















$3045.68-$892.12









Cheers!

.   


Sunday, October 6, 2019

SEPTEMBER 2019 DIVIDENDS


Had quite the nice end to the 3rd quarter.  Broke $1705 in dividends!   So that adds up to earning $2.37 per hour for JUST BEING ALIVE.  Love it. 

I'm also posting the dividend increases (and cut) I experienced for last month.

As you can see from my earlier post, I did some shuffling around with my shares due to a dividend cut.   So I did not see the gain I expected - which resulted in the trades.  I am determined to avoid div cuts...   The cut triggered some liquid rage.....




Here's the breakdown  of the dividends earned....

9/3/2019
AFL
$23.76

9/3/2019
AWR
$7.63

9/3/2019
CMI
$39.33

9/3/2019
INTC
$26.78

9/3/2019
PFE
$19.80

9/3/2019
PSX
$16.20

9/3/2019
WMT
$10.60

9/5/2019
DFS
$24.20

9/5/2019
SBSI
$35.65

9/6/2019
AMGN
$26.10

9/6/2019
BA
$51.38

9/6/2019
SO
$50.84

9/6/2019
UPS
$35.52

9/10/2019
TGT
$34.98

9/10/2019
CVX
$45.22

9/10/2019
EMR
$16.66

9/10/2019
HE
$48.00

9/10/2019
IBM
$45.36

9/10/2019
JNJ
$33.25

9/11/2019
AGNC
$32.00

9/11/2019
UL
$24.94

9/12/2019
MMM
$31.68

9/12/2019
MSFT
$15.64

9/12/2019
CNP
$36.51

9/12/2019
ADM
$29.75

9/13/2019
AVA
$36.04

9/13/2019
COST
$5.20

9/13/2019
FLO
$36.10

9/13/2019
O
$15.18

9/13/2019
TSN
$10.13

9/16/2019
APLE
$40.90

9/16/2019
MAIN
$20.50

9/16/2019
ORI
$253.20

9/17/2019
MCD
$24.36

9/19/2019
HD
$16.32

9/20/2019
GM
$42.56

9/25/2019
BBL
$135.72

9/26/2019
EAT
$28.88

9/26/2019
LVS
$50.05

9/26/2019
QCOM
$45.26

9/27/2019
BAC
$21.06

9/27/2019
CLDT
$21.45

9/27/2019
TROW
$35.72

9/30/2019
NKE
$10.12

9/30/2019
NWE
$35.08

9/30/2019
PEP
$47.75

9/30/2019
TRV
$12.30
$1705.66


Not too shabby if I say so myself.

Here are the dividend increases I experienced....

TICKER OLD DIV NEW DIV % Gain old annual new annual INCREASE Yield  Yield on Purchase
VZ $0.6025 $0.6150 2.1% $185.57 $189.42 $3.85 4.22% 4.72%
STOR $0.3300 $0.3500 6.1% $179.52 $190.40 $10.88 3.78% 4.78%
O 0.2265 $0.2270 0.2% $182.11 $182.51 $0.40 3.59% 4.57%
ANH $0.1100 $0.1000 -9.1% $500.28 $454.80 -$45.48 11.87% 8.59%
MSFT $0.4600 $0.5100 11% $62.56 $69.36 $6.80 1.47% 1.74%
BBL $1.1000 $1.5600

$191.40 $271.44 $80.04 7.25% 6.78%













$1301.44 $1357.93 $56.49




The ANH cut triggered my shuffle up.

Comments?