These Landlords Pay Up to 22%. Can We Trust Them?

Our Archive

Search completed

I love the economics of real estate. But a landlord I’m not. Please, change your own lightbulb—don’t call me.

Enter real estate investment trusts (REITs), which provide us with landlord-style income from the comfort of computers and smartphones.

Why are these “virtual fourplex” deals available in convenient ticker form? Thank Congress (no, seriously!) By law, the bulk of a REIT’s income has to be returned to us, the shareholders, in the form of dividends. Even an average REIT is going to pay more than most other sectors, and some REIT dividends can get downright enormous—like the 7.8% to 22.3% yielders I’ll discuss here in a moment.… Read more

Read More

Select real estate may be the income investing play for 2024. As I write, seven real estate investment trusts (REITs) are dishing dividends from 8.7% all the way up to 15.4%.

These REITs—and their ilk—are literally designed to deliver dividends. That’s how Congress wrote the rules when they legislated these real estate investments into existence back in 1960.

REITs avoid taxes at the corporate level. But in exchange, they need to pony up at least 90% of their taxable income and redistribute it to investors as dividends.

As a result, our average REIT yields somewhere around 2x to 3x the market.… Read more

Read More

One of the best characteristics about dividends is they usually offer a consistent, preferably growing stream of income. However, investors can easily fall into the trap of becoming complacent that future payments will continue to flow in, even when the business isn’t generating enough cash to fund the dividend.

The higher the yield being offered generally means the riskier the dividend is and sometimes losses can outweigh the expected income. For example, Dynagas LNG Partners (DLNG) cut its 16% yield back in April and shares are down 25% since.

With government bonds paying around 2% to 3%, dividends above 10% need to be scrutinized closely and I’ve identified two that are in danger of disappearing.…
Read more

Read More

Today, I’m going to warn you about five stocks with yields of 7% or more that should be avoided at all costs. They are my next “dividend disaster” candidates that are likely to either reduce their payouts, or lose 20% or more in price, or both.

Big current yields have nothing to do with safety. Consider these year-to-date performances from high-yielding companies that started 2017 with juicy yields, but at some point cut or suspended their dividends:

  • Windstream: Yielded 7.5%, lost 75%
  • Mattel: Yielded 5.5%, lost 45%
  • GNC: Yielded 7%, lost 26%

I warned you to sell Mattel late last year, before its dividend cut.…
Read more

Read More

Don’t take any dividends for granted today. Business disruption is accelerating as entire industries are being eaten alive.

Uber and Lyft? Killed cabs.

Amazon (AMZN)? It’s crushing retail, and starving their REIT landlords right before our very eyes.

And soon, they might team up to offer more same day deliveries – and make more rivals obsolete!

These types of disturbances have added a new layer to contrarian investing. Before, it was as simple as buying stocks when they were out-of-favor and holding them until they became back in vogue. The “Dogs of the Dow” strategy, for example, usually beat the market by banking the highest blue chip dividend yields – a sign that the tide was ready to turn back in the dogs favor.…
Read more

Read More

Categories