The “Quiet” Dividend Aristocrats: 2 Winners, 2 Losers

The Contrary Investing Report

Investing and Trading News, with a Contrarian, Sarcastic Twist!

The “Quiet” Dividend Aristocrats: 2 Winners, 2 Losers

Stocks that raise their dividend meaningfully every year will make you a lot of money over the long haul… provided they continue to boost their payouts, of course.

Studies by two global investment heavyweights, BlackRock and GMO, have shown that 90% of U.S. equity returns over the past 100 years have been thanks to dividends and dividend growth.

Ned Davis Research also conducted its own 43-year study on stock returns. The conclusion? Dividend payers are good… but dividend growers are great. Stocks that paid a growing dividend delivered double-digit returns and outpaced steady dividend payers by nearly one-third:

Annual Rate of Return (Ned Davis Research)

Over time, this compounding really adds up as these stocks pull away from stagnant payers and the market at-large:

Dividend Growers Pull Away Over Time

Worried about the Fed’s rate cycle?…
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5 CEFs With 6%+ Yields and Big Upside (buy before January)

There’s a storm brewing for closed-end funds, but it’ll be over by Christmas. And with a quick hand, you and I can profit from it.

More on that—and 5 CEFs that should be on your post-selloff buy list—in a moment.

First, I should tell you that the storm front I see coming stems from nothing more than the calendar on your wall (or more likely on your phone): the looming year-end, which often trips up CEFs (and other funds, as well as stocks). That’s because many investors sell at the end of the year to try to secure a lower tax burden when filing their taxes next year.…
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9 REITs Ready to Raise Their Payouts This December

“First-level” investors – those who buy and sell on headlines – mistakenly believe that real estate investment trust (REIT) profits will suffer if rates rise.

They’re wrong. And today, we’ll highlight nine REITs that are “raising their rents” as rates rise. As their tenants pay more, these firms will in turn pay their shareholders more in dividends.

Which means their share prices will follow suit, and move higher, too.

Sure, in the short run, the “rates up, REITs down” theory puts on quite the show. When the 10-Year Treasury’s yield rises, REITs usually fall. And when its yield drops, REITs usually rally.…
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This Fear Is Costing You Big Money (here’s how to beat it)

Imagine you’re sitting in a bar and a guy sits down next to you and says, “I just took out a $6-million loan.”

How would you feel? Would you pity him for having so much debt? Would you wonder how he’d ever pay it back? Would you calculate how much those monthly payments would be?

If your instinct is to feel bad for someone with a multi-million-dollar loan, you should change your mind. Because our fictional bar patron could be Mark Zuckerberg, one of the richest people on earth.

That’s right—Zuck took out a $6-million loan in 2012 because he could get said loan at a mere 1% interest rate.…
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4 REITs to Buy Before December 13 – and 45 to Avoid

Today I’m going to show you 4 REITs with high—and growing—yields that are bargains now. But you’ve only got weeks to act here, and likely less.

Why?

Because real estate investment trusts have underperformed the broader market by a lot in the last six weeks … but a proven contrarian signal is about to send the best ones straight back up—and higher still.

More on that, and 4 those terrific REITs to jump on now, in a moment.

First, check out how the Vanguard REIT ETF (VNQ), shown in the blue line below, has performed since hitting a six-month high on September 11, compared to the rest of the market:

VNQ: The Market’s Ugly Stepsister

They’re mirror reflections of each other!…
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7 Stocks Primed to Deliver 12% Annual Returns, Forever

Let’s talk about the only “market timing” strategy that actually works in practice – buying a stock before it announces a dividend hike.

In a minute, I’ll show you seven stocks that are likely to announce generous hikes next time they talk to Wall Street. Their stock prices will then follow their payouts higher in the ensuing months.

This “undercover income strategy” is the closest thing to a sure thing you’ll find in the financial markets. Everyone loves the dividend, but investors usually don’t give enough love to the dividend hike. Not only do these raises increase the yield on your initial capital, but also they often are reflected in a price increase for the stock.…
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The No. 1 CEF Trap You Must Avoid

Of all the things investors ask me about closed-end funds, the main one is leverage. (A close No. 2 is CEF return of capital, which I discussed in a recent article here.)

Yes, CEFs often borrow money and invest it in stocks or bonds. That scares some people, who then ask me if a leveraged CEF is safe.

The answer is: sometimes. (Below I’ll show you 2 CEFs with 6.5%+ dividend yields that are using leverage perfectly to slingshot their shareholders to double-digit gains.)

You see, leverage can boost your return in a bull market and magnify your loss in a bear market.…
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Follow This “Smart Money” to Safe 10% Yields

This is an example of a bad almost-10% yield:

When a Bullish Chart is Bad

Mattel’s (MAT) yield was rising for the wrong reason – because its stock price was dropping faster than its payout. Going forward, that shouldn’t be a problem. The firm officially suspended its dividend on Friday.

I warned you that the toy maker was a dividend disaster waiting to happen. In June’s edition of our Dirty Dozen: 12 Dividend Stocks to Sell Now report, we discussed how falling profits were going to be a serious problem for the stock’s payout:

When Mattel last raised its dividend, from 36 cents to 38 cents quarterly at the beginning of 2014, few people batted an eye.

…
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3 Exploding ETF Trends (and 33 Funds You Can Buy Now)

If you’re like most folks, you probably think it’s tough for any fund to beat the S&P 500, especially in a year when the index jumped some 15%.

But you’d be wrong.

Truth is a lot of funds are doing better, with over 660 beating the S&P 500. And the top-performers share 3 common themes that could tell us a lot about which sectors are poised to take off next year.

Let’s dig in. Along the way, we’ll hone in on the 33 funds that are cashing in as these breakthrough trends head higher.

Trend No. 1: Skyrocketing Faith in Technology (11 Funds)

Markets have always believed that technology will improve the global economy.…
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3 Wobbly 7%+ Dividends You Must Sell Now

You’ve probably noticed that we’ve been spending a lot of time digging into closed-end funds lately.

The reason is simple: These ignored investments can set you up for 7%+ dividends and quick double-digit upside in one buy!

(In fact, Michael Foster, chief strategist of our CEF Insider service, just held a free webcast where he revealed his 5-step CEF picking system and 2 explosive new high-yield picks. If you missed it, click here to view a rebroadcast.)

But that doesn’t mean all of the 500+ CEFs out there are great. In fact, many boast dividend payouts they just can’t cover with earnings (see dangerous CEF No.…
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