Value Investing News

In the U.S. and Canada, most companies pay dividends quarterly. In other parts of the world, it is not uncommon for companies to pay an annual or a semi-annual dividend. That is not to say that North American companies sometimes choose not to pay quarterly dividends.

When stock prices start dropping, our primal instinct of flight kicks in and we want to sell. In many cases that is the time to be buying. As a long-term buy-and-hold investor, most of my evaluation efforts are aimed at determining when to buy a stock. However, sometimes selling a stock is the right thing to do, and we need to be adept at identifying those times.

A declining market is what value and dividend investors long for. There have been times in the past where I struggled to find stocks worthy of purchasing. Now, the challenge is to pick the best available stocks that will maximize my chances of future success. When looking for value priced stocks, the Price-To-Book (P/B) ratio is one that I like to focus on.

We all want to find the best value when we buy a stock. One of the oldest metrics used is the price earnings (P/E) ratio. It is calculated as the market value per share divided by earnings per share (EPS). A high P/E ratio infers that investors expect strong future earnings growth. Conversely, a low P/E suggests limited future growth.

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This article lists some financially sound stocks with low PE10 and TTM PE ratios inspired by Robert Shiller's Cyclically Adjusted Price Earnings Ratio (CAPE). A simple backtest to 2002 reveals some impressive results.

Investing in dividend growth stocks is not about buying a current high yield, but instead building a high yield-on-cost over time. One of the criticisms I am hearing more often is, “That low yield isn’t even covering inflation.” This is a very valid concern, if true. To test this criticism, I built a model it and ran several dividend stocks through it. The results just might surprise you…

There are many companies that have many years building moats around their businesses. This moat makes it difficult for competitors to encroach upon their market share. Suffice to say, business with moat have sustainable competitive advantage. In general, companies with moats in their business are very good dividend growth providers.

There are winners and there are champions in every walk of life. The difference is subtle, but very real. A champion is driven for success and will not let anything stand in its way. Some dividend stocks can be classified as champions.

Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE: ADM) is scheduled to release its fiscal second quarter 2010 earnings before the opening bell on Tuesday, February 2, 2010. Analysts, on average, expect the company to report earnings of 72 cents a share on revenue of $16.54 billion.

The dividend aristocrats list includes companies which have increased dividends for over 25 years in a row. It is equally weighted and re-balanced once an year. Over the past 3,5 and 7 years the index of elite dividend stocks has managed to outperform the S&P 500 by 5%, 3.7% and 4.40% respectively.