Value Investing News

Last year I introduced the Stock Ideas list and it has proven to be immensely popular. The list consists of Dividend Aristocrats, US Broad Dividend Achievers and U.S. Dividend Champions. Here are some highlights on this year’s changes:

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE), the world's biggest maker of jet engines and electric turbines, is scheduled to release its fourth quarter earnings for 2009 before the opening bell on Friday, January 22, 2010

While dividends have produced about 40% of average annual returns each year over the past 8 decades, capital gains are important as well. If investors believe that the company’s performance over time would improve, they would bid up the stock price.

My work continues to indicate that all of the action in General Electric (GE) off of its 12/04 high at 16.49 into Thursday’s low at 15.09 represents a correction of the prior advance from 14.15 (11/4) to 16.49 (12/4).

The S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats is the most prestigious list of dividend stocks. It is designed to measure the performance of S&P 500 stocks that have followed a policy of consistently increasing dividends every year for at least 25 consecutive years.

Most companies use debt for a variety of reasons in their operations. It could be either short term or long-term obligations. If there’s anything the 2007-2009 financial crisis has taught us, it is that excessively leveraged companies could easily blow up after a chain of negative events. Thus it pays to know what the debt situation for a particular company you are investing in actually is.

Let's pay close attention to what masters like Buffett are doing on the heels of such a dismal market year.

Investors often fall in love with stocks, which are synonymous with innovation, growth and have delivered strong total returns up to a point. It is easy to fall in love with a stock, which everyone else is touting as the next great thing, whose products you use or is one which has made many investors rich.

ModernGraham's Dividend Portfolio made up of the top 10 dividend yields in the site's valuation database.

In order for investors to become better at allocating capital, it is important to learn from ones mistakes. I have identified several mistakes, which could have saved investors billions had they known about them in the first place:

Over time we tend grow fond of people we have a relationship with. Sometimes we grow to love them like a brother or sister; sometimes even more. In much the same way we can easily grow to love certain stocks, but this is not necessarily a good thing.

Possible reasons why General Electric could see more downside. Lack of catalysts being one of them.

Part 2 of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Stock Portfolio

Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B) just posted its 13-F filing with the SEC, which lists changes in its stock positions.