TGT

In 1985 took my first job as a staff accountant with a $21,000 annual salary. Now I am over the same department that I was hired into and entry level staff accountants earn $56,500 per year. That equates to a 4.2% annual increase. Just as employees expect an annual raise, so do dividend investors.

The dividend aristocrats whose ability to pay a dividend with such regularity, while other companies have had to either cut or eliminate their dividend payments, speaks volumes about their business model. In addition to that, the diversification and careful management of these companies’ resources has provided shareholders with long-term sustainable results.

What do you do when the economy tanks and the stock market follows suit, but you are still generating a lot of cash? Many people would look for bargains in the market. Wal-Mart (WMT) [analysis] has done just that.

It is the world’s largest retailer of video game products and PC entertainment software. Yet a little something something may be needed to coax investors into the stock.

With proxy season in full throttle this past week, many of the most heated shareholder activist battles experienced major developments. The biggest activist hedge fund winners of the week were Steel Partners, Carl Icahn and Eastbourne Capital Management, while the biggest losers were Bill Ackman of Pershing Square and Millbrook Capital.

As a dividend growth investor, my goal is to generate a rising stream of dividend income. Thus I would have to be selective not only about picking individual stocks, but also about selecting companies from a variety of industries, countries and size, in order to avoid a widespread implosion in overall dividend income.

Ackman effects change at Target. Target is now considering expanding its grocery offerings.

This in depth article looks at Bill Ackman's personality and how it has played out in his investment career. He's described as an optimist and Ackman consider's himself to just be an "extremely resilient person."

 A summary list of 70 investments made by shareholder activists during March.

S&P 500, which is the benchmark against which most money managers track their performance, lost 11.67% in the first quarter of 2009. The S&P Dividend Aristocrats however underperformed the benchmark by almost 2% after losing 13.84% in the first quarter. Now if we add dividends to the picture the S&P 500 loss drops to 11.01% while the loss for Dividend Aristocrats decreases to 12.90%.

Previously we compared some big box retailers and argued that Target must serve up its wares with some secret sauce, for it has relatively strong margins. Here we assess Target as a business owner, by analyzing its assets and earnings power.

Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger have learned that retailing is a very tough business. Yet, more of our family’s dollars find their way to Target than any other, even though Wal-Mart often offers better prices. Are we fools, or does Target offer some which it competitors do not?