Value Investing News

Warren Buffett is arguably the best investor in the world. His main holding, Berkshire Hathaway has delivered market beating returns during his leadership. Buffett’s strategy is characterized by purchasing stocks which have a long-term durable competitive advantage in a stable industry.

The markets continue to get hammered today with the DOW lower by 1.65%, Nasdaq down 1.40% and the S&P 500 dropping 1.50%. This is all on the back of economic data released over the last three days that has stunned Wall

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:

I am a firm believer that asset allocation plays a significant part in a portfolio’s long-term results. Recently, I received a question asking if you could have a diversified portfolio of dividend stocks. It is an interesting question that deserves further examination.

The key to the market going up is simply a weaker dollar. Friday, the dollar, PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish (NYSE:UUP) slammed into the 200 moving average resistance point. This clearly showed a turning point near term on the dollar to the downside. Monday the markets rallied as the dollar p

Over the last couple of years we have seen companies fail to raise their dividend, cut their dividend and some even decided to stop paying their dividend. In some cases their financials did not warrant the change. So, how do you fin companies with a positive dividend culture?

Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM), the biggest U.S. oil company, is scheduled to release its fourth quarter 2009 earnings before the opening bell on Monday, February 1, 2010. Analysts, on average, expect the company to report earnings of $1.20 per share on revenue of $83.96 billion.

Investors who are worried about inflation but want to protect their principal are often told to invest in Treasury Inflation Protected Securities, which are indexed for inflation. In other words, investors yield and principal are indexed to the CPI and adjusted as the CPI rises over time. This sounds like the perfect deal of a lifetime, except for two caveats.

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.

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.

Tilson's Q3 portfolio has been filed. New positions include KFT, FFH, OCN, COF puts, SPG puts, BKS, XOM, DOW puts, GHQ, XLF puts, PETM, CSWC, DJCO, and FL.

China’s economic recovery, powered by its own stimulus package, shows no signs of letting up. The world's fastest growing economy has picked up over the course of the year, with third-quarter GDP growth expanding to an annual 8.9 percent from 7.9 percent in the second quarter and 6.1 percent in the first, virtually assuring China of reaching its 8 percent full-year target.

World Fuel Services is a reseller of fuel and related services to aviation, marine, and land markets. The company is enjoying a run-up in fuel prices and has the size and financial strength to continue consolidating the market.

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.

I am a firm believer in keeping things simple. However, you can simplify things to the point they no longer have value. In my opinion, a lot of the commonly used financial metrics can be very misleading unless you understand what is behind them. Let’s take a closer look at Dividend Payout.