Dividend Capture strategies are gaining popularity among speculators who don’t want to be too exposed to market risk, while also being able to pocket the dividends. My reader Ammar Husami asked me about my opinion on the subject. The dividend capture strategy is very different in comparison to my dividend growth strategy.

Not all companies are conserving cash in this difficulat credit environment; there were several dividend increases which reiterate my opinion that the dividend cuts might not spread to the non-financial sector.

Ben Graham, the father of Value Investing and teacher of Warren Buffett, was also a successful investor in 20th century. The four bread and butter strategies, employed by his firm, the Graham-Newman corporation between 1926 and 1956 included arbitrages, related hedges, liquidations and Net-Current-Asset or Bargain issues.

CEG and ROH continue to trade at steep discounts to their acquisition price.

There were several stocks that cut or suspended their dividend payments over the past week. Their performance after the dividend cuts reinforces my belief that companies that cut their dividends for whatever reasons admit that they do not have a firm grip on their business.

I view stocks that increase their dividends in this tough environment as defensive, recession proof corporations, who have survived many downturns, recessions and credit crisis. They view the current financial hiccup as only temporary in nature, which in turn shows the confidence in their business models.
The companies that increased their dividend payments to stockholders include:

Read Whitney Tilson's post about BRK.A and its derivatives exposure.

In theory it makes sense for companies to reinvest all of their earnings straight back into the business, compounding the growth rate of the enterprise to achieve a higher asset base. If a company can put their earnings to good use, there is no reason for them to pay fat dividends.

Dividend investors often set minimum requirements for an “acceptable initial dividend yield and/or dividend growth rate when they are considering buying a dividend stock.

Thus one investor might say, “I won’t invest in a dividend stock with a starting yield less than 3%. Another might say, “I want a minimum 10% per year dividend increase.

Last week the markets continued their roller coaster ride, sending most investors accounts to new five year lows. On Thursday the S&P 500 broke through its October lows and reached its lowest level since 2003, before recovering the very same day.

Last week there were several companies that cut or suspended their dividend payments. As part of my studies to uncover market inefficiencies pertaining to dividend stocks I am measuring the performance of those dividend suspenders or cutters. As part of my sample I am measuring stocks which trade at least several hundred thousand shares per day.

The SEC just released an updated list of Berkshire Hathaway’s stock holdings as of 09/30/2008. The Oracle of Omaha, who is the main capital allocator for Berkshire added to the following positions:

Zecco, the online stock brokerage has revolutionized online stock trading over the past two years with its ten free trades per month policy, no account minimums and the ever growing investment community that this broker has created on their site. Using Zecco’s community you could get in touch with thousands of investors, who are taking advantage of the free stock/ETF trading...

In my blog, Dividend Growth Investor, I am always trying to find out the best dividend stocks which would provide me with a dividend income stream that would increase above the levels of inflation for many decades to come. If I didn’t have any time to go through all the hassle of picking individual dividend stocks however, I would have turned to dividend ETF’s.

There have been some pretty negative news surrounding the big three US auto manufacturers this year. Recently GM and Ford reported continuing large losses, triggered by a decrease in the demand for cars nationwide.