7 Stocks Warren Buffett Can’t Stop Buying

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Sometimes identifying the best stocks to buy can be difficult, but you could do a lot worse than checking out the stocks selected by one of the world’s savviest hedge fund managers — Warren Buffett.

Buffett’s stock picks are a popular source for investors, and for good reason. The billionaire Buffett is many things: He’s among the world’s most successful fund managers, a legendary philanthropist and owns more than 60 companies.

Buffett’s formidable stock-picking ability has given him the nickname “the Oracle of Omaha” and a fortune of more than $87 billion. And now we can track the latest trades of his $191 billion Berkshire Hathaway fund.

Just-released SEC forms reveal a valuable glimpse into stocks Buffett likes (and the stocks Buffett doesn’t like). These are the stocks he poured money into in the second quarter.

Here I also include TipRanks’ stock insights from Wall Street’s best-performing analysts. Does the Street sentiment match Buffett’s latest stock picks — or is he going rogue with his investing decisions? Let’s take a closer look at the top Warren Buffett stock picks now:

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on Aug. 17, 2018. It has been updated to reflect changes in the market.

Apple (AAPL)

aapl stock

Source: Shutterstock

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is now by far and away Buffett’s largest investment. After missing the tech sector rally (Buffett recently admitted that he “blew it” by not investing in Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL) earlier), the Oracle of Omaha has been busy plowing money into AAPL.

Following a 5% increase of AAPL shares, Buffett now holds over $55 billion in AAPL stock. This is about 24% of the total portfolio. Interestingly, it also means Buffett now owns almost 5% of Apple stock.

“I clearly like Apple. We buy them to hold,” Buffett told CNBC in May. “We bought about 5 percent of the company. I’d love to own 100 percent of it … We like very much the economics of their activities. We like very much the management and the way they think.”

And the stock also has the Street’s seal of approval. “Despite Apple achieving the $1 trillion milestone last week, we continue to believe Apple remains one of the most underappreciated stocks in the world with a valuation that remains depressed (13.7x our CY:19 EPS estimate, ex-cash)” cheers top Monness analyst Brian White (Profile & Recommendations).

He added: “Now, Apple is heading into the seasonally strongest time of the year with a new iPhone cycle on the horizon.” Indeed, White’s $275 price target indicates big upside potential of 24%.

In total, however, the stock has a “moderate buy” analyst consensus rating. This is with a $214 price target. See what other Top Analysts are saying about AAPL.

US Bancorp (USB)

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Minneapolis based U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) is the fifth largest U.S. bank — and one of the top 10 holdings in the Berkshire portfolio. Following the purchase of almost 10 million USB shares in Q2, Buffett’s USB stake now totals $5.3 billion.

However, Oppenheimer’s Chris Kotowski (Profile & Recommendations) is less convinced. Interestingly, given Buffett’s preference for value stocks, it’s the valuation this top analyst takes issue with. He writes: “USB is one of the “super banks” of the banking industry, and while there is a lot to like about the stock, we think the valuation already embeds it.”

As a result, Kotowski has a “hold” rating on the stock, and tells investors to look elsewhere. “USB is not cheap on either a P/E or price/TBV basis versus peers; given the plethora of cheaper, high-quality franchises trading at a fraction of USB’s TBV multiple, we think there is more upside potential elsewhere in the sector.”

The overall Street perspective also leaves a lot to be desired. In the last three months, the stock has received four hold ratings. This is versus only two more bullish Buy calls. Meanwhile, the average price target stands at $57 (8% upside potential). See what other Top Analysts are saying about USB.

Bank of New York Mellon (BK)

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Buffett has now ramped up his holding of this financial stock by 4% to $3.2 billion. This makes Bank of New York Mellon Corp (NYSE:BK) the tenth-biggest stock in Berkshire’s portfolio. Although Buffett has held BK since 2010, he began to pour money into the stock in 2017 with two 50% increases. Since then, it has been a constant build up.

Analysts, on the other hand, are evenly divided between Hold and Buy. One five-star analyst in the bull camp is Vining Sparks Marty Mosby (Profile & Recommendations). He sees a compelling investment opportunity right now. “BK currently trades at a 13x price-to-earnings multiple, and we believe its expected earnings per share growth could reduce its multiple down to below 12x. We believe this valuation is too low for a bank currently producing 25% return- on-tangible common equity.”

He concludes, “As a result of earnings growth, multiple expansion, and a 2.1% dividend yield, we are targeting over 15% total shareholder return over the next 12 months.” See what other Top Analysts are saying about BK.

Delta Airlines (DAL)

delta stock

Source: via Delta

At the end of 2016, Buffett shocked the market with huge investments in four key airline stocks. Only a few years ago, Buffett called the sector a “death trap for investors.” However, with the industry fast consolidating, he decided to change his tune.

Buffett’s partner, Charlie Munger, explains “It (the railroad industry) was a terrible business for 80 years … but they finally got down to four big railroads, and it was a better business. And something similar is happening in the airline business.”

And one of the four stocks to buy that he particularly likes is Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL). A further $559 million investment in Q2 means Buffett now holds over 63 million DAL shares. This equates to a whopping $3.15 billion investment.

Luckily, Imperial Capital’s Michael Derchin (Profile & Recommendations) expects pricing power in key domestic hubs, improving business yields, and strong international results to boost earnings this year and next. His $68 price target indicates 25% upside potential.

But Stifel Nicolaus’ Joseph DeNardi (Profile & Recommendations) is by far the stock’s biggest supporter. With a $95 price target, DeNardi sees prices spiking a whopping 72%. This top analyst has just calculated that DAL made at least $800 million from frequent flyer programs just in 1H18.

Overall, DAL, a “strong buy” stock, has received eight buy ratings versus just a single “hold” rating. See what other Top Analysts are saying about DAL.

Southwest Airlines (LUV)

Texas-based Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) is the world’s largest low-cost airline carrier. After initiating his $2.1 billion position in LUV, Buffett continued to up the stock in 2017. In Q1, Buffett ramped up the position by 10% with the purchase of 4.45 million more shares. Now the fund has a huge $3.3 billion LUV stake.

LUV shares are currently rebounding after a tricky second quarter. Shares plunged in April following a fatal accident caused by an exploding engine. The accident — the first in the company’s 47-year-old history — cost LUV over $100 million in revenue.

However: “We have recovered at this point,” CEO Gary Kelly told Bloomberg recently. “We have been enjoying very strong close-in demand and close-in revenue for a number of weeks.”

This chimes with Cowen & Co’s Helane Becker (Profile & Recommendations) analysis. “Southwest will have a lingering impact from the discounting and a sub-optimal schedule, but the third quarter appears to be the inflection point as management does not anticipate continued issues into the fourth quarter.”

She keeps her “buy” rating on this “strong buy” stock with a $66 price target (11% upside potential). See what other Top Analysts are saying about LUV.

General Motors (GM)

gm stock

Source: Shutterstock

Buffett is also a long-standing supporter of top dividend stock General Motors (NYSE:GM). After upping Berkshire’s GM position by 2% in Q2, the fund now holds 51 million GM shares valued at $1.6 billion.

While Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) has been hogging most of the self-driving spotlight, GM is busy making its own mark in this fast-growing space. SoftBank Vision fund recently announced a huge $2.25 billion stake in GM’s self-driving Cruise unit.

Top RBC Capital analyst Joseph Spak (Profile & Recommendations) sees a promising long-term opportunity. This is even though GM has now lowered its 2018 outlook.

He writes “It remains to be seen whether GM can win on the robo-taxi opportunity, but it has a seat at the table. And it’s early enough in the story that we still see a lot of potential for that narrative to take hold and for growth/tech investors to look to GM, increasing demand for the shares and potentially the multiple.”

Right now Spak has a $49 price target on the stock (54% upside). Overall analysts have a “strong buy” consensus on GM. The average analyst price target of $52 suggests shares can climb 63% from current levels. See what other Top Analysts are saying about GM.

Teva (TEVA)

Buffett surprised the market with a big bet on flailing pharma giant Teva Pharmaceutical (NYSE:TEVA) back in Q417. He gobbled up 19 million shares in TEVA, worth about $358 million. Since then, Buffett hasn’t stopped buying.

He picked up a further 21.6 million shares in Q1. And now for Q2 we see another 6% boost to his position (with 61 million shares). This takes his total bet on TEVA to a staggering $1.05 billion.

There’s no doubt this is a risky move. Out of 14 recent analyst ratings, only three are buys. This is versus 10 buy ratings and one sell rating. Oppenheimer analyst Christopher Liu (Profile & Recommendations) is sitting this one out. He has a “hold” rating on the stock due to “base business headwinds.”

Liu explains, “We no longer see a clear path for TEVA to return to growth in a timely manner, and continued pricing pressure in US generics makes us less optimistic its US generic business will meet/ exceed Street expectations in FY2018.”

He is worried that the growth story will be hampered by an ongoing focus on cost cutting/divestments. This is required to ensure it meets its massive $28 billion debt obligations. However, there’s no doubt that Buffett sees the cut-priced pharma as a longer-term rebound stock. See what other Top Analysts are saying about TEVA.

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Source: Investor Place 

3 Pot Stocks that Stand Out in the Crowd

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Pot stocks are as hot in 2018 as bitcoin was in 2017.

Advocates insist, however, that marijuana will not suffer the same fate because there is a real market to be served — and a real product to sell. Canadian legalization alone is expected to result in sales of $5-7 billion next year, and many U.S. states are looking enviously at Colorado, the first state to legalize recreational marijuana.

Thus, valuations in the cannabis sector are extremely high, and they have recently been correcting.

The Canadian market officially opens Wednesday, so speculation and excitement over pot stocks are at a fever pitch. It’s not just about smoking. Edibles, oils and the possibility of pharmaceuticals are also driving money into the market.

And in this still very speculative space, every pot stock has to have a gimmick, which lets it stand out and convinces investors that it’s less risky than those other marijuana stocks. This gimmick could be a corporate investment, it could be technology or it could be raw distribution power waiting for the U.S. market to open up.

Here are 3 pot stocks with less risk.

Canopy Growth (CGC)

Source: Shutterstock

What makes Canopy Growth (NASDAQ:CGC) stand out among pot stocks is the $4 billion Constellation Brands (NYSE:STZ) put into the company a few months ago.

Constellation is one of the largest — and smartest — liquor companies in the world, having begun as a small New York wine producer and grown into a giant with beer brands such as Modelo and liquor brands such as Svedka vodka.

Constellation is a legitimate player, with $7.5 billion in revenue, a dividend of nearly $3 per year, and a market cap of $42.66 billion. Their willingness to put a big portion of that into Canopy, for a 38% stake, put the whole sector into overdrive.

CGC stock’s $11.46 billion market cap, however, is built on sales of $77 million in 2017, $48 million for the first six months of 2018, and a lot of hype. On October 15, Canopy paid about $330 million to acquire the assets of Ebbu, a hemp research company in Colorado.

Cronos Group (CRON)

Drug Company Partnerships Set Cronos Stock Apart, but Not Enough

Source: Shutterstock

What sets Cronos Group (NASDAQ:CRON) apart — besides its partnerships with pharmaceutical companies like Gingko Bioworks, which wants to produce cannabinoids through fermentation — is the fact that it was the first pot company to list on the Nasdaq. Also, since listing in Canada in 2016, CRON’s value has grown 6,500%.

CRON’s valuation is not built on sales, however. Cronos reported revenue of just over $4 million in 2017, and about $6 million for the first six months of 2018. The balance sheet showed just $5.3 million in debt in June, against $9.2 million in cash, and operating cash flow was approaching balance.

By pushing the idea of marijuana as a pharmaceutical, and as a raw material from which drugs can be extracted, Cronos hopes to enter the U.S. market with products before mass legalization, and thus gain scale it can use to grow into the market as it matures.

Of five analysts following the stock, two currently have it on their buy lists.

MedMen (MMNFF)

Wait for the Next Big Correction to Jump on Canopy Growth Stock

Source: Shutterstock

MedMen Enterprises (OTCMKTS:MMNFF), based in Culver City, CA, makes no pretense to being anything than what it is: a marijuana dispensary. It’s not a Canadian company, and it’s not a pharmaceutical company. It sells pot to medical marijuana patients who need it and recreational users — in locations where recreational use is legal.

The goal of MedMen is to gain distribution in the medical pot business that will let it expand into the recreational side as it develops. It has dispensaries in 4 U.S. states, including high-profile locations like Manhattan and Las Vegas.

MedMen went public in May but the stock didn’t see much action until last week. MedMen announced an acquisition of PharmaCann for a reported $682 million in stock. Buying medical will add licensed dispensaries in other states, mainly in the Midwest, to its network, giving it a total of 79 cannabis facilities in 12 states.

The deal sent MMNFF stock rocketing. Since the announcement, the stock is up 51%. While other pot stocks have been falling lately, MedMen is powering ahead.

CEO Adam Bierman said that the acquisition makes MedMen “the largest U.S. cannabis company in the world’s largest cannabis market” — and that sounds like a good place to be in as more U.S. states move toward full legalization.

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Your Post-Crash Action Plan for 600% Dividend Growth

If you’re wondering what to do in this panicky market, I’ve got a few “get rich quick” words for you: buy cheap, high-quality dividend growers with both hands.

I know that’s easy to say, but overcoming fear is vital, because history proves it’s the path to serious wealth. I can show you why in 2 charts. Here’s the first one:

A Snapshot of Terror

This is the CBOE’s S&P 500 Volatility Index, which captures panic in a picture, spiking when the market tanks and dozing off when markets gently rise. When you overlay the VIX with the market’s ups and downs, a can’t-miss pattern emerges: folks who “bought terror” have ridden every dip to big gains!

When Fear Is High, Buy the Dip

Be greedy when others are fearful? You bet!

(I’ll have 3 perfect buys for you—with one of these rate-friendly stocks boasting 600% dividend growth in the last 5 years—in a moment.)

But wait, is this time different? After all, stocks-at-large do seem pricey. I wouldn’t dive into an S&P index fund today (trading at a rich 24-times earnings) just because the VIX spiked.

And no matter how many times President Trump says the Fed has “gone crazy,” interest rates will keep rising. A December hike is baked in, according to futures markets, and 3 more increases are likely next year:


Source: CME Group

So what do we buy now?

I’ll answer that in 3 words: dividend-growth stocks. But not just any old dividend growers.

We Need Dividends That “Outrun” the 10-Year

We want stocks whose dividends are growing faster than the yield on the 10-year Treasury note.

Because why would you sit in “dead money” Treasuries when you can grab a dividend that’s doubling every 5 years (or, better yet, rising 600%!)?

And (for once) Wall Street (kind of) agrees with me.

Just last week, the suits at Jefferies Group said the following:

“Ultimately, companies with either high FCF (free cash flow) yield, net cash and/or positive earnings revisions will be able to live with long-term rates. Companies simply offering a dividend with no growth will fare poorly, in our view[italics mine].”

Translation: stocks with rising payouts and heaps of cash won’t even notice a slight rise in borrowing costs.

The Proof   

Here’s the truth: if you’d jumped on cash-rich stocks with fast-growing dividends 3 years ago, when this rate-hike cycle started, you’d have demolished the market.

Consider the case of Boeing (BA), which I pounded the table on in December 2015—the same month the Fed started nudging rates higher.

The reasons?

  • Free cash flow was soaring—at the time, the company’s FCF yield was 8.4%. In other words, in just a year, BA was throwing off nearly 10% of its market value in FCF!
  • The dividend was accelerating, having doubled in the previous 5 years, with each year’s hike eclipsing the last.

The result? Boeing shredded rising rates and handed us a massive 206% total return in 2 years!

3 Dividend Growers to Crush Rising Rates

But enough about past wins. Let’s dive into the 3 “next Boeings” I have for you now:

  • Apple (AAPL)
  • Broadcom Inc. (AVGO)
  • Marathon Petroleum (MPC)

We’ll start by stacking them up by free cash flow yield, one of the yardsticks Jefferies talked up last week.

3 Cash Machines

As you can see, all 3 are generating at least 5% of their market value in FCF, with Marathon clocking in at 10%. Those are terrific numbers. And the FCF backstopping them is soaring.

Cash Flow on the Rise…

Best of all, our 3 buys are raining cash on investors as fast-growing dividends:

… Driving Dividends Through the Roof

Now let’s take a closer look at each and see what’s driving these gains, starting with Broadcom (AVGO), whose cash flow has exploded 1,430% in the last 5 years.

Rising-Rate Buy No. 1: A Post-Selloff Tech Play

The chipmaker says it plans to give 50% of its prior-year FCF to shareholders as dividends, and it’s close to that target, sending out $2.7 billion in the last 12 months.

That, plus the fact that it pays out a low 36% of FCF as dividends are dead giveaways that a big hike is on the way this December, building on the unbelievable 600% in increases Broadcom has handed out in the last 5 years.

And there’s another way Broadcom rewards investors that few people consider: soaring R&D spending, which translates straight into a higher share price.

R&D Drives “Lockstep” Gains

Finally, Broadcom’s soaring cash flow has the stock trading at just 13.7-times FCF, way down from 22-times five years ago.

That’s ridiculous for a cash machine like this, and any further pullback—especially on overdone fears that its $19-billion purchase of CA Technologies will face a national-security review—makes it even more appealing.

Because even if Broadcom were to lose out on CA, it would just dump more cash into R&D, driving the stock higher still.

Rising-Rate Buy No. 2: Apple’s Ignored Shift

Jefferies also named Apple (AAPL) as a great buy when rates rise, and I agree.

For one, you can see the same connection between R&D and the stock price as at Broadcom:

R&D Keeps Apple Healthy

And thanks to its soaring FCF and legendary cash hoard, Tim Cook’s company can keep this tango up for decadeswithout breaking a sweat.

No wonder the dividend has jumped 92% since Apple started its payout in 2012, making the company’s tiny 1.7% current yield go down a lot easier.

To be sure, the stock isn’t as cheap as it has been, at 19-times FCF, but when it comes to Apple, swing traders need not apply. The key is to hang in as the company evolves into more of a service provider and less of a device maker.

Consider this: in Apple’s latest quarter, sales of high-margin services like Apple Music subscriptions, apps and streaming video spiked 31%, making services easily the company’s fastest-growing business.

That’s literally changing the face of Apple. In Q3, services were 18% of total sales, nearly doubling their 10% share in the same quarter just 5 years ago.

So now’s the time to climb aboard as more investors catch the hint. The “locked-in” dividend hikes make the deal even sweeter.

Rising-Rate Buy No. 3: A Dividend Doubler With a Buyback Kick

When most folks think of Marathon Petroleum (MPC), they think of refining.

And the company does own 16 refineries, making it America’s biggest refiner. But it also has 3,900 company owned gas stations and 7,800 branded stations. Marathon also has stakes in MLPX LP (MPLX) and Andeavor Logistics LP (ANDX), giving it access to 15,000+ miles of pipelines, as well as shipping terminals and processing facilities.


Source: Marathon Barclays CEO Energy-Power Conference Presentation, Sept. 4-6, 2018

A diversified energy play like this is exactly what you want when rates rise.

Check out how MPC has taken off since the Fed’s “kickoff” in December 2015, and really caught fire as rate hikes accelerated in the last year and a half:

Your Shelter From Rising Rates

Here’s another safety valve: management is jumping on MPC’s cheap valuation (9.8-times FCF) to boost share buybacks. That throws a cushion under the stock because it boosts per-share earnings—and share prices with them.


Source: Marathon Barclays CEO Energy-Power Conference Presentation, Sept. 4-6, 2018

The thing to keep in mind is that these moves have come on top of MPC’s 2.2% dividend, which, as I showed you above, has more than doubled in the last 5 years.

And like our 2 other rising-rate plays, MPC can easily keep up the pace. On top of its soaring FCF (remember that huge 10% FCF yield I showed you earlier?), it boasts $5 billion in cash. Put another way, when you add its cash on hand to its last 12 months of cash flow, you get an incredible 25% of market cap!

Throw in a low 20% of FCF paid as dividends and the fact that MPC sometimes announces more than one dividend hike a year and you can only draw one conclusion: now is the time to buy—before the next dividend is announced in late October.

Revealed: Apple’s “Secret” 10.2% Dividend

What if I told you I’d found a way to take a big-name stock like Apple, with a paper-thin 1.7% current dividend and turn it into a massive 10.2% cash stream?

Payouts like that mean up to $10,200 a year in dividends on a $100k investment. That’s 6 TIMES what you’d get from Apple’s “normal” payout!

I urge you to take a second and think about what this could mean to you: incredible double-digit cash dividends right now—straight from the stocks you know well.

It’s that simple: no risky options, dangerous derivatives or short selling.

Simply buy the stocks you love, straight from your online brokerage account. But instead of their paltry sub-2% dividends, you’ll get their “secret” payouts of 7.5%, 8% and even 10.2%!

The “Perfect Investment”

In know that sounds crazy, but I assure you it’s 100% real.

It’s all thanks to an unsung group of investments I call “dividend conversion machines”—so named because they “convert” pathetic S&P 500 dividends into gigantic cash payouts.

They’re the closest thing I’ve ever seen to the perfect investment!

20%+ Price Gains … in 12 Months or Less

My team and I have pinpointed the 4 best Dividend Conversion Machines for your portfolio now, including that 10.2% payer I mentioned earlier.

PLUS, we’ve got these 4 powerful investments pegged for massive price upside, too. I’m talking 20%+ gains, on top of those massive dividend payouts.

So to go back to that 10.2% payer I mentioned earlier, you’d be set for $20,000 in gains, plus your $10,200 in dividends, just 12 months out from now.

A $30,200 windfall!

Editor's Note: The stock market is way up – and that’s terrible news for us dividend investors. Yields haven’t been this low in decades! But there are still plenty of great opportunities to secure meaningful income if you know where to look. Brett Owens' latest report reveals how you can easily (and safely) rake in 8%+ dividends and never worry about drawing down your capital again. Click here for full details!

Source: Contrarian Outlook 

Buy These 3 REITs Increasing Dividends In November

2018 has been volatile but so far into the year yielded a flat return for income stock investors. If you look at the Vanguard REIT Index Fund (NYSE: VNQ) you see that in 2018 investors have been hot and cold about REITs. Each time the Fed has increased short term rates, REITs have sold off. The result is a sector, including dividends, that is just above breakeven for the past 12 months. Over the same period, the S&P 500 is up over 11%. One way to get capital gains from REITs is to focus on buying those real estate investment trusts that will increase the dividends paid to shareholders.

Most REITs that regularly increase dividends do so once a year, and then pay the new dividend rate for the next four quarters. The timing of dividend increases is not widely followed, so if you know a bump in the payout rate of a REIT is coming soon, you can buy shares before the announcement and have a good chance at a nice share price boost when the new rate becomes actual news.

One of my income stock analysis techniques is to develop and maintain a database of REITs that tracks when during the year they have historically announced new dividend rates.

Currently I have about 130 REITs in the database, and out of those 90 have been increasing their payouts to shareholders.

While these REITs announce new dividend rates once a year, the timing varies. For every month of the year, there are companies that will announce a new rate.

Related: Buy This 8.4% REIT That’s Raised Dividends Every Quarter

Now is the time to look at the REITs that should increase dividends in November.

If you buy shares three to four weeks ahead of the dividend announcement you will be ahead of the crowd. The higher rate should produce a share price increase. In the worst case, your yield will go up compared to the current percentage quoted.

Here are four REITs that will probably announce dividend boosts in November.

Acadia Realty Trust (NYSE: AKR) acquires, redevelops and manages retail properties in the nation’s most dynamic urban and street-retail corridors, including those in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Washington DC, and Boston.

Acadia Realty will announce its third quarter earnings results at the end of October. The new dividend rate announcement occurs during the first half of November. For the last five years, the dividend has been bumped up by one cent, which would be a 3.7% increase on the current $0.27 per quarter dividend. Payment of the new rate starts in January with a December 31 record date.

This REIT has also paid a special yearend dividend each of the last three out of the last five years.

AKR currently yields 3.6%.

American Assets Trust, Inc. (NYSE: AAT) owns, operates, acquires and develops retail, office, multifamily and mixed-use properties in high-barrier-to-entry markets in Southern California, Northern California, Oregon, Washington, Texas and Hawaii.

This REIT has announced a higher dividend in November of each of the last five years. In 2017 the new dividend was 3.8% higher than the old payout.

It looks like this year’s increase will be about 5%. The next dividend announcement will be around November 1 and have a record date of about December 10.

The payment will be just before or just after Christmas.

AAT currently yields 2.9%.

Kimco Realty Corp (NYSE: KIM) owns and manages open air shopping centers. This REIT slashed its dividend in 2009, during the financial crisis, but has increased it every year since then.

Kimco has increased the dividend by 7% on average for the last five years, and in 2017 the payout was increased by 4.2%. The company’s adjusted FFO per share was up flat in the first half of 2018 compared to the same period in 2017, so this year’s increase will probably be more modest than in the past.

Kimco typically announces a new dividend rate at the end of October or in in very early November with record and payment dates in January.

KIM currently yields 7.1%.

Bonus investment idea:

Kite Realty Group Trust (NYSE: KRG) is engaged in the ownership, operation, acquisition, development and redevelopment of neighborhood and community shopping centers in selected markets in the United States.

Kite was forced to slash its dividend rate during the 2007-2008 recession. The company restarted dividend growth in 2014.

The dividend has been increased by 33% since the first quarter of that year and was boosted by 5% last year.

I forecast a more moderate 3% to 5% increase this year. In recent years, Kite Realty announced a dividend increase in the last week of November, with record and payment dates in January.

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Market Preview: Market Settles But Closes Heading Lower, Earnings from Netflix, CSX and Alcoa

Market participants breathed a sigh of relief Monday as markets settled down from the extreme volatility of last week. Markets traded in a fairly narrow range, and then ended on a sour note, falling into the close. Nasdaq was again the most heavily hit, falling almost one percent. Traders weren’t taking the decrease in volatility as an all clear sign yet, as tensions remain high on several fronts, including interest rates and international politics. Investors in the technology sector are keeping an eye on rising tensions between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia over the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Saudi Arabia is a major investor in large technology companies, and some fear an escalation of tensions could impact some large U.S. tech companies. Sears (SHLD) declaration of bankruptcy Monday morning was almost a footnote for the market, as the company’s stock had been in a multi-year decline, and the bankruptcy had been expected for several weeks.   

Earnings season kicks off in earnest Tuesday as companies such as Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), UnitedHealth Group (UNH), Netflix (NFLX) and CSX Corp. (CSX) report to investors. Netflix is the first FAANG stock to report after the market volatility of last week. The company missed subscriber estimates last quarter, so investors will be wary of any missteps in this quarter’s report. Any negative commentary may bleed over into the tech sector in general. Analysts aren’t expecting any surprises out of J&J, but that may be just what the doctor ordered. While health care has been red hot on the year, the big drug company is actually down slightly. Investors may want to keep an eye on the stock after earnings to see if it starts participating in the rotation out of growth and into defensive names.

Tuesday’s economic numbers include Redbook retail data, industrial production data, the Housing Market Index, and the Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover numbers, or JOLTS. The job openings number for August is expected to hold steady at 6.9 million after hitting a record in July. Wednesday morning the focus will be on housing before turning back to interest rates in the afternoon as the Fed meeting minutes are released. Consensus opinion is that housing starts will continue to fall when the number is released Wednesday, but permits for new building are expected to rise. Mortgage applications are also expected to decline almost two percent as both new and refi applications are both expected to drop for the month of September.

Earnings announcements from U.S. Bancorp (USB), Kinder Morgan (KMI) and Alcoa (AA) will take center stage Wednesday. Kinder Morgan had the advantage of rising oil prices, as well as closing a deal with the Canadian government on the sale of its Trans Mountain Pipeline, in the third quarter. Analysts will be eager to hear whether the company will be returning additional capital to shareholders or advancing other potential growth projects. Alcoa has been in a steady downtrend after hitting an April high of just over $62. Now at $35, investors will be looking for signs of a turnaround from the aluminum provider. More importantly, the company may have valuable insights into whether the overall economy may already be slowing in anticipation of higher interest rates.   

Here’s My No. 1 Stock Market Prediction (and a 7.2% dividend to buy now)

A game-changing story about stocks just broke—and you almost certainly missed it.

That’s why I’m writing about this surprising news today: because it’s just what you need to know if you’re struggling with how to approach this interest rate–obsessed market, especially in the wake of the recent pullback.

Why haven’t you heard it?

Because good news like this doesn’t grab as much attention as Chicken Little panic articles, so the financial press skips it. But what I’m about to tell you is crucial to your financial well-being—and something I’ve been saying on Contrarian Outlook and in our CEF Insider service for months now.

Luckily, not everyone is ignoring the story. Bloomberg Businessweek just wrote an in-depth analysis of this piece of news, which is simply this: fears of a recession are way overblown, and the market is set for strong gains in the months ahead.

(In a moment, I’ll reveal a fund set to roll higher as the market surprises the doomsayers and takes off. Best of all, this ignored fund pays a safe 6.9% dividend.)

I was glad to read this upbeat news, because it echoes a piece I wrote over a year ago. The theme of that article was simple: there are several clear recession indicators and none of them have been in the danger zone for a while. Fast-forward to today and they still aren’t—and aren’t likely to be for a long time.

First, let’s take a look at the data Bloomberg compiled; as you can see, the chances of a recession happening in the next 0 to 12 months have nosedived:

Doomsday Predictions Turn Sunny

Also note that chances of a recession happening in the next two to three years have also plummeted, bringing all readings except for the 12- to 24-month one to at or near their lowest levels in the last couple years.

Taking this at face value, it seems the chances of a recession happening soon are diminishing.

But let’s dig a little deeper. What exactly is the data being charted by these lines? Bloomberg’s recession predictor blends a lot of information, but the factor that has caused the red and black lines above to fall steeply is US Treasuries.

The Yield-Curve Horror

A couple weeks ago, I took a close look at the “yield-curve panic” that has been facing markets in 2018. If you were paying attention in February and March, when the markets sold off, you’ll remember that the bears couldn’t stop talking about the flattening yield curve—specifically, the difference between 2-year and 10-year Treasury yields.

When this yield curve inverts (or when 2-year yields are higher than 10-year yields), a recession tends to follow in the next 12 months. And that curve has gotten flatter throughout 2018—up until my article a couple weeks ago, which said that “An inverted yield … isn’t coming yet.”

Recession Indicator Pulls a 180

Notice how this isn’t the first time that downward trend suddenly saw a reversal. The same thing happened in February.

But this time is different.

Back then, the widening yield curve happened during a sharp, sudden decline in stocks; and while stocks have had a rough few days, the decline we’ve seen (as I write, we’re just 6.7% down from the all-time high the S&P 500 set on September 20) is still well below the 10.1% plunge we saw in February. What’s more, compared to February, the current market downturn has lasted longer and been much less severe:

To call this the start of a bear market is just silly. What we are seeing over the longer term is a new trend: higher stock prices happening alongside a steeper yield curve.

This is a really good pattern to see.

Steep yield curves indicate higher expectations for inflation and, more crucially, economic growth. Just as negative yield curves are the market saying a recession is going to come, a positive yield curve is the market saying growth is going to get faster.

And what benefits when the economy is growing faster? Stocks.

A 6.9% Dividend From Your Favorite Blue Chips

So what should you buy?

An index fund like the S&P 500 SPDR ETF (SPY) would get you exposure to the stocks that will win in such a market, but you can compound your gains and get a higher total return by buying an equity fund that’s trading at a large discount to its portfolio value, or NAV.

While ETFs almost never trade below their NAVs, closed-end funds (CEFs) do—and that unusual inefficiency in CEFs is an opportunity for contrarian investors to get high-quality stocks at a discount.

For example, the Dividend and Income Fund (DNI) has a 7.2% dividend yield while also holding high-quality stocks like Apple (AAPL)CVS Health (CVS) and AutoZone (AZO), but it trades at an almost unthinkable 24.8% discount to NAV, meaning $1 of those shares is up for sale with DNI for just 75.2 cents.

Editor's Note: The stock market is way up – and that’s terrible news for us dividend investors. Yields haven’t been this low in decades! But there are still plenty of great opportunities to secure meaningful income if you know where to look. Brett Owens' latest report reveals how you can easily (and safely) rake in 8%+ dividends and never worry about drawing down your capital again. Click here for full details!

Source: Contrarian Outlook 

5 Family-Owned Stocks to Buy

Source: Shutterstock

Historically, family-owned stocks have outperformed the market. And it makes some sense why that’s the case — and why those controlled companies might be stocks to buy.

Family-owned companies generally have direct board oversight from family members. They’re less likely to take unwise risks, and by definition they’re more likely to have skin in the game. If an independent CEO is being compensated for share price gains, a major merger might seem a worthy gamble. If three of the board members are risking their family’s legacy on that deal, however, it might look very different.

As Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS) pointed out last year, family-owned companies outperform the market by a whopping 400 bps annually. The outperformance comes across sectors and company sizes. These 5 companies, too, represent a cross-section of the market. But all 5 look like stocks to buy.

Brown-Forman (BF.A) (BF.B)

Distiller Brown-Forman (NYSE:BF.A,BF.B) is best known for its Jack Daniel’s whiskey. But like other liquor plays like Diageo (NYSE:DEO), BF stock has been an attractive investment for some time now. The company has raised its dividend for 34 consecutive years. And after a few years of relatively stagnant growth, Brown-Forman has shown much stronger performance of late.

New offerings like Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey are driving sales. A move to premium whiskey — including Gentleman Jack and Woodford Reserve — has been a winner as well. Revenue growth has accelerated to 6% in fiscal 2018 (on a constant-currency basis) and should rise 4%+ this year, with the company projecting 11-18% EPS growth.

Meanwhile, BF.A stock has become much cheaper in the market selloff of late, currently trading at a 10-month low. There are some near-term concerns about tariffs, which led FY19 EPS guidance to be pulled down. But those concerns should fade, and long-term investors should ride out any volatility by picking up Brown-Forman on the dip.

Adams Resources & Energy (AE)

self-driving truck

Source: Wikipedia

Adams Resources & Energy (NYSE:AE) admittedly is a bit of a weird stock. The company’s primary Marketing business moves crude oil from the wellhead to end users, while a smaller transportation business trucks petrochemicals and other products through Texas and beyond.

The controlling Adams family has a bigger asset: the NFL’s Tennessee Titans (formerly the Houston Oilers). And it’s looked at times like Adams Resources has been forgotten. AE has a rising amount of cash — nearly $30 per share, against a current price of $41. Yet the dividend has been held steady, leaving that cash relatively dormant.

Still, there’s an intriguing bull case here, one reason I own the stock. Both the cash and a book value of $36 provide significant downside protection. A rebound in shale oil production and concerns about pipeline capacity could open new business for Adams. The company did acquire a trucking operation recently, perhaps signaling more aggressive capital allocation going forward. And a sale could be in the works at some point to a larger company. AE will require patience — but I still believe at some point that patience will pay off.

Nordstrom (JWN)

Source: Shutterstock

Even as a retail bear, I’m intrigued by Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN). The high-end retailer seems to have the most differentiated model in the department store space. It’s a brand notably different from that of a JCPenney (NYSE:JCP) or even a Macy’s (NYSE:M). As InvestorPlace’s Dana Blankenhorn pointed out in August, the company is aggressively reinventing itself as customers dress down — and succeeding in the process.

JWN is more expensive than those peers, but the premium is deserved. And the founding Nordstrom family remains on top of the story. It even tried to take JWN private at $50 — an offer the board refused.

With the stock now at $60, any weakness could see the family make another move, perhaps protecting the downside. In the meantime, investors own a well-run high-end business with a 2.4% dividend yield. That’s an attractive combination — particularly for retail bulls.

John B. Sanfilippo & Son (JBSS)

There are few, if any, public companies with tighter family control than nut processor and manufacturer John B. Sanfilippo & Sons (NASDAQ:JBSS). The founding family owns 89% of the non-traded Class A shares, giving it firm control from a voting standpoint. Members of the Sanfilippo family — including in-laws — comprise the majority of the board and upper management.

It might seem like there’s a risk that nepotism simply goes wild, but it’s actually been a hugely successful strategy for JBSS shareholders. The stock has moved from the single-digits as recently as the beginning of 2012 to a current price just under $70. Consistent special dividends mean that many long-time shareholders now own the stock for free — or even at a negative cost basis.

And returns should continue. The big gains have been driven by a shift toward manufacturing (the company owns the Fisher brand) instead of simply being a middleman in an industry with volatile pricing. That shift still has to play out. Newer brands like Orchard Valley Harvest capitalize on the “good for you” trend. JBSS trades at a discount to most snack companies — but its growth is better. A 14% pullback from August highs sets up a nice entry point as well.

Clearly, this is a management team worth betting on. When it comes to family-owned stocks, few have done it better than the Sanfilippos over the past few years.

Family-Owned Stocks to Buy: Estee Lauder (EL)

Source: Shutterstock

Estee Lauder (NYSE:EL) is one of the premier brands in the world. And like BF.A and BF.B, the market sell-off has moved it to an attractive, if still seemingly expensive, price.

EL briefly touched a 2018 low during this week’s market volatility, and still sits 19% below June highs. At 24x+ forward earnings, the valuation still looks high. But this is a company still steadily growing earnings double-digits, with room for expansion in developing markets (notably Asia) and market share gains in the U.S. and the U.K.

As a result, EL stock — like Estee Lauder cosmetics — is a classic case of paying up for quality. It’s not likely to be a decision that investors regret.

As of this writing, Vince Martin is long shares of Adams Resources & Energy. He has no positions in any other securities mentioned.

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Market Preview: Market Bounces in Relief Rally, Earnings Next Week from BofA, Netflix and P&G

Markets took investors for a wild ride Friday bouncing hard after two days of intense selling, turning lower midday, and then closing strong into the close. An attack on the Fed by President Trump seemed to exacerbate market volatility Thursday, originally brought on by fears the Fed would proceed willy nilly into a rate raising plan regardless of economic impact. By the close Friday, markets seemed to have stabilized, at least for the moment, with the tech heavy Nasdaq leading the way up over 2%. One stabilizing factor may have been news the lines of communication may be about to open between the U.S. and China on the issue of tariffs. Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Trump plan to meet at the G20 summit next month in Buenos Aires.

Bank earnings continue Monday with Bank of America (BAC) reporting in the morning and First Defiance Financial Corp. (FDEF) reporting Monday afternoon. As with the other big banks, investors will be focused on what BAC perceives the impact of rising rates will be going into Q4 and 2019. The bank reported good trading numbers in the first half of 2018, but that is unlikely to persist. BAC stock broke through support levels around $28 on Friday before rallying to close just above those levels. Much smaller than BAC, First Defiance has not been spared by the market selloff. The stock is down over 13% this quarter headed into earnings.

Most investors will be holding their breath on Monday, to see if the market turns its focus away from interest rate concerns back to economic numbers. Manufacturing numbers have been good, and we’ll get the New York manufacturing survey Monday morning. The survey numbers have been rising steadily throughout 2018. Also on tap for Monday are retail sales numbers and business inventories. Excluding autos, retail sales are expected to be up .3% month-over-month. Tuesday we’ll get Redbook retail numbers, industrial production, and the housing market index. The index, which measures the demand for housing, has been in a steady decline all year. Wednesday investors will look through housing starts numbers and then spend the afternoon parsing through the Fed minutes from their last meeting. Jobless claims and the Philly Fed Business Outlook will be released Thursday, followed by existing homes sales numbers Friday.

Earnings kick into high gear on Tuesday, when Johnson and Johnson (JNJ), UnitedHealth (UNH) and Netflix (NFLX) report. Netflix, one of the FAANG stocks, is down close to 20% for the quarter, but is still up over 60% on the year. Wednesday Abbott Labs (ABT), U.S. Bancorp (USB) and Kinder Morgan (KMI) are slated to release. Investors will be looking to Kinder Morgan for guidance on the oil market, which declined along with the overall market this week. SAP (SAP), Paypal (PAY) and high flying Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) headline the earnings releases Thursday. Even after a dip in October, ISRG stock is up almost 40% in 2018. Finally, investors will close out the week on Friday with a smorgasbord of earnings from consumer staples giant Procter & Gamble (PG), Honeywell (HON) and Schlumberger (SLB), among many others.

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Dump this Popular High Yielder at Risk of Cutting Dividends

Recently, as part of my ongoing research in the high-yield investment world, a newswire release crossed my screen that had me scratching my head. One reason to invest in a fund-type of product is to diversify and reduce risk. However, this exchange traded note (ETN) that I found seems to be structured in a way that increases the level of risk, rather than reducing risk through diversification. If you own shares in this particular high-yield ETN with hopes that the 10% dividend is secure, think again.

An exchange traded note (ETN) is like an exchange traded fund (ETF) with one big difference. While an ETF is shares in a portfolio of securities, an ETN is an unsecured debt obligation of the issuer.

These notes are not backed by a portfolio of securities. Fund issuers use the ETN structure when there would be structural or tax problems in the construction of an actual securities portfolio. An ETN will track a specified index without actually owning the components of the index. Since an ETN is an unsecured debt obligation of the issuer there is a small, but real risk that the issuer could just fold one of these notes with investors receiving nothing for their shares.

More Reading: Interested in Preferreds? Collect a Safe 8% Yield from this New Preferred Stock ETF

The Morgan Stanley Cushing MLP High Income Index ETN (NYSE: MLPY) tracks the performance of an index composed of higher-yielding publicly traded midstream energy infrastructure companies, including master limited partnerships (MLPs) and non-MLP energy midstream corporations.

The index includes 30 stocks, ranking them by yield. The 10 highest yield stocks get a 5% weight in the index. The next 10 for yield are at 3.5% each, and the bottom 10 as measured by current yield are at 1.5%. What a concept.

The highest yield, meaning the 10 stocks most likely to cut dividend rates make up 50% of the index and the lowest yielding, indicating safety and dividend growth potential, account for 15% of the fund. That is a mathematical recipe for losing money.

To illustrate, here are the latest quarterly dividend coverage ratios of the ten stocks with 5% weightings in the index:

  • Golar LNG Partners LP (Nasdaq: GMLP) covered 56% of its dividend.
  • Buckeye Partners LP (NYSE: BPL) had 87% coverage.
  • NGL Energy Partners LP (NYSE: NGL) covered 44%.
  • USA Compression Partners LP (NYSE: USAC) had 109% coverage. This is the coverage you want from a high-yield stock.
  • Enbridge Energy Partners LP (NYSE: EEP) will be absorbed by its sponsor and the 12.3% yield will be slashed.
  • Sunoco LP (NYSE: SUN) had 120% coverage but is also in danger of being rolled up by its sponsor, reducing the dividend income to SUN investors.
  • Alliance Resource Partners, LP (Nasdaq: ARLP) has great dividend coverage, but the baggage of being a coal producing MLP.
  • Energy Transfer Partners, LP (NYSE: ETP) will experience an effective dividend yield reduction of 20% when the merger with its sponsor goes through.
  • SemGroup Corporation (NYSE: SEMG) provided solid 140% dividend coverage. This is a solid, high-yield income stock.

You can see this is not a list of 10 stocks to make up 50% of a high-yield portfolio. Eight of them are at risk or in the process if dividend cuts. The 10% yield of the MLPY ETN is a value trap and to be avoided.

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2 Electricity Stocks Powering the World’s Smartphones and More

It’s the dirty little secret of the digital world we live in… technology is an electricity hog.

Demand for computing power globally from internet-connected devices, emails, high-resolution video streaming, surveillance cameras, the new generation of smart TVs and other devices is increasing 20% a year, according to Swedish researcher Anders Andrae.

Dire Power Consumption Forecast

In an update to his 2016 peer-reviewed study, Andrae found that without dramatic increases in efficiency, the communications industry could use 20% of all electricity and emit up to 5.5% of the world’s carbon emissions by 2025. This would be more than any single country except for the U.S., China and India.

A similar study from U.S. researchers forecast that information and communications technology could create up to 3.5% of global emissions by 2020 – surpassing the aviation and shipping industries – and up to 14% by 2040, which is about the same proportion as the U.S. currently. And Greenpeace found that if the global IT industry were a country, only China and the United States would contribute more to climate change.

The U.S. researchers said power consumption could triple in the next five years as one billion people in the developing come online and the internet of things (IoT) expands in developed countries. Cisco Systems believes internet traffic worldwide will nearly triple over the next five years.

Most of this demand for electricity will come from power-hungry server farms that store digital data from billions of smartphones, tablets and internet-connected devices, which is growing exponentially.

In his research, Andrae said “The situation is alarming. “We have a tsunami of data approaching. Everything which can be is being digitalized. It is a perfect storm. 5G [the fifth generation of mobile technology] is coming, IP [internet protocol] traffic is much higher than estimated, and all cars and machines, robots and artificial intelligence are being digitalized, producing huge amounts of data which is stored in data centers.”

Related: Energy Stocks Adopting New Technologies

Data Centers = Electricity Hogs

When people speak of the cloud in technology, it seems like an almost mythical place where we store data, stream entertainment and send emails. But the cloud is a very real place…

Hundreds of data centers around the world are the factories of this digital age that run all of our digital services. And the number is expanding rapidly – there is about $20 billion spent annually globally on their construction.

The largest of these data centers can cover in excess of a million square feet and consume as much power as a city of a million people!

Whatever we do with data requires electricity and lots of it. The processors in the biggest data centers hum with as much energy as can be delivered by a large power station, 1,000 megawatts or more. And it can take just as much energy to keep the servers and surrounding buildings from overheating.

Every keystroke you make adds to the use of energy. Google estimates that a typical search requires as much energy as illuminating a 60-watt light bulb for 17 seconds. That doesn’t seem like a lot until you begin to think about how many searches you might make in a year and multiply that by the number of internet users (over 3 billion) around the world.

Streaming, of course, is really data-heavy and therefore a big power consumer. Cisco Systems forecasts that video will make up 82% of internet traffic by 2021, up from 73% in 2016. Already, about a third of internet traffic in North America is dedicated to streaming Netflix services alone.

The Push Toward Renewable Energy

What fascinated me is the fact that most of the data titans are moving toward powering their data centers with renewable energy.

One example of this occurred in February when cloud giant Switch (NYSE: SWCH), which runs three of the world’s top 10 data centers, announced plans for a solar-powered hub in central Nevada that will be the largest anywhere outside of China.

Of course, renewable energy – wind and solar power – is a lot more prevalent outside the U.S. That’s why both Google and Microsoft have recently built hubs in Finland and Facebook has done so in Denmark and Sweden. Google last year also signed a deal to buy all the energy from the Netherlands’ largest solar energy park, to power one of its four European data centers.

With this trend toward using renewable energy by the giants of the industry for their data centers, it makes the renewable energy providers, which are currently very out of favor on Wall Street an interesting contrarian play.

Two Utility Stocks to Play This Trend

Let’s now look at two utilities that provide renewable energy…

The first is NextEra Energy (NYSE: NEE), whose stock is up 17% over the past year and 10.5% so far in 2018.

It is one of the largest rate-regulated utilities in the U.S. and along with NextEra Energy Resources and other affiliated entities is the world’s largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun. It has been ranked number one in the electric and gas utilities industry in Fortune’s 2018 list of “World’s Most Admired Companies”.

The company continues to work on its strategy of making a long-term investment in clean energy assets. Consistent with this strategy, the company announced plans to add nearly 10,100-16,500 megawatts (MW) of alternate power generation assets across the U.S. over 2017-2020 time frame.

In the second quarter of 2018, Energy Resources added 1,082 MW of new renewable projects to its backlog and 535 MW of re-powering projects were also adjoined to the backlog in the second quarter. The company also entered the battery storage market that will further help in the development of renewable power generation assets. The company at present has a backlog of 120 MW of battery storage projects.

In Europe, my favorite utility stock (I own it) is Verbund AG (OTC: OEZVY), which is Austria’s leading electricity company and one of the largest producers of hydropower electricity in Europe. Its stock has done very well, rising 105% year-to-date and 123% over the past year. But if you buy the ADR, be careful – it is thinly traded here in the U.S.

Hydroelectric power plays a major role in Austria’s electricity supply. In Austria, nearly 65% of electricity generation comes via hydropower, and more than half of this comes from Verbund hydropower plants. The company’s Danube River power plants alone can cover the electricity needs of nearly all private households in Austria.

Verbund is also big into energy storage. Renewable energy sources such as water, sun and wind are being used to an ever greater extent in Europe, which creates challenges for the European energy system. Depending on the amount of sunshine and wind, their share of the total electricity production fluctuates greatly. In order to optimally use the electricity generated from renewable energy, they are supported by Verbund’s pumped storage power plants. The pumped storage systems act either as electricity storage or as electricity generators, depending on what is needed. The company continues to expand the network of pumped storage power plants to increase the buffering function on the energy system, storing electricity for later use.

Both utilities – one here in the U.S. and one in Europe – should allow you to participate profitably in the energy production of the future.

Buffett just went all-in on THIS new asset. Will you?
Buffett could see this new asset run 2,524% in 2018. And he's not the only one... Mark Cuban says "it's the most exciting thing I've ever seen." Mark Zuckerberg threw down $19 billion to get a piece... Bill Gates wagered $26 billion trying to control it...
What is it?
It's not gold, crypto or any mainstream investment. But these mega-billionaires have bet the farm it's about to be the most valuable asset on Earth. Wall Street and the financial media have no clue what's about to happen...And if you act fast, you could earn as much as 2,524% before the year is up.
Click here to find out what it is.