Category Archives: Dividends

5 Retail Dividends with an Amazon-Proof Story Paying Up to 10.4%

“Brett, I bought something for the girls. From Carter’s. Let me know when you get it.”

My mom thinks that postal delivery is a 50-50 proposition. She hedges her downside by purchasing 4X as many clothes as my young daughters actually need!

“Mom – thanks. Will do. And, you know, they’re probably good on dresses for now. They’ll be up another size in a few months.”

“Oh don’t you worry about that. I’ve got plenty of coupons,” she countered.

My folks live 2,562 miles from their granddaughters. And while long-distance grandparenting can be a challenge, the (increasingly online) experience provided by Carter’s (CRI) satisfies two of my mom’s favorite pastimes:

  1. Spoiling grandkids, and
  2. Shopping.

As much as I appreciate the wardrobe help, the reason you and I are discussing infant and toddler clothing today is that these purchases are powering remarkable payout growth.

In 2018, every “brick and mortar” business must have an “Amazon story” to explain why it won’t be eaten up. A few sentences explaining – succinctly and convincingly – why the firm won’t be swallowed alive by Amazon.com (AMZN)in the years ahead.

Our favorite retail stocks tend to be, well, hidden from Jeff Bezos’ view. The legendary CEO has different investing criteria from you and me. He needs to make big bets. His firm, after all, is Amazonian – it takes large splashes to move his sales tide higher.

So while he’s busy mowing down the mainstream retail landscape, there are many niche retailers who will not only survive, but even thrive as e-commerce continues to boom in the years ahead. And they will all share two important characteristics:

  1. A direct relationship with their customers.

This is what failing department stores like Macy’s (M) are missing. You walk into the store, you pay and you walk out. Their main sales interaction is purely transactional.

And in 2018, transactional is not enough. Firms built to sell in the decade ahead also have:

  1. A deep “online connection” with consumers.

They have a website that is “grandma friendly” to take orders directly. They have a mobile app on their customers’ smartphones – which they can use to buy more stuff from. They have an email address so that they can advertise the next sale.

And they have friendly service reps who will take the phone call when a package is late or missing – which will assure the customer will continue to buy direct from them instead of a black box like Amazon.

I love a handful of retail stocks right now, but I’m also concerned about a couple high-yield bets that are at risk of being “Bezos’d.” Let’s look at these five retail stocks yielding up to 10.4% and separate the winners from the losers.

Best Buy (BBY)
Dividend Yield: 2.6%

Best Buy (BBY) is the little engine that wouldn’t die. Market pundits left this retailer for dead years ago, thinking it couldn’t possibly survive the war on two fronts – big-box retailers Walmart (WMT) and Target (TGT) on the left, and Amazon on the right.

But CEO Hubert Joly – acting almost like a photo negative of Sears’ Eddie Lampert – focused on improving the quality of stores, and used employee expertise to help battle the “showrooming” phenomenon that many believed would sink Best Buy. The result? A return to growth on the top and bottom lines.

Joly isn’t done throwing punches, either.

Best Buy is going “low-tech” in a grab at Toys ‘R’ Us’ customers, announcing it will expand its toy inventory in 1,000 stores this holiday season. Adding Nerf guns and Hatchimals is actually somewhat of a natural fit for BBY, which already sells the likes of video games and drones.

And investors have to love what Best Buy is doing on the income front. Joly has really put the pedal down on the payout, rewarding faithful investors with a 21% dividend hike in 2017 and a whopping 32% payout increase announced in March of this year.

Best Buy (BBY): A Near-Dividend-Doubler in Just Three Years!

L Brands (LB)
Dividend Yield: 7.4%

L Brands (LB), the company behind iconic brands Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works, has a dividend yield that puts most of the retail sector to shame.

And that’s about it.

L Brands’ high yield is entirely a result of its bleeding shares, which have nearly halved in value this year. The dividend hasn’t budged for years, in large part because of shrinking profits as its brands lose their luster, especially among increasingly important Millennial wallets. The formerly premium-priced lingerie dealer has been forced to slash prices to compete, cramping margins and eroding its once prestigious brand. It also has been forced to put the ax to Henri Bendel, finishing off the fashion brand after 123 years of operations “to improve company profitability and focus on our larger brands that have greater growth potential.”

The company’s second-quarter report made income investors do a double-take. L Brands significantly stepped down its full-year profit guidance, from $2.70-$3.00 to $2.45-$2.70. See, LB pays out $2.40 annually in dividends, so it would barely be covering its payout if profits come in at the low end of guidance. A special dividend – a pretty regular occurrence at L Brands – is almost certainly out of the question this year.

Don’t expect the Christmas season to turn around the long-term decay here, but do start expecting a dividend cut in the next couple years.

Bah humbug!

Prologis (PLD)
Dividend Yield: 2.9%

What’s an industrial real estate investment trust (REIT) got to do with the holiday season?

Everything, when you’re talking about Amazon’s largest landlord.

Prologis (PLD) is a warehouse-focused REIT that boasts 771 million square feet across 3,742 buildings in 19 countries on four continents.

The shift to e-commerce directly benefits Prologis, whose properties are increasingly necessary for any retailer shifting their goods from brick-and-mortar stores to warehouses, where they’ll sit until delivery. And this is a rapid shift, with the company and Goldman Sachs estimating 152% projected growth of e-commerce sales between 2015 and 2020.

E-Commerce Sales Are Exploding

You can see this potential in Prologis’ tenant lineup. Amazon is a major presence, at 16 million square feet as of last year, and Walmart and Best Buy are among other retail customers. But other major tenants include delivery companies such as UPS (UPS)FedEx (FDX) and DHL – more e-commerce beneficiaries.

Prologis has its hand in a lot of other pies, too – 5,500 customers, to be specific, also including companies such as BMW, PepsiCo (PEP) and even the U.S. government.

The REIT doubled down on its opportunity earlier this year when it acquired rival DCT Industrial Trust for $8.4 billion, adding 71 million square feet of space on the East and West Coasts. That, and Americans’ growing love affair with online ordering, makes it all the more likely that PLD will continue growing both its bottom line and its dividend, which have been exploding for years.

Home Delivery Is Making Prologis (PLD) Shareholders Rich

GameStop (GME)
Dividend Yield: 10.4%

GameStop (GME) would seemingly have it made right now. The Nintendo (NTDOY) Switch is selling like hotcakes, Sony’s (SNE) early-year PlayStation 4 sales were ahead of projections and NPD Group says Xbox One sales have doubled from 2017. Take-Two Interactive’s (TTWO) Red Dead Redemption 2 did $725 million retail in just three days, prompting the company to call it “the single-biggest opening weekend in the history of entertainment,” as it actually beat out Disney’s (DIS) Avengers: Infinity War’s opening-weekend box office.

Video games are doing great.

GameStop is not.

The company’s last quarterly results, out in September, included smaller revenues and a net loss of $24.9 million that was wider than the year-ago period; adjusted profits of 8 cents per share missed the mark, too. All told, sales should decline 2% to 6% this year.

GME is still making enough of a profit to comfortably cover its dividend, by almost double. But management tipped its hand at its own problems earlier this year by keeping the payout flat after years of token improvements.

This is ominous. If GameStop can’t catch a break while console sales are red-hot, it’s going to be staring at an enormous problem when the console cycle slows down again, and as more game purchases are done online.

Packaging Corporation of America (PKG)
Dividend Yield: 3.4%

Packaging Corporation of America (PKG) is another non-retailer that you can nonetheless leverage to profit off the rise of e-commerce.

Packaging Corp offers a laundry list of solutions, from corrugated containers to retail packaging and displays to storage boxes to packaging supplies and so, so much more. And if all of that sounds like the kind of products that are going to be in high demand during the busiest time of the year for online retailers … that’s because it is. However, PKG also has a robust industrial operation that means its growth isn’t wholly dependent on the boom in e-commerce.

So far, almost all important metrics point up, up, up. Operational cash flows have grown from $608 million in 2013 to $856 million last year. Earnings have spiked from $4.53 per share in 2015 to $6.31 in the trailing 12 months.

Boxes Are a Booming Business. Who Knew?

What’s even more outstanding: Even though the dividend has almost doubled since 2004, the company has paid out just $2.21 per share through the first nine months of this year, against a $5.64 profit – a 39% payout ratio. That means PKG can keep throttling ahead with aggressive dividend hikes going forward while still being able to spend what it needs to spark continued business growth, too.

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 2 Dividend Stocks When the Market’s Unsettled

The latest chapter in the current stock market story centered around Apple. The company announced it would no longer report how many units it sells of its iPhone. While many are speculating why Apple is doing this, I believe it’s because they want to make less transparent the loss of market share in the emerging markets, where competitors like China’s Huawei are gaining share rapidly.

This episode made me think back to when I was still a licensed investment professional and would sit down with clients to discuss their financial situation. Sadly, I found a very common mistake, which I’m sure is still true today…

 A lack of diversification.

Usually, clients would have way too much money in one sector – U.S. technology companies. That’s all well and good until the market hits a weak patch. Then, as we saw most recently, the heaviest losses occur in technology – the sector that had the biggest gains.

I suggested that clients move a little of money invested in technology stocks into what could be called ‘sleep well at night’ stocks. That is, quality conservative stocks, but that have a growth component. I would like to look for steady-as-you-go firms, but those that have some ‘trigger’ that will push the company into a faster growth mode from its past growth trajectory.

Just so you are clear on what exactly I mean, let me give you two examples from the consumer staples sector of two rock-solid companies – one domestic and one foreign – that are in the midst of a makeover that will lead to faster growth.

Coke and Coffee

The first company is no other than Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO). I believe its new CEO, James Quincey, has just begun a change in Coke that is larger than what McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook did to the change the fortunes at the ‘Golden Arches’.

First, Coke pulled off a $5.1 billion deal to buy the Costa Coffee chain from Britain’s Whitbread. The transaction represents a full-fledged leap into the global coffee market, where it has little presence currently. “Hot beverages is one of the few remaining segments of the total beverage landscape where Coca-Cola does not have a global brand,” said James Quincey, president and CEO of Coke. “Costa gives us access to this market through a strong coffee platform.”

This move continues Coke’s process of diversifying away from the fizzy and sugary drinks that made the company famous. These type of drinks have declined in popularity among increasingly health-conscious consumers. The deal is all part of the company’s effort to reposition itself as a “total beverage company”.

According to Euromonitor, the global coffee industry is valued at more than $80 billion, and has been expanding at an annual rate of more than 5%. Here in the United States – the world’s biggest coffee market – most of the growth is coming from a resurgence in the café culture among millennials aged 18 to 34.

According to a recent survey conducted by the National Coffee Association, 15% of millennials had their last cup of coffee in a café and 32% had an espresso-based drink the day before the survey, the highest share for any age group. These are the type of consumers Coke is trying to reach through its purchase of Costa.

As Mr. Quincey points out, coffee is among the “strongest growing [beverage] categories in the world” and the company was missing out on this macro trend. As the chart below shows, the potential for growth of coffee beverages versus soft drinks is high.

And consider that Costa has recently begun its push into China, where it pitches its drinks to Chinese consumers as a luxury treat. It still has only 460 shops there, so the potential for growth is enormous. Starbucks has 600 shops in Shanghai alone. Costa did not have the financial firepower for a big push into China, but now with Coke’s financial muscle, it does.

Coke and Pot

And there’s more to the transformation of Coke than coffee… it may go to pot too.

Coke says it is looking at the possibility of infusing CBD into “functional wellness beverages around the world.” The company is no doubt looking to broaden the reach of cannabis-infused beverages into functional wellness categories, enabling the company to potentially one day ‘own’ the non-recreational cannabis-infused beverage category.

I have no doubt that drinks containing cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychoactive marijuana ingredient focused on pain management, could become a very big business for Coke.

Related: Buy These 3 Stocks to Profit From Marijuana Legalization

Cannabis research firm Brightfield Group, recently raised its projections for the CBD industry, finding it could reach $22 billion in market size by 2022. If Coke is able to capture just 10% of that projected market size, it would bring in $2.2 billion in revenue by 2022.

Even before the company-altering changes, Coca-Cola is already coming alive. In the latest quarter, it produced a 6% rise in organic sales, helped by bottled water and lower sugar alternatives to the soft drink. Latin America led the way, up 19%, while Europe, the Middle East and Africa rose 9%. North America was slower, up 2%.

Make Up for Losses With L’Oreal

The second company in the consumer sector comes from Europe and is best known for its cosmetics, France’s L’Oreal (OTC: LRLCY). And here the main story is Asia and China.

Its stock surged more than 7% after its recent earnings report thanks to Asian demand for its high-end beauty products showing no sign of waning, despite the trade war. Sales in the Asia-Pacific region soared 25.8%. This demand pushed third-quarter sales to the highest quarterly growth rate in a decade!

The acceleration in growth in the third quarter was led by the company’s luxury division, home to brands such as Lancôme, Yves Saint Laurent and Giorgio Armani, which grew by 15.6%. Its active cosmetics division lifted revenue by 13.1%, driven by demand for so-called dermo-cosmetics, products that focus on skin health.

Its travel retail and e-commerce divisions are also achieving rapid growth. L’Oréal said that travel retail gained 29.9% during the quarter, while e-commerce was up 38.3% and now represents almost a tenth of total sales. E-commerce is accelerating thanks to the success of L’Oréal’s luxury brands on sites such as Alibaba’s Tmall platform in China.

I fully expect L’Oreal to continue to perform well because Asia’s enthusiasm for skincare and makeup is unlikely to fade. Even if an economic slowdown hits, sales of low-ticket luxury items will hold up better than more costly items. And Chinese per capita spending on makeup is still just a small fraction of the U.S. figure, so there is ample scope for growth there.

Neither company will go up 25% a year, as do tech stocks when they’re hot. But they will allow to sleep well at night and give you a decent total return. That’s why I do own both companies.

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Source: Investors Alley 

These 8.9% Dividends Are Shockingly Cheap Following the Crash

If you’re still fearful about stocks as we pick up the pieces from the market’s grim October, let me ease your mind with one chart:

Stocks Still a Long-Term Winner

As you can see, that’s the market’s return over the last 10 years. As you can also see, stocks have returned nearly 2.5 times a person’s original investment in just a decade! Few other investments can make that claim.

The real problem? Income.

The average S&P 500 stock pays a lousy 1.9%, but let’s say you need 8% of your portfolio in monthly income to pay your bills in retirement. If you buy the popular SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) and withdraw 8% monthly, you’ll be forced to sell in a falling market like the one we’ve seen. That will amplify your losses without letting you take advantage of the market’s tendency to snap back.

Fortunately, there’s a better way. You just need to buy a fund that doesn’t need to sell holdings to maintain that 8% income stream.

Sounds impossible, right? It isn’t. In fact, there’s a group of closed-end funds (CEFs) that’s designed to do just that: provide reliable income with minimal portfolio turnover, especially during moments of market weakness, where fund managers are scooping up deals left and right.

The key is to find a safe, reliable sector that provides a high income stream and doesn’t go down every time the market does. That sector exists: utilities.

In the last month, every single sector has fallen, even the supposedly safe and defensive consumer staples sector, with only one exception: utilities.

Utilities Buck the Trend

The reason for this is straightforward: with the markets (wrongly) panicking that the economy is about to take a turn for the worse, there’s a sudden thirst for reliable income, and utilities have provided that for decades.

This does mean that the Utilities SPDR ETF (XLU) and its 3.4% dividend yield are particularly compelling right now, but don’t settle for that; we can do much better with 10 CEFs that more than double up XLU’s payout.

The average income from a utility CEF right now is a whopping 8.5%, or two and a half times greater than what XLU pays. So a $100,000 investment would get you $708.33 per month in income from these CEFs, much better than the $283.33 you’d get from XLU.

Utility CEFs Deliver Big Dividends

Source: Contrarian Outlook / CEF Insider

What’s more, all but one of these funds have impressive long-term annualized returns of over 6%, with 4 delivering double-digit returns over the long haul:

Strong Returns Across the Board

In fact, 4 of these funds have beaten the S&P 500, and half of them have beaten the utilities index fund. But even that strong track record isn’t the best reason to buy these funds now.

With two (very big!) exceptions, all of these funds are priced at a discount to their net asset value (NAV), meaning you’re buying their holdings for less than their true intrinsic value. Three of these funds have double-digit discounts:

Utility CEFs Are on Sale (except for 2)

Source: Contrarian Outlook / CEF Insider

While GUT and DNP might best be avoided right now because of their high premiums, the combined big discounts and strong long-term returns with MGU, UTF, MFD and UTG make them all attractive buys. On top of that, buying these 4 funds would get you a diversified utility portfolio with a whopping 8.9% yield—even higher than the average yield for all utility CEFs.

Michael Foster has just uncovered 4 funds that tick off ALL his boxes for the perfect investment: a 7.4% average payout, steady dividend growth and 20%+ price upside. — but that won’t last long! Grab a piece of the action now, before the market comes to its senses. CLICK HERE and he’ll tell you all about his top 4 high-yield picks.

Buy These 3 High-Yield Stocks to Protect Your Portfolio

The stock market has turned volatile, and the income stock sectors feel downright unwelcoming. Since I have contact with thousands of investors I learn there are a thousand different situations in the market. The investor who bought at a higher price doesn’t like to see the share price drops in his portfolio. Another is expecting a cash infusion next week and hopes prices will stay down until she gets the money and can load up on shares at the current low prices.

I regularly tell my subscribers that you can’t earn dividends unless you own shares of dividend paying stocks. Trying to time the market can easily leave an investor without any shares that are paying dividends. It takes a different mindset to get away from worrying about share prices and to focus on building an income stream. The good part is that when the stock market corrects, or gets scarily volatile, the income investor will continue to rake in dividends. In a choppy market I like to add to those stocks that hit my “sweet spot” combination of current yield and dividend growth.

In a flat or volatile market, cash dividends are real returns, so a higher yield can be viewed as a cushion against share price movement. Dividend growth is a factor that can make a stock more attractive even if the market is not in a share price appreciation mode.

Related: 3 High-Yield Dividend Stocks You Must Own During a Stock Market Crash

One strategy is to find dividend stocks with low yields, such as 3% or less and double digit annual dividend growth. At the other end of the spectrum are the 10% yield stocks, but with little potential for dividend growth.

If stock market returns go flat, I recommend going for the middle ground. Find stocks with attractive yields. In the current market the range would be 5% to 7%. These stocks should to have recent history and prospects of mid to high single digit dividend growth. The dividend payments give you solid cash returns, and the dividend growth prospects can support share prices in a volatile market. In the long run, this combination should produce total annual returns in the low double digits.

Here are three stocks that fit the criteria discussed above:

Aircastle Limited (NYSE: AYR) owns approximately 240 commercial aircraft that are leased to 84 airlines around the world. Aircastle must be nimble to adjust for changing needs for aircraft type and client airlines financial conditions. For example, in 2017, Aircastle purchased 68 aircraft and sold 37.

The business is very profitable. The company generated a 15% return on equity last year and reported adjusted net income of $2.15 per share. The current dividend rate of $1.12 per share per year is well covered by net income and free cash flow.

In recent years, Aircastle has been increasing the quarterly dividend by 7% to 8% per year. The foundation of Aircastle’ s results is the steady growth in international air traffic, which appears to be immune to global economic conditions.

The shares currently yield 5.9%.

Brixmor Property Group Inc (NYSE: BRX) is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns community and neighborhood strip malls. These malls are typically anchored by a grocery store and the tenants are often in businesses that are largely immune from ecommerce sales competition.

In 2017 the company’s board of directors recently shook up the management team, with the goal of more active rental rate management. The REIT’s major tenants are financially strong, but there is a group of weaker tenants with absurdly low rental rates. Replacing these tenants will allow Brixmor to grow revenue and free cash flow.

The company should be able to continue its recent history of 5% to 6% dividend growth.

The BRX shares yield 7.1%.

ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE: OKE) is an energy sector infrastructure services company. ONEOK focuses on natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs). The company provides gas gathering services in the energy plays, facilities to process NGLs into the different components like ethane and propane, and interstate pipelines to transport natural gas and NGLs to their demand centers.

The growth in gas production has been lost in the news about the U.S. becoming the world’s largest crude oil producer. Oil wells also produce natural gas and NGLs.

ONEOK is the primary, and often the only, company gathering and processing gas in the major crude oil plays.

The company expects to grow its dividend by 8% to 10% per year. OKE currently yields 5.4%.

Starting today you can stop worrying about the market and instead fundamentally transform your income stream from a string of near misses to a steady, reliable flow of income right into your bank account.

It all starts with a simple to use, yet powerful calendar – called the The Monthly Dividend Paycheck Calendar, like the one below, only with more details. It’s kind of like the one you might have on your desk, only this one tells you when you’ll get paid and how much you’ll receive each and every month.

No more guesswork, no more confusion, no more worrying if you did the right thing… just steady paychecks coming like clockwork…

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Pay Your Bills for LIFE with These Dividend Stocks

Get your hands on my most comprehensive, step-by-step dividend plan yet. In just a few minutes, you will have a 36-month road map that could generate $4,804 (or more!) per month for life. It's the perfect supplement to Social Security and works even if the stock market tanks. Over 6,500 retirement investors have already followed the recommendations I've laid out.

Click here for complete details to start your plan today.

Source: Investors Alley 

3 High-Yield Dividend Stocks You Must Own During a Stock Market Crash

With the major stock indexes now in correction territory, there are fears that the market is headed for a full-blown bear market drop of 25% or more. The safe way out is to go to cash, but if you guess wrong you will miss out on further gains as so many people did after the 2008/2009 crash.

Cash also doesn’t earn much. While you may be fearful about the next bear market, it’s likely impossible you will be able to time getting out in time to avoid much of the decline. Another way to prepare for the next bear is to buy shares of stocks that will do better than the market through the next big decline.

It is a fact that in a bear market share prices of almost all stocks will drop. Some a lot and others not so much. My strategy for getting through the bear and survive until the next bull is to own higher yield, dividend paying stocks that will not cut the dividend through the downturn. These stocks should not fall as far. Also, I can take the dividends to average down my share price through the market downturn. Coming out the other side I will have a lower average cost of shares and a much larger dividend income stream. That’s a win-win strategy to get through a bear market.

Related: Buy These 3 High-Yield Stocks to Protect Yourself From the Next Recession

Here are three stocks where the dividend is very secure, pay attractive yields. More importantly they should be able to pay the current dividends through any deep and lasting downturn in the stock market. By lasting I mean the average bear market length of nine to 12 months.

Starwood Property Trust (NYSE: STWD) is a commercial property finance REIT. The book of loans is very conservative with a 62% LTV.

The company’s loan clients are highly motivated to make those payments. In recent years, Starwood has diversified the company with the purchase of a commercial mortgage servicing business and acquiring a portfolio of low income apartment complexes. Both businesses, especially the servicer, will do very well if the economy slows down.

The current $1.92 annual dividend is well covered by a core income run rate of $2.25 per share.

The 9.0% yield means large dividends to reinvest as the share price gets cheaper.

Aircastle Limited (NYSE: AYR) may be my personal favorite stock to buy in a bear market. Aircastle is an aircraft leasing company with client airlines around the world.

The current $1.12 per share annual dividend is backed by about $4.00 per share in free cash flow. This stock got very cheap in the last bear market even though the financial remained rock like.

Picking up AYR shares at the bottom of the bear resulted in gains that were multiples of the share price.

This is a nice 5.9% yield income stock now that gets even more attractive as the share price falls.

Tanger Factory Outlet Centers (NYSE: SKT) is the only pure play owner of outlet type shopping centers. In tougher economic times people still like to shop but are more likely to go to an outlet mall to score some deals.

The safety factor of owning shares of Tanger is the company’s track record. This REIT has increased its dividend every year since its 1993 IPO. There have been two severe bear markets in that time, so you can believe that the dividend will be secure and grow.

Tanger is also very conservative in the management of its balance sheet. This should let the company make accretive acquisitions when its competitors become financially distressed.

SKT currently yields 6.5%.

Pay Your Bills for LIFE with These Dividend Stocks

Get your hands on my most comprehensive, step-by-step dividend plan yet. In just a few minutes, you will have a 36-month road map that could generate $4,804 (or more!) per month for life. It's the perfect supplement to Social Security and works even if the stock market tanks. Over 6,500 retirement investors have already followed the recommendations I've laid out.

Click here for complete details to start your plan today.

Source: Investors Alley

Buy These 3 High-Yield Stocks to Protect Yourself From the Next Recession

The prediction drums of the financial news media continue to grow in volume with predictions of the next economic recession and possible stock bear market. You are probably starting to wonder if these predictions are accurate and if you should make changes in your investment portfolio.

The fact is the economy will go into a recession at some point. The growth and recession cycle of the economy remains intact. The challenge is that no one can accurately predict when the next recession will arrive. You can help your portfolio for when the next downturn will hit with some defensive stock picks.

Keep in mind that a recession is a period of negative economic growth. It is not an economic collapse. Many companies will continue to do well through the downturn. The companies and stocks at risk are those dependent on either strong economic growth or have high debt loads that will crush profits if a company experiences even a minor slowdown in revenue.

Related: 3 Recession Proof High-Yield Dividend Stocks

An economic recession will likely trigger a bear market in the stock market. You can’t avoid a stock portfolio value drawdown, but you want to own shares of companies that will not be negatively affected by the slower economy. Earning dividends through a market drop and recovery helps you come out of the next recession ahead of the game.

I personally think we are two to three years or longer out from the next economic slowdown. I could be wrong. If you believe the next recession is right around the corner, or out in the more distant future, it would not hurt to have some dividend paying, recession resistant investments in your portfolio. Here are three to consider.

When the economy runs into trouble, it most effects individuals who can lose jobs, see pay cuts, or even not be able to make house payments. Young workers may move back in with their parents. These individual problems are good for the local self-storage locations.

Extra Space Storage (NYSE: EXR) owns or manages almost 1,600 self-storage properties with 115 million rentable square feet. EXR is a real estate investment trust, which means it must pay out the majority of net income as dividends to investors.

This company is conservatively managed, with a focus on growing the dividends paid to investors. The EXR dividend has grown by a compounded 12% annual rate over the last decade. In a recession, Extra Space will be able to keep its properties fully rented and also be able to buy additional properties that are less well run.

EXR currently yields 4.0%.

Even in tough times people will find the money to pay their utility bills. Utility stocks are viewed as a safe haven by stock market investors, and the belief is justified.

These are the highly-regulated companies that provide electric power, natural gas, and water to homes and commercial customers. The regulatory agencies approve the rates a utility charges. Rates are set so that the utility can cover the infrastructure spending to maintain and upgrade its assets and then earn a fixed rate of return above the necessary capital spending. The locked in regulated profit margins gives a high level of cash flow predictability.

More recession protection: Buy This 8.4% REIT That’s Raised Dividends Every Quarter

For this market sector I like the Reaves Utility Income Fund (NYSE: UTG). This is a closed-end fund that owns a diversified portfolio of utility and related stocks. Reaves Asset Management focuses only on utility and infrastructure stock investments.

UTG has paid a dividend every month since it launched in 2004. That means it operated through the last recession and bear market. The dividend has never been cut and has been increased 10 times.

UTG currently yields 7.0%.

Grocery stores are another recession proof industry. To cover this industry and earn dividends, I like REITs that earn most of their revenue from grocery store anchor tenants.

Brixmor Property Group (NYSE: BRX) owns 471 open air shopping centers. The company focuses on centers that are the center of their communities. Anchor tenants are the main revenue drivers for Brixmor, and over half of those tenants are grocery stores.

The REIT pays out just 54% of FFO, meaning the dividend is secure. The payout to investors has grown by 7% per year.

Current yield is 7.0%. This grocery focused REIT could just help you pay for the groceries through the next economic recession.

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Buy These 2 High-Yield Marijuana Dividend Stocks

The countrywide legalization of Cannabis sales on October 17 by Canada has set off a modern gold rush by investors. Since pot is still illegal by Federal law in the U.S. the handful of Canadian cannabis companies that trade over-the-counter in the U.S. and have been bid up to astronomical values.

The belief is that legalization will spread to other countries, and that there is a huge market for cannabis for both therapeutic and recreational uses.

At this point the 10 largest publicly traded Canadian pot companies have a combined market cap over $40 billion. They operate in a market that is forecast to have global sale of $11 billion this year. That’s a lot of hope for the future!

I think that cannabis will be a growth product, but not at the pace envisioned by the investors currently scooping up the Canadian pot stocks. These stocks are in balloon race sized bubble territory and I suspect will eventually come back to earth, with many failings to survive as going entities. I don’t like playing craps with my investment dollars. I live in Nevada, so I can get better odds plus free drinks at the local casino.

Related: Buy These 3 Stocks to Profit From Marijuana Legalization

From 8 Things You May Not Know About the California Gold Rush by the History Channel, we can learn an applicable lesson from numbers six and seven:

  1. Prospecting for gold was a very costly enterprise. I apply this to investors trying to pick winners vs. losers from the new crop of pot producing companies.
  2. More fortunes were made by merchants than by miners. More reliable revenue, growth and profits will likely come from companies that provide the necessary infrastructure and supplies to the pot industry.

With these lessons in mind here are two stocks that should experience growth from the pot boom, and be solid dividend paying companies. I am after all, the Dividend Hunter.

It is very possible that you are familiar with The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE: SMG). Scotts is the world’s largest marketer of branded consumer lawn and garden products. In the case of the pot market, the company offers the necessary solutions to enhance the abilities of a marijuana business to produce product.

Scott’s Hawthorne division focuses on products for hydroponic and cannabis businesses. Last year the division had 55% of its sales to California pot growers. As cannabis is legalized in more states, so Hawthorne’s market should grow.

While you wait for pot to become the “next big thing” by actually becoming big business, SMG is an attractive dividend stock.

The payout is growing by 5% per year and the shares yield 3.0%.

Innovative Industries Properties (NYSE: IIPR) is a REIT that calls itself “The Leading Provider of Real Estate Capital for the Medical-Use Cannabis Industry.”

The company owns a portfolio of specialized industrial and greenhouse buildings, 100% leased to state-licensed medical-use cannabis growers.

IIPR came to market with a December 2012 IPO. This is a real business with real assets generating real revenue and profits. Results have been very good, and the quarterly dividend has grown from $0.15 per share to start 2017 to $0.35 per share for the dividend paid this month.

The stock currently yields 3.25%.

Get up to 14 dividend paychecks per month from safe, reliable stocks with The Monthly Dividend Paycheck Calendar, an easy-to-use system that shows you which dividend stocks to pick, when to buy them, when you get paid your dividends, and how much.  All you have to do is buy the stocks you like and tell them where to send your dividend payments. For more information Click Here.

The 3 Best Big Dividends (Up to 9.5%) for This Uncertain Market

Dividends or growth? Why choose?

There’s a widespread belief that stocks and funds can deliver red-hot capital gains or substantial income, but not both. Fortunately for us that’s not true.

It is possible to collect big dividends and capital appreciation. I’m going to show you how to safely collect 32% in total returns in less than a year from a big dividend payer. And while this “easy dividend money” has been made, we’ll discuss three more stocks yielding around 8%-9% that can deliver 20%+ in dividends and upside over the next twelve months..

Income investors like you and me should focus on total returns, which are made up of dividends and price appreciation. The latter, price gains, are driven by a combination of:

  • Growth in the actual business, which naturally makes a stock worth more.
  • Dividend increases, which drives investors to buy up stocks and funds alike.
  • A climb toward fair value (say, the closing of the discount window in a closed-end fund, or a higher multiple on a REIT’s funds from operations)

The first two drivers are what sent AllianceBernstein (AB)which I highlighted back on Dec. 16, 2017, to market-clobbering returns ever since. I pointed out some optimistic analyst outlooks for the stock, as well as widening operating margins and an unorthodox but upward-trending distribution. Sure enough, AllianceBernstein proceeded to churn out 35% in adjusted profit growth over the next three quarters, then returned every cent of that back to investors.

The results? Total returns of 32%. That’s 22% in growth, and another 10% in dividends, for a total return that has quintupled the S&P 500 over the same time frame!

AB Delivers 10% in Dividends Plus 22% Upside

Now, let’s look at some more high-yield stocks of about 8%-9% that can deliver similar upside over the next year.

Senior Housing Properties Trust (SNH)
Dividend Yield: 9.5%

Senior Housing Properties Trust (SNH) is a Baby Boomer play that’s pretty much exactly what you would expect from its name, but also more. Of its 443 properties across 42 states and Washington, D.C., 50% are senior living communities. However, SNH also boasts life science centers (23%), medical office buildings (21%), wellness centers (3%) and skilled nursing facilities (3%) – other types of businesses that should flourish with the aging of the Boomers.

But there’s another reason to like Senior Housing Properties’ business right now, and that’s its focus on privately paying customers. In fact, the company boasts “limited government funding exposure,” with 97% of its net operating income coming from private-pay properties. That looks like it could be increasingly important with Congress starting to beat the drums on “entitlement reform” (that’s politician-speak for reducing Medicare, Social Security, etc.)

The basic business case is there. What should give SNH an extra kick in the pants? For one, analysts are expecting an outsize year of profits in 2018 before it “pulls back” in 2019 – though still to levels about 34% higher than they were in 2017. Value should play a role, too. A pullback in real estate this year has swept up Senior Housing and brought it to a valuation of less than 11 times its TTM funds from operations. Tack on a nearly 10% dividend, and you’re looking at likely total returns of 20%-plus over the next year.

Starwood Property Trust (STWD)
Dividend Yield: 8.9%

Mortgage REIT Starwood Property Trust (STWD) has a portfolio of more than $12 billion, primarily invested in first mortgage loans but with exposure to mezzanine loans, subordinated mortgages, commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) and a few other investments.

This is a diversified pie no matter which way you slice it. By property type? Office (32%), hotel (22%), multi-family (13%), mixed use (12%) and several others. By region? West (27%), Northeast (26%), Southwest (16%) and again others, and even including 9% international exposure.

But the thing I love most about Starwood is its one big imbalance.

Mortgage REITs historically have performed poorly when interest rates head higher. However, roughly 95% of Starwood’s portfolio is floating-rate in nature, and in fact the company expects to its cash flow to increase in a rising-rate environment. And what do we have right now?

A Rising-Rate Environment

The Federal Reserve has signaled that more rates are coming at least this year and next, and Starwood Property Trust is well-positioned to ride this wave higher. Its 9% dividend yield, meanwhile, will pad those returns.

Sabra Health Care REIT (SBRA)
Dividend Yield: 8.4%

Next up, I want to double down on one of the other picks I made last December – Sabra Health Care REIT (SBRA), which also has had a nice run since my call, tripling the total return of the S&P 500.

Let’s Double Dip in Sabra!

Sabra is similar to SNH in that it’s a Boomer play – 72% of the portfolio is skilled nursing/transitional care real estate, as well as 23% senior housing (89 properties leased, 24 managed) and the rest in “specialty hospitals and other.”

Sabra did hit some turbulence after a multibillion-dollar merger in 2017, as well as a prorated dividend, though it made good on that and even hiked the payout after that.

The business clearly is on the right path. Full-year adjusted AFFO came to $2.31 in 2017, up from $2.26 the year prior. And in 2018, AFFO for the first six months of the year has come to $1.14 – that’s up from $1.10 during the same period last year, and makes for a safe 127% dividend coverage.

Earn a 28% Return in 1 Year From America’s Safest Stocks

I like the three stocks I’ve outlined above, but I’m in love with a set of four new high-yield, total-return plays that my research has produced.

In fact, I haven’t been this excited about an income opportunity in years.

What if I told you that you could turn some of Wall Street’s most exciting, growth-oriented blue chips, such as Visa (V)and Google-parent Alphabet (GOOGL), into “double threat” holdings that deliver double-digit upside and 8%-plus dividends? Well, given that Visa pays less than 1% and Alphabet doesn’t deliver a single penny in income, you’d probably call me crazy …

… right until the moment you saw my new discovery: “Dividend Conversion Machines.”

These stocks have extremely specialized businesses that allow them to do the seemingly impossible: They can actually wring high-single-digit dividends from some of the most skinflint companies in America. One of my Dividend Conversion Machines takes Visa’s 0.6% payouts and magnifies it to 9.2%. Another one can take Google’s 0% and produce a 9.4% yield out of thin air.

And no, this isn’t an options strategy, or some dangerous derivative, or the “next Bitcoin.” What I’m going to show you is perfectly SAFE – it’s essentially the same as buying traditional American blue-chip stocks. In fact, I’ll even show you the four steps you’ll need right now:

  1. Launch your web browser.
  2. Go to your trading account.
  3. Instead of entering a buy order for, say, Disney by entering the stock’s “DIS” symbol, enter the 3-letter code for one of my 4 Dividend Conversion Machines instead.
  4. Instead of getting Disney’s 1.6% dividend, start collecting an 8%+ income stream!

That’s it!

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!

Your Contrarian Guide to Post-Selloff Profits (and 7.5% Dividends)

With the stock market collapsing 6% from its all-time high in just two weeks, a lot of people are freaking out.

Don’t follow them!

Because now is the best time to buy we’ve seen in a long time.

Before I show you my top 3 “buy now” indicators—which are all blaring green—and a bargain 7.5%-yielder to jump on now, let me first say that we’ve been here before.

In mid-February, with the market again on its back, I urged readers not to panic. This has happened since:

A Quick Recovery

While a 1.6% total return in 8 months isn’t much to write home about, it’s not the massive loss a lot of investors are terrified of today. Plus, an 8-month period is so short to be almost meaningless. Check out how investors who bought during the big correction in early 2016 have done:

You Can Choose Contrarian Outperformance …

But if you’d waited until the market started recovering fully in April 2016, you’d have a far smaller return:

… Or Diminished Profits

We are now in a similar position with stocks. But given the wild swings we’ve seen in the last few weeks, I understand if you’re still skeptical. That’s why I’ve written up the 3 rock-solid “buy now” indicators I’ll show you next.

Buy Indicator No. 1: Third Quarter Profits Are Soaring

In both the first and second quarters of this year, S&P 500 firms reported earnings that demolished expectations and delivered record growth.

That trend isn’t stopping.

While it’s early for third-quarter reports, so far the news is good. Net profit margins across the S&P 500 are 11.6%, which is where they were in the first quarter. That’s far ahead of what we’ve seen in the last 5 years:

Q3 Brings “Levitating” Profits

When all is said and done, analysts expect 19.2% earnings growth on a year-over-year basis for the third quarter, which is miles ahead of the 3.5% annualized growth in the last decade. It also means stocks are the cheapest in years—the S&P 500’s forward P/E ratio is at 15.7, way below its historical average:

Stocks Getting Cheap

With higher earnings and lower stock prices, this is a rare buying opportunity.

Buy Indicator No. 2: Fatter Paychecks, Higher Spending

The good news isn’t just limited to companies—that would be a bad thing! Average Americans are doing better, too.

Since March of this year, average weekly earnings have risen more than 3%, the fastest growth since 2010. The trend has lasted longer this time than back then, when we saw wages rise above 3% for just 2 months in a 5-month period.

Salaries Swell, Retailers Rejoice

Note that the line is both staying above 3% and is in an uptrend. That rise has broken a resistance level wages saw throughout 2014 and most of 2017:

Wage Gains Break Out

The wage news is incredibly good and keeps getting better. When Americans have more money in their pockets, they go shopping. That’s helped corporate revenue: all told, S&P 500 companies’ sales are up nearly 5%, the highest year-over-year growth in nearly a decade.

Buy Indicator No. 3: Hitting “Snooze” on the Recession Alarm

The final good piece of news is something I covered in-depth in my October 15 article.

Earlier in 2018, many financial analysts and journalists fretted that the flattening trend in the yield curve (or the spread between the yields on the 2-year and 10-year Treasury notes) would usher in a recession in the next year or so. This was reasonable: an inverted yield curve has preceded every modern recession on record.

But the trend toward a flatter yield curve suddenly stopped in September:

A Dangerous Sign Fades Away

This remains one of the greatest indicators of financial health in the United States, so we need to keep a close eye on it. But for now, the odds of a 2019 recession are vanishing.

1 Fund (Paying 7.5% in Cash) to Buy Now

If the economy is booming and earnings are still rising, now may be the worst time to sell—especially since everyone else is. So you could buy the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) and get a strong return over the next few months.

But you could get a stronger return with a fund like the John Hancock Tax Advantaged Dividend Income Fund (HTD).

Why? For one, HTD has crushed the S&P 500, despite its focus on large-cap value companies:

Dusting the Benchmark

With a 405% total return in the last decade versus 274% for the S&P 500 index fund, HTD has a proven track record. And it notches gains like that while delivering a 7.5% dividend, giving us a serious income stream we can use however we like.

The market hasn’t rewarded HTD, however; despite its solid track record, the fund trades at a 7.9% discount to net asset value (NAV, or what it’s underlying portfolio is worth), far lower than where it traded in late 2017:

HTD Goes on Sale

When the market recovers, I expect HTD’s NAV to rise, helping it deliver capital gains.

But I also think other investors will realize HTD’s solid performance when its NAV rises, causing more bidding pressure to result in a smaller discount, compounding HTD’s return. Investors who buy now can enjoy the fund’s 7.5% dividend while they wait for that to happen.

Your Best Selloff Buy Now: 8.4% Dividends and Big 2019 Gains

Here’s something else I need to tell you: the selloff knocked one of my top 4 CEF buys to an amazing 14% discount to NAV!

In plain English, that means we’re getting this standout fund’s portfolio—top-notch high yielders like Ventas (VTR) and Enbridge (ENB)—for just 86 cents on the dollar!

This bargain fund then takes these stocks’ massive dividends (plus the upside its veteran managers squeeze from its rock-solid portfolio) and hands them to you in the form of a huge 8.4% dividend paid monthly!

Your Monthly “Paychecks” Await

This is the perfect investment for today’s churned-up markets. Because thanks to this fund’s huge discount, my team and I have it pegged for easy 20% price upside in 2019.

And that’s on top of its incredible 8.4% CASH dividend!

Plus, you get some invaluable downside protection, because even if we get hit with an unexpected market collapse, we’re still covered: thanks to this fund’s big markdown, it will just trade flat—and we’ll still pocket its massive 8.4% payout!

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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