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Dividends

Top Picks for 2011 Winners

December 29, 2011
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As the new year approaches, we’re reviewing the past year’s worth of Investment of the Week and Dick Davis Digests. This week, I’m going to spotlight the year’s best-performing Top Picks. Every year, we ask all of our Digest contributors to send us a recommendation of their single favorite stock to own in the coming year. Their submissions range from unknown small-caps to the past year’s winners, a broad range that reflects the wide variety of investing styles practiced by our contributors. Once in July and again at the end of the year, we revisit the Top Picks to...

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Four Market-Beating Dividend Aristocrats

December 14, 2011
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Several of the best-performing stocks featured in Investment of the Week over the past year came from the same issue on April 12 that featured several Dividend Aristocrats. Dividend Aristocrats are stocks that have increased their dividends every year for at least 25 consecutive years. They’re primarily large-cap, relatively stable blue-chip stocks. Because of their reputation for steady returns, income investors often seek out Dividend Aristocrats to serve as the core of their income-generating portfolios. In the eight months since these stocks were recommended, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained no value–as I write this it is down...

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One Great Insurance Stock

December 13, 2011
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I’m happy to see that there are still great worries about the future of both the Euro and those southern European countries that don’t work as hard as the Germans, or pay taxes as dutifully, either. And why is this worry a good thing? Because, as all experienced investors know, bull markets climb a wall of worry! And that’s what this bull market is doing now! As a result, I’m more optimistic than at any time in the past few months, about both the short- and long-term prospects of the market. And I’ve got a great stock to recommend...

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Three Yields for Current Conditions

November 29, 2011
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The market was only open for three-and-a-half days last week, and it still managed to lose approximately 5% of its value. I don’t have to tell you that’s not good. I’ve been discussing the overall market a lot lately (if you didn’t catch last week’s market video, you can watch it here) so today I think we’ll ignore it–and focus on stocks that ignore it too (more or less). Below are three recommendations from the latest Dick Davis Dividend Digest. Each one of these three stocks is a conservative dividend payer with relatively low correlation to larger market moves....

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Two Solid Companies with Good Value

November 23, 2011
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Let’s talk about making money. One of the best ways to make money is to ensure that you don’t lose money, or at the least, you don’t lose your shirt. When I recommend a stock to buy, I always make sure the company is solid. A couple of quick ways to test the quality of a company are to check the company’s ability to pay dividends and to check its balance sheet. Today I’ll look at balance sheets–I’ll save the lesson on dividends for another time. I am not an accounting professor by any means, so I’ll keep this...

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