Will Despacito Save Puerto Rico and Puerto Rican Stocks?

If you don’t know what Despacito is, I will explain it in a minute. But first, lets talk about Puerto Rico. The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States. Back in 2015, Puerto Rico defaulted on $58 million in bond payments. Then things got worse with more defaults, and all these problems appear to be leading into quasi bankruptcy. By the way, Puerto Rico is Spanish for “Rich Port”.

Now for Despacito. This is a song by singer Luis Fonsi, and featuring rapper Daddy Yankee, both of whom are Puerto Rican. In early August, the Despacito music video became the most watched YouTube video, reaching over 3 billion views, and it became this leader in just over a half a year.

Amazingly, there has been a 45% increase in tourism to Puerto Rico attributed to Despacito. This is for a song that is entirely in Spanish (but the YouTube video allows you to have subtitles in English, Japanese, and many other languages).

However, it may not just be the tourism that is helping the Puerto Rican economy. Many billionaires, millionaires, entrepreneurs, and businesses are moving to the Commonwealth, primarily due to the extremely favorable tax benefits, U. S. citizenship maintenance, low cost of living, fantastic weather, and beautiful beaches.

How does no Federal taxes and a 0% tax on dividends, interest, capital gains, and Puerto Rican source income sound? Peter Schiff, the CEO of Euro Pacific Capital, is one individual who is taking advantage of the benefits. During the first part of the following interview on the Joe Rogan Show, Schiff discusses the many benefits of living in Puerto Rico.

So maybe the government is in bad shape, but the economy appears to be improving. What is the best way for an investor to participate? There are over a half a dozen publicly traded companies based in Puerto Rico, most of which are banks.

For example, OFG Bancorp (OFG) trades at 8.2 times earnings and provides investors with a favorable yield of 2.7%. The stock is down 43% from where it was three years ago.

Popular Inc. (BPOP) has been around for almost 120 years. This bank holding company also operates in the virgin Islands and the United States, in addition to Puerto Rico. It has a price to earnings ratio of 10.4 and yields 2.0%. The stock is actually up 28% over the last three years.

Despacito means “slowly”, which may be a good description of the Puerto Rican economy recovery. Investing in Puerto Rican stocks may not be a quick turn-around; maybe plan on stock prices rising “despacito”.

Disclosure: Author didn’t own any of the above at the time the article was written.

Stocks Going Ex Dividend the Fourth Week of August

Here is our latest update on the stock trading technique called ‘Buying Dividends,’ also commonly referred to as ‘Dividend Capture.’ This is the process of buying stocks before the ex dividend date and selling the stock shortly after the ex date at about the same price, yet still being entitled to the dividend. This technique generally works only in bull markets, and can work in flat or choppy markets, but you need to avoid the technique during bear markets.

In order to be entitled to the dividend, you have to buy the stock before the ex-dividend date, and you can’t sell the stock until after the ex date. The actual dividend may not be paid for another few weeks.

WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has compiled a downloadable and sortable list of the stocks going ex dividend in the near future. The list contains many dividend paying companies, lots with market caps over $500 million, and yields over 2%. Here are a few examples showing the stock symbol, the ex-dividend date, the quarterly dividend amount, and annual yield.

Aflac Incorporated (AFL)	8/21/2017	0.43	2.09%
Expedia, Inc. (EXPE)	8/22/2017	0.3	0.73%
Carnival Corporation (CCL)	8/23/2017	0.4	2.13%
Hershey Company (HSY)	8/23/2017	0.656	2.33%
Dunkin' Brands Group, Inc. (DNKN)	8/24/2017	0.322	2.35%

The additional ex-dividend stocks can be found here at wstnn.com. (If you have been to the website before, and the latest link doesn’t show up, you may have to empty your cache.) If you like dividend stocks, you should check out some of the other high yield stock lists at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com or WStNN.com. Most of the lists are free.

Dividend definitions:

Declaration date: the day that the company declares that there is going to be an upcoming dividend.

Ex-dividend date: the day on which if you buy the stock, you would not be entitled to that particular dividend; or the first day on which a shareholder can sell the shares and still be entitled to the dividend.

Monthly Dividend Stock List
Record date: the day when you must be on the company’s books as a shareholder to receive the dividend. The ex-dividend date is normally set for stocks at two business days before the record date.

Payment date: the day on which the dividend payment is actually made, which can be as long at two months after the ex date.

Stocks Going Ex Dividend the Third Week of August

Here is our latest update on the stock trading technique called ‘Buying Dividends,’ also commonly referred to as ‘Dividend Capture.’ This is the process of buying stocks before the ex dividend date and selling the stock shortly after the ex date at about the same price, yet still being entitled to the dividend. This technique generally works only in bull markets, and can work in flat or choppy markets, but you need to avoid the technique during bear markets.

In order to be entitled to the dividend, you have to buy the stock before the ex-dividend date, and you can’t sell the stock until after the ex date. The actual dividend may not be paid for another few weeks.

WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has compiled a downloadable and sortable list of the stocks going ex dividend in the near future. The list contains many dividend paying companies, lots with market caps over $500 million, and yields over 2%. Here are a few examples showing the stock symbol, the ex-dividend date, the quarterly dividend amount, and annual yield.

Consolidated Edison Inc (ED)	8/14/2017	0.69	3.28%
Target Corporation (TGT)	8/14/2017	0.62	4.24%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN)	8/15/2017	1.15	2.46%
W.R. Grace & Co. (GRA)	8/15/2017	0.21	1.10%
Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST)	8/16/2017	0.5	1.17%

The additional ex-dividend stocks can be found here at wstnn.com. (If you have been to the website before, and the latest link doesn’t show up, you may have to empty your cache.) If you like dividend stocks, you should check out some of the other high yield stock lists at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com or WStNN.com. Most of the lists are free.

Dividend definitions:

Declaration date: the day that the company declares that there is going to be an upcoming dividend.

Ex-dividend date: the day on which if you buy the stock, you would not be entitled to that particular dividend; or the first day on which a shareholder can sell the shares and still be entitled to the dividend.

Monthly Dividend Stock List
Record date: the day when you must be on the company’s books as a shareholder to receive the dividend. The ex-dividend date is normally set for stocks at two business days before the record date.

Payment date: the day on which the dividend payment is actually made, which can be as long at two months after the ex date.

Why Twitter is a Screaming Buy

Twitter (TWTR) took a huge dump a few days ago on July 27 when it reported earnings, and by the end of the day, the stock dropped by around 14% from the previous day’s close. A couple weeks ago, it had been trading over $20 a share, and now it is less than $16 a share, at the time I am writing this.

The company reported negative earnings, as usual, so why is it a screaming buy? Let’s start off with the company’s biggest asset, President Donald Trump. Yes, Trump provides an advantage to Twitter that no other company has. He tweets almost every single day, and on many days, he tweets multiple times a day. No other president, or for that matter, no other head of state, has ever tweeted so much in the history of mankind. (You know what I mean.) Trump doesn’t use Facebook, he doesn’t use LinkedIn, he doesn’t use Snapchat, he doesn’t use Instagram, he doesn’t use any of the other social media platforms, he doesn’t even send out mass emails. He uses Twitter.

Trump is Twitter’s Biggest Asset

So, the President of the United States is providing free advertising for the company. Imagine the free advertising that Blue Apron would get if Trump ordered from them every day (and told everyone about it).

One of these days, someone is going to figure out how to monetize this unique feature. It may or may not be Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s CEO. It may or may not be Anthony Noto, Twitter’s COO. Or it may be someone new that the company brings in. But someone is going to do it.

Earnings?

But what about earnings? Yes, Twitter hasn’t been generating a profit. But look at Facebook (FB). The company lost $56 million back in 2008, and finally turned it around in 2009 with net income of $229 million. Everyone complains about Amazon (AMZN) not making any money. It lost $278 million in 2014 then showed a profit of $618 million the following year. LinkedIn generated losses in 2010 and 2011, then went profitable in 2012.

Here’s the thing about earnings. When you have income, you have to pay taxes. Once that money is paid out to the IRS, it is dead money; it is money that doesn’t benefit the company. However, applying excess cash flow to tax deductible expenditures, such as more employees, buildings, equipment, machinery, research and development, marketing, and advertising, will benefit the company. These expenses help the company grow and keep taxes low. As long as revenues keep increasing, it pays off in the end, as it did for Facebook, LinkedIn, and Amazon. (Yeah, yeah, I know, Amazon has an outrageously high price-to-earnings ratio and forward P/E, but look at the growth rate of revenues and earnings. Income for the latest fiscal year spiked 292% over the previous year.)

6 Revenue Increasers

But what can Twitter specifically do to increase revenues and earnings? Here is a list of suggestions.

1. Offer ads that appear by every tweet made by Trump. These ads could appear either above or below the tweet, or both.
2. Offer ads that appear by every major celebrity tweet, especially those with over a million followers.
3. When you check your lists, there should be an ad above or below the lists.
4. In the left hand column, under Trends for You, an ad should be available to advertisers. It would not be intrusive to users who first log on, but would be a great location for advertisers when users scroll down.
5. Aggressively go after major advertisers to pay for promoted tweets (Amazon book of the day, Wal-Mart deal of the day, Priceline travel deal of the day, etc.)
6. Set up a Tweet Bank. There are tweets that I want to save that have interesting links, gifs, or pictures. However, when I look for them after a month or two, they are very hard to find, even if I check my Like list. It would be nice if there was a little Save icon next to the Direct Message icon, where I could save the tweet into my Tweet Bank. (This isn’t really a profit making suggestion, just a user enhancement making idea.)

By the way, this is not a stock recommendation (in spite of what the title of this article says). I never give investment advice. This is just a suggestion for your own research and entertainment.

One of these days, Twitter will turn around. The bird will fly. It’s just a matter of who, what, and when.

Disclosure: Author owns TWTR and AMZN.

Article originally published on WSTNN.com on August 4, 2017.

Stocks Going Ex Dividend the Second Week of August

Here is our latest update on the stock trading technique called ‘Buying Dividends,’ also commonly referred to as ‘Dividend Capture.’ This is the process of buying stocks before the ex dividend date and selling the stock shortly after the ex date at about the same price, yet still being entitled to the dividend. This technique generally works only in bull markets, and can work in flat or choppy markets, but you need to avoid the technique during bear markets.

In order to be entitled to the dividend, you have to buy the stock before the ex-dividend date, and you can’t sell the stock until after the ex date. The actual dividend may not be paid for another few weeks.

WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has compiled a downloadable and sortable list of the stocks going ex dividend in the near future. The list contains many dividend paying companies, lots with market caps over $500 million, and yields over 2%. Here are a few examples showing the stock symbol, the ex-dividend date, the quarterly dividend amount, and annual yield.

Sonic Corp. (SONC)	8/7/2017	0.14	2.26%
American Electric Power Company, Inc. (AEP)	8/8/2017	0.59	3.30%
Starbucks Corporation (SBUX)	8/8/2017	0.25	1.74%
Wynn Resorts, Limited (WYNN)	8/8/2017	0.5	1.56%
Boeing Company (BA)	8/9/2017	1.42	2.10%

The additional ex-dividend stocks can be found here at wstnn.com. (If you have been to the website before, and the latest link doesn’t show up, you may have to empty your cache.) If you like dividend stocks, you should check out some of the other high yield stock lists at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com or WStNN.com. Most of the lists are free.Dividend definitions:

Declaration date: the day that the company declares that there is going to be an upcoming dividend.

Ex-dividend date: the day on which if you buy the stock, you would not be entitled to that particular dividend; or the first day on which a shareholder can sell the shares and still be entitled to the dividend.

Monthly Dividend Stock List
Record date: the day when you must be on the company’s books as a shareholder to receive the dividend. The ex-dividend date is normally set for stocks at two business days before the record date.

Payment date: the day on which the dividend payment is actually made, which can be as long at two months after the ex date.