France has the Nicest People in Europe

After recently returning from a trip to Paris and telling my friends and acquaintances about what a great vacation it was, I kept getting asked over and over again by many different people, "Weren't the French people rude?" It seemed like a strange comment but it was a carryover from an old stereotype, which seems to persist.

Let me set the record straight. French people could not have been nicer, friendlier, or more helpful. From the immigration official who said "Welcome to France," to the taxi drivers, to the hotel staff, to the restaurant waiters, to the tour guides, they were all polite and courteous. Even the woman con artist was friendly. Maybe it was a matter of luck, but I don't think so.

Everyone in the hotel was fantastic, at the Hotel Saint Honore. (The hotel advertises itself as a 3 star hotel but it seems more like a 4 star plus.) I can speak some French, and when I talked to the hotel staff in French, and reached my limit, they would immediately switch to English for me without a pause. I believe the French really support tourism and appreciate the tourist dollars.

It is interesting to note that France, which has Europe's second largest economy, has finally come out of its recession. France's exports increased by 2 percent during the latest quarter, and the country's quarterly GDP went up by 0.5 percent.

During the last couple years, French stocks have underperformed the S&P 500, with the market up over 35% but the iShares MSCI France Index (EWQ) was up only about 12%. Yet French stocks are catching up. In the last month, the France ETF outperformed the S&P.

If you want to invest in French companies more directly, there are a few stocks that pay decent dividends, such as Total SA (TOT), the oil and gas company which yields 4.8%. There is also Veolia Environnement (VE), which provides environmental management services and has a payout of 5%, and the healthcare company Sanofi (SNY) which yield 2.7%.

A bunch of other French stocks can be found on the free list at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Disclosure: I didn't own any of the above stocks at the time the article was written.

Stocks Going Ex Dividend the Second Week of May 2012

Here is our latest update on the stock trading technique called 'Buying Dividends'. 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. In flat or choppy markets, you have to be extremely careful, and may need to avoid the technique during those times.

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 during the next week or two. The list contains many dividend paying companies, all with market caps over $500 million, and yields over 2%. Here are a few examples showing the stock symbol, the market capitalization, the ex-dividend date and the yield.


 

Sanofi SA (ADR)	SNY	$98.7B	5/7/2012	4.7%
Entergy Corporation	ETR	$11.6B	5/8/2012	5.1%
Pitney Bowes Inc.	PBI	$3.5B	5/9/2012	8.7%
Valley National Bancorp	VLY	$2.4B	5/9/2012	5.4%

Eli Lilly & Co.	LLY	$46.3B	5/11/2012	4.9%
Shaw Communications Inc.	SJR	$8.4B	5/11/2012	4.9%
Vectren Corporation	VVC	$2.4B	5/11/2012	4.9%
Consolidated Edison, Inc.	ED	$17.2B	5/14/2012	4.1%

  The additional ex-dividend stocks can be found at wsnn.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 the high yield utility stocks and the Monthly Dividend Stocks at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com or WSNN.com.

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 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.

Don't forget to reconfirm the ex-dividend date with the company before implementing this technique.

Disclosure: Author did not own any of the above at the time the article was written.

By Stockerblog.com

Stocks Owned by Both Warren Buffett and George Soros

The two top investors are Berkshire Hathaway's (BRK-A) (BRK-B) Warren Buffett and George Soros. Both of these billionaires have been investing in stocks for years, with very successful track records. Soros has reportedly returned 20% per year for his investors and Buffett's Berkshire averaged an annual growth in book value of 20.3% for the last 44 years. According to the latest list of Warren Buffett Berkshire Hathaway stocks at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com, there are two stock that they agree on. As a matter of fact, they have been copying each other.

Soros is copying Buffett by recently buying one of Berkshire's holdings, Sanofi Aventis ADR (SNY), the Paris, France based health care company which produces prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, generics, vaccines, and animal health products. The stock trades at 8 times forward earnings and pays a decent yield of 3.8%. Earnings for the latest quarter were up 26.2% on a revenue increase of 11.1%.

Buffett has done the same thing. Soros has owned IBM (IBM) for a while and Buffett decided last quarter to jump on the bandwagon and buy some. IBM has a forward price to earnings ratio of 13 and provides a dividend of 1.6%. Quarterly earnings rose by 7% on a 7.1% rise in revenues.

For a free list of stocks that Warren Buffett owns, which can be downloaded, sorted, and updated, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Disclosure: Author did not own any of the above at the time the article was written.

By Stockerblog.com

Warren Buffett Invested $23.9 Billion for the Latest Quarter

Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A) (BRK-B) and the third richest man in the world, at least this week, invested $23.9 billion during the third quarter. Apparently, Buffett is now very bullish as this is the most he has spent in a quarter in the last 15 years. According to the Berkshire's latest report, stocks identified as “commercial, industrial and other” increased by a substantial 62 percent for the latest quarter.

There is no denying that Warren Buffett is an outstanding investor, and he knows what he is doing. Much has been written about Buffett, which gives advice about how to invest by following in his footsteps. But one of the easiest and best ways to invest like Buffett is by buying what he is buying. Over a dozen of the Warren Buffett Berkshire Hathaway stocks pay dividend yields in excess of 2%, according to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Buffett has a fairly diversified portfolio. He owns large oil companies, ConocoPhillips (COP) yielding 3.5% and Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) which pays a yield of 2.1%. He also owns food and beverage companies, including Kraft Foods Inc (KFT) paying 3.8% and Coca Cola Co (KO) which pays 2.7%. Buffett is also bullish on financial stocks, considering the number of companies he owns, such as M&T Bank Corp (MTB) yielding 3.1%, American Express Co (AXP) 1.6%, Bank of New York Mellon (BK) 1.2%, US Bancorp (USB) 0.7%, and Wells Fargo & Co (WFC) 0.6%.

The health care related stocks owned by Buffett include GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK) which yields 6.4%, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) 3.6%, and Sanofi Aventis (SNY) 3.2%.

You can access a free list of two dozen of the stocks owned by Warren Buffett at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com, which shows the PE ratio, the forward PE, the EG, and the yield.

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

By Stockerblog.com

Top Yielding French Stocks

Why did Standard & Poor's lower the rating on United States debt from AAA to AA+, while keeping the AAA rating for France? After all France has higher debt per capita than the US. If the country is that strong, maybe there are some strong companies worth looking into.

Lots of investment opportunities abound with French stocks, and according to the list that was just updated at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com, stocks based in France, there are over a dozen with yields in excess of 1.5%.

For example, Sanofi-Aventis (SNY) is the Paris based pharmaceutical company which has products that include Plavix, Ambien, Allegra, and Nasacort. The stock trades at 14.5 times current earnings with a forward price to earnings ratio of 7.4. The yield is decent 3.9%.

France Telecom (FTE) is the largest telecom company in France and the third largest in Europe. The stock has a price to earnings ratio of 10.6 and a forward PE of 7.7. The yield is an incredible 8.1%.

Veolia Environnement S.A. (VE) is a conglomerate involved in four businesses: water and wastewater services, environmental services, energy services, and bus, train, and ferry transportation services. The PE is 36.5 with a forward PE of 7.8. The yield is a nice 9.7%.

To see all of the high yield French stocks that trade on US exchanges, which you can download, sort, and update, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Disclosure: Author did not own any of the above at the time the article was written.

By Stockerblog.com

Top Yield Stocks of Warren Buffett

Last month, eBay (EBAY) held an auction of a lunch with the famous billionaire investor Warren Buffett, head of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A) (BRK-B). The high bid at the auction was $2,345,678. With Buffett's outstanding track record, and investors willing to pay millions to have lunch with him to pick his brain.

Many of the stocks that Buffett owns through Berkshire Hathaway pay dividends, according to the free list at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com. Yields range from less than one percent to in excess of six percent.

Kraft Foods Inc (KFT) is one of the high dividend payers on the list, sporting a yield of 3.3%. It trades at 13.8 times earnings, however earnings were down over 57% for the latest quarter on an 11% increase in revenues. The company reports earnings August 4.

Another high yielder owned by Buffett is Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), yielding 3.4%. It has a forward price to earnings ratio of 12.4. The company just reported earnings, which were down about 20% on an 8.3 increase in revenues.

A couple other high yield Buffett stocks include ConocoPhillips (COP) yielding 3.5% and Sanofi Aventis (SNY) with a payout rate of 3.3%.

To see other high yield Warren Buffett stocks, you can download the free list at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com, which can be updated and sorted.

Disclosure: Author owns EBAY.

By Stockerblog.com

High Yield French Stocks

Investors keep hearing about the financial problems of Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Italy, and Greece. However, France is making major moves to strengthen its economy and reduce its large national debt. After all, the country doesn't want to end up like one of the PIIGS.

There are plenty of investment opportunities in French stocks, and according to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com's recently updated list of stocks based in France, there are ten that pay yields in excess of 1%. .

For example, France Telecom (FTE) is the largest telecom company in France and the third largest in Europe. The stock has a price to earnings ratio of 9.8 and a forward PE of 9.1. The Price Earnings Growth ratio is a reasonable 1.06, and the yield is an incredible 6.1%.

Sanofi-Aventis (SNY) is the Paris based pharmaceutical company which has products that include Plavix, Ambien, Allegra, and Nasacort. The PE is 10.1 with a forward PE of 6.9. The yield is decent 3.3%.

Veolia Environnement S.A. (VE) is a conglomerate involved in four businesses: water and wastewater services, environmental services, energy services, and bus, train, and ferry transportation services. The PE is 14 with a forward PE of 15.7. The PEG is an excellend 0.99 and the yield is a nice 4.1%.

To see a list of the rest of the French stocks that trade in the US, which you can download, sort, and update, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Disclosure: Author did not own any of the above at the time the article was written.

By Stockerblog.com

Exclusive Interview with Ken Fisher Part 3 - Con Artists, Madoff, Rats

Ken Fisher is a money manager, and on the list of the Forbes 400 Richest Americans. He is also a Forbes columnist, where he recently recmmended several income stocks, such as TransCanada (TRP), Repsol (REP), and Sanofi-Aventis (SNY). His latest book, Debunkery: Learn It, Do It, and Profit from It-Seeing Through Wall Street's Money-Killing Myths was just published. He is also author of several other books, including The Ten Roads to Riches: The Ways the Wealthy Got There (And How You Can Too!) and How to Smell a Rat: The Five Signs of Financial Fraud

Ken Fisher Interview Part 3
Please note: Interview took place on Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Stockerblog: Let's talk about Bunk number 11, A Good Con Artist is Hard to Spot. As a follow-up to your How to Smell a Rat book from last year, do you think things have change in terms of the government taking a look at possible rats, or individual investors being more alert and aware, or do you think nothing has really changed?


Fisher: I think there's been a little bit of change on the part of the government but only a little bit, and let me address that. First, while my book How to Smell a Rat made the best sellers list, for the most part in today's world, book sales are down anyway. You can make the New York Times best sellers list if your book sells 35,000 copies in the first year, which isn't that much. My Only Three Questions book had to sell 125,000 copies in 2007 to do that. Today you can do it for about 35,000 copies. So that tells you 35,000 people bought the book, probably half of them never even opened it, and gave it to somebody as a gift or whatever, and people got it as a gift, and so on. So my point is not that many people as a percent of the investor world actually gets past the basic methodology.

There's this notion that nobody could have figured out Bernard Madoff was Bernard Madoff. Bernard Madoff, as I wrote about it in the book, had ALL the classic signs of the con artist, every single one, straight on down the list, and the most telling about that was that he took custody. Now what the SEC is starting to do, which is very good in the aftermath of Madoff and as I prescribed in that book, not that they listen to me, they understand this, the SEC has accelerated their inspections of those who take custody and put more emphasis on them and less emphasis on those that don't take custody, because they understand that this kind of thing happens 100% of the time where somebody's taking custody. So if you are looking for Bernard Madoff's, you look among the realm of those that take custody.

The dilemma unfortunately, is that you've got a lot of people that operate in realms that don't require an SEC registration, and unless somebody complains about them, they're not going to see them, smaller hedge funds and what have you. I think Bernard Madoffs will be harder to do at that size. If Madoff hadn't existed, Stanford would have been the biggest one in history. Both of these were lots and lots of much smaller ones, and that world is still out there. That world, that I wrote about in How to Smell a Rat, every time you have a bear market, Ponzi scheme operators get uncovered. It's kind of the Warren Buffett line that "you don't know who's swimming naked until the tide goes out."

Whenever you have a bear market and sentiment falls drastically, Ponzi scheme operators that are dependent on raising new money from optimistic people to pay off redemptions, which is the game of the Ponzi operator, they can't do it so they get uncovered for the first time. And guys that have successfully Ponzi schemed through a whole market, they get uncovered in a bear market and the consequences of a bear market. So the big ones for this cycle have been done. But that doesn't mean there aren't people out that are still doing it. There will be and the next cycle around there will be another raid.

Unfortunately, I don't believe that this stuff ever goes away. It's a little like the notion of mildew in a moist environment; you may clean it off here and clean it off there but once you wait, it just comes back. Or maybe Neil Young's line in a song he did a long time ago that "rust never sleeps."

End of Part 3

The Debunkery book is available at Amazon.

Ken Fisher obviously doesn't give individual stock recommendations in his interviews, but some stocks he likes that were mentioned in his recent Forbes columns, including high dividend stocks, are available in the form of a free Excel list at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Part 1 of this interview is available HERE.

Part 2 of this interview is available HERE.

By Fred Fuld at Stockerblog.com

Disclosure: Interviewer doesn't own any of the stocks mentioned in this interview series at the time the article was written.

Copyright 2010. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this interview prohibited without permission. All opinions are those of Ken Fisher, and do not represent the opinions of Stockerblog.com or the interviewer. Neither Stockerblog nor the interviewer nor the interviewee are rendering tax, legal, or investment advice in this interview. If you want tax, legal, or investment advice, contact the appropriate professional.

How to Get a Dividend from Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway

Let's say that you are a dividend investor who likes Warren Buffett. It won't do you any good to by Berkshire Hathaway A shares (BRK-A) or B shares (BRK-B), since the stock doesn't pay a dividend. So what's an income investor to do? You check out the list of all the stocks owned by Warren Buffett, then find the stocks with the highest yields and best financials. WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has a downloadable list of all the Berkshire Hathaway stocks, over 15 of which have yields above 2% and nine of which have yields more than 3%.

One of the high yielding stocks on the list is the international integrated energy company ConocoPhillips (COP), which yields 3.8% and has a forward PE of 8.1. This Houston, Texas company has been around since 1917, and has raised its dividend every year since the year 2001.

Another Buffett high yielder is Sanofi Aventis (SNY), paying a nice rate of 3.6%. This is the Paris, France based pharmaceutical company that markets Plavix, Ambien, Allegra, Nasacort, and numerous other medicines and vaccines. The stock has a forward price to earnings ratio of 7.

For more high yields and diversification, there is Kraft Foods (KFT), yielding 3.9%. This food, beverage, and snack company has a forward PE of 13.1.

To access a free list of the Warren Buffett stocks, which can be downloaded, changed, and sorted by yield and forward PE, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Author does not own any of the above.

By Stockerblog.com

Vive La France Stocks

France is doing what it can to help improve its economy, trying its best to cut its huge national debt. After all, the country doesn't want to end up like one of the PIIGS. The Prime Minister, Francois Fillon, increased retirement age by two years, much to the dismay of the unions, and is considering freezing salaries for three years for government employees.

In addition, France will be hosting the G8 Summit next year. G8 is a forum for the governments of eight major countries: France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and Russia.

So the question is, are there some investment opportunities with French stocks? WallStreetNewsNetwork.com just published a new downloadable list of the stocks based in France.

France Telecom (FTE) is the largest telecom company in France and the third largest in Europe. The stock has a PE of 12 and a forward PE of 8.5. The PEG ratio is a reasonable 1.18, and the yield is a CD beating 4.7%.

Sanofi-Aventis (SNY) is the Paris based pharmaceutical company which has products that include Plavix, Ambien, Allegra, and Nasacort. The PE is 12 with a forward PE of 7.2. The PEG ratio is unfortunately very high at 5.38. The yield is decent 3.6%.

Veolia Environnement S.A. (VE) is a conglomerate involved in four businesses: water and wastewater services, environmental services, energy services, and bus, train, and ferry transportation services. The PE is 16.5 with a forward PE of 13.1. The PEG is 1.22 and the yield is 4.8%.

To see a list of the rest of the French stocks that trade in the US, which you can download, sort, and add to, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Author does not own any of the above.

By Stockerblog.com

Warren Buffett's Top Yielding Stocks

If you like dividends and you like Warren Buffett, it won't do you any good to by Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A) (BRK-B), since the stock doesn't pay a dividend. So what's an income investor to do? You review all the stocks owned by Warren Buffett, then find the stocks with the highest yields and best financials. WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has an Excel spreadsheet of all the Berkshire Hathaway stocks, 17 of which have yields above 2% and four of which have yields more than 4%.

One of the highest yielding stocks on the list is Sanofi Aventis (SNY), paying a nice rate of 4.5%. This is the Paris, France based pharmaceutical company that markets Plavix, Ambien, Allegra, Nasacort, and numerous other medicines and vaccines. The stock has a forward price to earnings ratio of 8 and earnings for the latest quarter were up 59.5%.

Another Buffett high yielder is the international integrated energy company ConocoPhillips (COP), which yields 4.2% and has a forward PE of 6.5. This Houston, Texas company has been around since 1917, and has raised its dividend every year since the year 2001. The operating cash flow is $12.48 billion, easily covering the $3 billion in dividend payouts.

For more high yields and diversification, there is Kraft Foods (KFT), yielding 4.1%. This food, beverage, and snack company has a forward PE of 12 and generated a 335.6% earnings increase for the latest quarter.

To access a free list of the Warren Buffett stocks, which can be downloaded, changed, and sorted by yield and forward PE, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Author does not own any of the above.

By Stockerblog.com