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Sunday, September 30, 2012

Book Review: The New Tycoons: Inside the Trillion Dollar Private Equity Industry That Owns Everything

The book, The New Tycoons: Inside the Trillion Dollar Private Equity Industry That Owns Everything by Jason Kelly has everything you ever wanted to know and even what you didn't even know you wanted to know, about the private equity business.

What is so interesting is how many business are currently owned by private equity funds: Dunkin' Donuts, J. Crew, Toys "R" Us, Burger King, Hilton, Legoland, Hertz, The Weather Channel, Madam Tussaud's, Outback Steakhouse, Gymboree, Guitar Center, Miramax, Sea World, and Petco. Huge amounts of money have been made in the private equity world. And fortunately for smaller investors, there is a way for them to get in on the action, since a few of the private equity funds are publicly traded, companies such as Blackstone Group (BX), Carlyle Group (CG), and KKR (KKR).

Kelly provides extensive coverage of how private equity firms operate, from raising money, purchasing the company, improving operations, and finally selling. One of the most interesting aspects of the book is the interviews with the top players. If you want to know all about private equity, read The New Tycoons: Inside the Trillion Dollar Private Equity Industry That Owns Everything.

The 123 Year Old Natural Gas Company that Pays a 3.9% Yield

There is a natural gas utility company that is the eighth oldest listed stock on the New York Stock Exchange, and celebrated its 120 year anniversary on December 7, 2009. In addition, it was one of the original stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, back in 1896. How's that for a track record.

And the name of the stock is Laclede Group Inc. (LG), formerly known as Laclede Gas Company. This is a natural gas utility that yields 3.9%, trades at 15.9 times trailing earnings, and has a forward price to earnings ratio of 15.8. The company pays out $37.37 million in dividends, very well covered by the company's operating cash flow of $94 million. The company has increased its dividend every year since 2003. Net economic earnings for the latest quarter were $0.40 per share compared to $0.65 per share last year. Excluding prior year earnings of $0.27 per share from the propane sale, net economic earnings grew by 5% from the prior year.

Other natural gas and propane gas utilities with high yields are available. WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has turned up over 20 gas utilities with yields ranging from 2% to in excess of 10%, such as Nicor (GAS) yielding 4.5%, Spectra Energy (SE) yielding 3.8%, and Chesapeake Utilities (CPK) yielding 3.1%.

You might also consider investing in electric utilities, which also pay fairly high yields, many in excess of 5%.

To see a list of 20 gas utilities, you can get a free downloadable Excel database of natural gas and propane stocks at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

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

By Stockerblog.com

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Cheap Stocks Selling Below Cash and Debt Free

It would be pretty difficult for a company to go out of business if it is debt free, compared with companies that are heavily encumbered with loans. If you are able to buy a stock for less than the book value, that is even better. The book value is, in very simple terms, all assets minus all liabilities, dividend by the number of shares. In other words, if the company went out of business today and was able to liquidate everything immediately, what each shareholder would receive.

However, an even better buy would be if you could buy the company's stock for less than the amount of cash it has for each share. It may be hard to believe, but there are over 15 stocks trading at less than the cash per share, according to the latest list of Stocks Selling Below Cash per Share at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

One example is Amtech Systems Inc. (ASYS), a Tempe, Arizona based company which manufactures and markets the capital equipment used in the manufacture of wafers, primarily for the semiconductor and solar industries. This debt-free company, which closed at 3.31 on Friday, is selling way below its book value of 10.90, and about a 25% discount to the amount of cash per share of 4.47. Net revenue for the third quarter of fiscal 2012 was $24.3 million, up 13% from $21.6 million for the preceding quarter. The net loss for the third quarter of fiscal 2012 was $3 million or a loss of $0.31 per share compared to a net loss of $5.1 million or $0.54 per share in the preceding quarter.

If you trust the financials from Chinese based companies, you may want to take a look at UTStarcom Holdings Corp. (UTSI), a Beijing, China based business which makes and markets Internet protocol-based telecommunications infrastructure products to telecommunications service providers. Customers are based in China, Japan, India, the United States, Latin America, and Europe. The stock trades at 25.8 times earnings, and based on its closing price on Friday of 1.03, is selling at an approximately 45% discount to the cash per share of 1.86. During July and August, the company repurchased $2.2 million of its shares as part of its ongoing $20 million share repurchase program that was launched in August 2011. The company has no debt.

O2Micro International Ltd. (OIIM) is a debt-free Cayman Islands based company involved in the creation and selling of integrated circuits for power management and e-commerce components and systems. The stock closed at 3.74, which is at a discount to its cash per share of 3.83, and way below the book value of 5.36.

For a free list of all the debt-free stocks selling below cash, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com. The list can be downloaded, sorted, and updated.

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

Friday, September 28, 2012

Stocks Going Ex Dividend the Second Week of October

  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 ex-dividend date, the yield, and the market capitalization.

ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (ARR) 10/11/2012 14.3% $2.3B

Harsco Corporation (HSC) 10/11/2012 3.8% $1.7B

Mid America Apartment Communities Inc (MAA) 10/11/2012 4.0% $2.7B

Shaw Communications Inc. (SJR) 10/11/2012 4.8% $8.6B

Consolidated Communications Holdings Inc (CNSL) 10/11/2012 8.7% $704.5M

SAIC, Inc. (SAI) 10/11/2012 3.8% $4.3B

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.

Buying Dividends (Dividend Capture) book 25% Off

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

Monday, September 24, 2012

Stocks Going Ex Dividend the First Week of October

  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 ex-dividend date, the yield, and the market capitalization.

Kimco Realty Corp (KIM) 10/1/2012 3.68% $8.4B

Raytheon Company (RTN) 10/1/2012 3.44% $19.2B

Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) 10/1/2012 3.76% $76.7B

Bristol Myers Squibb Co. (BMY) 10/3/2012 4.1% $56.9B

Dynex Capital, Inc. (DX) 10/3/2012 10.7% $592.1M

Erie Indemnity Company (ERIE) 10/3/2012 3.4% $3.1B

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (DRI) 10/5/2012 3.50% $7.3B

UDR, Inc. (UDR) 10/5/2012 3.49% $6.3B

Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) 10/5/2012 4.51% $130.1B

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.

Buying Dividends (Dividend Capture) book 25% Off

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

Sunday, September 23, 2012

The New Tycoons: Inside the Trillion Dollar Private Equity Industry That Owns Everything

The following is an excerpt from the book The New Tycoons.

Prologue
By Jason Kelly,
Author of The New Tycoons: Inside the Trillion Dollar Private Equity Industry That Owns Everything

Standing in Legoland in Carlsbad, California in 2011, fulfilling a promise to my then eight-year-old son William, it hit me. I was strolling around a Blackstone-owned property. We'd woken up in a Homewood Suites, owned by Blackstone-backed Hilton. We'd driven to the park in a rental car from Hertz, owned by private-equity firms Carlyle and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. Practically every time I'd opened my wallet that day, it had been to a company owned by private equity. Even on vacation, I couldn't escape.

A few months later, I had dinner with Greg Brenneman, who'd held top positions at Continental, Burger King, and Quizno's, all private-equity-owned at the time he was involved. Brenneman is now the chairman of CCMP Capital, whose investments have included 1-800-Flowers.com and Vitamin Shoppe. We talked at length about the ubiquity of PE ownership -- my J. Crew sweater, the Dollar General store in my wife's hometown in the Catskills. I started a running list on my BlackBerry that quickly grew to dozens of examples. Brand names piled up, from Toys "R" Us to Petco. The more I looked, the more I found it.

The numbers are staggering. Private-equity firms globally and collectively had almost $3 trillion in assets at the end of 2011.1 The companies they own account for about 8 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product by one estimate.2

Contemplating how they got all that money in the first place triggered another thought, a memory of a colleague mentioning that her mother was a teacher in suburban Toronto and had her retirement account in the hands of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. I'd profiled that pension for Bloomberg Businessweek in early 2010 -- they were pursuing a strategy of buying companies directly, like vitamin retailer GNC. Thousands of other pensions, endowments, and government funds, from California to Singapore, were committing hundreds of billions to the likes of Blackstone and KKR. I thought of my in-laws, each with a pension. They, and millions of folks like them were, usually unknowingly, owners of dozens of companies on my ever-growing BlackBerry list.

While the business of buying and selling companies is far from new, the emergence of these players was relatively sudden. What began as a cottage industry known as bootstrapping and leveraged buyouts in the 1970s and 1980s, had blossomed in the 1990s as a handful of small players started to grow rapidly and others, eyeing a huge opportunity, hung out their own shingles. Somewhere toward the turn of the twenty-first century, the more genteel "private equity" became the chosen descriptor. The name may have changed, but the basic business model was the same: collect money, pair it with debt, and buy a company with the intent of selling it down the line for a profit.

The period from 2000 to the present changed everything. Small private partnerships accustomed to rounding up a few hundred million dollars suddenly were raising funds well in excess of $10 billion, accepting huge sums of money from pensions and endowments eager for investment returns topping 20 or 30 percent a year. Wall Street became an eager lender, developing new ways to provide the debt financing in order to get the associated fees. Big investment banks took to investing alongside their clients.

All that money meant that almost nothing was out of bounds for private equity, and 2005 to 2007 saw a spate of deals for companies deeply entrenched in the infrastructure of our everyday lives, from hospital giant HCA to credit card processor First Data to hotelier Hilton. My own introduction was a baptism by fire; I began covering the industry in February 2007. During my first week, news leaked of the biggest-ever takeover, the leveraged buyout of power producer TXU.

What happened next was a different sort of education. Deal making came to a screeching halt with the credit freeze of 2007 and 2008 that triggered the broader global financial crisis. The private-equity managers generally hunkered down, and tried to soothe their own anxious investors pummeled by the public markets -- investors who also were worried about what they owned through their buyout funds. Unlike hedge funds, where a bad trade can mean huge losses, an ill-conceived private-equity deal can linger. When the dust settled, private-equity firms still owned all of the companies they'd bought in the boom.

Emerging from the crisis, existential questions abounded. My Legoland epiphany demonstrated just how embedded private equity was in our everyday lives. What seemed like an arcane corner of finance when I arrived was actually central to all of us and very few people actually knew who they were or what they did.

Reporting and writing about business, especially finance and especially in New York, can sometimes feel like a demented sports beat, simply keeping score and tracking rich people getting richer or marginally less rich. But in this case, that's just scratching the surface. What these guys are doing matters to all of us in some form or fashion.

Private equity by its nature and design, is secretive, a breathtakingly wealthy corner of the world where the names only occasionally escape the business pages, names like Stephen Schwarzman, David Bonderman, and David Rubenstein. The relatively small firms they've created, by virtue of what they were able to buy with those ever-growing pools gave them outsized influence as owners and employers. Blackstone, Schwarzman's firm, alone counts almost a million employees through companies it controls. They are modern day Wizards of Oz -- the men behind the private-equity curtain.

The best way to understand these men is to look at what they've created, and it's startling how much each of the largest private-equity firms are mirrors of the founders themselves. There's an egotism at the center of the whole exercise. After all, each of these men, some more willingly than others, ditched successful careers because they deeply believed they saw something that only a handful of others did. And then they went a step further. They decided to build what have become massively influential institutions meant to outlast them.

To understand what they created and what it means to have them so entrenched in our lives, I decided to follow the money to reveal through their words and actions the implications of their activities to fix actions. The trail begins in the sanitized meeting rooms of public pensions, moves to palatial suites in skyscrapers with top-of-the-world views, and on to discount stores and pizza chains and hotels, before it comes all the way back to those same vanilla pension offices and eventually to the retirement checks of teachers and firefighters and, in one of several twists, even some workers of the companies owned by private-equity firms.

Along the way, that money finds itself augmented by debt and pushed into companies that may thrive, implode, maintain, or simply fade away. The money befuddles Washington lawmakers and regulators, in a debate sharpened by the presidential candidacy of Mitt Romney. His private-equity career has brought the industry into the public consciousness in a never-before-seen way, prompting its largest players to explain themselves with at times surprising candor.

Their contemplation stems not only from a bright spotlight but from their own personal situations. Having created unbelievable amounts of wealth for themselves, they're mulling their own legacies, in terms of the empires they've built and what they'll ultimately do with their riches.

With all the talk of retirement, it's easy to forget the relative youth of the industry. I've come to think of private equity as a teenager with a lot of potential, but still struggling with adolescent tendencies -- at times unresponsive, rash, selfish, and fluctuating between arrogance and self- doubt. By virtue of some hard work and a lot of luck, it's ended up in a position to potentially be an upstanding member of society. To ignore it or wish it away is foolhardy. It's here and the influence is growing. And whether it's the price of your morning cup of coffee, your bed sheets on a business trip, or the size of your retirement check in the mailbox, you're involved.

1. Paul Hodkinson, "Logjam Gives Buyout Firms $1.2 Trillion Hangover," Financial News, March 19, 2012. http://media.efinancialnews.com/story/ 2012-03-19/logjam-gives-buyout-firms-hangover
2. Katie Gilbert, "New Green Portfolio Program Could Change Private Equity," Institutional Investor, September 6, 2011. www.institutionalinvestor.com/Article/2895315/New-Green-Portfolio-Program-Could-Change-Private-Equity.html

The above is an excerpt from the book The New Tycoons by Jason Kelly. The above excerpt is a digitally scanned reproduction of text from print. Although this excerpt has been proofread, occasional errors may appear due to the scanning process. Please refer to the finished book for accuracy.

Reprinted with permission from the publisher, Wiley, from The New Tycoons, by Jason Kelly. Copyright © 2012.

Author Bio
Jason Kelly is a writer covering the global private equity industry for Bloomberg News in New York and the author of The New Tycoons: Inside the Trillion Dollar Private Equity Industry That Owns Everything. He's a frequent contributor to Bloomberg Television and Bloomberg Businessweek. During his tenure at Bloomberg, he's written about issues ranging from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to economic development during the war in Afghanistan. Prior to joining Bloomberg in 2002, he was the editor in chief of digitalsouthmagazine, a publication focused on technology and finance in the Southeast and Texas. He earned a bachelor's degree from Georgetown University.

Friday, September 21, 2012

Top High Yield Electric Utilities

If you are looking to invest your money for income, where do you look? T-Bills? No. Savings accounts? No. Certificates of deposit? No. I was recently at my bank and noticed a big sign that said 'Earn 1.5%' in large letters with with small letters underneath that said 'With a 10 year CD." Yes, that's right, you have to tie up your money for ten years.

One alternative is electric utility stocks. Not only are the yields higher, but investors have the potential of increasing dividends. The yields on these utilities range from 3.0% to above 7.0%, according to the latest free list of electric utility stocks at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com. There are over 30 utilities with yields of 3% or more.

One utility with a wide variety of fuel sources used to run its generators is Hawaiian Electric Industries (HE), which is one of the leading utilities involved in the use of renewable energy sources for the generation of electricity. The fuel sources include sugarcane waste, wind, solar, photovoltaic, geothermal, wave, hydroelectric, municipal waste, and other biofuels. Earnings for the latest quarter ending June 30 were up an amazing 43% on a 7.5% increase in revenues. The stock trades at 15.7 times forward earnings and has a 4.6% yield.

Another high yield electric utility is Ameren Corporation (AEE), which serves customers in Missouri and Illinois. The stock trades at 16.7 times forward earnings and pays a nice yield of 4.9%. This St. Louis based company generates its electricity from coal, nuclear, gas, and hydroelectric sources. Earnings rose by an incredible 52% for the latest quarter, on a 7% drop in revenues.


Consolidated Edison (ED), which serves New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, pays a 4.1% yield and trades at 15.3 times forward earnings. Earnings for the latest quarter were up 29.7%, however revenues were down 7.4%. This Richmond, Virginia based company provides electricity to customers in Virginia and North Carolina.
For a free list of over thirty high yield electric utility stocks, 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

Would You Pay a Million Dollars for this Penny?

How much would you pay for a penny? How about $1,000,000? That's what the co-owner of the Texas Rangers did. Check out this million dollar penny video.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Business and Investment Domain Names are Up for Auction

Sedo is having its monthly Great Domains auction of domain names. Here are the ones that are business and investment related. Take a look at the last one one the list.

creditbanking.net

swissbank.de

casinos.mx

lasvegas.com.br

blackjack.me

florida.biz

webmaster.net

auctionblock.com

healthcaresystem.org

shoppingbuzz.com

freephonesite.com

spend.us

wealthy.us

onlinegifts.com

compoundinterest.com

lakeproperties.net

stockbroke.com

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Top Stocks for Day Traders

Beta is one measurement of risk. Beta, also known as the beta coefficient, measures how the expected return of a stock is correlated to the performance of the stock market as a whole. A positive beta, such as a 1 or 2, means that the stock usually tracks the market in general. A zero beta means that the stock price is not correlated with the stock market at all. And a negative beta means that the stock tracks the market inversely.

A beta of 1 means the stock tracks the market directly, e.g. 1% rise in the market means 1% rise for the stock. The higher the beta, the more riskier the stock, yet the greater the return potential. For example, if the stock market increases by 3%, a stock with a beta of 2 should increase by 6%, twice as much. So for day traders, high beta stocks may be the way to go.

The following stocks have betas above 3, PE ratios less than 20, PEG ratios less than 1, and market caps greater than $500 million.

Pier 1 Imports, Inc. ( PIR ) has a beta of 4.3 . It has a PE of 11.4 and a PEG ratio of 0.62 .

Dana Holding Corporation ( DAN ) has a beta of 4.2 . It has a PE of 8.6 and a PEG ratio of 0.67 .

ACCO Brands Corporation ( ACCO ) has a beta of 3.8 . It has a PE of 6.4 and a PEG ratio of 0.69 .

Unisys Corporation ( UIS ) has a beta of 3.8 . It has a PE of 4.8 and a PEG ratio of 0.48 .

Sonic Automotive Inc ( SAH ) has a beta of 3.5 . It has a PE of 13.7 and a PEG ratio of 0.70 .

Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, Inc. ( DTG ) has a beta of 3.5 . It has a PE of 13.9 and a PEG ratio of 0.93 .

American International Group, Inc. ( AIG ) has a beta of 3.4 . It has a PE of 3.0 and a PEG ratio of 0.21 .

Office Depot Inc ( ODP ) has a beta of 3.4 . It has a PE of 10.6 and a PEG ratio of 0.96 .

Tenneco Inc. ( TEN ) has a beta of 3.3 . It has a PE of 10.4 and a PEG ratio of 0.41 .

Valassis Communications, Inc. ( VCI ) has a beta of 3.1 . It has a PE of 11.1 and a PEG ratio of 0.88 .

Another way to get a much higher return than the performance of a sector or industry, without buying on margin, is by using Ultra Bullish ETFs, a list of which can be found at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.


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


By Stockerblog.com

New Stocks in Warren Buffett's Portfolio

Famous billionaire, Warren Buffett, who is the head of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A) (BRK-B), is one of the three richest people in the world. Known for his outstanding investing success, investors have been following his every move. People who want to ride on the coattails of Buffett usually look through the list of Warren Buffett stocks, and buy the ones they think are the best. According to the free list of Warren Buffett stocks at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com, Warren Buffett has over 35 stocks to choose from, and more than 25 of which pay dividends.

But instead of looking at what he has owned for a long time, let's take a look at what showed up in the Berkshire Hathaway portfolio in the latest reported quarter. First, there is Phillips 66 (PSX), which is actually a spinoff of 28.8 million shares of ConocoPhillips (COP) which Buffett has owned for a while. Phillips 66 operates Conoco, Phillips 66 and 76 (also known as Union 76) gas stations. The stock trades at a very favorable 5.9 times trailing earnings and 8.2 times forward earnings. Earnings for the latest quarter were up 13.7% on an 11.6% drop in revenues. It sports a yield of 1.7%.

One of Buffett's purchases is National Oilwell Varco (NOV), which makes and markets land-based and offshore oil drilling rigs in addition to the major mechanical components for the rigs. It also provides additional services to the oil industry. The stock trades at 15 times earnings and 12 times forward earnings, with a yield of 0.6%. The company reported quarterly earnings that were up an amazing 24.8%.

Lee Enterprises Inc. (LEE) was another Warren Buffett purchase, and a low priced stock purchase at that, with the stock trading at less than $1.50 per share. This Davenport, Iowa based company publishes over 50 daily newspapers in more than 20 states, and more than 300 weekly, classified, and specialty publications. The company recently reported negative earnings and does not pay a dividend.

In case you are wondering what Buffett dumped, there was one stock that he sold out of completely, Intel (INTC). He sold 7.745 million shares providing $217.75 million to the portfolio.

If you want to see what other stocks owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, you can access the free list at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com, which you can download and sort.

Disclosure: Author owns COP.

By Stockerblog.com

Famous Quotations of Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett, famous investor and head of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A) (BRK-B), is known for his great investment decisions and outstanding returns for his investors. Here are some of his famous quotations:

"When we own portions of outstanding businesses with outstanding managements, our favorite holding period is forever."

"We will reject interesting opportunities rather than over-leverage our balance sheet. "

"Never count on making a good sale. Have the purchase price be so attractive that even a mediocre sale gives good results."

"I wouldn't mind going to jail if I had three cellmates who played bridge."

"We don't get paid for activity, just for being right. As to how long we'll wait, we'll wait indefinitely."

"The stock market is a no-called-strike game. You don't have to swing at everything—you can wait for your pitch. The problem when you're a money manager is that your fans keep yelling, 'Swing, you bum!'"

"I try to buy stock in businesses that are so wonderful that an idiot can run them. Because sooner or later, one will."

"I've reluctantly discarded the notion of my continuing to manage the portfolio after my death—abandoning my hope to give new meaning to the term 'thinking outside the box.'"

"I don't have a problem with guilt about money. The way I see it is that my money represents an enormous number of claim checks on society. It is like I have these little pieces of paper that I can turn into consumption."

"Success in investing doesn't correlate with I.Q. once you're above the level of 125. Once you have ordinary intelligence, what you need is the temperament to control the urges that get other people into trouble in investing."

"I think I could make you 50% a year on $1 million. No, I know I could. I guarantee that."

"Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago."

Warren Buffett stocks are available in a free list at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Gold at the Highest Level Since February - Top Gold Income Stocks

If you have been watching the price of gold recently, you would have noticed that gold has been trading at its highest level since the end of February of this year. Many analysts believe that god, and the gold mining stocks, still have a long way to go. Investors that want to participate may want to look for the gold mining companies that pay dividends in order to help reduce risk. According to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com, there are over twenty dividend paying gold stocks, with more than ten with yields in excess of 1.5%.

One example is Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX), which increased the dividend back in April from 25 cents per quarter to 31.3 cents, giving the stock a 3.6% yield. Freeport trades at 12.5 times trailing earnings and 8.6 times forward earnings. It pays a very favorable yield of 3.0%, and pays its dividend quarterly. Earnings tanked by 48% for the latest quarter, with revenues dropping 23%.

Yamana Gold Inc. (AUY) is another gold stock that pays a decent quarterly dividend, offering a payout rate of 1.4%. The stock has a current price to earnings ratio of 34.5 and a forward PE of 13.7. The company was recently upgraded by HSBC Securities from Neutral to Overweight. Quarterly earnings for the latest quarter were down 78% on a 6.6% reduction in revenues.

A few other high yield gold stock ideas are Rio Tinto plc ADR (RIO), paying a yield of 2.8% and Newmont Mining Corporation (NEM), yielding 2.5%.

For a free list of over twenty high yield gold and silver stocks, which you can download, sort, and update, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

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

By Stockerblog.com

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Supposedly Poor Man Dies with $7 Million in Gold

An elderly Carson City, Nevada man who lived alone had only $200 in the bank when he died. However, when his house was being cleaned out, it was discovered that he had hundreds of gold coins, amounting to $7 million.

By the way, if you like gold stocks, check out the free list of high yield gold stocks, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Apple Stock Breaks Through 700 per Share for the First Time

Because of the huge demand for the Apple (AAPL) iPhone 5, far greater than expected, the Apple stock has shot through the 700 per share level. The price of the stock seemed to be running neck and neck with Google (GOOG), but Google had already won the 700 race.

Monday, September 17, 2012

First Audit of the Federal Reserve: $16 Trillion in Secret Bailouts

For the first time in about 100 years, the Federal Reserve has been audited, thanks to the long term efforts of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.), along with help from Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) and many others. As a matter of fact, a huge majority of the House passed the bill to audit the Federal Reserve.

But the even bigger news is the secret bailouts to other countries around the world to the tune of $16 trillion. That's trillion, not billion. This is more than the entire GDP of the Unitd States. And it hasn't just been bailing out governments, but also corporations and banks, such as Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays, UBS, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank.

The worst news is that the loans were given out at zero percent interest, with virtually none of the money having been repaid.

Ex Dividend Stock List Corrected

There was some kind of an import glitch with the September 2012 Ex Dividend stock list at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com, which caused the dates to appear as 2008. The list has been fixed.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Did a Stock Really Trade for Over $1,000,000 a Share?

What do you think was the highest priced share of stock ever to trade? And what do you think that share price was? If you think it's Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A) (BRK-B), you would be wrong.

The company was Yahoo! Japan Corporation (YAHOY) (YAHOF), according to StockMarketTrivia.com. A representative for Shareholder Relations for the Yahoo! Japan company stated that the highest price of the stock was 167.9 million Japanese Yen on Feb. 22, 2000. If you exchange the amount of Japanese Yen into US dollars at the exchange rate at that time (Approx USD1=JPY111.01), it was approximately $1,512,500 per share.

Yahoo! Japan is a Japanese Internet company formed as a joint venture between the American internet company Yahoo! (YHOO) and the Japanese internet company SoftBank (SFTBF). It was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

For the latest quarter ending June 30, 2012, the company reported an earnings increase of 7.6% on an 8.0% rise in revenues. The stock trades on the JASDAQ and in the US in the over-the-counter market.

Disclosure: Author owns YHOO.

By Stockerblog.com

Friday, September 14, 2012

Will the Soft Drink Ban in New York City Affect Beverage Companies?

Soft drinks, soda, soda pop, pop. No matter what you call it, and depending on what part of the country you live in you may call it something different, it all refers to the sugary flavored beverages that are popular around the world. Now the City of New York wants to control your consumption of these beverages.

The vote was 8 to 0 by the New York Board of Health, with one member abstaining, to ban the serving of soda beverages in cups greater than 16 ounces. Surprisingly, the member who abstained did so because he didn't think the ban was strong enough. The idea behind this ban, which goes into effect in March, was to reduce obesity.

Sometimes when governments ban something, it has the reverse effect and may actually increase consumption. Some soda companies experienced a stock price drop when the news came out even though the stock market was up, but maybe this has created a buying opportunity. Look at marijuana today and alcohol during the Depression. There are almost twenty stocks in the beverage soft drink industry, with half a dozen companies paying dividends in excess of 1%, according to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

One of the highest yielding beverage companies is Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc. (DPS), which yields 3.0%. It trades at 15.8 times trailing earnings, and 13.7 times forward earnings. The company's products include Dr Pepper, Crush, Canada Dry, Sunkist soda, Schweppes, 7UP, A&W, RC Cola, Squirt, Sun Drop, Diet Rite, Welch's, and Country Time. Earnings for the latest quarter were up 3.5% on a 2.5% boost in revenues.

Of course, there is Coca Cola (KO), which has one of the most popular brands in the world. The stock trades at 20.2 times earnings, with a forward price to earnings ratio of 17.5. Earnings were flat for the latest quarter. The company, whih markets such products as Diet Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Coca-Cola Zero, vitaminwater, Powerade, and Minute Maid, pays a yield of 2.7%.

For consumers who like to create their own beverages, SodaStream International Ltd. (SODA) can provide that option. The stock has a P/E ratio of 24.9, and 14.4 times forward earnings. It does not pay a dividend.

Can you guess which beverage stock pays a 3.1% yield? Check out the free list of beverage soft drink stocks at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Disclosure: Relatives of the author own KO.

By Stockerblog.com

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Stocks Going Ex Dividend the Fourth Week of September

  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 ex-dividend date, the yield, and the market capitalization.


Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (CY) 9/25/12 3.7% $1.8B

TransCanada Corporation (TRP) 9/26/12 3.9% $32.1B

Penn West Petroleum Ltd (PWE) 9/26/12 7.4% $7.0B

National Health Investors Inc (NHI) 9/26/12 5.2% $1.4B

B&G Foods, Inc. (BGS) 9/26/12 3.7% $1.4B

Republic Services, Inc. (RSG) 9/27/12 3.4% $10.2B

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.

Buying Dividends (Dividend Capture) book 25% Off

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

What Do Googlers Think of the Stock Market

Have you ever wondered what the average search engine searcher thinks of the stock market? Here it is:

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

The President Barack Obama Stock Portfolio

There haven't been many of the political ads on TV yet, but of course they will start appearing shortly. The OGE Form 278, also known as the Executive Branch Personnel Public Financial Disclosure Form, is a required form for presidential candidates. It provides for the disclosure of the stocks, bonds, and other investments that are owned by the candidate. These forms can be found at the OpenSecrets website.

Yesterday, we published an article on the Mitt Romney stock portfolio. Now, let's look at the Democratic candidate, President Barack Obama. According to publicly filed records, he owns the following along with the estimated values of the holdings.

Vanguard 500 Index Fund (VFINX) [incl. S] between $200,000 and $450,000

Calvert Equity (CSIEX) [529 Plan] between $100,000 and $200,000

PIMCO Total Return (PTTAX) [529 Plan] between $100,000 and $200,000

US Treasury Bills between $600,000 and $1,250,000

US Treasury Bills between $1,000,000 and $5,000,000

JP Morgan Chase Private Client Asset Mgmt Checking Account between $500,000 to $1,000,000

If you like interesting stock lists like this, check out the various stock lists, most of which are free, at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com. The Mitt Romney stock portfolio can be found here.

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

By Stockerblog.com

Stock ticker symbols for the funds assume A shares, as type of shares not specified in the OGE Form 278.

Quote of the Week

"I made my money by selling too soon."

Bernard Baruch (1870-1965) financier & economist

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

The Mitt Romney Stock Portfolio

Now that the presidential election campaigns are in full swing, some investors are looking at the investment portfolios of the candidates. Candidates are required to file OGE Form 278, Executive Branch Personnel Public Financial Disclosure Form, which provides insight into the stocks and bonds that they own. These forms can be found at the OpenSecrets website.

So let's start with the Republican candidate, Mitt Romney. According to publicly files records, he owns the following along with the estimated values of the holdings.

Gold between $250,000 to $500,000

Goldman Sachs Inflation Protected Securities Fund (GSAPX) between $250,000 to $500,000

Ford (F) between $250,000 to $500,000

Goldman Sachs Small Cap Value Fund (GSSMX) between $500,000 to $1,000,000

iShares S&P Europe 350 Index (IEV) between $1,000,000 to $5,000,000

iShares S&P Latin America 40 Index (ILF) between $500,000 to $1,000,000

SPDR S&P Emerging Europe (GUR) between $500,000 to $1,000,000

SPDR S&P 500 (SPY) between $1,000,000 to $5,000,000

Marriott International, Inc. (MAR) between $100,000 to $250,000

In addition, he owns numerous other investments including bonds, limited partnerships, currencies, and bank accounts.

If you like interesting stock lists like this, check out the various stock lists, most of which are free, at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Disclosure: Author owns F.

By Stockerblog.com

Stock ticker symbols for the funds assume A shares, as type of shares not specified in the OGE Form 278.

Sunday, September 09, 2012

Exotic High Yield Master Limited Partnerships Yielding up to 10%

When investors think of MLPs or Master Limited Partnerships, they usually think of companies involved in energy, including oil, gas, and coal exploration, production, refining, and transportation. However, there are more than half a dozen MLPs in what I would call exotic industries, everything from fertilizer to sand to amusement parks to nuts. Six of these exotic MLPs have yields in excess of 3%, according to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

MLPs are investment vehicles that are similar to income royalty trusts, except that they are structured as limited partnerships. MLP's differ from high income stocks in several ways. Since they pass through income without being taxed at the corporate level, they avoid double taxation. Plus, MLPs can pass through tax deductions.

However, they differ from income royalty trusts in several ways. MLPs shouldn’t be put into a retirement plan because of the UBTI or Unrelated Business Taxable Income problem, which could put the tax deferred status of retirement plans in jeopardy. This issue is beyond the scope of this article but you should definitely talk to your accountant about the tax consequences. Also, MLPs don't send out 1099 forms, they send out a Schedule K-1 Form, and the income is reported differently on tax returns. This may mean extra time and hassle when you or your accountant prepare your taxes.

One example is Terra Nitrogen Company, L.P. (TNH) pays a yield of 7.9%. This Sioux City, Iowa based company produces and distributes nitrogen fertilizer products, such as anhydrous ammonia and urea ammonium nitrate solutions. The company, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange, has a price to earnings ratio of 13.1. Earnings for the latest quarter were up 18.3% on relatively flat revenues. Dividends have been paid since April of 1992.

Stonemor Partners LP (STON) is in the business of operating cemeteries across the United States. This Levittown, Pennsylvania based company was founded in 1999, and has cemeteries in 26 states and funeral homes in 18 states. The MLP yields 9.8% and pays quarterly. Earnings for the latest quarter were negative on a 2.3% increase in revenues.

Cedar Fair LP (FUN) has a great stock ticker symbol. I owns 11 amusement parks, seven water parks, and five hotels. The company was founded in Sandusky, Ohio in 1983. The company trades at 14.6 times trailing earnings, 12.7 times forward earnings, and a yield of 4.9%. Earnings were up an incredible 748.2% on an amazing 25.7% boost in sales.

For a free list of all of the top exotic master limited partnerships including one which pays more than 13%, which can be downloaded, updated, and sorted, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

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

By Stockerblog.com

Saturday, September 08, 2012

Judge Rules on $80 Million in Gold Coins

Remember the gold coins that the family discovered in a safe deposit box after their father died? And the government wanted to confiscate the coins? Here is the final result of the court case.


Friday, September 07, 2012

Abundance: The Future is Better than You Think

Are you sick and tired all the doom and gloom books? You know, the ones that tell you how to survive the market crash, the warning about the coming depression, and so on. Well now you have a great opportunity. Read the book Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think by Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler.

This book explains how the future will get better, much better, and not just the distant future. It's the near future that is getting much better, and things are getting better right now.

So what kinds of things are the authors talking about? Technology, medical care, freedom, water availability, energy, etc. This is coming about due to exponential advances in nanotechnology, networks, robotics, artificial intelligence, and 3-D printing. (Check out Chapter 6 for ideas on investment industries for the long term.) In addition, it is the growth of do-it-yourselfers and small groups that is speeding along the changes for the better.

One of the key concepts of the book is that poverty, hunger, lack of affordable energy, illiteracy, and worldwide health issues will be greatly reduced if not eliminated; however, not due to the efforts of any government, but by individuals, especially technophilanthropists.

Chapter 14 is about education. It has some interesting ideas about how video games are great for learning, not just for kids, but for pilots and surgeons. The following chapter covers zero-cost diagnostics, which means the cost of determining medical issues that individual people have can be brought down to the cost of pennies. Did you know that unrolling Scotch tape can generate X-rays?

Chapter 16, the chapter on Freedom, was fascinating. Did you know that the violent Marxist-Leninist insurgency group in Colombia called FARC, which was responsible for terrorism and numerous kidnappings, was brought down by one Facebook page?

The glass is definitely half full, as a matter of fact, the glass is almost full according to Diamandis and Kotler. Take a look. Get a copy of Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think.

By Stockerblog.com

New York Stock Exchange Firsts

The following is a selection of some interesting trivia about the New York Stock Exchange, courtesy of stockmarkettrivia.com.

What was the first listed company on the New York Stock Exchange?

Bank of New York, which was the first corporate stock traded under the Buttonwood tree in 1792, and the first listed company on the NYSE.

Who was the first African American member of the NYSE?

Joseph L. Searles III, who became a member on February 12, 1970

Who was the first female member of the NYSE?

Muriel Siebert, who became a member on December 28, 1967

Who was the first woman member who worked on the trading floor on a regular basis of the NYSE?

Alice Jarcho, became a member on Oct. 14, 1976, began working on the trading floor on October 28, 1976

What was the first African American owned NYSE member firm?

Daniels & Bell Inc., in 1971

The New York Stock Exchange is part of NYSE Euronext, Inc. (NYX), which trades on the New York Stock Exchange, of course.

By Stockerblog.com

One Letter Companies Part 2

Yesterday, I wrote about the One Letter Companies, the companies that either have a one letter stock ticker symbol or own a one letter domain name.

Here is an update to the one letter domain companies, which I came up with due to further research.

a.co is owned by Amazon (AMZN)

g.co is owned by Google (GOOG)

s.co is owned by Startup America Partnership

t.co is owned by Twitter

x.co is owned by Go Daddy and is used as a URL shortener

0.co (that's a zero dot co) is owned by Overstock.com (OSTK)

0.info (that's a zero dot info) is also owned by Overstock.com (OSTK)

c.tv is owned by Future Media Architects

d.tv is owned by Worldwide Media, Inc. and publishes TheDomains.com

h.tv is owned by Future Media Architects

i.tv is owned by i.TV, LLC

k.tv is owned by Future Media Architects

l.tv is owned by Future Media Architects

o.tv is owned by Future Media Architects

q.tv is owned by Future Media Architects

s.tv is owned by Future Media Architects

t.tv is owned by Future Media Architects

v.tv is owned by Future Media Architects

w.tv is owned by Future Media Architects

y.tv is owned by Future Media Architects

z.tv is owned by Future Media Architects

By Stockerblog.com

Thursday, September 06, 2012

One Letter Companies: Domain Names and Stock Ticker Symbols

Do you realize that there are only six one letter domains that are owned by companies, and five of the five companies are publicly traded?

These companies were lucky enough to register them before December 1, 1993 (or buy them from someone who registered them by that date), as the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority put a restriction on single character domains at that time.

o.co and o.info are both owned by Overstock.com (OSTK).

q.com is owned by CenturyLink (CTL). If you go to q.com, it takes you right to CenturyLink's web site.

x.com is owned by x.commerce, which is owned by eBay (EBAY). When you go to the x.com website, it takes you to the x.commerce website.

z.com is owned by Nissan North America Inc., which is owned by Nissan Motor (NSANY), which trades on NASDAQ. However, the website is currently inactive.

i.net is owned by Future Media Architects, a privately held company.

u.tv is owned by UTV Media (UTV.L), a broadcasting and New Media company based in Belfast in Northern Ireland. The company trades on the London Stock Exchange.

Want to know all the companies that have one letter stock ticker symbols? Here they are:

Agilent Technologies Inc. (A)

Barnes Group Inc. (B)

Citigroup, Inc. (C) formerly the symbol for Chrysler

Dominion Resources, Inc. (D)

Eni SpA (E)

Ford Motor Co. (F)

Genpact Ltd. (G) formerly the symbol for Gillette

Hyatt Hotels (H)

Kellogg Company (K)

Loews Corporation (L)

Macy's, Inc. (M)

NetSuite, Inc. (N)

Realty Income Corp. (O)

Pandora Media (P)

Ryder System, Inc. (R)

Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) formerly the symbol for Sears Roebuck

AT&T, Inc. (T)

Visa, Inc. (V)

United States Steel Corp. (X)

Alleghany Corp. (Y)

Zillow (Z) formerly the symbol for Woolworth, now known as Foot Locker (FL)

Before US Airways Group was delisted, it used to have the stock symbol U.

Stockerblog.com

Wednesday, September 05, 2012

Get the New Amazon Kindle Fire Tomorrow

Tomorrow is your change to get the new Amazon (AMZN) Kindle Fire. This will have a full color seven inch multi-touch display.

According to the Amazon web site, the Kindle will have:

Over 20 million movies, TV shows, songs, magazines, and books

Thousands of popular apps and games, including Netflix, HBO GO, Hulu Plus, Pandora, and more

Amazon Silk - ultra-fast web browsing over built-in Wi-Fi

Free cloud storage for all your Amazon content

Vibrant color touchscreen with extra-wide viewing angle

Fast, powerful dual-core processor

Favorite children's books, graphic novels, and magazines in rich color

The price of the Kindle Fire is just $199.

Stocks Going Ex Dividend the Third Week of September

  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 ex-dividend date, the yield, and the market capitalization.


Cincinnati Financial Corporation (CINF) 9/17/12 4.2% $6.4B

UIL Holdings Corporation (UIL) 9/17/12 4.9% $1.8B

Xcel Energy Inc (XEL) 9/18/12 3.9% $13.6B

Safeway Inc. (SWY) 9/18/12 4.5% $3.7B

TOTAL S.A. ADR (TOT) 9/19/12 5.9% $110.7B

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.

Buying Dividends (Dividend Capture) book 25% Off

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

Saturday, September 01, 2012

Curved Beer Glasses Cause Faster Drinking

According to research at the University of Bristol, the speed of drinking beer can be affected by what the beer glass looks like. Researchers discovered that if the glass is curved, beer drinkers take about seven minutes to finish their beers, but in a straight glass, it takes on average approximately eleven minutes. Sounds like the glassware at bars may be changing soon. Surprisingly, the same test was done with soft drinks but there was no change in the speed of beverage consumption.

According to a free recently updated list at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com, there are over dozen publicly traded breweries and beer retailers. In addition, more than half a dozen of the beer stocks pay dividends, ranging up to almost 3%.

One example is Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD), which has the memorable stock symbol representing its popular Budweiser brand. It also sells Stella Artois, Beck's, Leffe, Bud Light, Skol, Brahma, Quilmes, Michelob, and many other brands. The stock has a current price to earnings ratio of 20, a forward PE of 14, and a 1.44 PEG. The stock sports a yield of 1.6%.

Another dividend paying brewery is Molson Coors Brewing Company (TAP), a Canadian based company that markets the Coors Light, Molson, Carling, Pilsner, Keystone Light, and Granville Island brands. The stock trades at 14 times current earnings and 12 times forward earnings, with a reasonable price to earnings growth ratio of 2.29. In addition, the company pays a decent CD beating yield of 2.9%.

Compania Cerveceras Unidas S.A. (CCU), based in Santiago, Chile, makes and markets beer, wine, and other beverages throughout the countries of Chile and Argentina. Its brands includes Royal Guard; Royal Light; Heineken; Budweiser; and Paulaner. It trades at 16.8 times current earnings, 14.1 times future earnings, and pays a dividend yield of 1.1%.

If you are looking for more beer stock ideas, check out the free list at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com, which can be updated, sorted, and downloaded.

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


By Stockerblog.com

Chocolate Eclair Hot Dog: I'm Totally Grossed Out

If there are two types of food that don't go together, it's chocolate and hot dogs. However, Maple Lodge Farms is offering this delicious combination at the Canada National Exhibition in the form of a Chocolate Eclair Hot Dog.

If you would rather see some more useful uses of chocolate, check out this chocolate article.

10% Yields on Business Development Corporations and Private Equity Funds

Private equity companies, venture capital funds, and business development corporations are usually grouped together in the same investment category. This is mainly due to the fact that these investment vehicles allow investors to get in on the ground floor of private companies before they go public. Once the companies in the portfolios have an IPO, the returns can be substantial.

Private equity firms invest in the equity and often the debt of private companies. Usually private equity investments are available for accredited investors only, but fortunately, there are several private equity funds which are publicly traded that anyone can buy.

A Business Development Corporation, also known as a Business Development Company or BDC, is similar to a publicly traded private equity fund. Many private equity companies are registered as BDCs for tax advantages, generally paying no corporate income tax because at least 90 percent of their income, profits, and capital gains are paid out as taxable dividends to investors.

If you are wondering how common these types of investments are, WallStreetNewsNetwork.com recently updated its list of the publicly traded Business Development Corporations and Private Equity Companies, which lists over 25 of them, most of which, income investors will be happy to hear, pay dividends. The yields range from 2.9% to in excess of 12%.

One example is BlackRock Kelso Capital Corporation (BKCC), a private equity firm founded in 2005 specializing in middle market companies, with EBITDA or operating cash flow between $10 million and $50 million. The firm invests in such companies as American SportWorks, Fitness Together, Grocery Outlet, Heartland Automotive Services, InterMedia Outdoors, Pre-Paid Legal Services, Renaissance Learning, and Sentry Security Systems. The stock trades at 11.8 times trailing earnings and 9.6 times forward earnings. It sports a yield of 10.6% and pays its dividends quarterly.

TICC Capital (TICC) is a BDC that has been paying dividends quarterly since 2004, and yields 11.1%. The stock has a price to earnings ratio of 14.3 and a forward PE of 8.7. The company invests in secured and unsecured senior debt, subordinated debt, junior subordinated debt, preferred stock, and common stock of both private and public companies, specializing in technology, media, telecommunications, and medical equipment. The company has invested in NetQuote, Inc., the web-based portal for insurance companies and consumers, StayOnline, Inc. a provider of wireless high-speed Internet access solutions for the lodging industry, and Ai Squared, a manufacturer of assistive technology software which makes the screen magnification program ZoomText.

PennantPark Investment (PNNT) is a business development company that yields 10.3%, and has been paying quarterly dividends since June of 2007. The company invests between $10 million and $50 million in each of its portfolio companies, holding mezzanine debt, senior secured loans, and equity investments. The stock trades at 9.2 times forward earnings. PennantPark invests in such companies as the hot tub and spa manufacturer Jacuzzi Brands Corp., Learning Care Group, Inc. which is owner of one of the largest early education and child care providers La Petite Academy, and VPSI, the world's largest vanpool service provider.

To see a list of over 25 high yield business development companies and private equity firms, which can be downloaded, sorted, and updated, you may want to obtain it at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com. Several of these companies pay dividends monthly and more than a dozen have yields above 8%.

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


By Stockerblog.com