Top Yielding British Stocks

Investors have heard a lot this year about the financial trials and tribulations of European countries, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain. There are even some grumblings about France and Germany. But one country you don't hear much about, at least in terms of debt problems, is the United Kingdom.

The UK has a AAA rating from Standard & Poor's with a stable outlook, whereas S&P gave the United States a AA+ rating with a Negative outlook. Moody's and Fitch also gave the UK their top rating with a Stable outlook. Maybe it is time for investors to take a closer look at the stocks of the country that has the world's sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP.

Many British stocks pay decent dividends; according to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com, there are over 15 British stocks with yields of 2.5% or more. One example is Aviva plc (AV), which pays one of the highest yields for British stocks, at 7.4%. The stock trades at 18 times earnings. Aviva is a provider of insurance, savings, and investment products in the United Kingdom, Europe, North America, and the Asia Pacific.

Another example, Intercontinental Hotels Group plc (IHG), based in Denham, UK, operates numerous hotels including 64 in the London area. The stock trades at 12 times forward earnings and pays a yield of 1.9%.

Diageo plc (DEO) makes Johnnie Walker scotch, Smirnoff vodka, Baileys Original Irish Cream, Captain Morgan rum, Jose Cuervo tequila, Tanqueray gin, Guinness stout, and various wine products including Blossom Hill, Sterling Vineyards, Beaulieu Vineyard, and Chalone Vineyard. The stock has a forward price to earnings ratio of 13 and sports a CD beating yield of 3.9%.

In the oil and gas arena, there is BP plc (BP), which seemed to survive the oil spill fiasco and is trading at 6 times forward earnings and yielding 4.2%.

To see a list of all the top yielding British stocks, that 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

BP Oil Spill Shares Drop: Which Companies Benefit?

The price of BP (BP) shares fell by more than 7% from August 6 to August 16, after US officials warned that they would be taking legal action against the multinational oil giant, preventing them from paying out dividends to existing share holders. Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli said the Justice Department was ‘planning to take action’ when he was approached at a conference meeting regarding the spill. He was asked if an injunction would be taken against BP to try and cease all payouts, due to the anger of the oil spill over the Gulf of Mexico.

Due to the pressure being put on the conglomerate by over 40 members of Congress as well as senators, BP share prices have now lost over 35% of their value since the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon rig earlier this year and the recent oil spill. Prior to these catastrophes taking place, BP was Britain’s largest oil company; since then the market cap of BP has seen a loss of more than $60 billion.

As BP continues to see their share prices fall, their competitors are expected to reap the benefits despite having to also endure falling stock prices. Chevron (CVX), ExxonMobile Corp (XOM) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDS-B) are all anticipating taking on the benefits of the oil spill both at the pump and on the stock market. Yet at the moment they all have to accept the damage that has been done to the overall state of the market.

ExxonMobil, for example, has had to witness a drop in its stock price as shares fell from a high of $69 to a current price of $59. The company sells for nine times forward earnings and pays a favorable yield of 2.9%.

Royal Dutch Shell has also experienced a stock price plunge over the same period. The stock has a price to earnings ratio of 11 and sports a very high yield of 6.3%.

This collective loss of revenue is due to the public disdain that has followed since the major oil spill, which consequently has had an effect on sales at the pump as the negative coverage continues to haunt BP’s share prices. Analysts expect that BP’s competitors will be the ones to benefit from the catastrophe. One such company that may see a rise in its share price is Helmerich and Payne (HP) as a significant portion of their business comes from exploring and extracting fossil fuels on land. The stock sells for 13 times forward earnings and pays a small 0.6% yield.

If you are interested in having a look at how the oil spill will affect other major energy conglomerates then WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has a list of the companies paying out the highest yields and other valuable information relating to oil stocks.

Author does not own any of the above.

By Stockerblog.com

Live Video of the Oil Spill

This video is pretty incredible. It may take several seconds to load.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Potshots at BP Keep on Coming

The jokes and parodies about BP (BP) continue. Here is a YouTube video called 'Hitler rants about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill'.

$1000 for a Bottle of Oil Spill Disaster Oil

A website called HorizontalRelief.org, is raising money to help out the fishing community in the Gulf of Mexico since they have so adversely affected by the BP (BP) oil spill disaster. They are selling a limited edition of 1000 Bottles of Hope, each containing oil from the spill, for $1,000 per bottle. If you can't afford it, then maybe you can purchase a Vial of Opportunity for $25 which contains a quarter ounce of oil and marsh water that was actually recovered from the Gulf of Mexico.

BP Spills Coffee

Check out this funny video on what would happen if BP (BP) spilled coffee. Thanks to James Altucher's Daily Blogwatch for finding this.

BP Buying Search Engine Words Relating to Oil Spill

BP (BP) is spending millions of dollars with Google (GOOG), Yahoo (YHOO), and Microsoft's (MSFT) Bing to purchase search engine phrases such as ‘oil disaster’ and 'oil spill', according to a report. Estimated cost to BP would be about $10,000 to promote BP sponsored stories.

BP Looking at Dividend Cut

BP (BP) reported that it may reduce or eliminate its second-quarter dividend, due to political flack relating to the oil spill. They are even considering issuing all or part of the dividend in scrip. Now that hasn't been done by a company in a long time.

British Leader Calls Obama 'crude, bigoted, xenophobic'

The British leaders are furious about what Americans in general and President Obama in particular are saying about BP (BP). Mayor of London Boris Johnson said that Obama is 'anti-British' and Lord Tebbit said 'The whole might of American wealth and technology is displayed as utterly unable to deal with the disastrous spill - so what more natural than a crude, bigoted, xenophobic display of partisan political Presidential petulance against a multinational company.'

Guest Article: BP’s Continued Existence Seen Coming Under Threat as Gulf Oil Spill Continues

The continued failure of BP’s efforts to stop the Gulf oil spill and mounting political pressure are putting the very future of the British-based oil giant in question.

BP shares plunged again on Tuesday, wiping $17 billion off the market capitalization of the company. Premiums on credit default swaps to insure the company’s debt soared 75% to $178,000 for $10 million as analysts began to question whether the company can survive the financial and reputational costs of the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe.

A former Clinton cabinet member, ex-Labor Secretary Robert Reich, now an economist at Berkeley , went so far as to urge the nationalization of BP by the U.S. government so that authorities could take direct control of the efforts to stop the spill and clean up the damage to the environment.

The existential threat to one of the largest companies in the world hits a company whose origins date back to the discovery of oil in the Middle East . BP began life in 1908 as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company to exploit oil fields discovered in what later became Iran .

When Iran nationalized its oil industry following World War II, the British government supported a CIA coup in that country that brought the shah to power and restored partial ownership of Iran ’s oil revenue to the British company, now called British Petroleum.

After a series of mergers in the 1980s and 1990s, including the acquisition of Amoco, the company adopted its present name, BP plc. Its advertising slogan in recent years has been “Beyond Petroleum,” playing on that abbreviation.

But now, say analysts, the company will have difficulty in the face of civil and potentially criminal liability, shaking the damage to its reputation from the Deepwater Horizon accident and ensuing oil spill.

The failure of the company’s latest effort to stem the flow of oil into the Gulf – the so-called “top-kill” bombardment with mud – made it likelier that only the drilling of a relief well would stop the flow. But that solution could take until August, with the risk that the shares and balance sheet of the company could continue to be hammered in the interval.

A weakened BP could be the target for a takeover or even bankruptcy, analysts suggested.

Source: http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/BPs-Continued-Existence-Seen-Coming-Under-Threat-as-Gulf-Oil-Spill-Continues.html

By. Darrell Delamaide for Oilprice.com who offer detailed analysis on Oil, Geopolitics, Gold and most other Commodities. They also provide free political and economic intelligence to help investors gain a greater understanding of world events and the impact they have on certain regions and sectors. Visit: http://www.oilprice.com

2 Senators Want BP to Stop Paying Dividends

Senators Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.) and Ron Wyden (D., Ore.) wants BP (BP) to stop paying dividends until the cost of the oil spill cleanup is known. The senators believe that if the leak isn't repaired until August, then it could cost $37 billion in cleanup expenses.

BP CEO Issues Apology

The CEO of BP (BP), Tony Hayward, issued an apology on Facebook about some remarks he made relating to wanting his life back. BP has been in the news extensively, and the stock price has suffered, due to the oil leak in the Gulf.

BP Oil Spill Causes Meat Cleaver Fight

Many articles have discussed the far reach of the BP (BP) oil spill into so many different areas, primarily environmental and political. But who would have thought that it would cause a domestic disturbance argument over the spill where the boyfriend threatens his girlfriend with a meat cleaver. It just happened in Uniontown, Pennsyvania.

The man has been arrested.

BP trades on the New York Stock Exchange.

BP Knew About Well Problem in Advance According to Report

According to an article by Thom Hartmann, BP (BP) had received advice from Schlumberger (SLB) before the well blowout that the well had problems and should have been shut down. The Schlumberger crew reportedly got out of there about six hours before the problems began.