Author Archive: Brett Owens

Vanilla investors buy stocks that Wall Street approves of.

Why?

If a stock is showered with Buy ratings, then who is left to bid the price even higher? Nobody!

This lame “strategy” feels good but ends up with latecomers top ticking the market. Which is why we contrarians aim differently—for the bottom of the barrel.

Give us stocks with Sell ratings. Which often means there’s nobody left to sell!

Today we’ll discuss a pack of discarded dividend stocks paying up to 12.6%. Not only are these yields real, and spectacular, they have price upside potential to boot.

After all, a stock slathered with Sell labels has nothing but upgrades in its future.… Read more

Years ago, we had a 15-month fling with a promising fund. It traded at a generous discount to its net asset value (NAV) and paid a double-digit dividend.

Plus, its price was rallying!

Brookfield Real Assets Income Fund (RA) checked all the boxes. Unfortunately, it failed the all-important “cash-flow smell test.”

RA’s NAV was declining. Not a good sign given the nebulous nature of its holdings.

The “realness” of RA ends with its name. More than half the portfolio is  securitized real estate credit.

And actual infrastructure? The “real assets” headline buyers think they are investing in? Just 30%!… Read more

Dividend deals are lining up for us across the board—and they’re likely to get better as September unfolds. It’s time to make our shopping lists!

We’ll start with three unloved corners of the market sporting the very best bargains. Then we’ll dive into three specific names and tickers.

• “Growth utilities,” which are primed for upside as rates top out and roll over, cutting their borrowing costs—and “rate competition” from Treasuries and other fixed-income plays.
• Cell-Tower Landlords, which run one of the most recession-resistant businesses out there.
• Industrial real estate investment trusts (REITs), which can’t build and buy warehouses and factories fast enough to meet surging demand.

Worried about a pullback? I don’t blame you.

Today we’ll discuss five of the steadiest dividend stocks on the planet. And let’s not confuse stability with penny pinching—these cash cows yield up to 11%!

How do we capture payouts without wild price swings? Two words: low beta.

Beta measures how much (or how little) a stock or fund moves compared to a benchmark—usually the S&P 500, but it depends. The benchmark is set at 1. Lower than 1 means an investment moves less; higher than 1 means it moves more.

Thus, beta is a de facto measure of an investment’s volatility.… Read more

Cough. Cough. “This latest variant is legit,” I sputtered to my wife.

This was a school year and a half ago. The kids were home sick—again. Our little super spreaders had kindly brought home the latest coronavirus model.

Or so I thought. We soon learned it was Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) going around town. RSV is highly contagious and, while the Internet lists its symptoms as mild, it wouldn’t be my choice for our next family illness. RSV lingers like an out-of-town relative without a return flight.

Generally, RSV runs its course. But it’s nearly impossible to avoid unless you avoid people—which may or may not be an option.… Read more

There’s a crop of outsized dividends out there that are absurdly underpriced—I’m talking 14%-off discounts here. And our opportunity to pounce has arrived.

I’m talking about municipal bonds, which, like corporate bonds, look set to bounce as the economy slows and interest rates top out—then start to move lower. As rates ease off, bond yields will dip, putting a lift under bond prices (as yields and prices move in opposite directions).

The upshot? AI-powered NASDAQ stocks will lose their luster, and bonds and bond proxies—including utilities and “munis”—will likely be the darlings of 2024.

Heck, even a modest decline in rates would be enough to boost these assets.… Read more

Real estate investment trusts (REITs) are dirt-cheap—but hurry if you like dividends. These generous payers may not be in the bargain bin for much longer.

REITs tend to trade opposite long-term interest rates. The ever-rising 10-year Treasury yield has been a big headwind for these stocks.

But all rising rate periods eventually end in recession. Which brings falling rates. Which hurts stock prices—unless you like REITs.

REITs trade more like bonds than stocks, so they tend to hold up well in recessions. Their dividends, ignored during AI bubbles, come back in vogue as easy money dries up.

So here we go—bargain city!… Read more

Three years ago, I wrote to you from the La-Z-Boy in my kids’ room. Which wasn’t unusual. We were all stuck at home staring at whatever immediate family we were sheltered in place with. It was April 3, 2020.

(Ah, 2020. Family walks were the highlight of the day. Our investment strategist—and survivalist father—took no chances when leaving the house. Here’s one from the archives that recently resurfaced on my wife’s phone…)

Six packs in a stroller? The norm. What was unusual was the content of the note I penned to you before the big walk. Favor Stocks Over Bonds was the topic, strange coming from a guy who writes about bonds for a living.… Read more

I know it’s only August, but I’m ready to make my first “dividend prediction” for 2024: utilities—especially growth utilities—will surge.

That means now is the time to dust off our parents’ playbook and grab these rock-steady payers before the mainstream crowd comes around. When they do, it’ll be goodbye NVIDIA (NVDA) and hello Consolidated Edison (ED)—one of the three stocks we’ll discuss below.

The Coming “Rate Rollover” Just Got Moved Up

We’re bullish on utilities now because this economy is bogging out. We got more proof of that last week, with China posting an anemic 0.8% growth rate in Q2.… Read more

As contrarian investors, we have no desire to buy the stock market while it’s hot. We wait for it to cool off. And cooling off it is.

Three weeks ago, I warned that NVIDIA Corp (NVDA) was pricey. On cue, the stock sank 10%!

It’s since bounced, but I’m not sure the bottom is in for this bubbly darling. More tears are likely.

So what to buy instead? I’m intrigued by stocks that have the ability to soar while the broader market sinks. That’s a strategy we employed previously with semiconductor maker Texas Instruments (TXN).

Below is a chart of TXN’s performance over the last decade.… Read more