Author Archive: Brett Owens

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

Please keep this between you and me. I don’t want to have to explain this again to every vanilla income investor out there.

But it’s important. And timely, thanks to the current revival in volatility.

Dividend stocks, at times like these, can do more than simply dish out income. They can make us filthy rich, too.

Yeah, I know. The promise of price gains can be “over the top” here in Dividendland. Most of us are content to grind, grind, grind. Send us our payouts and keep our portfolios intact.

If you’re a current Contrarian Income Report subscriber, you are well versed in this approach—and better than most!… Read more

There are plenty of stocks out there, right now, with payouts growing fast—heck, some of them give shareholders a “raise” every three months.

You won’t find these “Dividend Accelerators” among the big names of the Dow.

A number of them are real estate investment trusts (REITs)—“landlords” of everything from apartments to warehouses. And they’re not just dividend-growth machines; most throw off higher current yields than the typical S&P stock, too.

And I mean much higher: right now, the REIT benchmark Vanguard Real Estate ETF (VNQ) yields 4.5% as I write. The typical S&P 500 name? A sorry 1.5%.

You can thank the federal government for that: it gives REITs a pass on corporate taxes as long as they pay 90% of their income as dividends.… Read more

Let’s talk about the cheapest dividend payers in the world. With respect to cold hard cash flow.

We contrarians are too savvy for P/E ratios. We know that earnings are accounting creations. “Profits” are all fugayzi.

Free cash flow (FCF), on the other hand, is what it is. The cash a company brings in, minus capital expenditures. This cash can be reinvested in the business or, better yet, paid out to income investors like us.

We like companies that dish dividends because their businesses are running on relative autopilot. They needn’t plow every dollar they raise back in. Which is great—more yield for us.… Read more