Author Archive: Brett Owens

Natural gas prices have been completely washed out—and that’s set up some sweet dividend opportunities for us contrarians to tap into.

(These opportunities aren’t just in gas, by the way: China’s reopening and the Biden administration’s need to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve—which it’s been using to keep a lid on oil prices—will also lift the goo. We discussed 3 stocks to play crude’s likely rebound on February 4.)

To get a sense of the opportunity setting up for us here, let’s look ahead to next winter, shall we? It’s tough to see how gas can stay low with a setup like this:

• Russian gas will still be a no-go—leading to another dash to boost European supplies over the summer, especially with the current winter looking like it’ll end on a cold snap, draining off the surplus gas the continent is sitting on now.

Want to know the secret to retiring on dividends alone?

Keep that capital intact.

We invest to generate income. The more we have, the greater our potential payouts. So, losing principal is the cardinal sin.

We want our dividends. And we want our prices intact, or better. (If they grind higher, we don’t argue!)

Stocks that are going “up” are tough to argue with. I know, I know—as contrarians we want to bargain shop. We can’t help ourselves to find a deal.

Well deals are great, but so is momentum—especially when it comes to dividend stocks, especially in a bear market.… Read more

Get ready, my fellow contrarians—QQQ “amateur season” is approaching! If you watch as much March basketball as I do, you’re about to hear this repeated hundreds of times:

 
This quote, my fellow “March Madness” fans, is from a commercial for Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ). Within weeks, it will be played nonstop. The ad features flashy camera angles with average investors “dropping knowledge” about the tech stocks they are proud to own via this ETF.… Read more

If I can give you just one piece of advice to start 2023, it’s this: do not trust your dividend income to ETFs!

It’s one of the biggest mistakes I see people make—especially with the market’s gains this year. These first-level players (wrongly!) think that in a rising market, they can buy pretty well anything and be A-OK.

Not so.

In fact, a rising market when you’re most likely to buy low-quality investments, puts your portfolio in danger in the next downturn. Just ask anyone who bought crypto or profitless tech in 2021!

And dividend ETFs are at the very top of our list of assets to avoid, not only now but always.… Read more

What’s better than a safe 11% dividend? How about one with 11% upside or more, too!

Oil and gas stocks are in the midst of a multiyear bull market. China is about to reopen, which will reignite energy demand.

Which means the time to buy the dip in the black goo—especially dividend-paying energy stocks—is right now.

Let’s start with that 11% payer which also boasts a unique dividend distribution model.

A Twisted Path to Big Energy Dividends

Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD), a Texas-based oil exploration company that’s a pure player in the enormous Permian Basin, yields 11%.

Eleven percent!… Read more

A few weeks back, bond giant PIMCO trimmed a bunch of payouts from its closed-end funds (CEFs). Which was no bueno for income investors, who buy CEFs solely for their dividends.

We don’t own any PIMCO funds in our premium portfolios currently. But readers, who rightfully recognize me as a PIMCO fanboy, have written in to ask what’s up.

“Any thoughts on PIMCO recent slashing of dividends? Do you think they will also cut PDI’s dividend?”—John S 

John, you know me well. Maybe too well! Here’s a live look at my nightstand which boasts a copy of The Bond King: How One Man Made a Market, Built an Empire, and Lost It All.… Read more

If 2022 taught us anything, it’s that we need to swing our portfolios away from this:

We’re Fading “Cardiac” Share-Price Action Like This … 

That’s the chart of “America’s ticker”—the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY)—last year. I call SPY “America’s ticker” because it’s by far the most popular way to track the S&P 500.

But its popularity does not translate into safety. Just holding this simple index fund last year meant taking a 20% haircut—with plenty of heart palpitations along the way! That’s why we want to shift our portfolio returns toward the smooth and steady growth of dividends:

… And Toward the Serene Upward Drift of Dividend Growth

That’s more like it!… Read more

Today we’ll discuss a duo of cheap dividend stocks paying 11.2%. And, for good measure, we’ll throw in another bargain even though it “only” yields 9.5%.

I jest because I love. Dividends, that is. And bear markets don’t usually last much longer than this. So, it is double-digit yield shopping we go.

These are serious yields we’re looking at—the kind we need to retire on dividends alone. They’re hard to find among over-followed, over-analyzed and over-owned blue-chip stocks. But they’re abundant in BDCland (populated by business development companies (BDCs), of course).

Like real estate investment trusts (REITs), business development companies are a creation of Congress.… Read more

“You had me at VIP,” my buddy Nick texted back to me.

Our babysitter canceled due to a last-minute illness. My wife took one for the team and kindly sent me to the Sacramento Kings game solo—which meant I had a seat to fill on 35 minutes notice.

No problem for my man, a fellow dad and fan. (I’ll let you decide the order!) Nick flipped the game off at home, kissed his own wife and kids goodbye and beelined from his house to our seats.

He only missed a few minutes of gametime because, as I alluded to at the open, we got him in through the VIP entrance.… Read more

Look, we’re probably going to see a recession in 2023. And if you’re like most folks, you’re wondering how to respond.

Here’s the good news: overall I see a much better year ahead than the mess we lived through in 2022. But we could see a pullback—and a recession—before the market bottoms and bounces.

That leaves us contrarian dividend seekers in a tricky spot. It’s why we’ve held a lot of cash in my Contrarian Income Report service over the last 12 months.

But I also hear from a lot of folks who want stocks they can hold no matter what, to keep their payouts rolling in.… Read more