Author Archive: Brett Owens

Bad news for your friends who only own “America’s ticker”—the S&P 500. We’re set up for a September swoon that could easily send the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) down 5% or more from current levels.

Good news for us income investors—we’re going to have a great dip to buy some of our favorite dividend payers.

We’ll talk about the best dividend stocks for September in a moment. We’ll specifically highlight two “low-drama dividends,” too.

First, let’s discuss why we need to get ready for a pullback.

History Points to a September Swoon …

For one, if we look back to 1945, as the folks at CFRA Research did, we’ll see that September has been the worst month for stocks, with positive returns just 45% of the time.… Read more

The world needs to produce more food to feed everyone in the years ahead. Period.

Food shortages are likely to be an unfortunate megatrend of the 2020s. Rising  food demand is intersecting with another megatrend: shaky global supply chains.

Consider this bleak outlook from the U.N. World Food Programme’s 2022 outlook (emphasis mine):

I’m proud to report that, for the first time in months, I “only” paid $100 for gas.

There was a catch. The pump had a $100 credit card limit!

Which begs the follow up question: Does your dividend strategist intentionally pump gas in the sketchiest neighborhoods he can find?

As a big guy in a Bills hat, who tends to traverse before the streetlights come on, perhaps I’m game for an adventure.

Fortunately for my wallet, my “soccer dad mobile” traverses a narrow grid. To the kids’ school. The gym. The park. Grocery store. One mile at a time.

A tank can last for weeks, which is helpful.… Read more

Fed Chair Jay Powell is probably going to hike us straight into a recession—and even then, Jay still may not get the 2% inflation he’s hunting for.

Why? Because the supply-chain chaos we’re dealing with now is not going away. It’s part of a megatrend I expect to last the rest of this decade, and well beyond.

I’ll name two stocks we can tap to reap strong gains and fast-growing dividends from what many are calling the “end of globalization” in a moment. First, let’s dive into this critical shift, because it will drive, well, pretty well everything in our lives for years to come.… Read more

Dividend-paying energy stocks are probably going to be the best place to collect income for the rest of the decade.

This is great news because the rest of the stock market is expensive and overheated again. Never thought we’d see it with the Fed tightening, but here we are.

Fortunately we have a dip to buy in energy dividends. These stocks have taken a breather after running up at a blistering pace since April 2020.

(Back when oil prices dropped below zero—to negative $37 per barrel. As contrarian dividend investors, we’ve seen it all together, haven’t we?… Read more

It’s a bull market in military budgets, to put it lightly. So, let’s talk about my favorite defense stock dividend for the rest of 2022 and, really, the 2020s.

The US defense budget for 2022 is a record $777 billion. Over 3% of GDP.

We are, however, only one of nine NATO countries to spend 2% or more of our GDP on military spending. This has been a stated goal of NATO since 2006, a standard currently met by less than one-third of members.

With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine entering its sixth month and China lobbing missiles over Taiwan last weekend, higher military spending across the globe is on the way.… Read more

Just a couple weeks ago, many folks thought they had lots of time to grab beaten-down stocks like Amazon.com (AMZN) and Microsoft (MSFT). Since then, these blue-chips have really popped:

Techs Bounce—But We Can Still Buy Cheap (With 7%+ Dividends, Too)

Fortunately there is a way we can still buy AMZN and MSFT at “pre-launch” prices. And collect 7%+ yields, too!

We’re not buying the shares directly. We’re smarter than that. We’re picking these stocks up with the types of 7%+ dividends we favor in Contrarian Income Report—at steep discounts to their market prices.

This “dividend discount” method lets us “turn back the clock” and buy the dip after the dip has already happened!… Read more

REITs (real estate investment trusts) are still delivering roughly twice the income of the broader market. And that’s just the sector average.

Four highly profitable REITs in particular are yielding 4% and up today. We’ll discuss them in a moment.

Interest rates are rising, and “common wisdom” says it’s a bad time to buy REITs because they behave like bonds. Wrong.

As long as the economy keeps chugging along, and these specific rents are getting paid, then the dividends are going to continue being dished. Period. And we’re all about the dividends here at Contrarian Outlook.

S&P Global research notes that rising interest rates “are frequently associated with economic growth and rising inflation, which can indeed be a boon for the real estate sector.… Read more

“Brett, what do you think of SCHD?”

As soon as I heard the “C” I figured we were talking Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD). (Your income strategist can typically “name that dividend ticker” in two beats!)

“Eh,” I replied, visibly struggling to string together a positive response to my AAII presentation attendee.

“SCHD owns some good names. A few,” I shrugged.

“It will generally keep you out of trouble.”

Safety is all the rage in 2022. Pain has been felt on both ends of the stock-and-bond spectrum.

Stocks are down because the Federal Reserve is tightening. Bonds, meanwhile, are supposed to balance the ship when stocks sink.… Read more

I hear from readers of my Hidden Yields dividend-growth service all the time—and many are wondering why their “dividend guy” has suddenly become a “cash guy”!

Truth is, there’s been nothing for us to buy! We’ve unloaded 17 positions since last October in Hidden Yields and are sitting on a big cash pile—waiting for our chance.

And that chance is coming. In fact, if you’re using dollar-cost averaging—or investing a fixed amount of money on a fixed date, in other words—to build your portfolio, now is a great time to put money toward the safest stocks you own—especially as we get closer to “stock season”: the period from November to May, when markets are typically stronger.… Read more