Author Archive: Brett Owens

Railroad stocks are set to roll and we’re going to climb aboard with two stocks—including one that’s hiked payouts by 50% in five years—we’ll delve into in a sec.

What’s driving this opportunity? Our usual contrarian mix of overlooked growth and stocks that have been tossed overboard, of course!

Since the days of the Wild West, railroads have been the backbone of the US economy, so when economic growth gets out of sync with railroad stocks’ prices—as is happening right now—we need to take notice.

As I write this, the US economy is still in growth mode and shoppers are still spending.… Read more

Five growth companies are about to hike their dividends. Let’s front run these payout moves.

Many vanilla income investors miss these stocks because their current yields are modest. These armchair analysts are missing a critical point. These stock prices climb with each and every hike thanks to a phenomenon known as the “dividend magnet.”

Consider tech giant Microsoft (MSFT). Sure, Microsoft’s 18-year-old payout isn’t exactly old compared to fellow Dow components like Coca-Cola (KO) and Procter & Gamble (PG), which have been writing dividend checks since the 1800s, but it’s awfully long in the tooth for a member of the technology sector.… Read more

My six-year-old hooper was having an outstanding YMCA practice. She was leading the drills, encouraging her teammates and almost dribbling between her legs. So close.

And then, the very next minute, she was throwing a fit in the corner. Her tantrum would last the remainder of practice. She missed the end of the time-honored “kids versus coaches” game which the kids (as always) dominated.

One of the coaches (her father, and your income strategist) was not thrilled with her pouting but also not totally surprised. Parenting a soon-to-be-first grader is a rollercoaster. Best to enjoy the good moments and get through (or mentally block out!)… Read more

If you’ve been reading my columns for a while, you’re probably sick of hearing about the “Dividend Magnet.” (I’m starting to think I should put it on my license plate. Too bad the California DMV has a seven-character limit!)

Well, we got another quick Dividend Magnet win last week, when my latest pick for our Hidden Yields service, FedEx Corp. (FDX), shot up 17% five days (including a weekend) after our buy call.

An Immediate Dividend Magnet Win

To be honest, we Hidden Yield-ers are used to seeing gains on stocks that grow their dividends fast, like FDX, which hiked its payout 112% in the last five years.… Read more

I love the economics of real estate. But a landlord I’m not. Please, change your own lightbulb—don’t call me.

Enter real estate investment trusts (REITs), which provide us with landlord-style income from the comfort of computers and smartphones.

Why are these “virtual fourplex” deals available in convenient ticker form? Thank Congress (no, seriously!) By law, the bulk of a REIT’s income has to be returned to us, the shareholders, in the form of dividends. Even an average REIT is going to pay more than most other sectors, and some REIT dividends can get downright enormous—like the 7.8% to 22.3% yielders I’ll discuss here in a moment.… Read more

If you don’t like these 8%, 9% and even 10%+ dividends, well, you’re not really an income investor.

That’s right. As I write, select closed-end funds (CEFs) yield 10.6%.

Ten. Point. Six. Per. Cent!

We contrarians are locking in yields up to nearly 11%. Here’s how, broken down in an 11-step playbook for these 8%, 9%, even 10.6% yields.

CEF Rule #1: Buy the Best 

Fixed-income behemoth DoubleLine runs some well-known big mutual funds and ETFs as well as smaller, lesser-known CEFs. There’s a raging dividend party in the ignored CEF corner of DoubleLine’s portfolio, with yields up to 10.6% via DoubleLine Income Solutions Fund (DSL).… Read more

Some of our favorite high-yield dividends just did something stunning: They sent their investors’ payouts soaring—in some cases by more than 30% overnight.

All of these high-paying dividend growers are municipal bond funds, a corner of the market many folks see as boring—if they know about it at all.

I don’t know what’s “boring” about a payout that leaps double-digits in one go—and hands us a 7%+ tax-free dividend, to boot!

That’s exactly what’s happened at a slew of “muni” focused closed-end funds (CEFs) in the last month or so. (Municipal bonds are issued by state and local governments to fund infrastructure projects).… Read more

Who cares what financial “pundits” are yapping about? Show us the money. Show us what the insiders are scooping up!

I was going to say “cue the Drake meme.” Let me go ahead and tee that up.

Insider buying, generally speaking, is more predictive than insider selling. The C-level types may sell stock to buy new boats or bribe their kids’ way into college. (Ha!)

But when these guys and gals buy, it’s for one reason. They believe their stock’s price is undervalued, and that it’s due to pop.

Insider buying activity has been quiet of late. No surprise there: The market is setting new highs on the regular, and many execs are nervous about buying when their stocks are at or near all-time highs.… Read more

Only here at Contrarian Outlook can we banter for an hour-plus about closed-end funds, utilities and oil dividends! This site is our sanctuary, my income friends.

I’m talking about our Contrarian Outlook 2024 Q2 VIP Webcast. Every quarter we fire up GoToWebinar and discuss the top high-yield stocks and bonds on my mind, along with your questions. A big thanks to my 1,151 subscriber friends who attended the meeting live.

On the call I fielded some questions about closed-end funds (CEFs) that we didn’t have time to cover. I said I’d read them all and, well, I did. So, let’s address them now.… Read more

The media hype machine is in overdrive, pushing utility stocks as a savvy way to play AI’s growth. You’ve no doubt seen these headlines (or some of the hundreds of others like them):

• “The Unlikely Stocks That Became a Hot Bet on AI” –The Wall Street Journal
• “AI Could Drive a Natural Gas Boom as Power Companies Face Surging Electricity Demand” –CNBC
• “Utility Stocks Could Be Headed for a Decade of Strong Growth, Driven by Data, AI” –Barron’s

Before we go further, let me say right off the hop that we contrarians never chase headlines—we’re always looking to buy value first and foremost—high-yielding stocks that are washed out, in other words.… Read more