Author Archive: Brett Owens

Contrarians that we are, we know when we hear things that sound like “common wisdom,” we need to look just a little bit deeper.

Today, that’s what we’re going to do, with a common refrain we’re hearing a lot—that tariffs will lead to a spike in interest rates.

Then we’ll look at a bond play that’s set to benefit from this misunderstood mantra. This smartly run fund pays a dividend that yields 10.4% and comes our way monthly, too.

Tariffs Here, Tariffs There …

To be sure, tariffs have arrived. President Trump has imposed a 10% levy on all products China exports to the US (and 15% on liquefied natural gas and certain types of coal), effective last Tuesday.… Read more

Worried about the next round of tariffs? Tech disruption from DeepSeek? The geopolitical landscape?

All of the above?

Fret not my contrarian friend—here are seven wonderfully-sleepy dividend stocks. They yield between 5% and 14.1% and we are discussing them today because all seven boast low betas.

This means these shares move less than the overall market. An admirable quality when it comes to a dividend stock because we’re not here for the price drama, we’re here for the payout.

Beta represents an investment’s volatility against a benchmark. Stock beta is typically benchmarked against the S&P 500, aka “the market.” Beta is based around the number 1, so a stock with a beta equal to 1 moves with the market.… Read more

Many of you have written in asking about DeepSeek’s latest release and its potential effects on our income portfolio and strategies. Let’s discuss the latest in AI because, yes, there are ripples into Dividendland that are not fully appreciated by mainstream investors.

(And tariff questions, we’ll get to you in the coming weeks!)

First the DeepSeek disruption in AI, and let’s take vanilla dividend darling Nasdaq 100 Covered Call ETF (QYLD), which yields 12.2% as our example. Is that big divvie still safe and secure? Income seekers are constantly staring at the fund, writing in to ask me if they have permission to:

1. Buy QYLD.

Here at Contrarian Outlook, we are—unequivocally—bullish on the US economy. We’re also big fans of the 6.1% dividend we’re going to discuss below, which trades for less than half its annual sales.

That’s pretty much the opposite of the nosebleed 26 times sales (and 0.03% yield—not a typo!) over at NVIDIA (NVDA), even after last week’s panic over Chinese AI chatbot DeepSeek.

US Stocks Are Wealth-Building Machines …

Fact is, it’s easy to be bullish on the US these days, with the country’s economy leading (and in many cases lapping!) those of other countries.

The IMF, for example, sees the US economy growing 2.7% in 2025, tops in the G7 and nearly triple the forecast 1% growth in the Eurozone.… Read more

This week’s AI panic has opened up a rare bargain window in big tech names that were disposed of with the DeepSeek bathwater.

Nosebleed Nvidia (NVDA)—which we warned about here and here—is a “stay away.” But there are tech dividends worth exploring, with some paying us up to 13% a year.

Investors have been herded into the same AI and technology names that have been at the forefront for years, and—shockingly—those shares have largely been priced for perfection.

Chinese AI upstart DeepSeek has shown that deep pockets are not needed to build smart AI models. This should have come as no surprise, as China is home to many smart technologists.… Read more

PIMCO recently cut the dividends of two of its popular closed-end funds (CEFs). Shareholders took a bath and, honestly, none of this was a surprise to us careful contrarians.

The payout cuts themselves were not the reason for the bludgeoning. PIMCO Strategic Income Fund (RCS) reduced by 22% but still yields 7.4%. PCM Fund (PCM) cut by 20% yet it pays 11.5% post-chop.

Yet shareholders down 13% and 12% respectively in the past month are now searching for meaning in their empty dividend lives. Fast double-digit losses are obviously not what these income-hopeful investors signed up for.

Alas, hope is never a good strategy and those that were burned obviously did not research these paper payout tigers in Contrarian Outlook.… Read more

Trump 2.0 has exploded out of the gate, and we’re quickly lining up the best bond buys in response—including an 8.8% payer we’ll dive into below.

“Bond Vigilantes” May Return (But We’re Not Waiting Around)

“Wait, we’re buying bonds now?” you might be thinking. “Aren’t inflation and rates going to tick higher in the new administration?”

It’s a reasonable question. And yes, when rates go up, bonds go down. That’s just the way it works in bond-land.

Tariffs are on the way. Ditto mass deportations. And last I checked, the federal government was running a $2-trillion deficit. (And let’s be honest, DOGE or no, politicians are in no hurry to take that problem on.)… Read more

What’s better than monthly dividends that add up to 7.2% to 15.4% yearly yields?

Cheap monthlies thanks to a high level of fear amongst vanilla investors.

Source: CNN Fear & Greed Index

We contrarians do our heavy shopping when the crowd is fearful. We have some attractive dividend opportunities today in quarterly payers.

But hey, why settle for every-90-day divvies when we can get paid on the month, every month?

Monthly dividend stocks pay us on the same schedule we receive our bills, which is convenient no matter our age but downright helpful once we hit retirement.

But when it comes to explaining the difference, I find a visual really helps the message sink in.… Read more

Tariff Day has left us with Canada and Mexico in the crosshairs. With North American trade in focus, this may actually give a respite to stocks with supply chains elsewhere and light a fire under them.

Today we’ll talk about two dividend growers that have serious upside. One has a supply chain independent of Canada and Mexico, while the other has no manufacturing worries but some misguided RFK fears. The pair returned 138% and 199% during Trump 1.0, and, if history rhymes, the duo could return triple-digits again during Trump 2.0.

Our first stock, Analog Devices (ADI), is down 9% from its recent highs on trade fears.… Read more

We are now officially into Trump 2.0, and here’s the first thing I can tell you:

This new administration will hurt the returns of folks who simply buy an index fund like the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) and call it a day.

What we’re now embarking on is a true stock picker’s market—a time when prudent moves into, and out of, individual dividend payers will be key.

That puts holders of SPY, which has to represent the current makeup of the S&P 500 index, in a tough spot. Since it has no manager who can buy and sell as markets shift, SPY holders are locked in as losing stocks cancel out some or all of the ETF’s winners.… Read more