Author Archive: Brett Owens

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

Ready for the inaugurations? Yes, with a plural. We are talking seven brand-new dividend programs today.

Dividend payers are our beat here at Contrarian Outlook. And we welcome newcomers because they can really kick off a phenomenon I refer to as the Dividend Magnet.

Over long time frames—years—stock prices follow their payout higher. We like dividend growers because they are the surest, safest way to profits in the stock market. Buy a rising payout, sit back, and watch the stock price chase it.

New dividend payers can be even better because they tend to grow their dividends quickly.… Read more

How are we feeling about the stock market, my fellow contrarian?

More importantly, should we have an opinion on the market-at-large at all? I don’t think so. Trump 2.0 will create a “market barbell” of big winners and sad losers. Let’s focus on the dividend payers that will be propelled higher—and step over the laggards.

There are some dandy dividends ready to dart higher. Today they sit in the bargain bin thanks to investor reservations about the Federal Reserve. When Chairman Jay Powell took the stage in December, he delivered a sober discourse to investors: Don’t expect as many rate cuts as you were hoping for.… Read more

Trump 2.0 is now only a bit less than a week off, and things are moving fast.

Here’s one thing I can tell you: While everyone’s talking about tariffs, Greenland and the Panama Canal, what investors—particularly dividend investors—should be talking about is way more “boring”: The yield on the 10-year Treasury note.

Because when the rubber really hits the road on the new administration, it’s the 10-year, more than anything else, that’s going to call the tune here.

And the next move I see it making, which we’ll get into below, is poised to benefit some of our favorite income plays: real estate investment trusts (REITs).… Read more

These five stocks may deliver big dividend raises. I’m talking potential payout hikes starting at 20%.

It’s possible that one of these firms doubles their dividend because, heck, they did that one year ago!

How do I know?

Gaudy dividend growth numbers are especially attractive because they often lead to big price gains. I call this dynamic the “dividend magnet.”

The “magnet” effect is pretty straightforward: When a company not only grows its profits, but shares gobs of those earnings with stockholders as dividends, investors on the outside see both a sign of quality and the potential for income and buy in—driving the stock price higher for us!… Read more

Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) is an intriguing everything-proof stock for Trump 2.0. The company specializes in cutting-edge surgical devices and regardless of what the Fed or President-Elect Trump does in 2025, we know that Americans will continue to have surgeries.

Human surgeons are expensive and prone to mistakes, so the big trend in the surgery room is towards robotics. Intuitive created the da Vinci system, the most widely used surgical robot in the world.

Business is booming. The company anticipates 12% to 16% year-over-year demand growth for da Vinci. Its technology is less invasive and more precise than humans, which leads to faster recovery times for patients.… Read more