Portfolio High: Is This 5.1% Weed-Powered Dividend Safe?

Brett Owens, Chief Investment Strategist
Updated: April 17, 2019

“Jenny, I can imagine. My wife makes fun of me when I ice my knees after basketball games,” I confided to my friend and favorite bartender.

Her husband, no “young chicken” anymore either she joked, was sore from his own martial arts contest. She bought him a CBD “bath bomb” to help with the aches of being active and middle-aged.

Always the sucker for natural remedies and bartender wisdom, I teed up an Amazon selection for pain and inflammation. Just 26 hours later, I was massaging hemp, turmeric and MSM into my patella tendon (about an hour before tipoff):

BO’s Anti-Inflammatory Pick

“You’re a terrible scientist,” my wife reprimanded me after I bragged about my patella’s comeback in my postgame recap.… Read more

Sitting on Cash? 3 Dividends Up to 7.5% That’ll Sail if Markets Sink

Brett Owens, Chief Investment Strategist
Updated: April 16, 2019

If your mattress is a bit heavy on cash these days, you’re probably grinding your teeth every day as the markets tick higher. Should you be in the market? Shouldn’t the market pull back eventually?

Here’s a solution that’ll get your “buy and hope” friends out of your face: buy some dividend machines that’ll pay you while the markets levitate and hold up just fine if we do see the dip we’re overdue for.

I’m talking specifically about three mighty “pullback-proof” dividends (yields up to 7.5%) perfect for the “cliff-edge” market we’re seeing now. More on those in a moment.… Read more

Here’s What the “Yield Curve” Really Means for Your Portfolio

Michael Foster, Investment Strategist
Updated: April 15, 2019

There’s a three-word phrase that’s terrifying just about everyone these days. If you take it at face value, it could trick you into making a dangerous mistake with your retirement.

It springs from the following chart:

The Yield-Curve Panic

This chart tracks the spread between yields on the 10-year Treasury and the 2-year Treasury. In normal times, the shorter-term bond pays a smaller yield than the longer-term bond. But the difference between the two has gotten smaller and is now close to going negative.

That’s where our dangerous phrase comes from: this situation is known as an inverted yield curve.

The upshot?… Read more

Weekly Market Summary: Riding Wave of Momentum Into Earnings Season

David Peltier, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: April 13, 2019

The S&P 500 snapped an eight-session winning streak on Tuesday, but U.S. stocks still have strong momentum heading into the first-quarter earnings season.

The index flirted with the 2,900 level this week, which is a price that we haven’t seen since last October. One big change since then is that average U.S. earnings showed 20%-plus year-over-year growth in the first three quarters of 2018 and now we’re staring at the first quarterly earnings decline in the S&P 500 in three years.

The quarterly reports we’ll see over the next few weeks will go a long way to determining if the recent momentum can continue.… Read more

These 4.8%-5.9% Yields Could Get Hacked Apart

Brett Owens, Chief Investment Strategist
Updated: April 12, 2019

A stock’s yield is only as good as its cash flow because, after all, a dividend is nothing more than a promise from a company.

CenturyLink (CTL) recently reminded us of this. Its promised $0.54 per share dividend exceeded its ability to pay. The firm’s payout ratio of 130% – the percentage of profits that it was paying as dividends – was an absurd overpromise that couldn’t last forever:

CenturyLink’s Payout Promise Was Always on Borrowed Time

CEO Jeffrey Storey insisted his team remained “committed to and confident in our ability to maintain the dividend.” I understood the commitment, but questioned the confidence–taking on debt to pay dividends is a losing game.… Read more

3 Steps to Save You From a 23% Dividend Cut

Michael Foster, Investment Strategist
Updated: April 11, 2019

In February, I wrote this about the PIMCO Global Stocks+ and Income Fund (PGP):

“If you have PGP in your portfolio, this is the time to ditch it.”

Then in early April, this happened:

Warning Becomes Reality

What was behind this nosedive? A whopping 23% dividend cut! Worse, PGP owners who didn’t heed my sell call are now sitting on 11% price losses from the day the cuts were announced.

How did I know this calamity was coming?

When it comes to high-yielding CEFs, there are three warning signs that tell you a big crash is just around the corner, and each one was blaring before PGP’s drop.… Read more

A “Real” Dividend Capture Strategy That Yields 19.1%

Brett Owens, Chief Investment Strategist
Updated: April 10, 2019

“Does Brett know of a fund that employs a dividend capture strategy?”

Our customer service guru Jonathan has fielded many questions of this flavor in recent weeks and months. And thanks for asking, because I do! Hat tip Wall Street Journal:

“Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC has employed dividend-timing strategy quite successfully in its Alpine Dynamic Dividend Fund, but the firm believes its approach will work even better in its first closed-end fund.

“The new closed-end fund combines three strategies —dividend capture, value and growth—to maximize the amount of distributed dividend income that qualifies for the reduced rates and to find companies globally with the potential for dividend growth and capital appreciation.”… Read more

3 “Yield-Curve-Proof” Buys for 7%+ Dividends and Upside

Brett Owens, Chief Investment Strategist
Updated: April 9, 2019

The “yield curve” has inverted—and that could be terrible news for your dividends!

But don’t worry: there’s a “pullback-proof” way to keep your income and your nest egg secure—no matter if there’s stock-market fire behind all this yield-curve smoke.

Below I’ll reveal three stocks perfectly positioned for whatever lies ahead: if the market tanks, they’ll likely trade flat, thanks to their cheap valuations (and sturdy dividends).

And if it all turns out to be hype and the market keeps rolling higher? They’re poised to skyrocket while handing you a 7.1% average payout (with one of these stealth buys even throwing off an amazing 9.3% yield!).… Read more

Forget Oil: This 7.6% Dividend Will Soar in 2019

Michael Foster, Investment Strategist
Updated: April 8, 2019

Oil prices have been locked in a tight range for five years—and I know I don’t have to tell you that this has been a disaster for energy investors.

Oil Fails to Launch

With the benchmark Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE) unable to hold its gains for long (let alone recover to pre-crash levels), even the most conservative energy investor has been clobbered.

Why is this happening?

After all, you’d think a growing global population and emerging-market growth would drive up the price of a limited resource like oil. But the tables have turned. I’ll get into why shortly.

These Dividend Payers Are Better Buys Than Oil

For now, though, I recommend that income-seekers go a different route and pick stocks (and closed-end funds [CEFs]) that benefit from cheaper oil and gas—like utilities.… Read more

Weekly Market Summary: U.S. Stocks Kick Off April With Winning Streak

David Peltier, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: April 6, 2019

The domestic stock market averages started April on a positive note and on Thursday, the S&P 500 index achieved its longest winning streak in over a year.

Taking a bit further look back, Bespoke Investment Group noted this week that it’s now been 100 days since the major U.S. indexes bottomed in late December. Highlighted in the following table, Industrial and Technology names have led the average 22% gain in the S&P 500 since then, while healthcare stocks have lagged.

Source: Bespoke Investment Group  

Full Slate of Economic News

In overseas news this week, Theresa May suffered yet another defeat in Parliament, regarding the Brexit process.… Read more