There’s an alleged bubble in “low vol” stocks that is quickly extending to dividend-payers. Here’s how to play it.

Since the start of the year, the iShares Edge MSCI Minimum Volatility USA ETF (USMV) has taken in more than $5 billion, placing it first among inflows for stock-focused ETFs. The fund holds stocks that don’t move much, such as General Mills (GIS), AT&T (T) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ).

Low vol was the rage for the first-half of 2016. Investors, wary of a stock market crash, sought refuge in these staples. USMV pays a modest 2.2%, but until last month there was hope that rising rates would breathe life into fixed income for those who needed actual yield.… Read more

The market is soaring to record highs, making all stocks too expensive to buy, right? Wrong. While exuberance is in the air, there are still a few overlooked gems paying dividends nearly 4% with strong growth potential.

We can easily build a portfolio of four stocks with overall strong revenue growth, growing dividends and a 3.9% average portfolio yield. That yield will only grow in the coming years thanks to each company’s moat, making this a durable portfolio for an IRA or for investors eyeing retirement in the next decade or beyond.

So what’s in it? We’ve got four names: AbbVie (ABBV), Brookfield Property Partners (BPY), Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) and Western Union Company (WU) – names that have on average gone up just 2.4% in the last year, with none of them at 52-week highs (although some are close).… Read more

Feel like you missed out on the Brexit bargain hunt?

If so, you’re not alone. You had to be quick to snap up cheap dividend growth stocks when the S&P 500 plunged 5.7% in the two days following the vote, because five trading days later, it had largely recouped that ground.

So now it’s back to slim pickings for income investors. With the S&P 500 hitting new highs seemingly every day, valuations are stretched and dividend yields are down, as you can see from this snapshot of the trailing-twelve-month yield on the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY):

But don’t worry. No matter how richly valued the market is, there are always strong dividend growers that aren’t getting a fair shake from investors.… Read more

Real estate investment trusts, or REITs, have been on a tear. For instance, Lexington Realty Trust (LXP) is up a shocking 32% year-to-date, and it also happens to be a stock we recommended a few weeks ago. Many more REITs are up double-digits over the past year, making income-hungry investors wary of buying at too high of a price.

This is especially true for indexing the sector, as Vanguard’s REIT Index Fund (VNQ) is up 16.9% in the last year versus the S&P 500’s modest 3.6% gain. This is great for people who bought at the bottom, but anyone looking to get into REITs now needs to be wary about blindly buying companies that comprise a broader index.… Read more

If you think dividend stocks are about to soar, wait until you see what happens with the select subset that is actually accelerating its payouts.

Low rates for longer means net present value calculations look great for stocks that pay meaningful yields. And those that are boosting their dividends at an increasing rate are basically breaking Wall Street’s spreadsheets.

Take CoreSite (COR), a developer and landlord for data centers that we first discussed in March. The company had recently increased its payout by 26%, an acceleration over last year’s “mere” 20% boost:

Investors who bought CoreSite the day it declared the latest increase are sitting on 54.9% gains in just over seven months.… Read more

Is the next market brushfire right around the corner? And are investors in denial about it?

If recent moves in the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) are any indication, the answer to both questions could be yes.

The market’s so-called “fear indicator” plunged 40% in the week following the Brexit vote—its largest-ever drop—as options traders bet the worst is behind us. The VIX has moved back up only slightly since.

But don’t break out the bubbly yet. Because if anything, this sudden outbreak of investor contentment—and the disappointment that’s sure to follow—sets the stage for more, not less, volatility to come.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury is the canary in the coal mine.… Read more

Did you miss the Brexit bounce? Sure, much of the easy money has been made – but not all of it.

Stocks headquartered in the U.K continue to languish. Some deservedly so, but there are a few fantastic companies trading at big discounts to their usual market prices.

As we saw last week, fortune favors the bold (and the quick). Here are three stocks in three sectors set to rally strongly from Brexit weakness for the bold investor.

British Banks Are Cheap

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is no stranger to wild swings, even though it happens to be the fourth largest U.K.… Read more

Since the salad days for stocks ended with the 2008 financial crisis, the new normal has been slower than average economic growth coupled with friendly (low) interest rates.

The financial world hasn’t returned to, well, normal due to some setbacks (Brexit most recently) and more headwinds (too much debt and bad demographics in developed economies). Post-Brexit, the “smart money” is now wagering that interest rates are all-but-certain to stay low for longer (til 2018, at least).

In a world where growth and yield remain scarce, assets that provide one or the other will be in hot demand. And how about stocks that provide both?… Read more