Anybody here got a comment to share regarding IPG?
In a recent press release, Interpublic (IPG) says they are "the world's largest advertising group".
IPG is one I'm looking at that's different from others I've posted here. It doesn't have a high absolute dividend yield, and I am guessing it doesn't have a high relative dividend either. (Relative div. as defined by Spare,Tengler in their book.) It might fit closer to the G. Weiss model (I am just guessing again) in the sense that the dividend is low but increasing. (I count 16 dividend increases in the last 17 years.
The stock shows up in a couple of lists in the '97 edition of "The Dividend Rich Investor". I'm focusing on the category: "Stocks Posting Superior Returns with Reinvested Dividends". Now though, IPG is suffering in the downturn in the economy and/or dot.com crash. If/when the economy recovers, the bet (for me) would be that the stock recovers as well. Some people say that even in a funk economy, companies will want to keep advertising their wares, so ad. companies might be profitable still.
OTOH, the stock in good times sells at a high multiple - there's no assurance that would happen again, there could very well be big integration problems with IPG's recent acquisition, and there may be better stocks than IPG in the advertising sector. (I haven't looked at OMC or WPP Group, for example.) Finally, the current dividend yield is unattractive at 1.36% and provides no downside protection (imo).
finance.yahoo.com
Paul Senior
(I have no position in IPG. Just watching and considering.) |
