Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Technical analysis for shorts & longs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Johnny Canuck who wrote (44778)	5/5/2008 12:22:56 PM
From: Johnny Canuck	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 69307

GREEN THUMB Look for Firms That Raise Dividends By LARRY LIGHT May 3, 2008; Page B1 Companies that consistently raise their dividends return the most to investors over the long pull. So says a recent report from Ned Davis Research. Amid a topsy-turvy market, this is an insight that can prove helpful in picking stocks. Since 1972, members of the Standard and Poor's 500-stock index that consistently increased their payouts, or started making them, rewarded shareholders with a yearly average 10.4% total return (stock-price appreciation plus dividends). Those that didn't boost dividends clocked 8.2%. Most of the difference came from superior stock performance. The 2.2 percentage-point gap might not look like much, but the extra return, compounded over 36 years, produces a substantially richer result. Invest $100 with dividend-raisers back in 1972, and it grows to $3,547 today, according to the Venice, Fla., research firm's calculations. That same $100 with nonraisers only produces $1,745. "A board that raises dividends, year in, year out, shows it is confident that the company's outlook is strong," says Rick Helm, manager of Cohen & Steers Dividend Value, a mutual fund that specializes in dividend-increasing stocks. What's more, expanding dividends are a reward that attracts investors, and for quality-of-earnings buffs, cash is hard to fake. How do investors find stocks that continuously juice payouts? S&P lists 40 or so companies that have increased dividends every year for at least 25 years, a group it calls its Dividend Growth U.S. Basket. They include well-known companies like Intel Corp. and Procter & Gamble Co. but also smaller companies like insurer Torchmark Corp. and construction-materials outfit Vulcan Materials Co. Researcher Mergent Inc.'s Broad Dividend Achievers roster shows 321 that have boosted dividends for 10 years or more without a break. Both are available on their Web sites. A history of expanding dividend payments doesn't guarantee that a company will sustain them. Subprime-mortgage lender Novastar Financial doubled its dividends in recent years but now is in bad shape. Last year it lost $733 million and scrapped its dividend. Some companies are almost trapped into raising dividends, says Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at S&P. "If they don't increase, it'll look like they have a liquidity problem." And that could hurt a stock. Investors should take a deeper look to ensure historical dividend-raisers can keep it up, says Cohen & Steers' Mr. Helms. He wants to see that free cash flow (cash from operations, with depreciation and amortization added back and capital spending subtracted) can amply cover the payouts. For instance, toy maker Mattel Inc. has free cash that is a comfortable 1.4 times greater than the dividend outlay. It has raised dividends by an annual average of 28% over the past five years. The situation is similarly happy at Exelon Corp. and Microchip Technology Inc. Another way to capture dividend-raisers is to buy Mr. Helm's fund or ones like it, such as Dividend Growth Trust Rising Dividend and Sit Dividend Growth.

To: Johnny Canuck who wrote (44778)	5/6/2008 2:23:18 PM
From: Logain Ablar	Respond to of 69307

Hi Harry: Its going to take higher prices (people are feeling it in the states at this level) and more time for people to change thier ways (demand destruction).

To: Johnny Canuck who wrote (44778)	5/6/2008 11:22:18 PM
From: Johnny Canuck	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 69307

Nordic American Tanker's Nice Dividend Boost by: Tim Plaehn posted on: May 06, 2008 \| about stocks: FRO / NAT Font Size: PrintEmail Nordic American Tanker (NAT) is out with its first quarter results and boosted the dividend 136% from Q3 and Q4 of 2007. Nordic American runs a fleet of 12 Suezmax tankers all in the spot market. The first quarter results are good news and the company indicated the 2nd quarter of 2008 is off to a great start. The revenues for NAT are entirely derived from spot market rentals of their oil tankers. The company has a policy to pay out all of a quarter’s free cash flow as dividends. Dividends fluctuate tremendously, as do spot market rates for their ships. Nordic American believes the spot market will give the best returns on their tankers over time. Investors have to live with the fluctuating dividends, although the stock has historically yielded over 10%. Here are couple of notes from the press release: The declared dividend for the first quarter will be $1.18. This is compared to 50¢ for the previous two quarters. The company has now paid a dividend for 43 consecutive quarters. Average charter rate for the first quarter was $46,600 /day/tanker. This compares to $27,000 in Q4, 2007. Average charter rate for the 2nd quarter, 2008 is exceeding the first quarter. Of the 360 worldwide Suezmax tankers, 46 are single hulled and will be out of service by 2010. New building has slowed, reducing the chances of a tanker over supply in the next few years. NAT has 2 new tankers on order to be delivered in 2009 and 2010. I like NAT in the tanker space for its strong dividend policy, which is related to its low cost structure. NAT’s daily expenses per tanker are less than half of those of larger fleets like Frontline (FRO). This allows the company to keep paying a dividend when spot rates are low, and really boost the payout when charter rates are good. Note: I have a long position in NAT.