Investors were anxiously awaiting commentary from the latest
Federal Reserve meeting today on where the direction of interest
rates and the economy were headed. Some had been speculating that
if the Fed plans on further easing (printing money) at all, the
announcement will have to be made today. Waiting until the next Fed
meetings in September or October would leave the Fed open to
accusations of trying to influence this year's Presidential
election. When the news officially came out, nothing really changed
as far as the cautionary stance is concerned. The bottom line is
low interest rates in the cards for the next couple of years,
according to today's announcement.
Despite all the focus on the Fed meeting, several major earnings
reports remained front and center. Investors liked today's results
from Allstate (
ALL
) and Comcast (
CMCSA
). On the flip side, investors were not too thrilled with numbers
from Energizer Holdings (
ENR
), Harley-Davidson (
HOG
), Devon Energy (
DVN
), and Mastercard (
MA
).
As always, you can view all of our recent earnings report
coverage and much more over on
The Dividend Daily
.
Wal-Mart Shares Up 50% in 12 Months!
I'm sure many market watchers will be stunned to realize a
super-mature retailer like Wal-Mart Stores (
WMT
) is up 50% over the last 12 months. This is the type of move that
makes the best analysts on the street scratch their head. Has WMT
discovered a tremendous new revenue source? Certainly not. Has a
big acquisition started paying off? Nope. Does the company have
incredible growth prospects? Not really.
In reality, WMT's huge move is part of our "yield chase"
concerns building in the markets. From a valuation standpoint, 17
times 2013 earnings is not super-expensive, but how much of the
earnings-per-share growth is coming from share buybacks vs. actual
earnings growth is a key question for WMT shareholders to
consider.
A former recommendation of ours, we downgraded WMT to "Hold"
("Neutral") when it approached the $60 mark, since its yield simply
wasn't that attractive at those levels. The stock has run all the
way up to $75 since then. Obviously we underestimated investors'
appetites to chase yields all the was down to the 2% level in some
cases.
Over the history of investing in the markets, we have seen
periods where investors reach for yield - and almost always regret
the outcome when the markets revert to the means. The crowded trade
tends to be the most dangerous one for investors, and it is our job
to point these situations out. Then it's your job as an investor to
evaluate how you should be positioned going forward.
After all, investing is always about the future.
Year-to-Date Results Just Posted
Be sure to check out the year-to-date watchlist posts up on the
site today. You can see how well many of the dividend stocks we are
tracking have done through the first seven months of 2012. As
always, you can find these and other members-only articles on
Dividend.com Premium Articles Page
.
An Important Note Regarding the Best Dividend Stocks List
We want to make sure everyone understands that the stocks on our
Best Dividend Stocks List
are the names we currently like for new investor capital,
regardless of what date the stock was first recommended on. If and
when a stock is removed from the list, we will clearly state
whether the stock should be sold (which is rare but occasionally
will happen), or simply held in one's account until we see a better
entry point or catalyst.
And here's one last thing to remember about what we do here at
Dividend.com: it's not just the names that we recommend that can
help you build wealth, but also the things we try to steer you away
from that are just as important. Forget about speculative or penny
stocks, chasing unprofitable IPOs, and listening to the manic
talking heads in the business media!
Our
Beat The Markets with Dividend Stocks
eBook Has Arrived!
We just debuted our brand new 275-page eBook, exclusively on
Dividend.com! In this digital-only book, we look ahead to 2012 and
the main factors that could affect dividend investors. A $39.95
value, the eBook is a
free download
for paid
Dividend.com Premium
subscribers.
Beat The Markets with Dividend Stocks
contains a full economic forecast for 2012, including in-depth
analysis on 65 of the biggest dividend stocks out there. It's a
great way to get prepared for your investing next year! So head
over to the
Dividend.com Premium homepage
now to download your copy.
A Dividend Capture Strategy for Active Investors
We now offer complete U.S. dividend data for all
Dividend.com Premium
members, so anyone that focuses on "Dividend Capture" trading
strategies should have plenty of good stuff to research each day.
Just check our enhanced
Ex-Dividend Calendar
, which is the best in the business, to search for upcoming
payouts.
Speaking of dividend capture, Dividend.com Premium members can
also access a 9-page report we published on the essential elements
to any successful dividend capture strategy. Be sure to check it
out here on the
Premium homepage
.
Thanks for reading everybody. I'll see you tomorrow!
Be sure to visit our complete recommended list of the
Best Dividend Stocks
, as well as a detailed explanation of
our ratings system here
.