A better-than-expected jobs number had the markets popping once
again today. Is the market overbought at this point? Probably. But
we aren't going to fuss about market gains at this point. Remember,
we're in the business of making money. In the meantime, the S&P
and Nasdaq have still not had a down week in 2012, while the Dow
was barely lower for just one week.
Looking at today's action, we had earnings results lifting up
shares of Clorox (
CLX
) (
report here
) and Microchip Technology (
MCHP
). Bullish Wall Street analyst calls also worked magic for shares
of Cummins Inc. (
CMI
) (
read more
) and Eastman Chemical (
EMN
) (
more here
).
Financials were also strong today. This push is to be expected,
with the sector up big thus far in 2012. Leading the move higher
today were shares of Citigroup (
C
), Prudential Financial (
PRU
), Goldman Sachs (
GS
), and Morgan Stanley (
MS
).
The few names not participating in today's rally included Wynn
Resorts (
WYNN
) (
more here
) and Estee Lauder (
EL
) (
report here
), which recently delivered less-than-stellar earnings results.
Making Your Own "Call to Action"
Whether you subscribe to
Dividend.com Premium
or any other quality investment research service, you are in a
sense making a commitment to take action when it comes to building
wealth. Commitment is essential in making a positive change in your
financial future.
Ask most people about commitment and they'll probably tell you
they need a bit more time. When it comes to investing, I question
why anyone would want to delay the process of building wealth. Each
day you put off is one less day you have money working for you.
Procrastinating is natural, but the perfect time for anything is
hard to pinpoint. So avoid over-analyzing if all it ever leads to
is inaction.
How do you eliminate the guesswork? Simply by reading and
learning about the areas that are working well for investors in
general. If the consensus stays consistent, and more importantly,
the results do, you know you are on the right track.
Will the Facebook Millionaires Stay Hungry? Probably Not.
In the past 24 hours, business media coverage has been dominated
by Facebook's recent IPO filing. The company currently has about
3,200 employees, and a decent number of them are slated to have
monster paydays when the company goes public, likely some time in
May. Some employees may be locked in from selling their shares at
the IPO, but that probably won't last very long. When the day comes
for them to cash in, I'd bet most of them won't miss filing the
paperwork.
The question then becomes: how will the passion continue for
those who have achieved their ultimate financial dreams? We've seen
our share of hyped companies in the past lose key members of their
initial teams within a year or two of cashing out of tons of stock.
Some leave to start a new company. Others become venture
capitalists (VCs). Some even decide their working days are mostly
over, and live it up by traveling the world. These factors can all
add up to tough times ahead for unlucky shareholders who are sucked
in to buying IPO shares.
There is no prestige for investors in owning shares of anything,
unless you are able to count on that particular company to pay back
some of their profits (dividends) on a consistent basis. The word
"prestige" is probably a bit too strong, regardless. We all just
want to see consistency from companies, in their earnings and in
their payouts.
The media is fixated on Facebook and will be so until the IPO,
just as they were with daily deals site Groupon (
GRPN
). Once the Facebook IPO passes, it will be on to the next (let me
guess, Twitter?). The cycle will continue, with plenty of ups and
downs. Google (
GOOG
) has done a formidable job since coming IPO and getting
shareholders some great returns, but the company still lost many of
its early team members along the way.
It happens. People are people, and a boatload of money can't
help but change one's priorities. Ask yourself this: if you hit the
lottery tomorrow, how hungry would you still be to keep doing what
you're doing? You'd probably have bigger ambitions to go after at
that point. But that's okay, because again, we're human.
As an investor, you must decide if every potential risk will be
rewarded. Is the Facebook moat wide enough to give investors an
ample reward for years to come?
I know as a dividend-minded investor, I won't lose much sleep
about it. I'll focus on great companies with real businesses, and
let the momentum players sort things out themselves. All along the
way, I'll be enjoying steady, consistent returns and generating
additional income.
Two New Dividend Stocks Recommended Today!
We just upgraded two new dividend stocks this morning onto our
industry-leading
Best Dividend Stocks List
. Be sure to check out
our
post detailing the upgrade
if you haven't already.
Quick note: if the stocks are moving up too quickly following a
recommendation, it may be best to wait for a pullback. Investing is
a marathon, not a sprint!
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 Look to Next Week and a Weekend Preview
Looking ahead to next week, earnings will remain a big factor
with some of next week's big names reporting results include
Pepsico (
PEP
), Coca-Cola (
KO
), Time Warner (
TWX
), Walt Disney (
DIS
) and more.
Be sure to catch up with our latest watchlist updates this
weekend on
Dividend.com Premium
, including reports on earnings/story stocks, analyst
upgrades/downgrades, dividend ETFs, and much more. And as always,
you can view our current recommendations on our industry-leading
Best Dividend Stocks List
.
Thanks for reading, and I'll see you this weekend! P.S. Please
pass this e-mail on to someone you think can use some financial
motivation as well as being kept in the financial news loop that
could affect them.
Be sure to visit our complete recommended list of the
Best Dividend Stocks
, as well as a detailed explanation of
our ratings system here
.