Market jitters surrounding Greece and the potential for further
money coming out of the country's banks cast a cloud over the
late-day session, pushing the indices to close in the red.
The early money flow didn't go into any of the earnings plays
today, with stocks like Abercrombie & Fitch (
ANF
), Staples (
SPLS
), and Deere & Co. (
DE
), all lower following their disappointing results. Meanwhile,
General Electric (
GE
) is higher on news
GE Capital will resume paying the parent company a
dividend.
Wall Street analyst upgrades helped push stocks like Pepsico (
PEP
) higher, while semiconductor equipment play KLA-Tencor (
KLAC
) closed down on cautious analyst comments. Finally, shares of J.C.
Penney (
JCP
) got walloped (down 20% or $6.57) on yesterday's late-day news the
company was suspending its dividend.
New Dividend Stock Recommended Today!
We just upgraded a new dividend stock 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.
Seniors Love Facebook, but Will the IPO Shares Love Them
Back?
I was reading a CNN Money article recently titled "Seniors
Clamoring to Get into Facebook IPO." With a headline like that, I
simply had to read it.
Well, the article went exactly as I expected it to go. Retired
individuals are looking to roll the dice on the biggest new tech
IPO in several years. People interviewed in the piece were retired
doctors, engineers, etc., and all seemed to be in good shape
financially. Is it wrong to take a shot at buying Facebook shares
on the IPO debut? It's difficult to say.
On one hand, Facebook could eventually go the way of MySpace and
die a slow painful death. Or, the company could emulate Google,
aggressively buying new technologies and innovating in its core
businesses to solidify its spot atop the social media landscape.
Being the dividend lovers we are, we aren't paying much attention
to Facebook since it won't pay a dividend. However, we realize the
new IPO is a "big deal" for a lot of investors.
Just yesterday, General Motors (
GM
) announced it would stop its marketing initiatives on Facebook,
failing to see results to justify the ad spend. Relying simply on
advertising (as Facebook does) is a dangerous spot to be in any
economic environment. My gut tells me Facebook will attack several
revenue opportunities that its large audience provides, but until
they do so successfully, the only monetization strategy is indeed
in-page advertising for now.
If you have aspirations to buy Facebook shares on Friday, we
wish you luck and hope it works out for you. Like I said, it may
work for a bit, but then again, it may not. As a trader in my
earlier life, when the edge wasn't there, I'd tend to look
elsewhere. Fast forward to less stressful days of long-term
dividend investing, and we'll stick to looking at consistent and
dependable dividend-paying businesses that will support our more
reliable wealth-building strategy.
Staying In Your Lane
How many times have we seen a baseball player who's
traditionally a singles and doubles hitter try and change his
approach to hit more homers? These players often suffer both
statistically (lower batting average) and financially (when it
comes time to sign a new contract, the underperformance weighs down
teams' offers).
Investors encounter similar dangers when changing their
time-tested strategies. Whether it's trading more frequently or
struggling to manage larger share amounts, when people don't stay
in their lanes, underperformance usually ensues.
Just look at the last real estate bubble, when free-flowing
capital allowed many investors to get in way over their heads. Even
some of the most disciplined and responsible home builders got
caught up in the euphoria of runaway home prices. Eventually, so
many homes were built that a glut of inventory formed, pulling down
the market further and putting plenty of builders out of
business.
Today's investors have much more data at their fingertips, so
you'd think they'd make less mistakes. With more knowledge comes
more success, right? Well, not necessarily. Now we have more
distractions than ever, and human nature often dictates that people
simply bite off more than they can chew.
So when the next next euphoric bubble forms, and the lure of
quick, easy money becomes too great to ignore, just remember: stay
in your lane.
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
.
Dividend.com's Very Own National TV Commercial Has Debuted
Our first-ever television commercial! has started running on
CNBC and the feedback has been wonderful. If you haven't seen the
link yet,
you can check out our commercial here
.
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
.