For those of you caught up in the antics on Capitol Hill, you may not have noticed something this week that I found quite extraordinary. As of Friday morning, I was able to identify 18 companies that resumed paying or increased their dividends in this holiday-shortened week. Here they are:
| Company | Symbol | Increase |
| Carnival | CCL | Reinstate |
| Standard Motor | SMP | Reinstate |
| Finish Line | FINL | 33.3% |
| Tiffany | TIF | 18.0% |
| Family Dollar | FDO | 14.8% |
| Intel | INTC | 12.5% |
| El Paso Pipeline Partners | EPB | 12.5% |
| Pall Corp | PLL | 10.3% |
| Omega Healthcare | OHI | 6.7% |
| Enterprise Bancorp | EBTC | 5.3% |
| Washington Post | WPO | 4.7% |
| McGraw-Hill | MHP | 4.4% |
| TC PipeLines | TCLP | 3.5% |
| Polaris Industries | PII | 3.0% |
| Spectra Energy Partners | SEP | 2.5% |
| Wesco Financial | WSC | 2.5% |
| ONEOK | OKE | 0.9% |
| Consolidated Edison | ED | 0.8% |
The list is broad and covers all shapes and sizes of companies, from mega-cap Tech company Intel (INTC) to companies many of us have never heard of. In any event, after a year of record slashing, with many companies cutting or eliminating their dividends, it is nice to see more optimism. I saw chatter of the resumption of share repurchase programs as well.
While it would be nice to say that this is the kind of sign that suggests a higher market, I wouldn't go that far. While on the one hand, capital-rich companies (though not all of these hikers fit that bill), are in a position to reward shareholders, there is a whole plethora of companies that need capital. In the table below are equity deals that were priced just this week:
| Company | Symbol | Size (mm) |
| Charles Schwab | SCHW | $500 |
| El Paso Pipeline Partners | EPB | $236 |
| Inergy | NRGY | $181 |
| AMAG Pharna | AMAG | $174 |
| Hersha Hospitality Trust | HT | $155 |
| Orient-Express | OEH | $138 |
| Aegean Marine | ANW | $128 |
| Nordic American Tanker | NAT | $122 |
| InterMune | ITMN | $99 |
| Centene | CNC | $96 |
| Fifth Street Finance | FSC | $77 |
| KIT Digital | KITD | $31 |
| China Marine Food Group | CMFO | $30 |
| Achillion Pharma | ACHN | $20 |
| Curis | CRIS | $16 |
| $2,003 |
It's so cliche (and self-serving) for stock pickers like me to say that this will be a year for the stock pickers, but it really is shaping up that way out of the gate. I am sticking to my strategy that I have shared since 2007 of focusing on companies with strong balance sheets and/or defensive businesses.
Disclosure: Long FDO in a foundation I manage and in both of my model portfolios
