Following my analysis on Mattel (MAT) and Hasbro (HAS) from last week, I’m closing this toy stock series with the most famous company in the eyes of children: The Walt Disney Company (DIS).

Note: The stock is currently showing a dividend yield of 1.14%. This definitely does not fit my Dividend Growth Investing Model. But the company has recently started to increase its dividend and it makes a great comparison to Mattel and Hasbro, which are pretty much alone in the toy industry paying distributions over 3%.

Disney Business Description

If you have been hiding under a rock for the past 80 years, you may not know that Disney is the reference for family entertainment. The company is divided into four sectors:

1. Media Networks (ABC Family, ESPN, Disney Junior, etc.)
2. Parks and Resorts (you need to visit one in your life)
3. Studio Entertainments (Pixar, Walt Disney Pictures, Marvel banners)

On Monday, we looked at the toy industry with Mattel (MAT). Following up on this series, we will check out another important player in the industry: Hasbro (HAS). While Mattel is part of my Best Dividend Stocks for 2013, Hasbro was part of my selection for 2012. The company has been up by 32.34% this year and was up by another 12.57% for 2012. After a gain of almost 50% in 17 months is there any more room for profit, or have you missed the train?

Hasbro Business Description

Hasbro is a worldwide leader in children and family entertainment. It is mostly known for its numerous toy brands such as Playskool, Tonka, Milton Bradley, and Parker Brothers. They are the second-largest toy company behind Mattel and have several trademarked franchises such as Transformers, "Star Wars," and Marvel action heroes. Since it can't stop making Marvel heroes movies and the "Star

The month of May is starting out strong on the stock market as most investors are patiently waiting for a correction. Since it's spring time and we are all looking to spend more time playing outside, I thought of doing a small analysis series of toys & entertainment dividend stocks. Today we start with Mattel (NASDAQ: MAT), a stock showing a year-to-date return of +23.84% as of Monday May 6th before the market opening. This stock has been selected at the beginning of the year to be part of my book of The Best 2013 Dividend Stocks.

Mattel Business Description:

Mattel is one of the biggest toy manufacturers, marketers and distributors. It has an impressive portfolio of brands including all-star names such as Fisher-Price, Little People, Barbie, Hot Wheels, Polly Pocket along with several Disney, Comic Book and Cartoon characters and related products.

Strong from a record year in

I bought Seagate Technology (STX) back in June 2012 while the stock was trading around $23. At that time, it was clear to me that STX was a great bargain. The company was showing many positive aspects:

#1 An aggressive dividend increase strategy paired with a low payout ratio.

#2 A Massive repurchase program ($2.5B) fueled by a low price earnings ratio.

#3 The stock had dropped severely after its dividend cut in 2009 and had clearly solved its problem three years later.

For two years in a row, I selected STX to be part of the best dividend stocks for the year. I was very enthusiastic when I bought the stock and had clearly made the right choice back then. But after looking at their latest financial results from May 1st, I'm starting to wonder if it's not time to cash out my profits and run. If I

It ’s fun to see how a serious field like investing comes with these semi-astrological predictions …

There is an old saying telling investors to sell in May and come back in October. This is the result if you follow the “Sell in May and Go Away” along with “Buy back on Saint Crispin’s Day,” which is in late October.

Some people can say it’s as good as fortune tellers’ stories but there is one thing that tickles me; there is some pretty strong data to support it. The most interesting graph I have found was produced by Walter J. Zimmermann Jr. from United-ICAP. It clearly shows that an investor who bought only from May 1, to October 31, (so doing the opposite of the old saying) loses money over the past 62 years of stock market history!

On the opposite hand, if you only buy from November 1, and

What could be the best scenario for a dividend investor?

When I think about dividend investing, I think about the possibility of receiving a dividend payout forever. After all, the “perfect dividend stock” is paying a distribution quarterly and show the possibility of increasing this payment year after year. I went on doing some research based on a few data inspiring sustainable dividend over time.

Which Ratios Lead to Safe Dividend Payouts?

From a stock screener, I’ve pulled out the following metrics:

• Dividend yield over 3%
• Dividend payout ratio under 70%
• P/E ratio under 20
• 5yr Earnings per share growth over 10%
• 5yr Sales growth over 10%
• Return on Equity over 10%

I’m guessing that a stock showing low payout ratio, low P/E ratio but with high EPS, sales and ROE growth would be a strong candidate to be in any dividend investor portfolio. I’ve pulled off 17 stocks from

If you live in Canada, you probably heard about ScotiaBank's catchy line you are richer than you think. They imply that they can improve your financial situation so you can have a stronger balance sheet. If I was a competitor, I would come up with the opposite line: You Are Poorer Than You Think. If you think of all the fees and transaction costs you pay to have your portfolio managed by someone else, you are truly poorer than you think.

I totally understand that not everybody could be or wants to be a DIY investor. As a matter of fact, I think that financial advisors and brokers (I mean the honest ones amongst this group, hahaha!) have a real utility for most investors. They will provide solid financial advice, will take care of retirement planning for you and will also manage your funds. These services obviously have

Which dividend stocks will beat the market in 2013? The answer will shock you …

Over the years, the stock market brings its bubbles and they eventually burst. The banking industry was rocking for several years going right along side the oil industry. REITs offered and still offer great dividend payouts year after year. But do you know which sector will outperform the stock market this year?

We could expect to see resources bounce back based on growth numbers from emerging markets... We could think that the enormous amount of liquidity lying in techno stock bank accounts should be enough to push them through the roof... We can think that financials can break barriers and bring dividends higher for another year…

If you think that one of these three sector is the place to be in 2013, you're wrong. Here's my hint: it's a very boring sector…

The Heinz Effect

I have sent out a couple of emails about investing strategies through my mailing list lately and it has generated some interesting discussion about certain stocks. Two of them were brought to my attention as they are somewhat similar: IGM Financial (IGIFF.PK) and Power Corporation. Since I have covered IGM in my best 2012 dividend stocks and picked Power Corporation for 2013 (download the book here), I thought of sharing more views about both stocks. Here’s my IGM stock analysis.

IGM Financial Business Description:

IGM Financials is mostly known for the name Investors Group, the largest mutual fund company in Canada. The company also manages Mackenzie Investments and belongs partly (57%) to Power Corporation. Investors Group provides financial planning services along with mutual funds and insurance services. Through a partnership with National Bank, they also provide regular banking products and loans to their clients.

Investors Group has

At the beginning of the year, I had set 3 main investing goals (you can read about them here):

#1 Buying a consumer stock [I picked another techno stock instead with Apple (AAPL)]

#2 Dripping most of my stocks (not done yet, I’m procrastinating!)

#3 Buying an index ETF (most probably an ETF tracking the S&P 500)

Why a Dividend Investor Would Switch to Index Investing?

The main purpose of dividend investing is obviously to select the stocks you think will both outperform the market and pay some healthy dividends at the same time. The power of dividend growth over time should guarantee a nice and comfy nest egg too.

So why would I invest a part of my money into indexes? What’s the point of adding ETFs to a 100% dividend stock portfolio? The reason is simple; I want additional growth while not

Is there a way to build a double digit dividend portfolio? I have mine! In this article, you will discover, step by step, how you can find strong dividend growth stocks that will make your retirement a lot more fun and safe. If you worry about your future revenues, dividend growth investing is definitely something you should look into.

Two weeks ago, I shared my own investing goals as follows:

1. Adding a "stable" dividend growth stock (most likely from the consumer sector)

2. Increase my existing positions through Dividend ReInvestment Plans (DRIP)

3. Invest 10% of my portfolio in a U.S. index ETF

Click here to read the rest of my 2013 investing goals.

Then, I've asked my readers what their 2013 dividend investing goals were. Many of you answered, thank you, and one question really caught my attention. Here's the email I received.

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This email gave me the

Back at the beginning of 2012, I played Nostradamus and tried to call the shots on a bullish versus a bearish market for 2012. It appeared that I was right and I even called the bluff on the "potential" dividend bubble. So, I thought it would be interesting to look at what we can expect in 2013 for dividend investors…

Bullish or Bearish for 2013?

As I did back in 2012, I started my analysis by looking at cold, hard facts. It can be exciting to think that another Black Swan event is coming and that the stock market is going to collapse but I'm leaving this job to the media and I will concentrate on a few graphs coming from the US.

In the first chart, I am looking at the employment creation (in thousands). After a slow summer, the US employment market seems to have picked up steam

Encana (ECA) is a leader in North America for energy production related to natural gas, oil, and NGLs. Its activities are related to the exploration, development, and production of energy sources. ECA is operating in four divisions:

• Canadian Division
• U.S. Division
• Market Optimization (responsible for sales)
• Corporate and Others (including gains and losses incurred from derivatives financial instruments)

ECA Stock Graph

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ECA Dividend Growth Graph

When I look at this graph, I don’t know if I can call ECA a dividend growth stock. After the "golden years of Canadian oil sands" at the beginning of the 2000s, ECA's dividend growth had been hit by a train. After doubling its dividend back in 2007, ECA cut it back by 50% in 2010 and hasn't touched it since. With such a ridiculous payout ratio (459%), you can tell that ECA will either finance its dividend or cut it again

Fortis (FRTSF.PK) is a utility distribution company operating mainly in Canada. They serve over 2,000,000 gas and electricity customers. FTS is the main electricity supplier in Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island. They recently started the process of buying CH Energy Group (CHG), which delivers electricity to 300,000 customers in New York State. CHG also distributes natural gas to 75,000 customers. The purchase should be financed by $601 million of new common shares and $900 million in debt.

Besides their relatively small presence in the U.S., Fortis also operates power plants in the Cayman Islands. Their recent revenue drop is actually due to the loss of their power business in Belize, which was seized by that government in 2011. Most of their $13.6 billion assets are divided among electricity and gas plants:

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FTS Stock Chart

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FTS Dividend Growth Chart

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It's important to

Are companies rushing their year-end dividend to avoid the fiscal cliff or is it just a last kiss goodbye to their payouts? For the first time in 20 months, funds invested in dividend ETFs are dropping. For the first time in many years, several companies are paying a special dividend before the end of the year.

I'm taking a quick pause from my utilities dividend growth stock series to talk about the possible impact of the fiscal cliff. I don't know if you have noticed this, but there are a lot of companies rushing their payout before the end of the year. In their announcement, they specifically mention that this exceptional ex-dividend date and dividend payout are prior to January 1st with the only goal of avoiding the possible new tax treatment on dividends in 2013.

Companies such as Oracle (ORCL), Cisco (CSCO), Seagate Technology (STX), Wal-Mart (WMT), etc. are

For the past decade, investing in Canadian banks was probably the smartest move an investor could have ever made. A simple look at the following chart will convince you:

I included the quarterly dividend 10 years ago (Q Div 10yr) and their latest quarterly dividend to show you how they have increased their payout throughout this period. As you can see, both stock returns and dividend growth are phenomenal. Buying these 6 stocks equally would have given a 10yr return of 109.70% (total return). This is incredibly higher than the TSX (87%) and the S&P500 (49%) if you consider

Over the past two weeks, I’ve been looking at the top dividend growth U.S. stocks and the top dividend growth Canadian stocks held in the biggest dividend ETFs in terms of market cap. I have explained that by looking at the top dividend ETF holdings, you can build a very interesting list of potential stocks to add to your dividend portfolio.

I started with 2 simple investing principles to build my theory:

1. Portfolio managers are professionals who have access to more time and resources to build their portfolio than the average investor.
2. The fact that ETF behemoths maintain a position in a stock and keep buying it ensures a certain level of demand, read value, for this stock.

Based on these very same principles, an investor could think: why should I bother picking my own stocks when I can buy a dividend growth ETF?

This is a legitimate

If you have been reading my articles for a while, you already know that chasing high dividend yield stocks or picking in only one sector won't cut it if you want to build a strong dividend growth portfolio. There is only one way to build such a portfolio and it's to pick among the best dividend growth stocks. I'm not the kind of investor who's looking for a fast lane to pick-up "hot stocks" but I found a way to "secure" your dividend stock picking process.

But first, here's some information for those who think that we have entered into a dividend bubble.

Is It The Right Time To Invest In Dividend Growth Stocks?

There is a rumor in the trading industry that we have entered in a dividend stock bubble. The rumor states that dividend stocks are mainly bought by investors seeking a steady yield. When you look

Investing has become an extreme sport of late. If you are looking for growth, you’ll have to ride the stock market rollercoaster. While you will eventually end up with more money in your pocket, you will have to endure several “end of the word news headlines” and bad quarter results in the meantime. On the other hand, if you are looking for secure investments, you will run into a different brick wall with interest rates around 2% for a five year term deposit. That doesn’t even match inflation and you’ll eventually start considering Kraft Dinner for supper three times a week if you plan on living off your investments at retirement.

Tell me, what are you going to do with your next $10,000?

I’ve personally decided to put my confidence in dividend stocks, nothing else, I go all in for Dividend Investing. Why? Simply because dividend stocks suffer less

This is the fifth and final stock analysis on the consumer product industry series with the Johnson & Johnson dividend growth stock analysis. You can check out our past 4 stock analyses here: The Clorox Company (CLX), Colgate-Palmolive (CL), Procter & Gamble (PG), Kimberly Clark (KMB).

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) Business Description

JNJ is another US mammoth (both in terms of age and size) operating in the manufacturing, marketing, distribution of consumer goods. It is well known for its healthcare orientation. Its operations are divided into three segments:

Consumer includes baby care, skin care, oral care, wound care, women's health and over the counter pharmaceutical products. Their best known brands are Aveeno, Clean & Clear, Neutrogena, Stayfree & Carefree, Tylenol, Sudafed, Motrin and Pepcid.

Pharmaceuticals include products for infection prevention, antipsychotics, contraceptives, dermatology, gastrointestinal, hematology, immunology, infectious diseases, neurology, oncology, pain management, thrombosis