The Dividend Champions spreadsheet and PDF have been updated through 11/30/11 and are available (click the link.) Note that all references to Champions mean companies that have paid higher dividends for at least 25 straight years; Contenders have streaks of 10-24 years; Challengers have streaks of 5-9 years. “CCC” refers to the universe of Champions, Contenders and Challengers.

Delayed Gratification

Last month, I wrote that I planned to add a column that would be called the Confidence Factor, or CF, and that I would do so for the November 30 update. Unfortunately, I was unable to spare the time to accomplish that this month, but hope to add that feature for the year-end update, along with the columns mentioned below. It will be a company-specific “score” that will be based on various fundamentals and dividend data, with which I hope to express the level of confidence that we might have

Steve Cohen founded his SAC Capital Advisors fund in 1992. Since then, Cohen has been able to routinely beat the market (check out his portfolio here). Using a combination of fundamental and quantitative analysis, Cohen’s SAC Capital International fund beat the market by 18% in 2008, by 1.9% in 2009 and was on par in 2010 (15.0% vs. S&P 500’s 15.1%).

Cohen’s Top Holdings

As of the end of September, Cohen had $10.35 billion under his management, spread across 1737 stocks. His biggest position was Tyco International (TYC). He had 4,651,892 shares in the company after increasing his holding by 68.7% in the third quarter. TYC occupies over 1.5% of Cohen’s portfolio. The stake was worth $189.6 million at the end of the third quarter. Cohen’s second largest position at the end of the third quarter was a 6,976,951 share position in Suncor Energy (SU) after he upped his position

Larry Robbins, founder and CEO of Glenview Capital, is called the L-Train. Driven and blunt, Robbins was once honored as one of the top 100 hedge fund traders by Trader Monthly. Before founding Glenview in 2001, Robbins gained investment and trading experience at Leon Cooperman’s Omega Advisors. His Glenview Capital suffered in the tough financial environment in 2008, losing almost half of its assets and laying off 12 employees before Christmas that year. But it seems that the bad days are behind Robbins. The fund returned 82.7% in 2009 and 15.7% in 2010, better than average hedge funds and the S&P 500 index. Between 2001 and 2010, Glenview Capital returned 301% after fees and expenses.

Below are the activities of the top 20 positions of Glenview Capital in the third quarter (see the 13F filing).

In this article I will analyze the new additions to the Glenview Capital Management portfolio. Mr. Lawrence M. Robbins, a hands-on portfolio manager, likes medical and tech stocks. I provide for investors my analysis of Robbins' picks from a contrarian and relative valuation standpoint to see if investors should buy now.

Openwave Systems (OPWV)

Mr. Robbins, fondly known as the “L-Train”, added Openwave Systems, Inc. (OPWV), a technology stock in the software application industry. OPWV has a market cap of $136.77 million, and is trading at about $1.60 per share. The price/earnings ratio is glaringly absent due to a trailing twelve month loss of $24.09 million. Return on equity for the company is also in the negative at -40.24%. OPWV has a price to book of 2.97…a value stock? The current ratio is 1.65. That brings us to the debt/equity ratio which is unavailable for obvious reasons.

OPWV pays no

In compiling the Dividend Champions list (found here) I get to see which companies are nearing the anniversaries of their previous dividend increases. Most of these firms raise their payout about the same time every year, but some companies go longer before boosting their dividends, and this can raise concerns about their streaks of increases.

Dividends in Doubt Series

This monthly series lists companies whose latest dividend increases might be considered “overdue” because it has been more than a year since the previous increase, a possible sign that their streaks of increases are in danger. Some firms regularly go more than a year between increases, so this is only an “early warning” sign that some of them may warrant concern.

As we get closer to year-end, the top of the listing acts as a dividend streak “death watch,” since it includes companies that will be deleted if they fail to

Merger activity increased last week with five new deals announced and two closing.

You can find all the active deals listed below in our Merger Arbitrage Tool that automatically updates itself during market hours.

Deal Statistics:

New Deals:

1. The acquisition of Tekelec (TKLC) by a consortium led by Siris Capital Group, LLC for $780 million or $11.00 per share in cash.
2. The acquisition of American Dental Partners (ADPI) by JLL Partners, Inc. for $398 million or $19.00 per share in cash.
3. The acquisition of Force Protection (FRPT) by General Dynamics (GD) for $360 million or $5.52 per share in cash.
4. The acquisition of McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurants (MSSR) by Landry’s

Shares of Furiex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.(FURX) have just moved past some resistance at the 200 day moving average following some heavy insider buying and ahead of some clinical trial results.

Furiex' product pipeline includes: Priligy® (dapoxetine) is a drug specifically developed for the on-demand treatment of premature ejaculation; Nesina® (alogliptin) is a member of a new class of drugs for the oral treatment of type 2 diabetes (T2D); Nesina® (alogliptin) in combination with Actos® (pioglitazone HCl), a single tablet for the treatment of type 2 diabetes; Nesina®, in combination with Metformin, used for the treatment of type 2 diabetes; Fluoroquinolone, used for the treatment of complicated skin and skin structure infections, such as abscesses that occur deep in the skin layers and respiratory infections; Mu Delta Receptor Agonist and Delta Opioid Receptor Antagonist, used for the treatment of diarrheal predominant irritable bowel syndrome (d-IBS); and PPD 10558 for the treatment of

In compiling the Dividend Champions list I get to see which companies are nearing the anniversaries of their previous dividend increases. Most of these firms raise their payout about the same time every year, but some companies go longer before boosting their dividends, and this can raise concerns about their streaks of increases.

"Dividends in Doubt" Series

This monthly series lists companies whose latest dividend increases might be considered “overdue” because it has been more than a year since the previous increase

There are many indicators I use when analyzing a stock. One indicator I look for are relatively cheap dividend stocks. Another strong indicator is insider buying, such as the ones described here. Finally, another indicator is looking at unusual option activity, as I recently brought up here, while some on Oct

There are many indicators I use when analyzing a stock. One indicator I look for are relatively cheap dividend stocks. Another strong indicator is insider buying, such as the ones described here. Finally, another indicator is looking at unusual option activity, as I recently brought up here, while some on Oct. 10 caught my eye:

Superior Energy Services (SPN) provides specialized oilfield services and equipments to serve the production and drilling-related needs of oil and gas companies. Option volume exploded higher with the Oct $25 calls and Oct $20 puts showing specifically strong volume. Investors didn't like the proposed acquisition of Complete Production and pushed the stock almost 14% lower. The stock doesn't look overly expensive or cheap at 18.9x P/E, 1.6x P/B and 1.65x EV/S now after the big drop. However, I'd be cautious with the stock going forward as this is a big acquisition for the company and

By Larry Gellar

Due to an improving situation in Europe, SPDR S&P 500 (SPY) is shooting up. Here are 5 stocks in particular that look ready to beat the market:

Wells Fargo & Company (WFC) has been rising lately, and news for the company has centered on a deal with Golden Capital Management. Wells Fargo now has 65 percent ownership of the firm, which cements an already strong relationship between the two companies. Wells Fargo has also been in the headlines for its hiring of two big investment bankers from UBS (UBS). Bora Sila and Adam Berger are the two new employees, and this comes at a time when many other banks are scaling back their investment banking operations. Regardless, here’s what John Laughlin, head of mergers and acquisitions at Wells Fargo, had to say:

As we continue to strategically expand our capabilities and add depth to our team, their

Merger activity increased last week with four new deals announced and five closing.

You can find all the active deals listed below in our Merger Arbitrage Tool that automatically updates itself during market hours.

Deal Statistics:

New Deals:

1. The acquisition of Pharmaceutical Product Development (PPDI) by affiliates of The Carlyle Group and Hellman & Friedman for $3.9 billion or $33.25 per share in cash.
2. The acquisition of S1 Corporation (SONE) by ACI Worldwide (ACIW) for $516 million in a cash plus stock deal, where shareholders of S1 Corporation will receive $6.62 per share in cash and 0.1064 shares of ACI common stock. This deal has been in the works since July

Relative Timeliness

In a recent article ("Hedging 10 'Relatively Safe' Stocks"), we looked at the 10 stocks with high "Relative Safety" scores according to VectorVest. In this article, we'll look at the ones with high "Relative Timing" scores. Relative Timing is a measure of technical strength that VectorVest calculates based on its analysis of:

the direction, magnitude, and dynamics of a stock's price movements over one day, one week, one quarter and one year time periods..

VectorVest ranks stocks in terms of Relative Timing in the same way it ranks them in terms of Relative Safety: on a scale from 0 to 2, with 2 being the highest (best) possible score. The stocks listed in the table below had Relative Timing scores ranging from 1.38 to 1.69 on Monday. I also looked at the hedging costs for these stocks using optimal puts, and found an interesting dichotomy: five of them

We think the contract research organization (CRO) industry has turned a corner, as evidenced by a resurgence in new business activity and revenue growth over the past few quarters. The second quarter marked the first period since the beginning of the drug-development slowdown that the industry saw widespread top-line growth. The emergence of the strategic partnership model, which has seen the world's largest drug makers pair up with leading CROs as long-term research and development partners, has helped fuel this return to growth in the industry. While these dynamics bode well for the major players' long-term growth and profitability, an unusual amount of projects in startup mode may weigh on results in the near term. However, considering the compelling value proposition the CRO model offers, we expect drug makers to outsource an increasing portion of their research and development budgets to a select group of preferred providers. We think the

In compiling the Dividend Champions list (found here) I get to see which companies are nearing the anniversaries of their previous dividend increases. Most of these firms raise their payout about the same time every year, but some companies go longer before boosting their dividends, and this can raise concerns about their streaks of increases.

Dividends in Doubt Series

This monthly series lists companies whose latest dividend increases might be considered “overdue” because it has been more than a year since the previous increase, a possible sign that their streaks of increases are in danger. Some firms regularly go more than a year between increases, so this is only an “early warning” sign that some of them may warrant concern. As we get closer to year-end, some of the listing will act as a dividend streak “death watch,” since it will include companies that will be deleted if they fail

There are many dividend capturing strategies, and I have used more than one. I'll go over a few stocks that have upcoming dividends that can be captured at a minimum amount of risk. The criteria that I use is that I must be able to sell a call option in either the front or first back month that is in the money, and with enough premium that I will not mind getting exercised early (which happens often and can be a good thing if the trades are executed correctly). This is one of my favorite and easy to understand methods of making gains through options and dividends. Although much of the gains will come from dividends, it should be noted in my experience, the option decay can provide a return. This is especially true in lower yielding stocks.

The options expire in the same week, so I will also look

In compiling the Dividend Champions list, I get to see which companies are nearing the anniversaries of their previous dividend increases. Most of these firms raise their payout about the same time every year, but some companies go longer before boosting their dividends, and this can raise concerns about their histories of increases.

"Dividend in Doubt" Series

This is the fifth in a monthly series listing companies whose latest dividend increase might be considered “overdue” because they have gone more than a year since the previous increase, a possible sign that the streak of increases is in danger. Some firms regularly go more than a year between increases, so this is only an early warning sign that some of them may warrant concern. As we get closer to year-end, some of the listing will act as a dividend streak “death watch,” since it will include companies that will be deleted

Two very helpful sentiment indicators are the put/call ratio and the number of shares shorted. Whenever the put/call ratio of a company falls or the number of shares shorted decreases, it indicates a bullish change in sentiment.

We ran a screen on stocks rallying above their 20-day, 50-day, and 200-day moving averages for those seeing bullish changes in sentiment – significant decreases in shares shorted month-over-month, and significant decreases in the put/call ratio over the last ten trading days.

Interactive Chart: Press Play to compare changes in analyst ratings over the last two years for the top six stocks mentioned below. Analyst ratings sourced from Zacks Investment Research.

We also created a price-weighted index of the stocks mentioned below, and monitored the performance of the list relative to the S&P 500 index over the last month. To access a complete analysis of this list's

Sarkozy, Merkel to meet amid fears for euro's future. Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel are due to meet today amid fears that if they don't move towards closer monetary union through the creation of eurobonds, the eurozone could break apart. Merkel and much of Germany are opposed to collectivizing debt, and the issue won't apparently be on the agenda today. But some believe eurobonds are the only way for distressed nations to obtain affordable