Southern Co. (SO)

All Comments on SO

  • commenter
    Geoff
    Considine
    May 16 12:15 PM
    My Website
    Unique Diversification Benefits of Utilities [view article]
    Nice point--I will consider this for future analysis.

    Warren Buffett invests heavily in utilities and insurance--probably at least partly for these reasons. Mr. Buffett tends to speak disparagingly of quantitative measures but his portfolio seems to exploit these effects--se my articles on analyzing BRK's holdings with Monte Carlo, for example.     Reply
  • commenter
    Tristan
    Yates
    May 16 02:21 AM
    My Website
    Unique Diversification Benefits of Utilities [view article]
    Great article. I wonder how insurance compares? That industry is also weather dependent and relatively inelastic. Reply
  • commenter
    Sun
    May 14 03:23 PM
    My Website
    The Top Dividend Paying ETFs and Stocks [view article]
    Hi everybody:

    Thanks for the suggestions. I will look at some of ratios to add to the article. Also, for individual stocks, dividend growth rate is quite important in evaluating a stock's long-term performance in terms of dividend payout. However, due to limited resources, I am not sure if I can find all the information I need or not, but I will try. Actually, the initial purpose of the article was to compare the performance of dividend paying ETFs and see how much they are different from each other.

    Frank Emery: Yes, companies in the financial, utility and real estate sectors usually pay higher dividends. I will take a look at international dividend ETFs later.

    Frank Li: The ER column has the expense ratio of each ETF.

    bigjohn_hk: The main reason I am considering replacing Powershares ETFs with Vanguard ETFs is cost. Vanguard ETFs have much lower ER then Powershares ETFs and with a higher yield as well.

    Sun     Reply
  • commenter
    bigjohn_hk
    May 14 11:28 AM
    The Top Dividend Paying ETFs and Stocks [view article]
    Could you tell me, pls, why you are dissatisfied with PowerShares and are replacing them with Vanguard. I also own the same Powershare Divd. ETFs. Thanks Reply
  • commenter
    Frank Li
    May 13 09:23 PM
    The Top Dividend Paying ETFs and Stocks [view article]
    3 reasons to question the assumption here that high dividend yielding stocks or ETFs must be good:

    1. As Joe comments above, there's no discussion of dividend coverage.

    2. The theoretical case for dividends is weak. See Why Dividend Paying Stocks Are a Mistake.

    3. There's no discussion of the expense ratios of the ETFs -- even though the expenses are deducted from the dividends, and therefore lead to higher risk or lower growth for a given level of dividends.     Reply
  • commenter
    Frank Emery
    May 12 11:57 AM
    The Top Dividend Paying ETFs and Stocks [view article]
    Some thinking needs to be done about the nature of the companies and the type of diversification that you want. For instance, utilities, banks or financial companies, conglomerates, industrials, energy, etc. What about U.S. companies versus international companies? Reply
  • commenter
    pjindent
    May 12 11:04 AM
    The Top Dividend Paying ETFs and Stocks [view article]
    Couple of ratios that may add value is
    a) payout ratio: how much earning is being paid out as dividend. Some of the companies have payout ratio of >100%, which is unsustainable.
    b) dividend growth rate. I am more interested in consistent dividend versus, for instance, dividend that goes up or down based on commodity prices     Reply
  • commenter
    CARMEL
    May 11 02:04 PM
    The Top Dividend Paying ETFs and Stocks [view article]
    EXCELLENT ARTICLE. TWO SUGGESTIONS:
    1) SHOW RATIO OF DIVIDENDS TO EEP OR FFO
    2) WHAT ABOUT PREFFEREDS? OPP,SD     Reply
  • commenter
    Paul Meisel
    Mar 10 09:31 AM
    Portfolio with Substantial Single-Stock Concentration [view article]
    "I pick individual stocks that I feel are good firms and that have good portfolio effects (Buffett)."

    Exactly my approach, usually with stakes of about 4-5% but sometimes up to 15-18%. I have one 2% speculative position in a "local favorite" stock that my heirs will sell.

    As for Cramer, he's like the Scandinavian buffer, if you eat every thing it offers you will ruin your health, so I look at the smorgasbord and pick and choose. Its a lot more entertaining that Louis Rukeyser ever was. I like NASCAR racing too, and both kinds of music, country and western.....     Reply
  • commenter
    Geoff
    Considine
    Mar 07 11:37 PM
    My Website
    Portfolio with Substantial Single-Stock Concentration [view article]
    Yeah, there is something a bit paradoxical in all this. I pick individual stocks that I feel are good firms and that have good portfolio effects (Buffett). What I was trying to say is that you need to commit to one route or the other. If you are going to go with small positions in various firms, you will end up with less than ideal results. If you don't want to analyze stocks, go with asset class allocations (Bogle). If you do analyze stocks, take a smaller number of decisive equity positions (Buffett). If you read my articles you will see that I am a fan of buying individual equities in real concentrations--not trying to replicate an index. If you are nervous enough to go with 1-2% allocations to things, you may as well go with asset class investing. Thats what I was trying to say.

    But Cramer? Haven't you seen the analyses showing the performance of what he pitches? He is the antithesis of rational portfolio construction :)     Reply
  • commenter
    Paul Meisel
    Mar 07 08:32 PM
    Portfolio with Substantial Single-Stock Concentration [view article]
    I like the article, but am not sure that I agree that picking asset classes is more important than picking stocks. I think that is an anti-Buffett conclusion, and if I have to choose between Buffett and Bogle, I take Buffett, no disrespect to either... and Cramer is a better read than Vanguard. Reply
  • commenter
    Greg
    Calderone
    Jan 26 04:12 AM
    My Website
    Jim Cramer's Mad Money In-Depth Stock Picks, Jan. 25 [view article]
    Cramer has been behind tm for a while now. At his learning annex speech in nov, he called this one of 5 stocks everyone should own. Reply
  • commenter
    Geoff
    Considine
    Jan 18 01:34 PM
    My Website
    Low-Beta Portfolio Strategies: Devising A Low Risk Game Plan For the Current Market [view article]
    Here's a great argument for the low Beta / low R^2 portfolio from Ben Bernanke:

    biz.yahoo.com/ap/07011...     Reply
  • commenter
    stocker blog
    Jan 16 04:48 PM
    My Website
    Coal Cost Reduction Saves Big for Utilities [view article]
    I agree that the lower spot prices won't kick for another 6 months or so. Reply
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