Dividends Anonymous

Nokia: Too Cheap to Ignore

Its scale that gives Nokia the advantage over competition. Yes RIM & Apple have made significant inroads in North America with their products, but if you're an international investor and have been overseas to countries throughout Asia Nokia has a dominant presence. They will lose market share, but currently RIM & AAPL only compete on the high end where margins are being compressed. On the lower end there are many consumers who don't want or need the excessive functionality of a smartphone and the margins are stable and/or increasing in that product segment.

11 Stocks Selling Below Cash

BBV is one of my favourite international banks. It's been clobbered during this credit bubble bursting but continues to have good capital ratios, very impressive dividend and is diversified in the Spanish/Latin global banking market.

Becton, Dickinson and Co. Poised for Growth

BDX is rarely "cheap" but an excellent company if you want to gain exposure to a broad based healthcare company. I would still prefer Baxter (BAX) to BDX in the same space, but BDX isn't a horrible company to own in this environment.

Discerning the Value of Market Dividend Yields

Thanks for the informative article David.

Value Investors Could Do Far Worse Than Apple

Margins....margins.......

I have no clue why any company would compete on price in order to grow sales or secure more market share. Margins are how you make money and in this environment a company should be protecting them rather than exploiting them on the downside. Apple's revenue isn't even diversified anymore among a few products - its heavily reliant on one product.

I don't own it and wouldn't regardless of how good its products are or how well its R&D division is run. On the most basic metric that I evaluate a business (operating gross margins) this stocks fails.

Don't Be Fooled - Inflation is Coming

We're seeing asset deflation, not rampant deflation in all prices. People thought the Chinese were eating iron ore, potash and nickel for breakfast on a daily basis. The growth & demand there is real, but prices have to be more realistic.
Commodity bulls look at the rise in operating expenses as the reason for continue strong commodity prices but when you have everyone gunning for production & exploration that is not sustainable someone has to pay for all that. Emerging markets need those raw materials, but they're not going to pay astronomical prices for the stuff just because that is what it "costs" to produce. Supply & demand....just wait until that actually is reflected in commodity prices and not because the USD has risen dramatically. The commodity BOOM is bust and while the world still needs it we're not likely to see prices anywhere near where they were for a long-time. There's now too much supply and we know that demand will moderate.
Its simple economics of a rational perspective.

Are These Seven Defensive Blue-Chips Finally a Good Buy?

They're all buys except the two telecoms - but that's just my opinion based on valuations.

My Take on This Very Risky Market

Good rational presentation. I wish more authors here took the time to give candid articles rather than pumping personal positions or discussing the same mundane topics over and over again.

I look forward to reading more of your insights Larry.

Why Oil and Gold Are Headed Much Higher

Global supply & demand is something everyone has heard before. The fact that you have unstable equity markets and both gold & oil are dropping substanially tells you that too many investors had money in those commodities to begin with. The problem with any commodity is there's no yield....no floor on the price because you're paid something for investing your capital. When commodities slide they never touch the walls and we're seeing that now.

The Recession Is Already Priced Into Stocks

All this talk of a possible recession is just funny IMO. What else could be the possible outcome for any economy after seeing equity markets drop 30% in the blink of an eye. The markets are forward looking vehicles and they're giving a very simple view of where the overall economy is heading.

Five Behaviors for Making Money Now

Discipline. You need a plan and the ability to execute it effectively. Allowing emotions, market sentiment or news impact your behaviour is not condusive to successful investing. If you have confidence in what you're doing that rest comes naturally.

Dividend Investing: Eight Companies with Positive Feedback

If you put your money under the mattress the only thing it'll collect is dust. 1% is still better than 0% unless your mattress is inflation resistent

11 More Potential Buys

BBV would be my top pick from that group. Well diversified global bank with solid operations in Latin America. It's very underfollowed, very high and safe yield and very well managed. They have avoided these financial WMD's very well in comparison to competitors both in Europe & North America.

Dividend Cuts: Time to Sell?

Tough call on when to sell. Clearly you were smart with disposing of all those stocks, but what if you hadn't? I would think that as a dividend investor you would sell a stock on principle after a dividend cut and if over the long-term the company again began to increase it look at re-initiating a position at that point.

Are Analysts Being Fooled By The Data?

Shipping relies heavily on the availability of credit to remain healthy. Demand for goods is part of the equation, but its the credit markets that have hammered the BDI so much over the past few months. The consumer part of the equation is coming, but likely not here yet.