andruomail

TEPPCO: A Safer Income Investment Than GE

A good site for finding out if a company you like offers preferred shares is quantumonline.com -- search for the ticker symbol of its common stock and it will give a list of the preferreds (if any -- often these preferreds are only issued by banks and financials because it benefits their balance sheets best). You can find out the yearly dividend and follow links to the SEC filings which state the terms of the shares, which are slightly different each time. Usually the guarantee is that before a penny of dividend is paid on the common stock, or stock buybacks are done, preferred dividends have to be paid in full; and if the preferred dividend is stopped for a long enough time, you get some activists on their board of directors.

On Jan 31 03:28 PM GimliJan wrote:

> Thank you!
> For writing a clear concise evaluation of two companies and why you
> should or should not invest in them. I happen to own a little of
> GE and TPP. I bought TPP at $18.92 on 12/8. Bought GE at $16.05 on
> 11/14. I am a new investor who's investment strategy is to buy and
> hold quality companies (preferably that pay dividends) in a Roth
> IRA Online Trading Account. The account is setup to automatically
> re-invest all dividends.
> I am interested in leaning more about preferred shares, how to purchase
> them, the guarantee on the dividend payout if the common share payout
> is cancelled, etc.
> I also want to learn how to take utilize companies Direct Stock Purchase
> Plan to add to my portfolio and save the commission fees.
> Any information anyone can provide me would be appreciated. I am
> obviously a new investor and read as many of these articles and the
> very knowledgeable posts that accompany them

Buffett Likes to Be Early; Don't Rush to Follow

Actually you can invest w/ 10% dividend on GE and GS, or recently could. Ticker GED (GE bonds) and GS-D (preferred stock). Not so much upside but still room for about 30-40% capital appreciation in the long (LONG?) run. Unfortunately a lot of these are financial or utility co's.