Does Entry Point Matter To A Dividend Growth Investor? [View article]
Good article. I never really thought of it in these terms but the conclusion make sense. I keep a watch list of stocks. Whenever a good idea comes along, many times on SA, I add the ticker to my watch list and begin to learn more about the company and its industry. If they are near a 52 week high, or all-time high, I wait for corrections or bad news to drive the stock down. If the companies fundamentals tell me I will be rewarded over many years, then I buy. This change to my buying philosophy came a few years ago when I bought MMM at a high and watched it lose about 15% of its value in a couple of months. it has since rebounded but I would have preferred to buy more shares with the same dollars had I waited. In the past year I have done this with WAG when the Boots merger was announced and with WMT when the Mexico scandal surfaced. In each case I have a 15-25% capital gain and a nice dividend check to reinvest. It takes some patience and you might lose a big move up because the company is too strong to bring down. But there are enough good stocks out there for this to work for me.
Dividend Growth And Share Repurchases: Why Can't We Be Friends? [View article]
Good article, I remember reading your article and after some additional research I bought COP, and after the spin when PSX dropped to around $30 I bought some more of that, too. They have been stellar investments so far.
The spin you put on share repurchases is one I never would have thought of. Great info.
also, I have been long SHW since 93, with additional shares bought in 2000. The income from these shares, with reinvestment, has increased about 350%, but even better the shares have appreciated from $20.37 to a current $149 for over 700% growth.
Apple Back-Up Caused By Supply Chain, But Is Demand Shifting? [View article]
Good article. I think there may be a bit to much worry about market share. If you look at how big the market for smartphones and tablets is expected to become in the next few quarters, it becomes easy to see extremely high volumes of iPhones and iPads even if Apples market share decreases.
Anecdotally, I see a lot of people at sporting events with Android phones. When I speak with them it turns out to be their first smart phone. Texting and photos are their main uses for it. I'm sure they will gravitate to use more of the capabilities but it was simply time for an upgrade and they went with the cheapest phone. I also believe that as these phone contracts expire many of these Android users may migrate to iOS. We already know, from many satisfaction surveys, that current iPhone users will upgrade to the new iPhones.
On the other hand iPhone users account for most of the mobile internet traffic or data usage. One of the reasons is because it easy to use, just like all Apple stuff. As the maps app, and Siri mature I can see a large loss of mobile traffic to Google products. I would be cautious about Google's future stock price but feel very good about AAPL and added to my position at the open for $644.
Sales Slip At Walgreen But What About Its Dividend? [View article]
I don't see the time zone issue as being relevant. Walgreens stays open 24 hours a day.
Synergies may not be obvious to someone who has never shopped either chain. Both have proprietary products. A couple of simple examples...
Walgreen bought the recipe for Rolaids from Johnson & Johnson and now bottles and sells its Walgreen branded product as a replacement for Rolaids. They now have a new sales outlet for these products.
Boots has a line of skin care products called 7. People stand in line for it and shop several locations looking for inventory. Boots limits shoppers to 2 at a time. They have become a destination site because they have a unique product. This product will find its way to US stores very soon.
Sales Slip At Walgreen But What About Its Dividend? [View article]
As a recent resident of the UK I believe everyone is underestimating the positive impact that the ownership of Boots will cause. They have locations everywhere that matters throughout that country and they are the leader in the drugstore business with a large market share.
Real estate markets do not function the same there. Most High street locations are controlled by trusts and are slow to adapt, expensive to fit out and very picky as to who they will do business with. Walgreens would have never been able to start fresh and build out a competing drugstore chain.
And, even more important, Boots is a profitable, respected business with a similar customer philosophy to walgreens. I strongly believe that within 3-5 years we will look back at this move by WAG management as visionary. I bought WAG after this news was published at a bit over $30 per share. Just wish I had bought more.
Apple (AAPL) sold a relatively healthy 27M iPhones in the September quarter due to strong initial sales for the iPhone 5, estimates Sterne Agee's Shaw Wu. Wu also notes iPhone 5 shipping times remain at 3-4 weeks for Apple's online store, and claims yields have improved for the in-cell touch panels considered responsible for supply shortages - in-cell supplier Sharp recently suggested as much. (yesterday) [View news story]
My iPhone is being delivered today, 8 days after I input the order with ATT. The original promise was to expect it around Oct 21-28. Deliveries are improving.
Apple Fell Flat On Its Face Last Week, But... [View article]
It wasn't all bad news last week. China mobile is on board for the iPhone. And, on the maps thing, Cook also gave a solution to the problem with his apology. There are several options there.
A new development, for me, happened yesterday afternoon. I received a notice from ATT that my iPhone 5 has was shipping and I would have it Tuesday and my credit card had been charged. That's one more iPhone in the 4th quarter. No big deal, right?
But...I was told when I ordered it last week that I should not expect to receive it until Oct 21-28th. A friend of mine with delivery expected 2-3 weeks hence has his coming, too. I have no idea how many more were shipped within the last quarter but it seems what ever supply backlogs which were rumored last week may have either disappeared or never were as bad as some wanted us to believe.
Toys R Us Chairman Jerry Storch makes the case on Squawk Box that brick-and-mortar stores won't go away anytime soon, but will morph into mini-distribution centers. The line of thought follows a recent trend by retail players of using existing stores as fulfillment centers and showcasing more extensive pick up options to online buyers. The end game: Retail stores see a competitive advantage over Amazon if they can deliver products faster as they still dream about ultimately offering the holy grail of online shopping - same-day delivery. [View news story]
This almost looks like a full circle in retail. Remember the catalog stores like service merchandise that were popular in the 60's and 70's? Customers had catalogs at home which they could call in their orders for pick-up or visit the store and order on sight. These stores are still popular in the UK. Today the catalogs have been replaced by the internet but the end results are the same.
Without Steve Jobs, Apple Is Without A Map [View article]
Let's have a bit of perspective here. It's one flawed app. Fortunately, Apple now has millions of google fanboys pointing out every glitch. Apple staffers would need forever to find them all and fix them...so thanks for that. In a few weeks this will be the equivalent of antenna-gate, or Siri-gate, just a fading memory. So, in the mean time, everyone is talking about Apple and iPhone everywhere. There really is no such thing as bad publicity. Long APPL.
Does Entry Point Matter To A Dividend Growth Investor? [View article]
I keep a watch list of stocks. Whenever a good idea comes along, many times on SA, I add the ticker to my watch list and begin to learn more about the company and its industry.
If they are near a 52 week high, or all-time high, I wait for corrections or bad news to drive the stock down. If the companies fundamentals tell me I will be rewarded over many years, then I buy.
This change to my buying philosophy came a few years ago when I bought MMM at a high and watched it lose about 15% of its value in a couple of months. it has since rebounded but I would have preferred to buy more shares with the same dollars had I waited.
In the past year I have done this with WAG when the Boots merger was announced and with WMT when the Mexico scandal surfaced. In each case I have a 15-25% capital gain and a nice dividend check to reinvest.
It takes some patience and you might lose a big move up because the company is too strong to bring down. But there are enough good stocks out there for this to work for me.
Dividend Growth And Share Repurchases: Why Can't We Be Friends? [View article]
The spin you put on share repurchases is one I never would have thought of. Great info.
also, I have been long SHW since 93, with additional shares bought in 2000. The income from these shares, with reinvestment, has increased about 350%, but even better the shares have appreciated from $20.37 to a current $149 for over 700% growth.
It has been a great stock.
Apple Back-Up Caused By Supply Chain, But Is Demand Shifting? [View article]
Anecdotally, I see a lot of people at sporting events with Android phones. When I speak with them it turns out to be their first smart phone. Texting and photos are their main uses for it. I'm sure they will gravitate to use more of the capabilities but it was simply time for an upgrade and they went with the cheapest phone. I also believe that as these phone contracts expire many of these Android users may migrate to iOS. We already know, from many satisfaction surveys, that current iPhone users will upgrade to the new iPhones.
On the other hand iPhone users account for most of the mobile internet traffic or data usage. One of the reasons is because it easy to use, just like all Apple stuff. As the maps app, and Siri mature I can see a large loss of mobile traffic to Google products. I would be cautious about Google's future stock price but feel very good about AAPL and added to my position at the open for $644.
Sales Slip At Walgreen But What About Its Dividend? [View article]
Synergies may not be obvious to someone who has never shopped either chain. Both have proprietary products. A couple of simple examples...
Walgreen bought the recipe for Rolaids from Johnson & Johnson and now bottles and sells its Walgreen branded product as a replacement for Rolaids. They now have a new sales outlet for these products.
Boots has a line of skin care products called 7. People stand in line for it and shop several locations looking for inventory. Boots limits shoppers to 2 at a time. They have become a destination site because they have a unique product. This product will find its way to US stores very soon.
Long WAG
Sales Slip At Walgreen But What About Its Dividend? [View article]
Real estate markets do not function the same there. Most High street locations are controlled by trusts and are slow to adapt, expensive to fit out and very picky as to who they will do business with. Walgreens would have never been able to start fresh and build out a competing drugstore chain.
And, even more important, Boots is a profitable, respected business with a similar customer philosophy to walgreens. I strongly believe that within 3-5 years we will look back at this move by WAG management as visionary. I bought WAG after this news was published at a bit over $30 per share. Just wish I had bought more.
Apple (AAPL) sold a relatively healthy 27M iPhones in the September quarter due to strong initial sales for the iPhone 5, estimates Sterne Agee's Shaw Wu. Wu also notes iPhone 5 shipping times remain at 3-4 weeks for Apple's online store, and claims yields have improved for the in-cell touch panels considered responsible for supply shortages - in-cell supplier Sharp recently suggested as much. (yesterday) [View news story]
Apple Fell Flat On Its Face Last Week, But... [View article]
A new development, for me, happened yesterday afternoon. I received a notice from ATT that my iPhone 5 has was shipping and I would have it Tuesday and my credit card had been charged. That's one more iPhone in the 4th quarter. No big deal, right?
But...I was told when I ordered it last week that I should not expect to receive it until Oct 21-28th. A friend of mine with delivery expected 2-3 weeks hence has his coming, too. I have no idea how many more were shipped within the last quarter but it seems what ever supply backlogs which were rumored last week may have either disappeared or never were as bad as some wanted us to believe.
Maybe APPL won't disappoint after all. Long AAPL.
Toys R Us Chairman Jerry Storch makes the case on Squawk Box that brick-and-mortar stores won't go away anytime soon, but will morph into mini-distribution centers. The line of thought follows a recent trend by retail players of using existing stores as fulfillment centers and showcasing more extensive pick up options to online buyers. The end game: Retail stores see a competitive advantage over Amazon if they can deliver products faster as they still dream about ultimately offering the holy grail of online shopping - same-day delivery. [View news story]
Today the catalogs have been replaced by the internet but the end results are the same.
Google Punkslaps Apple - Cook Makes Strategic Error [View article]
And just to be clear..Is it your position that because I have had success I no longer can express displeasure?
Without Steve Jobs, Apple Is Without A Map [View article]
In a few weeks this will be the equivalent of antenna-gate, or Siri-gate, just a fading memory. So, in the mean time, everyone is talking about Apple and iPhone everywhere. There really is no such thing as bad publicity.
Long APPL.