Month: January 2020

Stocks Going Ex Dividend February 2020

The following is a short list of some of the many stocks going ex dividend during the next month.

Many traders and investors use the stock trading technique called ‘Buying Dividends,’ also commonly referred to as ‘Dividend Capture.’ This is the strategy of buying stocks before the ex dividend date and selling the stock shortly after the ex date at about the same price, yet still being entitled to the dividend.

TOP DIVIDEND STOCKS

This technique generally works in bull markets and flat or choppy markets, but you need to avoid the strategy during bear markets. In order to be entitled to the dividend, you have to buy the stock before the ex-dividend date, and you can’t sell the stock until after the ex date.

The actual dividend may not be paid for another few weeks. WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has compiled a downloadable and sortable list of the stocks going ex dividend in the near future. The list contains many dividend paying companies, lots with market caps over $500 million, and many with yields over 2%. Here are a few examples showing the stock symbol, the ex-dividend date, the periodic dividend amount.

NortonLifeLock Inc. (NLOK) 2/3/2020 0.12 1.82%
American Electric Power (AEP) 2/7/2020 0.70 2.75%
Schlumberger (SLB) 2/11/2020 0.50 5.59%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) 2/13/2020 1.60 2.87%
Southern Company (SO) 2/14/2020 0.62 3.56%
Consolidated Edison Inc (ED) 2/18/2020 0.765 3.27%
Target Corporation (TGT) 2/18/2020 0.66 2.28%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) 2/24/2020 0.95 2.55%
Interactive Brokers Group (IBKR) 2/27/2020 0.10 0.85%

The additional ex-dividend stocks can be found HERE . (If you have been to the page before, and the latest link doesn’t show up, you may have to empty your cache.) If you like dividend stocks, you should check out some of the other high yield stock lists HERE . Most of the lists are free.

Dividend definitions:

Declaration date: the day that the company declares that there is going to be an upcoming dividend.

Ex-dividend date: the day on which if you buy the stock, you would not be entitled to that particular dividend; or the first day on which a shareholder can sell the shares and still be entitled to the dividend.

Record date: the day when you must be on the company’s books as a shareholder to receive the dividend. The ex-dividend date is normally set for stocks at two business days before the record date.

Payment date: the day on which the dividend payment is actually made, which can be as long at two months after the ex date.

TOP DIVIDEND STOCKS

Don’t forget to reconfirm the ex-dividend date with the company before implementing this technique.

Disclosure: Author did not own any of the above at the time the article was written, and affiliate links.

OptionPop

Try the Warren Buffett-style Stock Analyzer for FREE!

 

Top Dividend Stocks
Top 100 Dividend Stocks, Ex-dividend Ratings, High Yield Ratings, Monthly Reports And More

 

Decisions: Practical Advice from 23 Men and Women Who Shaped the World

by Fred Fuld III

Every day we make decisions, and some of those decisions can have major decisions which can have significant effects on your life and the lives of others. The book, Decisions: Practical Advice from 23 Men and Women Who Shaped the World, covers the topic of decisions in an interesting and practical way.

The author, Robert L. Dilenschneider, has compiled an extensive list of noted historic people who have made decisions with worldwide consequences. For example, he has included:

  • Abraham Lincoln
  • Marie Curie
  • Johann Gutenberg
  • Harry Truman
  • Margaret Thatcher
  • Malala Yousafzai
  • and many others.

The author discusses the decisions and provides a list of useful takaways and learning points that you can utilize in your personal and business life.

Probably the most pressing decision you have right now is whether you should read Decisions. I highly recommend that you do so.

Top Biotechnology Short Squeeze Stocks

by Fred Fuld III

Many stocks in the biotechnology sector have dropped significantly in the last couple months, which might offer some buying opportunities. If any of these stocks are heavily shorted, then the potential gains can be substantial. When a shorted stock starts rising fast for any reason, short sellers scramble to cover their positions by buying the stock, and thereby driving up the price of the stock even more.

So how can you make money on the long side from short squeezes? One technique that stock traders utilize is buying short squeeze stocks, companies have been heavily shorted. Here is a more extensive explanation of what a short squeeze is.

When you short a stock, it means that your goal is to make money from a drop in the price of a stock. Technically, what happens is that you borrow shares of a stock, sell those shares, then buy back those shares at a hopefully lower price so that those shares can be returned. This all happens electronically, so you don’t actually see all the borrowing and returning of shares; it just shows up on your screen as a negative number of shares.

Short selling can be profitable, but sometimes when a stock moves against a short seller, and begins to rise, the short sellers jump in right away to buy shares to cover their positions, creating what is called a short squeeze. When a short squeeze takes place, it can cause the share prices to increase in price very quickly. Any good news can trigger the short squeeze.

Some traders take advantage this situation by looking for stocks to buy that may have a potential short squeeze. Here is what a short squeeze trader should look at:

Short Percentage of Float ~ The float is the number of freely tradable shares and the short percentage is the number of shares held short divided by the float. Amounts over 10% to 20% are considered high and potential short squeeze plays.

Short Ratio / Days to Cover / Short Interest Ratio -This is probably the most important metric when looking for short squeeze trades, no matter what you call it. This is the number of days it would take the short sellers to cover their position based on the average daily volume of shares traded. This is a significant ratio as it shows how “stuck” the short sellers are when they want to buy in their shares without driving up the price too much. Unfortunately for the shortsellers, the longer the number of days to cover, the bigger and longer the squeeze.

Short Percentage Increase ~ This is the percentage increase in in the number of short sellers from the previous month.

Here is one example.  Corcept Therapeutics (CORT) is a stock that is very heavily shorted. As a matter fo fact, 21.4% of the float is shorted. Plus, the short interest ratio is 22.9. That means it would take the short sellers almost 23 days to cover their positions, based on the number of shares that trade each day on average. Any good news good send the price of the stock soaring. Then again, any bad new could make the short sellers profitable. The stock trades at 18.1 times trailing earnings and 13.7 times forward earnings, and has a market cap of over $1.4 billion.

So what other biotechnology stocks are heavily shorted that may be worth a closer examination? Ligand Pharmaceuticals (LGND) has an incredible 45.6% of the float shorted. Plus 25.4 days to cover for the short interest ratio. The stock has a trailing price to earnings ratio of 3.2 and a forward P/E ratio of 23.2. The market cap is $1.6 billion.

One other heavily showed biotech is Ziopharm Oncology (ZIOP), with a market cap of $835 million. The short interest ratio is an extremely high 34.8, which means it could take short sellers over 34 days to cover their position. It has a trailing P/E of 8.07.

Maybe a short squeeze stock can cure your trading portfolio. But remember the risk, often stocks are heavily shorted for a reason.

Disclosure: Author didn’t own any of the above at the time the article was written.

The Top Precision Medicine Stocks

If you are not aware of what precision medicine is, you should probably learn about it. Much information on precision medicine can be found on the site of the U. S. Government’s National Institute of Health National Library of Medicine.

According to the Precision Medicine Initiative, precision medicine is “an emerging approach for disease treatment and prevention that takes into account individual variability in genes, environment, and lifestyle for each person.” This approach will allow doctors and researchers to predict more accurately which treatment and prevention strategies for a particular disease will work in which groups of people. It is in contrast to a one-size-fits-all approach, in which disease treatment and prevention strategies are developed for the average person, with less consideration for the differences between individuals.

Although the term “precision medicine” is relatively new, the concept has been a part of healthcare for many years. For example, a person who needs a blood transfusion is not given blood from a randomly selected donor; instead, the donor’s blood type is matched to the recipient to reduce the risk of complications. Although examples can be found in several areas of medicine, the role of precision medicine in day-to-day healthcare is relatively limited. Researchers hope that this approach will expand to many areas of health and healthcare in coming years.

There is a lot of overlap between the terms “precision medicine” and “personalized medicine.” According to the National Research Council, “personalized medicine” is an older term with a meaning similar to “precision medicine.” However, there was concern that the word “personalized” could be misinterpreted to imply that treatments and preventions are being developed uniquely for each individual; in precision medicine, the focus is on identifying which approaches will be effective for which patients based on genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors. The Council therefore preferred the term “precision medicine” to “personalized medicine.” However, some people still use the two terms interchangeably.

Pharmacogenomics is a part of precision medicine. Pharmacogenomics is the study of how genes affect a person’s response to particular drugs. This relatively new field combines pharmacology (the science of drugs) and genomics (the study of genes and their functions) to develop effective, safe medications and doses that are tailored to variations in a person’s genes.

Precision medicine holds promise for improving many aspects of health and healthcare. Some of these benefits will be apparent soon, as the All of Us Research Program continues and new tools and approaches for managing data are developed. Other benefits will result from long-term research in precision medicine and may not be realized for years.

Potential benefits of the Precision Medicine Initiative:

  • New approaches for protecting research participants, particularly patients’ privacy and the confidentiality of their data.
  • Design of new tools for building, analyzing, and sharing large sets of medical data.
  • Improvement of FDA oversight of tests, drugs, and other technologies to support innovation while ensuring that these products are safe and effective.
  • New partnerships of scientists in a wide range of specialties, as well as people from the patient advocacy community, universities, pharmaceutical companies, and others.
  • Opportunity for a million people to contribute to the advancement of scientific research.

Potential long-term benefits of research in precision medicine:

  • Wider ability of doctors to use patients’ genetic and other molecular information as part of routine medical care.
  • Improved ability to predict which treatments will work best for specific patients.
  • Better understanding of the underlying mechanisms by which various diseases occur.
  • Improved approaches to preventing, diagnosing, and treating a wide range of diseases.
  • Better integration of electronic health records (EHRs) in patient care, which will allow doctors and researchers to access medical data more easily.

For investors, there are a few stocks that participate in this industry.

Illumina (ILMN) makes and sells sequencing systems for for genomic analysis. The stock trades at 50 times trailing earnings and 46 times forward earnings. Earnings for the latest reported quarter were up 12%.

Vermillion (VRML) develops diagnostic tests, including genetics testing through its ASPiRA GenetiX platform for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer. The company is currently generating negative earnings.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) has developed gene therapy for treating cystic fibrosis. The stock has a price to earnings of 28 and a forward P/E ratio of 36.

Other companies involved in the precision medicine which are worth investigating are Biomarin Pharmaceutical (BMRN), IQVIA Holdings (IQV), and Loncar Cancer Immunotherapy ETF (CNCR).

Keep in mind that there are several industries that will be leaders in the future, and precision medicine will be one of them.

Disclosure: Author didn’t own any of the above at the time the article was written.