Month: September 2020

Stocks Going Ex Dividend in October 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.

Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. (KDP) 10/1/2020 0.15 2.21%
Oracle Corporation (ORCL) 10/7/2020 0.24 1.61%
Foot Locker, Inc. (FL) 10/15/2020 0.15 1.87%
Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (LOW) 10/20/2020 0.60 1.48%
Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (WSM) 10/22/2020 0.48 2.15%
Royal Bank Of Canada (RY) 10/23/2020 0.828 4.68%

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; affiliate links.

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

 

Top Lithium Stocks

by Fred Fuld III

Yesterday, Piedmont Lithium (PLL) spiked 236% on the news that the company made an agreement with Tesla (TSLA) to supply lithium for batteries.

News of the deal caused other lithium mining stocks to escalate yesterday, such as Lithium Americas (LAC) up 27.5%, Sociedad Quimica y Minera (SQM) up 4% and Livent (LTHM) up 5.8%.

Lithium is one of the critical components of batteries used in electric vehicles, which has created a huge demand for this element. It is the lightest metal and the lightest solid element. Interestingly, it is also used for psychiatric medication.

The following stocks are involved in the production of lithium.

COMPANY SYMBOL MKT CAP in millions
Albemarle ALB 9,198
Sociedad Quimica y Minera SQM 8,199
Livent LTHM 1,295
Lithium Americas LAC 945
Orocobre OROCF 571
Pilbara PILBF 498
Galaxy Resources GALXF 322
Piedmont Lithium PLL 314
American Lithium LIACF 70
American Battery Metals ABML 52
Power Metals PWRMF 28

One of these stocks might give your portfolio a charge.

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

Top Online Gambling Stocks

by Fred Fuld III

Sports are coming back. Online betting is increasing. What companies are benefiting?

Two years ago, the Supreme Court allowed betting on sports in all states, with each state deciding whether to allow this form of gambling or not. Several states have already legalized online sports betting. Many more states are considering legislation. These changes should lead to more online gambling, and a transition from illegal gambling to legal betting.

Even NBC Sports Broadcaster Jim Kozimor mentioned in an interview that sports betting will be an extremely strong growth industry.

So if you are looking for a way to profit from sports gambling, you should look at the stocks that should benefit from the online betting on sports events.

DraftKings (DKNG) is one of the largest pure plays in the online sports betting arena. This was one of the stocks that was created from a SPAC. Revenues for this $20.6 billion market cap company were up 23.6% for the latest quarter. Earnings are minimal giving it a price to earnings ratio of over 1000.

Flutter Entertainment (PDYPY) is one of the largest daily fantasy sports providers and  a leader in the legal sports betting market. The company was formerly named Paddy Power Betfair. This $25 billion market cap company trades at 47.5 times earnings.

Boyd Gaming Corp. (BYD), an operator of a company that runs over a dozen casinos across the United States, offers its B Connected Sports app in order to take advantage of increased legalization. The stock trades at 30.9 times  forward earnings.

The following is a list of over 20 companies that may benefit from online sports betting and Internet gambling, sorted in order of market cap.

Company Symbol Mkt Cap in Millions Yield
Las Vegas Sands LVS 36,372 4.59%
Marriott International MAR 31,134 1.21%
Paddy Power Betfair [Flutter Ent.] PDYPY 24,970 0.00%
DraftKings DKNG 20,689 0.00%
MGM Resorts MGM 11,259 0.95%
Penn National Gaming PENN 10,680 0.00%
Gaesar’s Entertainment CZR 9,604 0.00%
Wynn Resorts WYNN 7,940 2.04%
Churchill Downs CHDN 7,154 0.39%
GVC Holdings GMVHF 6,103 7.42%
Scientific Games SGMS 3,475 0.00%
Boyd Gaming BYD 3,470 0.00%
William Hill WIMHY 2,544 0.00%
International Game Technology IGT 2,367 7.21%
Madison Square Garden Ent. MSGE 1,661 0.00%
888 Holdings EIHDF 851 2.21%
Gan Ltd GAN 485 0.00%
GameHost GHIFF 104 0.00%
Millennial Esports MLLLF 58 0.00%
Bragg Gaming BRGGF 26 0.00%

Maybe some of these stocks will win big.

Disclosure: Author owns DKNG.

Top 17 Psilocybin Magic Mushroom Stocks & Other Psychedelic Stocks

by Fred Fuld III

It was one year ago at the San Francisco MoneyShow that I gave a speech called Stocks of Leading Future Industries. In that presentation on August 16, 2019, I covered seven leading industries, plus one bonus industry.

The bonus industry was Legalized Hallucinogenic Drugs, primarily the legalization of psilocybin and the industry around its use for therapeutic purposes.

First Public Psilocybin Stock

At that time, there was only one publicly traded stock involved in researching psilocybin, Wuhan General (WUHN), which had a division, M2BIO, that was exploring the medical use of psilocybin for treatments of various conditions.

I didn’t recommend the stock during the speech, (I never make any recommendations, I only come up with suggestions for you to research), but I did say that one of these days, this stock will start to move up, other psilocybin companies will go public, and these stocks could take off just like the cannabis stocks did in the past. I told the audience to watch this stock and the industry. You can see my speech below. The section on the psilocybin and psychedelic pharmaceutical industry is at the 25 minute mark.

 

If you want to see a pdf of the slides from the presentation, you can go HERE.

The Alert About Psychedelic Stocks

So why was it important to keep an eye on this stock? From November 20, 2019 to May 20, 2020, the stock traded between 2 cents a share to 4 cents a share. The next day, the stock almost doubled to 7 cents a share. It then traded at 8 cents a share for a couple days, and jumped by 50% to 12 cents a share the next day. After that, it really started to move.

So there were exactly six months that you could have picked up the stock for, let’s say, 3 cents a share, halfway between the trading range. The stock closed at 33 cents on Friday (actually 32.75 cents but I rounded to make the calculation easier).

This works out to a 1,000% profit on Wuhan. In other words, if you had invested $5,000 at 3 cents per share, the shareholdings would now be worth $50,000. Actually the stock has even traded above 42 cents since May.

The movement of the shares should have been an alert to investors and traders.

Why the Potential for the Psychedelic Drug Industry

In my presentation, I discussed how extensive research is being done with health treatment studies on the use of psilocybin to treat:

•Anxiety disorders
•Major depression
•Addictions
•Drug dependence
•Mood disorders
•Treatment Resistant Depression
•OCD
•PTSD
I also mentioned that psilocybin and magic mushrooms have been decriminalized or legalized in:
–Denver, Colorado (May 2019)
–Oakland, California (June 2019)
–Austria (possession decriminalized 2016)
–Brazil
–Iceland (fresh mushrooms only)
–Jamaica
–Netherlands (legal as truffle)
–Portugal (decriminalized)
–Samoa
–Spain (decriminalized for personal use)
–Vietnam
Since then, Santa Cruz has decriminalized psilocybin in January of this year.

Is There a Precedent for Using Hallucinogenic Drugs Medically?

There have actually been examples of hallucinogenic drugs being used for medical purposes. One example is Lorcaserin [BELVIQ], which is a hallucinogen, but has been marketed for weight loss in very low doses. The Schedule I hallucinogen psilocybin has the same mechanism of action as Lorcaserin, according to the U. S. Government National Institute of Health. Arena (ARNA) markets the drug in the U.S. and South Korea, and Eisai Co Ltd (ESALY) manufactures and distributes the drug.
Another example is Spravato, which is a derivative of the psychedelic ketamine, and is being used for depression. It is produced by Johnson & Johnson (JNJ).

What’s Happening Now with Psychedelic Drugs and Stocks

On Friday, September 18, 2020, Compass Pathways (CMPS) went public, trading on the NASDAQ. The company’s IPO was priced at $17 per share, up from a range of $14 to $16, due to the huge demand.
Once it started trading it skyrocketed to $29 a share, an increase of over 70%, and putting the market cap at almost a billion dollars.
The company, which is based in England, is doing therapeutic research on the use of psilocybin for depression.
There are now over a dozen stocks involved in the psilocybin and psychedelic drug industry. To see a list of these stocks, click HERE.
Maybe some of these stocks will get higher and higher.
Disclosure: Author owns a very small amount of CMPS (less than 10 shares) at the time the article was written.

Investment Books Recommended by Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett, head of Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) (BRKB), really came out with a list of books that he recommends on how to invest.

At last year’s Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting, Buffett actually provided such a list. The books he recommended about himself can be found here and here.

However, if you are interested in reading books about how to invest, that are recommended by Warren Buffett, they can be found on the list below:

Business Adventures Twelve Classic Tales from the World of Wall Street

Common Sense on Mutual Funds: Fully Updated 10th Anniversary Edition

The Great Crash 1929

The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing. A Book of Practical Counsel (Revised Edition)

Investing Between the Lines: How to Make Smarter Decisions By Decoding CEO Communications

Happy Reading!

 

 

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Top Restaurant Short Squeeze Stocks

by Fred Fuld III

Many restaurant stocks have taken a hit over the last six months, with some dropping by more than 50%. Several of these stocks are heavily shorted, creating short squeeze opportunities.  When stocks rise quickly in price for whatever reason, short sellers scramble to cover their positions by buying shares, and causing the price of the stocks to increase even more.

Traders and investors can make money on the long side from short squeezes. One technique that stock traders utilize is buying short squeeze stocks, in other words, companies have been heavily shorted. Here is a more extensive explanation of  short squeezes.

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 the stock moves against the short sellers, 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 fast and furiously. Any good news can trigger the short squeeze.

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

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 from the list below.  Shake Shack(SHAK) is a stock that is heavily shorted. As a matter of fact, 26% of the float is shorted. (The float is the number of shares of the company that are freely tradeable.) Plus, the number of shares shorted has increased by 4% over last month. It also has a days-to-cover ratio of 5.7, which means that it would take almost six days for the short sellers to cover their position, based on the average daily volume.

So what stocks are heavily shorted that may be worth a closer examination? Check out the following list, but be aware, that often some stocks are heavily shorted for a reason. All these stocks have significant short metrics.

Possibly a short squeeze will cause a few of these to fly higher.

Stock Symbol % of Float Days to Cover
Shake Shack SHAK 26% 5.7
Dave & Buster’s PLAY 33% 1.8
Red Robin RRGB 35% 3.4
El Pollo Loco LOCO 19% 11.2

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

How to Speculate on the Results of the Presidential Election

by Fred Fuld III

If you have been wondering what the percentage chance of a particular candidate winning an election, there is a website you can check out.

It shows the betting odds for the U.S. presidential election and the odds for the Senate control and the House control, based on the oddsmakers.

The site is called Election Betting Odds. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately?) for Americans, there are laws prohibiting betting on political elections in the United State (with one exception which will be described later in this article).

The Election Betting Odds site is based primarily on Betfair.com, the major betting site based in the UK, along with other sources. Americans are not allowed to bet on this site.

However, if you are a U.S. citizen and you really want to speculate on the outcome of the upcoming elections, you can use a site called PredictIt.org. Why is there this loophole?

Well first, Predictit.org is an experimental project operated for academic purposes at New Zealand’s Victoria University under permission from the CFTC, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission.

Second, the maximum you can “invest” is only $850, so there is not a huge risk to traders if they lose. Bid amounts range from one penny to 99 cents.

The interesting feature about PredictIt is that there are numerous politically related possibilities that you can speculate on, not just the presidential election.

Here are just a few of the things you can bet on:

  • Which party will win Florida in 2020?
  • Will Nancy Pelosi become Acting U.S. President on January 20?
  • Who will win the 2020 New Hampshire Democratic gubernatorial primary?
  • Will Trump resign during his first term?
  • Who will be the next justice to leave the Supreme Court?
  • Will a federal charge against Rudy Giuliani be confirmed by Dec. 31, 2020?
  • Will Kim Jong-Un be Supreme Leader of North Korea on Dec. 31?
  • Will Benjamin Netanyahu be prime minister of Israel on Dec. 31, 2020?
  • Will Scottish Parliament call for an independence referendum in 2020?
  • Will NASA find 2020’s global average temperature highest on record?

I found it fascinating just to browse through to see all the different things that people are speculating on.

The Stock market will be Closed on Labor Day and These Other Days

In case you were wondering, the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ will be closed on Labor Day, Monday, September 7, 2020.

These markets will also be closed these following days:

  • Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 26, 2020
  • Christmas Day, Friday, December 25, 2020
  • New Years Day, Friday, January 1, 2021

In addition:

The stock market will close early at 1:00 p.m. ET (1:15 p.m. for eligible options) 10:00 a.m PT on Friday, November 27, 2020.

The stock market will close early at 1:00 p.m.  ET (1:15 p.m. for eligible options) 10:00 a.m PT on Thursday, December 24, 2020.

Which Politicians Are Your Friends and Family Donating Money To?

As we approach the presidential election, money is starting to flow to campaigns.

Have you ever wondered who your friends really support? How about your family members?

The best way to tell who someone really supports is to follow the money.

Here is how you can find out what politicians they have donated too. The Federal Election Commission actually posts this information on their website. All you need to do is enter the name of the Contributor and the Zip Code, adjust the date range, scroll down and see the results.

To test it out, enter your mayor or city council members.

Click the following link to do your search:

Federal Election Commission Donor Search

https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?two_year_transaction_period=2020&min_date=01%2F01%2F2015&max_date=12%2F31%2F2020