Month: January 2021

Stocks Going Ex Dividend in February 2021

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 some with yields over 2%. Here are a few examples showing the stock symbol, the ex-dividend date, the periodic dividend amount.

Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) 2/4/2021 0.70 0.79%
Wells Fargo & Company (WFC) 2/4/2021 0.10 1.34%
Duke Energy Corporation (DUK) 2/11/2021 0.965 4.11%
Target Corporation (TGT) 2/16/2021 0.68 1.50%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) 2/22/2021 1.01 2.39%
Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (IBKR) 2/26/2021 0.10 0.65%

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 at WSTNN.com HERE .

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 Low Priced Short Squeeze Stocks

by Fred Fuld III

Unless you haven’t paid any attention to financial news at all, you probably already know that GameStop (GME) has gone up over 700% in the last five days. The movie theater chain, AMC (AMC) was available for a little over two bucks ten days ago. Today, it traded for 25.80 this morning in pre-market trading.

You also probably know that these huge gains have been caused by short squeezes.  Back on September 18 last year, I published an article called Top Restaurant Short Squeeze Stocks, and it listed four companies that were heavily shorted. In just the last four months, those stocks have had stellar returns.

The worst performing stock was up 38%. Not a bad return for four months. The best performing was Dave & Busters (PLAY), which was up 138%. Here are those four stocks, with the percent of float shorted at the time, the days to cover at the time, and the return if you had bought the stock back then and sold today.

Stock Symbol % of Float Days to Cover % Gain
Shake Shack SHAK 26% 5.7 85%
Dave & Buster’s PLAY 33% 1.8 136%
Red Robin RRGB 35% 3.4 64%
El Pollo Loco LOCO 19% 11.2 38%

Many of the heavily shorted stocks you have seen on the news during the last couple days are high priced, with a majority of them trading over $100 a share. That’s a lot of risk. So If you are looking for low priced stocks that might be short squeeze plays, I will cover that shortly.

But first, a review about the short squeeze and its terminology. 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.

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.

Stock Symbol % of Float Days to Cover Stock Price
Ayro AYRO 23.28% 0.51 7.24
Clovis Oncology CLVS 42.43% 6.54 7.94
Senseonics SENS 30.95% 1.36 2.51
TherapeuticsMD TXMD 28.89% 14.30 1.59
VBI Vaccines VBIV 25.64% 6.62 3.15

So as an example, VBI Vaccines has over 25% of the float shorted, and it will take over six days for the short sellers to cover their positions, based on the average daily volume.

Obviously, there is no guarantee that these stocks will go up, but if I was short any stock selling for less than $10 a share, I wouldn’t want to waste any time covering my position, before all the other short sellers clamor in and drive the price way up.

Disclosure: Author owns TXMD. No recommendations are express or implied.

 

MLB Star Pitcher Becomes Unlikely Source of Business, Finance & Mental Health Advice

3x World Series Champ & Wall Street Exec, Todd Stottlemyre Shares Strategies for Professional & Personal Success

The Observer: A Modern Fable on Mastering Your Thoughts & Emotions

Although Todd Stottlemyre may be best known for his successful Major League Baseball career, his accomplishments off the field are just as impressive. After leaving baseball, he pursued a career in finance building an asset management business at a high-profile Wall Street firm. He then founded a private equity fund that owns, manages, and oversees several companies.

Today, Stottlemyre is a global entrepreneur, speaker, and high-performance business coach with a highly personal, transformative story to tell through his new book, The Observer. Far from being a fiction novel, The Observer offers actionable strategies for professional and personal growth and it is also the fable of Todd Stottlemyre’s life. He rose to superstardom winning two World Series with the Toronto Blue Jays but had yet to reach his true “peak” until the journey that began afterward.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Kat has it all (money, success, recognition, influence) except the one thing she desires desperately: a fulfilled life. A business entrepreneur in the high-end sportswear industry, Kat is driven in relentless pursuit of ever-greater success. The two anchors in Kat’s frenzied life have been her father; a famous baseball pitcher turned team manager, and her son, who is following in his grandfather’s footsteps. When both anchors become unstable, Kat’s life tips dangerously out of balance. The market and her finances flip, and relationships start slipping through her fingers. Eager for solutions, she turns to find uncanny wisdom from places she never expected.

The Observer unpacks the idea of 180-degree thinking, which changes everything for Kat. Now, seemingly impossible goals now come into focus with crystal clear clarity. As Kat focuses on the right things, the impossible becomes her new reality.

-Release Date: December 29, 2020
-Publisher: Made for Success Publishing
-ISBN-10: 1641465344
-ISBN-13: 9781641465342
-Purchasing Details: The Observer is available for wherever books are sold including Amazon

WHY THIS BOOK IS WORTH READING:

This book is a must-read for entrepreneurs and business owners but also for anyone searching to find happiness and meaning in their lives. Breaking the boundaries of genre, The Observer is a motivational business blueprint and self-help book, disguised as a ‘coming of (middle) age’ novel, wrapped in a sports story, that (underneath it all) is actually a fable about pro baseball Star Todd Stottlemyre’s life.

Although it is presented as a fictional story about a 38-year-old woman and her journey to self-discovery, the book serves as a fundamental roadmap to personal and professional success. Through the story of “Kat”, Stottlemyre examines the science of success and how to use it, offering various strategies and techniques for growth. He demonstrates how lofty ambitions are achievable when you follow the sequential steps in his proven success system. The book not only gives readers motivation and encouragement, but it also provides them with a pathway for discovering their peak potential in business and in life.

In the age of COVID, political unrest, and global chaos – a time when uncertainty lurks around every corner – these timeless insights are more important today than ever before. Praised for its sharp wit, plot twists, and fast pace, this book will inevitably become a mirror to take a look inside ourselves―and find that no matter how long it takes, we all have the ability to change our trajectory.

Whether you are seeking professional growth or personal fulfillment, and looking for strategies to achieve excellence, or if you just want to curl up with a poignant novel (OR if you a sports fan itching to learn more about this MLB superstar) The Observer needs to be on your reading list!

ABOUT TODD STOTTLEMYRE:

Todd StottlemyreTodd Stottlemyre is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who played for 15 seasons most notably as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays with whom he won two World Series championships. He also played for the Oakland Athletics, St Louis Cardinals, Texas Rangers, and the Arizona Diamondbacks. Awarded for his outstanding integrity and dedication to community service, he received the prestigious Branch Ricky Award and the Lou Gehrig Award.

After leaving professional baseball, he pursued a career in finance building an asset management business at a high-profile Wall Street firm. He is the co-founder and owner of a private equity fund that owns, manages, and oversees a number of companies.

Today, Stottlemyre channels his passion for winning as a high-performance business coach, best-selling author, and keynote speaker. Taking all he has learned both on and off the field, he works to help people achieve unparalleled success in every dimension of their lives.

 

 

 

 

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Want to Invest in Tesla Convertible Bonds? Good Luck!

by Fred Fuld III

A convertible bond is a bond that can be converted into a fixed number of shares of stock in the company that issued the bond.

The advantages of convertible bonds

  1. It pays a fixed income, unlike a stock which can lower or eliminate a dividend.
  2. If the company goes out of business, the bondholders get paid off before the stockholders.
  3. The bond has growth potential because of the conversion factor into shares of stock.

The disadvantages of convertible bonds

  1. They are illiquid, with most not traded on any exchange.
  2. They are hard to find and not all brokers carry them.

Companies that issue convertible bonds

  • Tesla (TSLA)
  • Nio (NIO)
  • Zillow Group (Z)
  • Square (SQ)
  • Snap (SNAP)
  • Microchip Technology (MCHP)

Now try going to your broker’s website or try calling them and ask what the quote is on the Tesla 2% convertible bond. Good luck.

Convertible Bond ETFs

The easier way to invest in convertibles is through an an exchange traded fund that specializes in convertible bonds, such as the SPDR Bloomberg Barclays Convertible Securities ETF (CWB), which actually owns bonds from such companies as Tesla and Nio. It is up over 50% for the last twelve months. This ETF pays a yield of 2.34%.

Another convertible bond ETF is iShares Convertible Bond ETF (ICVT), which in addition to owning Tesla bonds, owns convertible bonds in Southwest Airlines (LUV), DISH Network (DISH), and Snap. For the last twelve months, it has increased by 58%.

First Trust SSI Strategic Convertible Securities ETF (FCVT) is a third option. The ETF owns Tesla, Zillow and Square convertible bonds, among others. This ETF is up over 52% over the last twelve months.

If you decide to get into convertibles, let’s hope they can convert your portfolio into profits.

Disclosure: Author owns Tesla.

Will Drone Stocks Start Flying Higher?

The number of pure play drone stocks is shrinking, since Lockheed Martin (LMT) agreed to buy Aerojet Rocketdyne (AJRD). There aren’t many other drone stocks to choose from.

Drones are a technological advancement that have been sometimes been making headlines for all the wrong reasons. They have been spotted flying too close to airports, and they have been caught smuggling drugs into prisons. They have even been used to spy on neighbors that are sun bathing in the nude in their backyard. When used in the right wy, drones are a great form of technology. They are helping businesses to make great strides and stay ahead of the competition, and have significant usage by the military.

Drones may soon be used by businesses that provide goods to customers. They will be able to deliver customers’ packages right to their very own doorstep on a regular basis, and on a large scale. This will greatly change the world of home deliveries. No longer will customers have to go through the hassle of picking their goods up from a store. This would bee a great advantage during the pandemic.

This form of technology is also being used by oil and gas companies. It allows companies to do routine inspections. The drone will also be able to do surveying for a variety of other businesses. All in all, these will work to make the lives of businesses easier.

Of course, drones are even available for recreational use. There are several rules that a person must abide by, however, such as not be flown in close proximity to an airport. Plus they must be registered.

So how does an investor take a flyer on a drone stock that won’t crash and burn? One of the purest plays in the drone industry is AeroVironment (AVAV), which produced the Pointer drone in 1987, considered to be the first small unmanned aircraft system, also referred to as a UAS, unmanned aerial vehicle, and UAV, for military use. The company now makes severals UASs, including the Puma, Raven, Wasp, and Shrike, for business and governmental use.

AeroVironment is currently trades at 110 times trailing earnings, and 53 times forward earnings. In spite of the high P/E ratio, the company does have a couple things going for it. First of all, it has no long term debt. Second, the company is sitting on $302.6 million  in cash, amounting to $13.41 cash per share. No wonder the stock is up over 12% today.

AgEagle Aerial Systems (UAVS) is another drone company that markets to the agricultural industry. It is currently generating negative earnings, but it debt free.The stock is up over 22% today.

Another way to play the drone market, although in a small way, is Amazon (AMZN),  which is involved in drones two different ways. It is developing Amazon Prime Air in several countries, which will provide 30 minute delivery services using small drones. In addition, Amazon actually sells drones to the consumer. Do you think if I order a drone from them, that they would deliver it by drone?

Keep an eye on this industry, because there is great potential for drone stocks to go higher and higher.

Disclosure: Author owns AMZN.

 

Relentless: The Forensics of Mobsters’ Business Practices

The b00k, Relentless: The Forensics of Mobsters’ Business Practices, by Jerold Zimmerman PhD. and Daniel Forrester, is a fascinating study of how criminal organizations run their operations and how corporate leaders can learn from them. Not how to kill people or smuggle drugs, but how to structure the corporate culture and how to give employees more latitude and empowerment, not to mention performance rewards and punishments.

The authors cover such groups as the Hells Angels, the American Mafia,  the Sinaloa Cartel, and the Crips and Bloods, and why these organizations have lasted so long in spite of the fact that there is a huge amount of law enforcement trying to take them down.

You don’t have to be a corporate executive or business owner to enjoy this publication. I found the histories behind these organized crime groups to be the best parts of the book.

The book was just released today. If you are looking for interesting and practical information relating to a captivating topic, I recommend that you read Relentless.

 

 

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Amazon Now Selling Coronavirus COVID-19 Test Kits

by Fred Fuld III

Did you know that you can now buy your own do-it-yourself do-it-at-home Coronavirus COVID-19 Test Kit from Amazon? Well now you can, and it doesn’t involve giving blood or jamming a stick up your nose.

As a matter of fact, it only involves spit. The kit is called the DxTerity COVID-19 Saliva at-Home Collection Kit, and it includes prepaid express return shipping and laboratory PCR (polymerase chain reaction) testing.

The test is authorized by the FDA for both asymptomatic and symptomatic testing.

The results are available within 24 to 72 hours of receipt of your saliva sample.

The DxTerity COVID-19 Saliva Kit sells for $110.

I haven’t tried it yet but I am getting ready to order it. It does have 5 star ratings.

Stay healthy everyone!

 

 

 

 

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The US Government is $27.7 Trillion in Debt

In case you were wondering how much debt the United States Government has, the US National Debt is currently $27,757,050,324,231. Wait, now it’s $27,757,053,878,734. Wait, now it’s … Well you get the picture.

This works out to $222,190 per taxpayer.

The official US Federal Budget Deficit is $3,189,077,654,398 and counting. But the Actual US Federal Budget Deficit is $4,416,873,096,231 and counting.

If you want to keep up to the second with this information, you should s=check out the US Debt clock.