Author: WSTNN

Stocks Going Ex Dividend March 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.

QUALCOMM Incorporated (QCOM) 3/4/2020 0.62 3.17%
General Motors Company (GM) 3/5/2020 0.38 4.84%
Kimberly-Clark Corporation (KMB) 3/5/2020 1.07 3.03%
MGM Resorts International (MGM) 3/9/2020 0.15 2.44%
HP Inc. (HPQ) 3/10/2020 0.176 3.22%
The Kraft Heinz Company (KHC) 3/12/2020 0.40 6.14%
Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS) 3/17/2020 0.79 5.42%
Tiffany & Co. (TIF) 3/19/2020 0.58 1.74%
Portland General Electric  (POR) 3/24/2020 0.385 2.83%
SkyWest, Inc. (SKYW) 3/30/2020 0.14 1.28%
Comcast Corporation (CMCSA) 3/31/2020 0.23 2.16%

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.

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How to Protect Yourself in a Bear Market

by Fred Fuld III

There are several strategies to make money in a bear market, some speculative, and some not so risky. Even smaller investors have ways to protect themselves, and even make money on the downside. We have had a strong stock market for the last eleven years, and many investors think that we are heading into a bear market. Here are several strategies to choose from.

1. Shorting Stocks

This is one of the most speculative ways of making money in a bear market. In simple terms, you make money when the stock goes down and you lose money when the stock goes up. What technically happens is that you borrow the shares and immediately sell them (this all is done electronically through your brokerage firm) and since you owe those shares, you eventually have to buy them back at some price, hopefully a lower price, in order to return those hares. The difference between your sale price and eventual purchase price is your profit (or loss, if you buy back at a higher price).

Can you make a lot of money shorting stocks in a bear market? Yes. Is it speculative? Very. Can you lose a lot? Most definitely. This is why it is so risky. When you short a stock, the lowest point it can drop to is zero. Whereas, if the stock goes up, the amount it can rise is unlimited. Let’s say you short 100 shares of a stock at $20 a share. If you put up funds equal to 100% of the value of the shorted amount, and the stock drops to zero, you’ve made a 100% return. However, suppose the stock goes from 20 to 100, you end up losing 400% of your money with lots of margin calls along the way. But even on a short term basis, an investor can lose money very fast.

So in summery, do I think you should short stocks? Absolutely not, unless you are a professional trader. The risk is unbelievable. If you understand options real well, hedged short selling might be OK, as long as you are an advanced trader, and know what you’re doing.

2. Short (Bearish) ETFs

An ETF appeared on the scene several years ago which has become very popular, a type of Exchange Traded Fund called the Bearish ETF or Short ETF. What these ETFs do is provide a return opposite to the return of the index, industry, or sector that it is tracking.

For example, the Short Dow30 ProShares (DOG) provides a return that is the inverse of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. If the Dow goes down 2%, the DOG goes up 2%. The Short QQQ ProShares (PSQ) ETF gives a return that is the inverse of the NASDAQ 100 Index. If you are bearish on gold, you can buy the PowerShares DB Gold Short ETN (DGZ) ETF.

The nice thing about these short ETFs is that your losses are limited. Also, if you are long individual stocks that you don’t want to sell, these can be good for protecting your portfolio on the downside.

3. Leveraged Bearish ETFs

If you like volatility, you will love the leveraged bearish ETFs. What these ETFs do is provide double, and in some cases triple the inverse return of indices.Some examples include the UltraShort Consumer Services ProShares (SCC) and the ProShares UltraShort S&P S&P 500 (SDS).

In addition there are several triple leveraged bearish ETFs. Direxion Daily MCSI Real Estate Bear 3X Shares (DRV), Direxion Daily Energy Bear 3X Shares (ERY), and ProShares UltraPro Short Russell 2000 (SRTY) are just a few of the many 3X bearish ETFs.

The volatility of these things is substantial, and so are the wide bid and asked spreads that I’ve seen occasionally.

The advantage of these trading vehicles is that they are a way of shorting on margin, with a limit on the downside. The disadvantage is that the losses are quick and large, especially with the triple leverage short ETFs.

4. Bear Funds

It may be hard to believe, but there are actually a large number of bearish mutual funds for the long term bearish investors. These include the Grizzly Short Fund (GRZZX), the PIMCO StocksPlus TR Short Strategy Institutional Fund (PSTIX), and the ProFunds Bear Investors Fund (BRPIX). These funds have minimum investments ranging from $1,000 to $5,000,000.

5. Puts

First, a little about option pricing.  Puts and calls are priced on a per share basis, so a put at $1 would cost $100 for 100 shares, or a call at $3.50 would cost $350.

A put is the option to put your stock to someone at a particular price within a certain period of time. In other words, if you own a stock that is trading at 22 and you buy a put at a dollar which gives you the right to put your stock to someone at $20 per share within three months, there are a couple of things that could happen. The stock could tank to $14 a share and you could put your stock at 20, or just resell the put for 6 and collecting the profit. You would be far better off than just doing nothing. And if the stock goes up or stays about the same, you are just out your $100 for the option. Puts can be useful for experienced traders.

6. Cash

There is one other way to make money in a bear market. Sell everything, and keep your money in cash, with the safest way being a T-bill money market fund, that only owns T-bills. (Money market funds that invest in repos are supposed to be just as safe, but I consider them slightly more risky than T-bills.) The advantages are that you can’t lose money and you can receive an income from the investment.

The alternative cash investment is putting your money in a bank certificate of deposit or savings account. Your money is safe up to the FDIC limits, but the interest rate can be very low.

If we are in a bear market, hopefully you can protect your portfolio and make a little on the downside.

Author does not own any of the above mentioned securities.

Is Now the Time to Invest in Discounted CEFs?

by Fred Fuld III

Do you realize that it is possible to buy stocks at a discount to their current trading prices? Here is how.

You can invest in closed end funds, also known as CEFs, that are trading at a discount to Net Asset Value, also known as NAV. The NAV is similar to the book value of stocks. In other words the NAV is calculated by adding up the value of all the stocks in the portfolio, and dividing that amount by the number of outstanding shares.

A closed end fund is similar to a regular mutual fund except that they trade throughout the day while the market is open and the trading price of the CEFs can fluctuate way above or way below the NAV. In addition, the number of shares is fixed. There are many closed end funds that are trading at a discount of over 10% of their net asset value. Many investors invest in these discounted CEFs in the hopes that the gap between NAV and price per share will eventually narrow.

One example is RMR Real Estate Income (RIF) managed by RMR Advisors. The fund is trading at a 16.3% discount to net asset value and based on their latest stockholdings, owns Prologis (PLD) and Sun Communities (SUI). The expense ratio is a high 3.08%.

If you are concerned about real estate stocks, another deeply discounted Dividend and Income Fund (DNI),managed by Bexil Advisors, which is trading at a 16% discount to NAV. The fund’s stockholdings include Comcast (CMCSA), AutoZone (AZO), Intel (INTC) and Amgen (AMGN). The fund’s expense ratio is 2.12% and pays a generous dividend yield of about 7.5%.

Another example is Central Securities (CET) which trades at a discount to NAV of 15.2%. It has a yield of 4.1%. The fund’s stockholdings include Intel (INTC), Citigroup (C), and Alphabet / Google  (GOOG) (GOOGL). Investors should be aware that over 22% of the portfolio’s assets are invested in The Plymouth Rock Company, which is not publicly traded. Also, over 3% of the portfolio in invest in treasury bills. The fund’s expense ratio is a reasonable 0.67%.

However, there are several risks with investing in discounted CEFs. First, the gap may exist for a long time, and can even widen. Second, the gap could theoretically narrow but the stocks in the portfolio could drop, so the fund would drop in price also. Third, is that many CEFs hold illiquid, private, or non-trading stocks, and the NAV is based on how the company valuates those shares, which may be a much higher value than what they could get if they tried to liquidate those stocks. Plus, some funds may own real estate or mortgages, which are very hard to value.

Sometimes activist shareholders buy up a large amount of shares of heavily discounted CEFs and force the liquidation of those CEFs, in order to realize the net asset value. Before investing in any of these, check out the web site of the CEFs to see what stocks they own, and how many are invested in illiquid shares.

Hopefully, you can find bargains with a closed end fund.

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

Top Valentines Day Stocks

by Fred Fuld III

There are just a few days left to do your shopping for Valentine’s Day. A Valentines stock would make a great gift, such as those that sell chocolate, jewelry, greeting cards, and gift wrap.

The perfect gift stock used to be the stock that makes the stuff that gifts come in. CSS Industries Inc. (CSS) markets gift wrap, gift bags, boxed greeting cards, gift tags, tissue paper, decorations, and decorative ribbons and bows. Unfortunately for investors, the company is in the process of the being taken over by IG Design Group, a UK based company that trades on the London Stock Exchange. However, there are other stocks you can choose from.

red rose

Flowers make a great Valentines Day gift. 1-800-Flowers.com Inc. (FLWS) is the largest publicly traded marketer flowers. In addition, it also sells cakes, cookies, candy, wines, and gift baskets. The stock trades at 25 times trailing earnings, 24.8 times forward earnings, and a price to sales ratio of 0.83.

chocolate candy

 Almost every valentine likes chocolate. The Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Inc. (RMCF), based in Durango, Colorado makes and markets many types of chocolate candy including caramels, creams, mints, and truffles. The company was founded in 1981, and has over 300 franchise locations. The price to earnings ratio is 27. Rocky Mountain pays a very delicious dividend yield of 5.7%.

What valentine doesn’t like jewelry? Something like a Vintage Inspired Round Ruby Pendant with Diamond Halo in 14K White & Yellow Gold (8mm Ruby) would make a nice gift. The price is only $37,709 and is available through Amazon (AMZN).

ruby pendant

Tiffany (TIF), founded in 1837, is one of the largest jewelry companies in the world, with over 60 U.S. stores and numerous international locations. The stock trades at 26.7 times forward earnings. This stock also pays a dividend, with a yield of 1.7%.

 For more stocks that could increase sales from the Valentine experience, such as candy and chocolate stocks, check out the free lists here at WSTNN.com.
Happy Valentines Day!!!

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

High Yield Cannabis Stocks

by Fred Fuld III

During the last twelve months, many of the cannabis stocks, such as (TLRY) and Canopy Growth (CGC), have been hit hard with some stocks, such a Tilray (TLRY) dropping 76% and Canopy Growth (CGC) down 54%. Some investors and traders think that the marijuana stocks may have hit bottom and there may be some buying opportunities.

However, if  you are a relatively conservative investor, you probably want to receive a dividend in return for the risk you are taking. Luckily, there are some cannabis stocks that provide investors with a decent dividend yield.

One example is Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (SMG), which has a couple divisions in the marijuana industry. Its Hawthorne Gardening Company division purchased General Hydroponics which manufactures and sells products for marijuana growers. Scotts has also invested in the hydroponics company AeroGrow International (AERO) which sells products to the small scale grower. Scotts’ current yield is 1.92%. Last August, the company raised its dividend to 58 cents per share, an incense of 5.5% over the previous quarter. The dividend has increased on an annual basis since 2015. The stock has a trailing price to earnings ratio of 15 and a forward PE of 22.

AbbVie Inc. (ABBV) is a seller of Marinol, also known as Dronabinol, a form of tetrahydrocannabinol, one of the main psychoactive ingredients of marijuana. The company has been paying quarterly dividends and has increased the annual dividend every year since 2013. AbbVie’s annual forward dividend yield is 5.77%. The company just raised its dividend to $1.07 per share per quarter, a 9.3% increase. The stock trades at 37 times trailing earnings and 8.5 times forward earnings.

Innovative Industrial Properties Inc. (IIPR), which trades on the New York Stock Exchange,  owns, manages, and leases real estate to state licensed cannabis growing businesses. The company has increased dividend every quarter for the last four quarters, the latest dividend increasing my 28%. The company pays a dividend yield of 4.25%. The stock trades at 62 times trailing earnings and 20 times forward earnings.

Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF (HMLSF) is an exchange traded fund that invests in many companies involved in the marijuana industry. It has a yield of 12%, based on its latest quarterly payment of $0.202 per share. The reason why the dividend income is so high is because most of the income comes from fees and interest from securities lending. This ETF’s largest holdings are:

  1. CANOPY GROWTH CORP.   13.42%
  2. CRONOS GROUP INC.   11.01%
  3. GW PHARMACEUTICALS PLC.   10.12%
  4. TILRAY INC.   9.05%
  5. APHRIA INC.   8.98%
  6. AURORA CANNABIS INC.   6.51%
  7. SCOTTS MIRACLE-GRO CO.   6.49%
  8. CHARLOTTES WEB HOLDINGS INC.   6.21%
  9. INNOVATIVE INDUSTRIAL PROPERT.   3.11%
  10. ORGANIGRAM HOLDINGS INC.   2.61%

Altria (MO) is primarily in the tobacco business, as it manufactures and markets cigarettes and smokeless tobacco. The company invested over a billion dollars in Cronos Group (CRON), the Canadian marijuana company. The stock pays a generous yield of 7.0%.

Molson Coors (TAP) is the seventh largest beer maker in the world. The company is in partnership with HEXO (HEXO) to produce cannabis-infused beverages in Canada. Molson Coors yields 4.05%.

Constellation Brands (STZ), which produces and markets beer, wine, and liquor, has a major ownership of shares in the Ontario, Canada based cannabis company Canopy Growth (CGC). Constellation has a dividend yield of 1.56%.

To be blunt about it, here’s the straight dope. Maybe some of these stocks will get high, and give you a smoking portfolio from this budding industry. You may even hit the jack pot. Just make sure you weed out the bad stocks, because if you don’t, your portfolio will take a hit and go up in smoke.

Don’t forget to read:

Exclusive Interview with Chet Billingsley CEO of Mentor Capital on the Marijuana Industry

Is Apple Getting into the Marijuana Industry?

Disclosure: Author owns CGC and IIPR.

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.

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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.

Stocks Going Ex Dividend January 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.

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.

American Express Company (AXP) 1/2/2020 0.43 1.37%
Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO) 1/2/2020 0.35 2.93%
Campbell Soup Company (CPB) 1/7/2020 0.35 2.83%
Oracle Corporation (ORCL) 1/8/2020 0.24 1.80%
General Mills, Inc. (GIS) 1/9/2020 0.49 3.68%
General Dynamics Corporation (GD) 1/16/2020 1.02 2.30%
Caterpillar, Inc. (CAT) 1/17/2020 1.03 2.78%
Clorox Company (CLX) 1/28/2020 1.06 2.76%
Hasbro, Inc. (HAS) 1/30/2020 0.68 2.57%
Bank Of Montreal (BMO) 1/31/2020 0.798 4.13%

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.

Monthly Dividend Stock List

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.

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.