Author: WSTNN

Brother John: A Monk, a Pilgrim and the Purpose of Life by Templeton Foundation Winner

If you aren’t familiar with Sir John Templeton, he is the founder of the Templeton Growth Fund, a top performing international mutual fund. Money magazine called him “arguably the greatest global stock picker of the century.” His family of mutual funds was merged with Franklin Resources to become Franklin Templeton Funds.

Templeton was a billionaire and philanthropist who donated over a billion dollars to charitable causes. He also established the John Templeton Foundation and the Templeton Prize, which is given to a person who “has made an exceptional contribution to affirming life’s spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery, or practical works.”

One of the winners of the prize is August Turak, author of the recently published book, Brother John: A Monk, a Pilgrim and the Purpose of Life. The book is about a man going through a mid-life crisis who meets an umbrella-wielding Trappist monk on Christmas Eve, and how it changes his life.

The book also includes over twenty pages of multi-color paintings by the award winning painter, Glenn Harrington.

Brother John is a well-written book about life, beautifully illustrated, and would make a great gift.

 

Blast from the Past: The Pretender – Film Noir about an Investment Manager who Steals his Client’s Money

Here is a Blast from the Past. A film noir movie about an investment manager who steals from his client because he keeps getting margins calls from the stockbroker who handles the trades.

The movie is called The Pretender, and was filmed in 1946, starring Albert Dekker and Catherine Craig.

If you like film noir, you will enjoy this one, as it has a few unexpected twists and turns.

The Pretender is available on Amazon, and is free to watch if you have Amazon Prime.

Top High Yield Stocks

by Fred Fuld III

If you are looking for income investments with growth potential, there is no better choice than stocks that pay a high dividend. However, you want to make sure that the stocks have good fundamentals.

Here are a few stocks yielding over 6%, with price to earnings ratios of less than 15, forward P/Es less than 15, a price to earnings growth ratio of less than one, and a price to sales ratio of less than one.

Ford Motor Company (F), the one of only two car companies that have never gone bankrupt (Tesla (TSLA) is the other one), trades at 6.3 times trailing earnings and 6.8 times forward earning. The stock has a dividend yield of 6.3%

Tupperware Brands (TUP), the kitchen products, storage, and beauty products company, trades at a forward P/E of 8.2% and pays a very generous yield of 7%.

Unique Fabricating (UFAB) is in the automotive parts manufacturing business. The forward P/E is 7.6% and the yield on the stock is a magnanimous 7.4%.

Hopefully, one of these stocks can boost your portfolio income.

 

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

The Top Thanksgiving Stocks

by Fred Fuld III

It’s almost that time again to get stuffed! A time when you get to talk turkey to all your relatives, and maybe even getting a dressing down from one of them.

OK, enough with the puns. Time to make a little gravy with some Thanksgiving stocks.

Thanksgiving is November 22. There are several companies that will benefit from the Thanksgiving holiday. Here are some examples:

Tyson Foods (TSN) sells Hillshire Brands turkeys. The stock has a trailing price to earnings ratio of 7 and a forward P/E of 10. It pays a yield of 1.95%.

Campbell Soup (CPB) sells Pepperidge Farm stuffing. Campbell has a forward P/E of 15 and has a yield of 3.8%.

ConAgra, Inc. (CAG) sells Marie Callender’s pumpkin pie. The stock trades at 16 times forward earnings and yields 2.4%.

Kraft Heinz (KHC) sells Heinz Gravy and Stove Top Stuffing. It has a forward P/E of 13.5 and pays a generous yield of 4.9%.

Other Thanksgiving stocks  include Hormel (HRL) which sells the Jennie-O brand of turkeys, Constellation Brands (STZ) which produces Mondavi wine and many other wines, and Lifetime Brands (LCUT) which makes KitchenAid utensils.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Pan-Industrial Revolution: How New Manufacturing Titans will Transform the World

by Fred Fuld III

The book, The Pan-Industrial Revolution: How New Manufacturing Titans will Transform the World, by Richard D’Aveni, is about how the manufacturing industry is changing dramatically due to the major advances in 3D technology.

The proliferation of 3D technology, now often referred to as additive manufacturing, is ubiquitous but hidden. Many of the largest companies in the United States, and for that matter, the world, are actively pursuing the 3D tech manufacturing process. D’Aveni brings this secret world to light.

The author also describes how this major change in manufacturing affects the earnings of companies, jobs, and the economy in general.

My favorite chapter was “Chapter 3: Making More, Faster and Cheaper” and not just because of the pictures (yes the book even has pictures), in which he talks about the enormous advantages of both economies of scale and economies of scope with additive manufacturing.

I even got a couple of investment ideas from the book.

Whether you are familiar with 3D printing or not, The Pan-Industrial Revolution will open your eyes to the future of manufacturing and business.

Kevin Costner Starred in ‘Ancient’ Apple Ad: Wall Street Video of the Week

Does any one remember what a Lisa Computer was? Has anyone ever touched one? (I did, for a couple hours many years ago.) This was one of the first follies of Steve Jobs. Talk about a clunky, unattractive computer. Anyway, when Apple (AAPL) ran a Lisa television commercial long ago, guess who the star was? Kevin Costner, star of Field of Dreams, Dances With Wolves, Bull Durham, JFK, and many other movies.

Top Stocks Under $10 per Share

by Fred Fuld III

If you are looking for a top stock from a value standpoint, what fundamentals would you look for? The following are the most common fundies that many value investors look for.

  • P/E [price earnings ratio] under 15
  • Forward P/E under 15
  • PEG [price to earnings growth] less than 1
  • P/S [price sales ratio] less than 1
  • Pays a dividend

Here are the stocks with the above criteria that sell for less than $10 per share:

ACCO Brands (ACCO)

Chico’s (CHS)

Ford (F)

Ferroglobe (GSM)

Manning & Napier (MN)

Unique Fabricating (UFAB)

Transforming Nokia: The Power of Paranoid Optimism to Lead Through Colossal Change

by Fred Fuld III

The average investor may not be aware of this but Nokia was a major turnaround situation. The book, Transforming Nokia: The Power of Paranoid Optimism to Lead Through Colossal Change, by Risto Siilasmaa, goes into extensive detail about how this transformation took place.

Between 2008 and 2012, Nokia almost went bankrupt, dropping in value by over 90%, primarily due to competition from Apple (AAPL). At that time, Risto Siilasmaa too over and saved the company.

But the book is more than that. The author provides ways, base on his experience, the you can use in your business to deal with business struggles and major changes.

Chapter 10, “The Golden Rules,” is an important one where he covers the principles that should be applied in any business. My favorite is number 8 which relates to formality and substance relating to meetings, in which he writes “Any meeting where we don’t laugh out loud is a miserable failure!”

I also liked Chapter 11 in which he emphasizes the importance of using scenario mapping. The chapter is called “Plan B … and Plan C and Plan D.”

If you own your own business or are the head of a company,  Transforming Nokia is a book you need to read.

How to Invest in Halloween

by Fred Fuld III

It’s time to buy Halloween candy yet for the trick-or-treaters. The candy manufacturers need your help. Other business can also benefit from Halloween holiday, such as the horror movie companies.

The biggest beneficiaries of Halloween are the confectionary makers. One example is Hershey Foods (HSY), one of the largest chocolate and candy companies in the world, with two of its most popular products being Hershey Kisses and Hershey Bars, along with Reese’s. The stock has a trailing price to earnings ratio of 20.4, a forward P/E ratio of 19.2, and  pays a dividend yield of 2.7%. The latest quarterly earnings per share were up 13.7% year over year.

Tootsie Roll Industries (TR) has an assortment of candy kids, such as Tootsie Rolls, Tootsie Roll Pops, Caramel Apple Pops, Charms, Blow-Pops, Blue Razz, Zip-A-Dee Pops, Cella’s, Mason Dots, Mason Crows, Junior Mint, Sugar Daddys, and Sugar Babies. The stock has a P/E of 26.3 and a yield of 1.15%. Earnings per share for the latest quarter are down slightly from a year ago.

Mondelez International (MDLZ) is a multinational producer of candy, along with food and beverages. Its brands include Sour Patch, Swedish Fish, Cadbury, and Toblerone. Trailing P/E is 18.5 and the forward P/E is 16.2. The yield is a tasty 2.5%.

Watching scary movies is another popular event on Halloween. Netflix (NFLX), the huge provider of videos in the US, has an extensive selection of scary movies in its collection of titles. The stock trades as 114 times trailing earnings and 72 times forward earnings. It does not pay a dividend.

A major producer of scary movies is Lions Gate Entertainment (LGF.A), which has made such films as American Psycho, Ginger Snaps, Route 666, The Devil’s Rejects, House of the Dead 2, Saw VI, See No Evil, Hostel: Part II, My Bloody Valentine 3D and many others. Lionsgate has a price to earnings ratio of 11.4, and pays a dividend of 1.9%.

Then of course, Amazon (AMZN) has plenty of Halloween costumes. Amazon has a trailing PE of 167 and a forward PE of 60.

May your Halloween portfolio be a treat and not a trick.

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

Stocks Going Ex Dividend in November 2018

by Fred Fuld III

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, and annual yield.

Signet Jewelers Limited (SIG) 11/1/2018 0.37 2.79%
Constellation Brands Inc (STZ) 11/5/2018 0.74 1.35%
Intel Corporation (INTC) 11/6/2018 0.30 2.67%
Pfizer, Inc. (PFE) 11/8/2018 0.34 3.07%
International Paper Company (IP) 11/14/2018 0.50 4.89%
KB Home (KBH) 11/14/2018 0.025 0.53%
Eli Lilly and Company (LLY) 11/14/2018 0.563 2.01%
Target Corporation (TGT) 11/20/2018 0.64 3.08%
Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS) 11/29/2018 0.80 1.44%

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.