This Day Today in Business & Investment History

by Fred Fuld III

Apple Computer (AAPL) was incorporated in 1977.

The first block of the blockchain of the decentralized payment system Bitcoin, called the Genesis block, is established by the creator of the system in 2009.

The Bell Telephone Company (T) was chartered in Massachusetts by Alexander Graham Bell and his associates in 1876.

The Bank of Italy changes its name to Bank of America National Trust and Savings Association (BAC), solidifying its national expansion beyond its Californian roots in 1928.

IBM Corporation (IBM) introduces the IBM 1401, a pioneering transistorized computer designed for business applications in 1960.

The New York Stock Exchange introduces the Decimalization Plan, shifting stock prices from fractions to whole dollar amounts in 1970.

Sony Corporation (SONY) releases the Sony Walkman TPS-L2, the first commercially successful portable cassette player in 1981.

Stocks Going Ex Dividend in August 2023

The following is a short list of some of the many stocks going ex-dividend during the next month, which can be helpful for traders and investors interested in the stock trading technique known as “Buying Dividends” or “Dividend Capture.” This strategy involves purchasing stocks before the ex dividend date and selling them shortly after the ex-date at a similar price, while still being eligible to receive the dividend payment.

Although this technique generally proves effective in bull markets and flat or choppy markets, it is advisable to exercise caution and consider avoiding this strategy during bear markets. To qualify for the dividend, it is necessary to buy the stock before the ex-dividend date and refrain from selling it until on or after the ex-date.

However, it is important to note that the actual dividend may not be paid for several weeks, as the payment date can be delayed by up to two months after the ex-date.

For investors seeking a comprehensive list of stocks going ex-dividend in the near future, WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has compiled a downloadable list containing numerous dividend-paying companies. Here are a few examples showcasing the stock symbol, ex-dividend date, periodic dividend amount, and annual yield.

Stock	Ex Div Date	Div Amount	Yield
Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS)	8/7/2023	0.20	0.34%
American Electric Power Company (AEP)	8/9/2023	0.83	3.95%
International Business Machines (IBM)	8/9/2023	1.66	4.63%
Starbucks Corporation (SBUX)	8/10/2023	0.53	2.09%
Walmart Inc. (WMT)	8/10/2023	0.57	1.43%
Eli Lilly and Company (LLY)	8/14/2023	1.13	1.00%
Consolidated Edison, Inc. (ED)	8/15/2023	0.81	3.47%
Target Corporation (TGT)	8/15/2023	1.10	3.26%
Microsoft Corporation (MSFT)	8/16/2023	0.68	0.81%
Duke Energy Corporation (DUK)	8/17/2023	1.025	4.38%
Southern Company (SO)	8/18/2023	0.70	3.87%
Discover Financial Services (DFS)	8/23/2023	0.70	2.48%
Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. (HLT)	8/24/2023	0.15	0.39%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)	8/25/2023	1.19	2.82%
Allstate Corporation (ALL)	8/30/2023	0.89	3.15%
Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS)	8/30/2023	2.75	3.08%
Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT)	8/31/2023	3.00	2.66%

To access the entire list of over 100 ex-dividend stocks, subscribers will receive an email in the next few days. If you are not already a subscriber, you can sign up using the provided signup box below. Don’t miss out on this valuable information, and the best part is that it’s free!

Dividend Definitions

To better understand the dividend-related terms, let’s define them:

Declaration date: This refers to the day when a company announces its intention to distribute a dividend in the future.
Ex-dividend date: On this day, if you purchase the stock, you would not be eligible to receive the upcoming dividend. It is also the first day on which a shareholder can sell their shares and still receive the dividend.
Record date: This marks the day when you must be recorded on the company’s books as a shareholder to qualify for the dividend. Typically, the ex-dividend date is set two business days prior to the record date.
Payment date: This is the day on which the dividend payment is actually made to the eligible shareholders. It’s important to note that the payment date can be as long as two months after the ex-date.

Before implementing the “Buying Dividends” technique, it is crucial to reconfirm the ex-dividend date with the respective company to ensure accuracy and avoid any unexpected changes.

In conclusion, being aware of the stocks going ex-dividend can be advantageous for traders and investors employing the “Buying Dividends” strategy. WallStreetNewsNetwork.com provides a convenient resource to access a comprehensive list of such stocks, allowing individuals to plan their investment decisions effectively. Remember to stay informed and consider market conditions before employing any investment strategy.

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

Top Yielding Dividend Aristocrats

by Fred Fuld III

Dividend Aristocrats are a group of 65 S&P 500 stocks that have increased their dividends annually for at least 25 consecutive years. They are considered to be some of the most reliable dividend-paying stocks on the market.

The Dividend Aristocrats index is maintained by S&P Dow Jones Indices. To qualify for the index, a stock must meet the following criteria:

It must be a member of the S&P 500 index.
It must have increased its dividend for at least 25 consecutive years.
It must have a market capitalization of at least $3 billion.

The Dividend Aristocrats index is a popular investment among investors who are looking for income and growth. The stocks in the index have a long track record of dividend growth, and they are typically well-established companies with strong financials.

Here are some of the top Dividend Aristocrats in 2023, ranked by their forward dividend yield:

Realty Income (O): 5.0%
IBM (IBM): 5.0%
AbbVie (ABBV): 4.4%
Coca-Cola (KO): 3.0%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): 3.0%
Procter & Gamble (PG): 2.5%
Pepsico (PEP): 2.7%

These stocks are all paying a high dividend yield, and they have a long track record of dividend growth. They are a good option for investors who are looking for income and growth.

Here are some of the benefits of investing in Dividend Aristocrats:

Income: Dividend Aristocrats are a good source of income for investors. They typically pay a high dividend yield, and they have a long track record of dividend growth.
Growth: Dividend Aristocrats can also provide growth potential for investors. Many of the companies in the index are well-established and have strong financials. This means that they are likely to continue to grow their businesses and their dividends over time.
Safety: Dividend Aristocrats are considered to be relatively safe investments. They are typically large, well-established companies with a long track record of profitability. This means that they are less likely to go bankrupt or cut their dividends than smaller, more volatile companies.

If you are looking for an investment that can provide you with income and growth, then Dividend Aristocrats may be a good option for you. They are a relatively safe investment that has the potential to provide you with a steady stream of income over the long term.

Disclosure: Author owns PEP.

Top 5 Pure Play AI Stocks

By Fred Fuld III

You’ve seen it on TV, you’ve read about it on news websites. Artificial Intelligence, commonly referred to as AI, is now the hottest industry. Stocks that are involved in this industry are taking off.

I originally wrote about a form of artificial intelligence back in October of 2021 in an article called The Future of Artificial Intelligence: Can You Invest In It Now?

So you may be wondering what companies are the purest plays.

WHAT AI IS

Artificial Intelligence, or AI for short, refers to the ability of machines to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem solving, and decision-making. AI algorithms are designed to analyze data, recognize patterns, and make predictions or recommendations based on that analysis.

In other words, AI is a way to teach machines to perform tasks that would normally require human intelligence, and to improve their performance over time based on the data they analyze. This technology has the potential to revolutionize many aspects of our lives, from healthcare to transportation to entertainment. AI is even being used to write articles and books.

WHAT CHAT AI IS

One of the most popular types of AI services is Chat AI.

Chat AI refers to the use of artificial intelligence technologies, such as natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning, to enable machines to communicate with humans via chat interfaces, such as chatbots or virtual assistants.

Chat AI is used in a variety of settings, such as customer service, where chatbots can be used to answer frequently asked questions, provide information, or help customers troubleshoot issues. Chat AI can also be used in healthcare to provide personalized support and advice, in education to assist with learning, and in business to streamline operations and improve customer engagement.

The key advantage of Chat AI is that it enables organizations to provide 24/7 support to their customers, without the need for human intervention. Additionally, Chat AI can help organizations save costs by automating routine tasks and reducing the need for human labor.

To enable effective Chat AI, developers must ensure that the algorithms are capable of understanding and interpreting natural language, as well as providing appropriate responses to user queries. This requires a combination of NLP and machine learning techniques, as well as ongoing training and improvement of the chat AI system.

Overall, Chat AI is an increasingly popular technology that has the potential to transform the way we interact with machines and automate routine tasks in various industries.

CREATING IMAGES WITH AI

Yes, artificial intelligence is now being used to create images, such as book covers, logos, album covers, and many other purposes. You just need to type in a simple description, and a picture will automatically be created. One of the most popular AI image services is called DALL-E.

DALL-E is an artificial intelligence system developed by OpenAI that is capable of generating images from textual descriptions. The name “DALL-E” is a combination of the artist Salvador Dali and the Pixar character Wall-E.

The DALL-E system uses a combination of machine learning techniques, including natural language processing and computer vision, to interpret textual descriptions and generate corresponding images. It is capable of creating images of objects and scenes that do not exist in the real world, such as a teapot made of giraffe or a snail-shaped harp.

THE BIG PLAYERS

The DALL-E system was trained on a dataset of text-image pairs, which enabled it to learn the relationship between textual descriptions and their corresponding visual representations. The system was trained on a massive amount of data, including images from the internet and text descriptions from a variety of sources.

The potential applications of DALL-E are numerous, including in the fields of art, design, and advertising. It has the potential to streamline the creative process and help artists and designers bring their ideas to life more quickly and easily. However, there are also concerns about the potential misuse of this technology, such as the creation of fake images or the propagation of harmful stereotypes.

First, let’s get the large stocks out of the way. There are many companies involved in AI, ranging from startups to large corporations. However, some of the biggest companies involved in AI are:

Google (GOOG) (GOOGL) is known for its search engine, but it’s also heavily invested in AI, with products like Google Assistant, Google Photos, and Google Translate all utilizing machine learning.

Amazon (AMZN) is using AI in many areas, such as its recommendation engine, its Alexa voice assistant, and its Amazon Go stores, which use computer vision to enable a checkout-free shopping experience.

Microsoft (MSFT) has been investing heavily in AI and has developed several AI-powered products, including Cortana, Skype Translator, and Microsoft Cognitive Services.

IBM (IBM) has a long history of developing AI technologies, and its Watson platform is one of the most well-known examples of AI in action.

Meta/Facebook (META) uses AI in a variety of ways, including facial recognition technology for tagging photos and content moderation.

Apple (AAPL) has been incorporating AI into many of its products, including Siri and Face ID.

NVIDIA (NVDA) is a leading manufacturer of GPUs, which are essential for training and running AI models.

Baidu (BIDU) is a Chinese search engine that is heavily investing in AI, with projects ranging from self-driving cars to voice recognition.

Tesla (TSLA) is using AI in its autonomous driving technology and is working to develop a fully self-driving car.

Alibaba (BABA), the Chinese e-commerce company, is investing in AI to improve its recommendation engine and other areas of its business.

THE PURE PLAYS

Now let’s get to the purer plays in artificial intelligence.

C3.AI

C3.ai, Inc. (AI) is a software company, located in Redwood City, California, that provides enterprise AI solutions for a variety of industries, including energy, healthcare, and finance. The company was founded in 2009 by Dr. Thomas M. Siebel, who is also the CEO of the company.

Before founding C3.ai, Dr. Siebel was the founder and CEO of Siebel Systems, a leading enterprise software company that was acquired by Oracle Corporation in 2006. After the acquisition, Dr. Siebel focused on developing AI-based solutions for the enterprise market and founded C3.ai.

Initially, C3.ai focused on developing predictive maintenance and energy management solutions for the energy industry. The company’s first product, C3 Energy Management, was designed to help utilities optimize their energy generation and distribution systems using machine learning algorithms.

Over time, C3.ai expanded its focus to other industries, including healthcare, financial services, and manufacturing. The company’s current product offerings include C3 AI Suite, which is a platform that enables organizations to develop and deploy AI applications, and C3.ai Ex Machina, which is an AI-powered data science platform for data scientists and developers.

C3.ai has received funding from several prominent investors, including Breyer Capital, TPG Growth, and the Rise Fund. In December 2020, the company went public on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “AI,” raising $651 million in its initial public offering.

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.45 billion. This debt-free company has $6.76 in cash per share.

SOUNDHOUND AI

SoundHound AI, Inc. (SOUN) is a Silicon Valley-based technology company that specializes in developing sound recognition and voice-enabled AI solutions. The company was founded in 2005 by Dr. Keyvan Mohajer, who is also the CEO of the company.

Initially, the company started as a music recognition app called “Midomi,” which allowed users to hum or sing a song, and the app would identify the song. Later on, the company expanded its focus to voice-enabled AI technology and changed its name to SoundHound Inc.

In 2015, SoundHound Inc. launched its flagship product, Hound, which is an AI-powered voice assistant. Hound uses a natural language processing (NLP) technology that enables users to speak complex and specific queries in a conversational manner. The Hound voice assistant is available as a mobile app and can be integrated into other devices and applications.

In addition to Hound, SoundHound AI, Inc. also offers a suite of AI-based products and services, including sound recognition technologies for speech-to-text and music identification, and voice-enabled AI solutions for automotive, hospitality, and other industries.

The company has received funding from several prominent investors, including NVIDIA, Samsung, and Tencent Holdings. By 2021, SoundHound AI, Inc. had raised over $250 million in funding.

SoundHound has a market cap of $580 million. The company is debt-free and quarterly sales increased by over 79% year-over-year.

BIGBEAR.AI

BigBear.ai Holdings, Inc. (BBAI) is a technology company that develops and provides artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for defense and intelligence organizations, as well as for commercial customers. The company was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.

BigBear.ai’s technology solutions use AI and machine learning to help customers make sense of large and complex data sets, as well as to automate decision-making processes. The company’s AI-driven solutions are designed to improve situational awareness, increase operational efficiency, and support decision-making across a range of industries and applications.

The company’s solutions cover a range of capabilities, including computer vision, natural language processing, and data analytics. BigBear.ai’s solutions are used in a variety of applications, such as intelligence analysis, threat detection, predictive maintenance, and supply chain optimization.

BigBear.ai has a broad customer base that includes government agencies and commercial customers in various industries. The company has received funding from several venture capital firms, including Riverside Partners, Chart National, and Blu Venture Investors.

In 2021, BigBear.ai announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to merge with GigCapital4, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), in a deal that valued the combined company at $1.57 billion. The merger was completed in August 2021, and the combined company is now publicly traded on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol “BBAI” as “BigBear.ai”.

This debt-free company has a market cap of $458 million.

T STAMP

T Stamp Inc. (IDAI) is an identity authentication software company that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to develop solutions for government, enterprise partners, and peer-to-peer markets in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Malta.

T Stamp’s AI-powered solutions leverage biometric science, cryptography, and data mining to deliver identity and trust predictions, protect sensitive user information, and extend the reach of digital services through global accessibility. The company’s solutions include converting biometric and other identifying data into an Irreversibly Transformed Identity Token that serves as a secure tokenized identity. T Stamp also offers solutions for privacy and data protection, document validation, identity verification, geolocation, duplicate detection, and biometric capture.

T Stamp’s solutions serve a variety of industries, including banking/fintech, humanitarian and development services, KYC/AML compliance, government and law enforcement, P2P transactions, social media, and sharing economy, and real estate, travel, and healthcare. The company was incorporated in 2016 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

Overall, T Stamp’s mission is to provide secure and scalable identity authentication solutions that leverage AI and advanced technologies to protect user privacy and combat identity fraud.

This is a microcap stock with an extremely low market cap of $18 million, and should therefore be considered extremely speculative.

MARPAI

Marpai, Inc. (MRAI) is a software company that specializes in developing and deploying artificial intelligence (AI) systems for the enterprise market. The company was founded in 2016 by a team of experienced entrepreneurs and AI researchers, including CEO and Co-founder Mark Sears.

Marpai’s platform, called “Cortex,” is designed to help businesses leverage AI to automate processes, extract insights from data, and improve decision-making. Cortex uses advanced machine learning algorithms to analyze large amounts of data and provide actionable insights to users.

The company has received funding from prominent venture capital firms, including Bain Capital Ventures, Crosslink Capital, and SVB Capital, among others. In May 2021, Marpai announced that it had raised $30 million in a Series A funding round led by M12, Microsoft’s venture fund, with participation from other investors.

Marpai has a range of customers across different industries, including finance, healthcare, and retail. The company’s solutions are used for a variety of applications, such as fraud detection, customer service automation, and supply chain optimization.

Overall, Marpai’s mission is to democratize AI and make it more accessible to businesses of all sizes, by providing a scalable and user-friendly platform for deploying AI solutions.

The stock is debt-free and quarterly revenue growth year-over-year was 28.8%. This is another microcap stock with an extremely low market cap of $40 million, and should therefore also be considered extremely speculative.

AI SUMMARY

According to Fortune Business Insights, “The Artificial Intelligence market is projected to grow from $387.45 billion in 2022 to $1394.30 billion by 2029, at a CAGR of 20.1%.”

Just remember, that there are many ups and downs in new industries, and all the pure play stocks in this list should be considered speculative. Remember, no recommendations are expressed or implied.

If you want to learn more about artificial intelligence, you should get the book Artificial Intelligence: What AI Is and How You Can Use It to Make Your Life Easier: A Guide to AI for Beginners, available in both paperback and Kindle.

Disclosure: Author didn’t own any of the above at the time the article was written, although may be making purchases in the near future. This article contains Amazon affiliate links whereby I would receive a small commission on any sale through those links at no additional cost to you.

The Future of Artificial Intelligence: Can You Invest In It Now?

by Fred Fuld III

Artificial intelligence, also known as AI, is intelligence demonstrated by machines, as opposed to the natural intelligence displayed by humans.
AI applications include advanced web search engines, recommendation systems, speech recognition, self-driving cars, and much more. Now AI is involved in the areas of writing, both fiction and non-fiction, and graphics.

This Woman Does Not Exist

First, let’s start out with art. The woman that you see above was created with artificial intelligence (and a little input from me). This person does not exist in real life.

I don’t consider myself an artist, but with the help of a website called ArtBreeder.com, I was able to adjust such things as the ethnicity, eye color, hair color, happiness, age, and many other features.

I could have even added eyeglasses, different earrings, makeup, and various aspects of the picture itself, such as color hues, brightness, and sharpness.

And that is only the beginning. I could have even merged her image with another image.

The best part is that you can try it out for free.

Let me give you one more example. I took the image of Benjamin Franklin, from the $100 bill, and made him younger with some facial hair.

Notice the difference? Incredible technology. You should give it a try.

Who Wrote This?

Now I’m going to give you one more example of AI, this time in the form of writing. You can actually use AI to write non-fiction articles and even fiction.

Check out the following in italics. It is an article that I had a website called ShortlyAI.com write, that based on a starting informative sentence, will write a passage or article for you.

Read it and see if you think a software program could have written this.

It is amazing what artificial intelligence can do now. Websites created by researchers have been able to write text and create pictures that seem like a person wrote them. This is the future of AI and it is amazing what we can learn in this new point in history.

Artificial intelligence can perform amazing tasks, from writing articles, pictures, music, etc. The future of AI will bring us closer to robots taking over many jobs from humans. In the future artificial intelligence may be capable of all these things without any help from a human being.

This futuristic idea is not new and journalists have been talking about this for years. The problem with all this new technology is that it may take away certain jobs from humans and make them obsolete. So robots and computer programs could replace humans at some point in the future.

The AI industry has grown rapidly in the past few years and people are still trying to figure out how to use it correctly. The things that artificial intelligence can do today are amazing and we will look back on this time as the beginning of a new revolution.

The future of AI will also bring us to the point where AI will think for itself, not just work on specific tasks. AI is able to learn and grow and help humans with projects. AI will be able to do things by itself that we cannot even imagine at this time.

Artificial intelligence will continue to get better at more tasks, from writing articles, pictures, music, and other media.

Not bad for a computer. Obviously, it could use a little tweaking and some additional information, but it should give you a good idea of what AI can do. Give it a try.

How to Invest in AI

Unfortunately, there are not really any pure plays in the artificial intelligence arena. Most of the major companies are involved in AI in some way. These stocks include:

Alphabet Inc. (GOOG)
Apple Inc. (AAPL)
Amazon (AMZN)
Twilio Inc. (TWLO)
ServiceNow, Inc. (NOW)
NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA)
QUALCOMM Incorporated (QCOM)
International Business Machines Corporation (IBM)
Splunk Inc. (SPLK)
DocuSign, Inc. (DOCU)
CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. (CRWD)
and many others.

One of the closest pure plays is C3.ai, Inc. (AI), with the appropriate stock ticker symbol. The company is an enterprise artificial intelligence software company with customers around the world. This $4.7 billion market cap company is currently generating negative earnings. Revenues for the latest reported year rose by over 17%. The company has no long term debt. 18% of the float is short.

Another pure play is Remark Holdings (MARK), markets its AI-based products and services under the Remark AI brand in the United States; and under the KanKan brand in China. The stock has a market cap of $228 million. Revenues for the latest reported year rose by over 100%. The short percent of float is 12%.

Maybe one of these days, AI will come up with a way of beating the stock market.

Disclosure: Author owns AAPL, AMZN at the time the article was written.

Affiliate links on this page.

The Playboy Playmate Stock Picking Contest

by Fred Fuld III

Did you know that Playboy Enterprises, back when it was publicly traded as the previous entity, held stock picking contests for its Playmates (often referred to as Bunnies).

Hugh Hefner took Playboy private in May of 2011. It is now public again with the name PLBY Group (PLBY).

Back in 2006, the contest was won by Deanna Brooks, who was Playboy’s Miss May 1998. She won the Playboy Playmate Stock Picking Contest with a return on her stock portfolio of 43.43% for the year. Her return was 10% higher than the second highest contestant.

Another trait that set Deanna Brooks apart from the other contestants was that she was the oldest of the contestants. Her investments were as follows:
YAMANA GOLD (AUY) 99.39%
HAUPPAUGE DIGITAL (HAUP) 43.98%
IBM (IBM) 18.19%
PETROLEO BRASILEIRO (PBR) 44.51%
PFIZER (PFE) 11.06%

The return of 43.43% in 2006 was pretty sexy, since the Dow Jones industrials rose only 16.29%, the S&P 500 added just 13.62%, and the Nasdaq was up only 9.52% during that same year.

(Blast from the Past)

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

Stocks Going Ex Dividend in May 2018

Here is our latest update on the stock trading technique called ‘Buying Dividends,’ also commonly referred to as ‘Dividend Capture.’ This is the process 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 only in bull markets, and can work in flat or choppy markets, but you need to avoid the technique 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 yields over 2%. Here are a few examples showing the stock symbol, the ex-dividend date, the quarterly dividend amount, and annual yield.

Wells Fargo & Company (WFC)	5/3/2018	0.39
Citigroup Inc. (C)	5/4/2018	0.32
Intel Corporation (INTC)	5/4/2018	0.3
The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (CAKE)	5/9/2018	0.29
International Business Machines (IBM)	5/9/2018	1.57
GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK)	5/10/2018	0.525
Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM)	5/11/2018	0.82
Target Corporation (TGT)	5/15/2018	0.62
Amgen Inc. (AMGN)	5/16/2018	1.32
Visa Inc. (V)	5/17/2018	0.21
Aflac Incorporated (AFL)	5/22/2018	0.26
Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS)	5/30/2018	0.8
Bank of America Corporation (BAC)	5/31/2018	0.12
Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT)	5/31/2018	2

The additional ex-dividend stocks can be found here at wstnn.com. (If you have been to the website 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 HERE or WStNN.com. 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.

Warren Buffett has Been Buying Apple

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A) (BRK-B) just filed its latest shareholdings with the SEC a few days ago, and shows some interesting data. Buffett has added to three new positions and reduced holdings in some stocks.

Most importantly, his shareholdings in Apple (AAPL) increased by almost four million shares during the third quarter of this year. Could that be the cause of the significant boost in the stock price or just a great call on the part of Buffett? Or both? After all, he made a great call on General Electric (GE) by dumping the stock earlier in the year.

Warren Buffett has also been adding to his positions in Monsanto (MON) and Synchrony Financial (SYF).

Reductions were made in the shareholdings of a few stocks. Berkshire sold over $17 million shares of IBM (IBM). Plus, he sold some Charter Communications (CHTR) stock and shares in Wells Fargo (WFC).

Warren Buffett has an outstanding track record, so reviewing his buys and sells may be helpful to you and your portfolio.

Top Untaxed Foreign Earnings Stocks

The United States has one of the highest tax rates in the world for corporations. In the past, the U.S. Government might have thought that this was a great source of income for the government, yet the risk of unintended consequences has taken place.

Companies that have earnings in other countries have decided to leave those earnings there in order to avoid the U.S. taxation, creating what is called untaxed foreign earnings. If the money is brought back to the United States, it becomes taxable at 35%. Over one third of the income is a pretty big chunk of money to be removed from the corporate coffers.

So what are the unintended consequences? Companies that are forced to leave their profits overseas due to the oppressive taxation, can’t use that money to hire more Americans, can’t use it to improve machinery and plants, and can’t use it to pay out higher dividends which could benefit income investors and pension plans. It also can’t be used to buy out smaller companies. Basically, it prevents money from flooding the US economy.

The current administration has proposed a 10% tax on repatriated funds, which would be a huge benefit to many corporations, primarily in the areas of technology and health care.

So there may be a play in some of the stocks that are holding huge amounts of money in other countries. For example, Apple (AAPL) holds more money outside the U.S. than any other publicly traded company, somewhere around $200 billion (give or take $25 billion; when you’re talking about that much money, who’s counting).

Other companies with a lot of funds held overseas include:

Alphabet [Google] (GOOG)

Cisco (CSCO)

General Electric (GE)

IBM (IBM)

Intel (INTC)

Microsoft (MSFT)

Oracle (ORCL)

Pfizer (PFE)

It may be a while before the untaxed foreign earnings tax break takes place, but when it does, the benefits to the companies should be swift.

Disclosure: Author owns AAPL and MSFT

Corporate Stock Earnings Report for Week 3 of October

Looking for some interesting moves in some stocks this upcoming week? Check out the companies that will be reporting earnings this week.

If earnings exceed analysts’ expectations, the stocks can shoot up. If the numbers underperform, the stock can tank. Then again, occasionally, stocks don’t move the way you would have expected.

Anyway, many traders use earnings plays for trading strategies. Also, option traders look for high implied volatility of stocks for for option selling strategies.

Here are many of the enormous number of stocks reporting earnings this week:

Monday

BAC
CE
TACO
HAS
IBM
NFLX
UAL

Tuesday

BLK
CMA
CREE
DPZ
GS
HOG
HA
INTC
JNJ
PM
UNH

Wednesday

ABT
AXP
EBAY
GPC
HAL
MAT
MS
XLNX

Thursday

AMD
AAL
SAM
ETFC
MXIM
NUE

PYPL
SLB
TXT
VZ
WBA

Friday

HON

MCD

SAP

If you like interesting stock lists like this, be sure to check out many of the free stock lists here at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.