Watch List Performance Review
In our ongoing review of the NLO Dividend Watch List, we have taken the top five stocks on our list from January 11, 2013 (found here) and have checked their performance one year later. The top five companies on that list can be seen in the table below.
| Symbol | Name | 2013 Price | 2014 Price | % change |
| MSFT | Microsoft Corporation | 26.83 | 36.04 | 34.3% |
| NJR | New Jersey Resources Corp. | 39.53 | 45.97 | 16.3% |
| WEYS | Weyco Group | 22.76 | 28.63 | 25.8% |
| FDS | FactSet Research Systems | 88.87 | 106.81 | 20.2% |
| ED | Consolidated Edison | 55.91 | 54.33 | -2.8% |
| Average | 18.8% | |||
| DJI | Dow Jones Industrial | 13,488.40 | 16,437.05 | 21.9% |
| SPX | S&P 500 | 1,472.05 | 1,842.37 | 25.2% |
Our top five performed well considering the lagging utility sector. However, we did anticipate that this would occur since rates started to rise last year with the following commentary:
"Utility companies have been the lagging industry and this week is no exception. Two companies remained in the top five, New Jersey Resources (NJR) and Consolidated Edison (ED). Both companies yield exceed 4% but payout ratio is somewhat elevated at more than 60%. A surge in interest rates could significantly affect the short-term prospects of companies in the utility sector."
Microsoft (MSFT) performed as anticipated when we gave the following analysis:
"Technically, MSFT has been range bound between $26.50 to $27.50 since November. The bottoming process has begun in our view and as noted in the Nasdaq watch list commentary, we recommend buying in two stages."
What we said about Microsoft (MSFT) turned out to be fair analysis as the stock outperformed the market by a decent margin.
U.S. Dividend Watch List: January 10, 2014
Below are the 27 companies on our U.S. Dividend Watch List that are on our radar.
