NEW LOW OBSERVER

Previous Year Performance Review

In our ongoing review of the NLO Dividend Watch List, we have taken the top five stocks on our list from August 5, 2016 and have checked the performance one year later. The top five companies on that list can be seen in the table below.

Little was said about the top five companies in prior year. The one actionable item from our commentary was additional purchase of Carbo Ceramic (CRR) which didn't pan out well as oil supply continue to exceed demand. Despite that, the top five companies on our list returned 7% on average. The largest gain came from small regional bank Capital City Bank (CCBG). The biggest decline occurred in Gannett (GCI).

U.S. Dividend Watch List: August 4, 2017

The Dow reached another milestone breaking above 22,000 mark and closed the week at an all-time high. As a student of Dow Theory, it would be interesting to see Dow Jones Transport achieve the same mark. Despite that, we are still a continuation of a bull market. Below are companies on our watch list which we use as a starting point for our investment research. Continue reading →

Previous Year Performance Review

In our ongoing review of the NLO Dividend Watch List, we have taken the top five stocks on our list from July 22, 2016 and have checked the performance one year later. The top five companies on that list can be seen in the table below.

The top five companies from our list one year ago gained on average 21.5%. The biggest contributor to this gain came from Tiffany & Co. (TIF) which rose 51.1%. We took a bullish bet on Tiffany last year with a call option that turned out to be a well timed speculation. You can find more detail about that transaction here.

U.S. Dividend Watch List: July 21, 2017

It's another record week for the market as both the Dow Jones Industrial and S&P 500 reached all-time high. Interestingly, we believe that market breadth may be weakening as more more companies (more than 40) are appearing on our watch list. Similar condition last year produced 7 companies on our watch list. Our team would urge caution as new positions are established and existing positions are accumulated. If one are to start accumulating, we suggest start with companies on our watch list. Continue reading →

Previous Year Performance Review

In our ongoing review of the NLO Dividend Watch List, we have taken the top five stocks on our list from July 8, 2016 and have checked the performance one year later. The top five companies on that list can be seen in the table below.

The average return of the top five companies were exceptional at 32.1%. We were somewhat bullish about financial sector due to the large number of financial companies on our list. As such, we pointed our readers to Financial Sector ETF (XLF) which rose 32% for the year. Such strategy eliminated individual share risk. However, doing so would preclude you to more lucrative gain from shares of the like of State Street (STT) and S&T BanCorp (STBA)

Other notable companies include Tiffany (TIF), Target (TGT), Brown-Forman (BF-B), and Cardinal Health (CAH). Only Tiffany managed a positive return for the year. We may be blinded by our personal bias but we believe that these names still offer great value proposition for any income investors.

U.S. Dividend Watch List: July 7, 2017

There was some volatility in the market this week. Though the market ended the week relatively flat, the VIX rose 14% for the week. We urge readers to take caution as correction could occur at any moment. Our strategy is to utilize our watch list as a starting place for research. Below, you will 47 companies on our watch list. Continue reading →

Previous Year Performance Review

In our ongoing review of the NLO Dividend Watch List, we have taken the top five stocks on our list from June 24, 2016 and have checked the performance one year later. The top five companies on that list can be seen in the table below.

The performance of the top five companies were exceptional. The best performing stock was Goldman Sachs (GS) which gained 53%. Our take on the financial sector was wrong as we specifically urged readers to hold off on this sector for several months. Shares of Goldman did not fall below $139.50.

Trailing Goldman by a fraction of percentage point is Tiffany & Co. (TIF) whose shares rose 52.8%. Share price closed the week at $91.79 and we said last year that our fair value estimate for this company is around $100. Our assessment for Tiffany have proven to be correct and profitable as we were long Tiffany at the time of writing.

The worse performer was Cardinal Health (CAH) which gained only 5.9%. We thought shares should trade closer to $85 but that was wishful thinking on our part. Despite that, the company continued to provide dividend as income to shareholders.

U.S. Dividend Watch List: June 23, 2017

It was an uneventful week for the market and we're in the waiting mode to see of the S&P can break above 2,450 mark. At the end of the week, there are 36 companies on our dividend watch list. Continue reading →