The Dividend Guy Blog

Unconventional Lifestyle and Dividend Growth Strategy

Stock Selection

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Dividend Stocks

Dividend Growth, Stock Selection

“After a meal there's nothing like a good cigar” - Blondie from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - Wikiquote Ok, so that quote has nothing to do with investing, but you can just picture Eastwood saying it.  Like everything in life, there are good things, bad things, and ugly things.  The same can be said about dividend investing and dividend in general.  Here is how dividends break down when I thought of them as the good, the bad, and the ugly.[ad#tdg-embedded] The Good: Dividends …

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A Dividend Yield Screen with High Growth

Dividend Growth, Stock Analysis, Stock Selection

I like to use my copy of the Stock Investor Pro from AAII to identify potential dividend investments. Recently I was using the software to screen for dividend stocks with a relatively high yield while providing strong growth at the same time. This can often be an investment-oxymoron as higher dividend stocks tend not to be the ones providing the stellar growth that can provide nice stock-price returns. That being said, here is a screen I recently put together that has a good dividend yield, …

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My 5 Steps to Choosing the Right ETF

Dividend Growth, Portfolio Building, Stock Selection

As an investor who uses index funds as the core of my portfolio (supplemented with dividend growth stocks), I came to the realization a long time ago that not all ETFs are created equal and some were more appropriate for my portfolios than others were. Although originally I never went into the process of selecting ETFs with a series of steps, I have realized upon reflection that I do actually have a process! Each time I look to fulfill my asset allocation requirements, I use these steps to …

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Stock Screens are not Buy Screens

Stock Selection

Unless you are a purely mechanical investor, a la the Magic Formula, then stock screens should not be used as buy screens. Recently I was sent an email by an individual who asked what screen I used to buy my stocks. With his permission, here is the main part of that email: ...As a new investor I am looking for an easy way to select stocks. I was looking at some screens at the MSN site and noticed a power search called "Highest-Yielding S&P 500 Stocks". This stocks list undervalued …

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Returns of Growth Versus Value Stocks

Asset Allocation, Stock Selection

In a recent post I did on my updated asset allocation, I showed that I added some value asset targets. I currently have both growth and value stocks in my dividend portfolio, however I felt that I needed to have a target that would provide the best diversification and something that I could track. In particular, I wanted to ensure I had a value target because value has been a very strong performer in the equity markets since very early days. In a report prepared by Al Frank Asset …

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Dual Class Shares Suck

Stock Selection

If you hold any companies that have a dual-class share structure, prepare yourself for mediocracy. In the Winter 2007 edition of the Canadian Investment Review, which is periodical aimed at fund managers and pension plan administrators, they highlight just how bad these stocks typically performs. Before I get into the specifics, let's talk about what a dual-class share is. Dual-class shares mean simply that a company has two versions of its stock available to the market. One is typically …

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