In this part 2, I want to share an additional perspective that my research on the growing levels of corporate debt uncovered.

The accelerated use of debt to fund the capital needs of publicly traded companies is clearly attributed to today’s unprecedented low cost of debt. Although we have all been trained and perhaps even indoctrinated into the belief that debt is bad, these are clearly unusual circumstances.

From January 31, 2020 through March 31, 2020 the market as measured by the S&P 500 fell approximately 20%. As a result, I published an article on March 26, 2020 titled “It’s A Buyers’ Market – Choose Quality If You’re Scared: 20 A-Rated, Low-Debt Blue Chips To Consider” where I implied that the market as measured by the S&P 500 had gone from being overvalued to undervalued.

In today’s uncertain investing world, I believe it is extremely important to first and foremost focus on safety and quality. Since my primary investment focus is now on dividends and dividend growth, safety to me is primarily about valuation along with dividend coverage and predictability.

This is Part 3 of this 3-part series looking at the final 10 stocks that rose in the crisis.

In part 1 of this 3 part series I provided a quick cursory look at 10 of 30 stocks that MarketWatch pointed out have done very well in spite of the coronavirus market crash. In that first group of 10, there were several names that were reasonably valued.

I have long asserted that it is a market of stocks and not a stock market. Perhaps the veracity of that statement has never been clearer than it is today. We are all aware of the devastation to the stock market in general that the shutdown instigated by the coronavirus has cost

During this horrible crisis, I feel very fortunate that “social distancing” is very practical and easy for my family and me. We are blessed to live in the country on a 20-acre estate with a private lake and a backyard that is steaming with wildlife.

When markets get as volatile as they’ve been lately, it’s extremely difficult for investors to avoid our innate “fight or flight” response. In our states of heightened emotion (fear) our logical minds try to tell us that we are witnessing an incredible buying opportunity for long-term oriented investors.

It’s stating the obvious to say that the stock markets have been in a freefall as a result of the coronavirus. However, I think it’s also important to point out that what we have recently experienced in the stock markets more resembles a flash crash than it does a correction.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is an index of 30 stocks that is often utilized as a proxy for the whole market. Since it is such a small index, I thought you all might find it interesting to see what the market looks like considering the recent volatility.

For those investors interested in investing for an increasing dividend income stream, the Dividend Aristocrats represent the crème de la crème. Standard & Poor’s produces this premier list of blue-chip dividend growth stocks that have increased their dividends for 25 consecutive years.

For some time now I have been pointing out that the stock market as measured by the S&P 500 has become moderately overvalued. However, even more to the point, I still believe that to be true even after the price corrections we have experienced recently as a result of the coronavirus.

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer (PFE) is a company in transition that will soon be smaller but hopefully more profitable. Since many of their established drugs are coming off patent, the company is divesting its older drug platform under the Upjohn brand and selling it to Mylan a leading generic pharmaceutical company. Pfizer believes that this will position them for more profitable growth going forward.

The bottom line to me is that Tesla is certainly a very expensive stock today. On the other hand, there is very interesting future growth expectations that could make long-term shareholders a lot of money.

Legendary investor and mentor to many investing greats Benjamin Graham once aptly stated that: “investing is most intelligent when it is most businesslike.” Personally, I agree which is why I refer to what I personally adhere to and practice with my own investing as “business perspective investing.”

Ever since I first entered the investment industry circa 1970, I have been confronted with a constant and persistent admonition about the next pending market crash. In those early days I contributed much of the negativity toward stocks to a lingering overhang from the Great Depression...

The top 3 Medical DistributorsAmerisourceBergen (ABC), Cardinal Health (CAH) and McKesson Corp. (MCK) dominate the distribution of pharmaceuticals and are estimated to represent 90% to 95% of the market. Moreover, each are dividend growth stocks, and as a specific subsector group all appear significantly undervalued.

The idea that interest rates directly affect stock prices is a commonly held belief among many investors. There are some that even go as far as to say that the only reason the stock market is up is because interest rates have been artificially kept low by the Fed.

Almost by definition, value investing rarely performs well in the short run. This is especially true when you are in a strong bull market like we’ve been in since March 2009. Most companies as represented by the S&P 500 are currently trading at fundamental multiples that are significantly above historical norms.

With this article I am going to present several ways that investors, especially retired investors, can beat the market without fail. However, what I will be presenting may not be what you are expecting, particularly if you have a narrow notion of what beating the market means.

The Key to Avoiding Obvious Mistakes Understanding how to value a business is the key to avoiding making obvious mistakes when purchasing or selling common stocks. When you know what your investment is worth, the market cannot take advantage of your gullibility.

In part 2 of this series I focused on how to value slow and moderately growing businesses. In this article, Part 3, I will shift my focus on how to value faster growing companies (growth stocks).

The venerable investor Warren Buffett has a real knack of putting complex concepts and ideas into simple and easily understood terms. In my opinion, his quote, “Price is what you pay. Value is what you get” is one of the more profound and important statements he has ever uttered.

As a seasoned and grizzled veteran of the financial services industry for now going on 50 years, the most commonly asked questions I have received, and still do to this day, are: when to buy and when to sell a stock?

Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) is one of the highest quality large-cap technology companies in the world. After being overvalued for most of 2019, this high-quality once pure growth stock, now dividend growth stock, has come into fair value.

Since the beginning of April 2009, the Standard & Poor’s 500 (the stock market) has enjoyed one of the longest bull markets on record. As a result, I am starting to hear from a lot of investors that they are becoming worried that this great bull market must soon come to an end.

This article is offered as part of our ongoing FAST Graphs YouTube request series. Although time does not allow me to cover every stock that is requested, I do try to provide analyze out loud videos on stocks that either are currently in the news, or that offer special lessons on valuation.

14 years ago the Redstone family spun out Viacom (VIA) from CBS Corp (CBS). However, the companies have decided to once again merge into what they hope will become a dominant entertainment company. Given that the entertainment market is extremely competitive and quite risky, future visibility is very muddy in my humble opinion.

The primary purpose of this article on the importance of forecasting the future results of a business is offered to illustrate the conceptual validity of forecasting earnings (and every other metric) as the key to long-term investor success.

As investors, we can learn a great deal from the past about the businesses we are contemplating investing in. However, as investors, we must also recognize that we can only truly invest in the future.

I would like to credit my good friend Jeff Miller for providing the inspiration for this article. In his recent article titled “Weighing The Week Ahead: Falling Confidence A Possible Threat To Markets” he suggested a must read article by Safal Niveshak titled “Why Value Investing Works.”

I am a value investor, and all my investments are made with a long-term objective in mind. Consequently, I am a believer that time in the market is often what matters most. However, I will qualify that remark by saying that you also make your money on the buy side.

My personal investing strategy is based on the simple logic and reality that great businesses are by definition, better than average. Therefore, to my way of thinking, it logically follows that the best investment returns would be achieved by investing in the best businesses that you could identify.

This FAST Graphs analyze out loud video will cover a mid-cap dividend growth stock that many may not be familiar with. However, I believe this particular dividend growth stock offers an intriguing opportunity of high current yield, above-average growth yield and enticing capital appreciation potential based on its low valuation.

To me, fair value, as it relates to common stock investments, is manifest when the current earnings yield provided by the company’s profits compensates me for the risk I am taking by providing both a realistic and acceptable return on my invested capital.

When it comes to writing about investing in common stocks, my favorite theme typically revolves around valuation. In fact, I once had a reader dub me “Mr. Valuation.” Which, I might add was very flattering to me.

An article on when to sell a stock would not be complete without some discussion about what I consider to be the worst reason to sell a stock. Ironically, this reason may be the one that is most commonly implemented by investors.

Before I get too deep into this article, I want to start out by stating that Microsoft (MSFT) has long been one of my favorite companies. Many years ago, I invested in Microsoft as a pure growth stock and sold it in 2000 when it became dangerous overvalued after making a very healthy long-term profit.

The most common complaint that I have heard from investors over my 49+ years in the financial services industry is as follows: “Everyone wants to tell me what to buy and when, but no one ever tells me when to sell.”

The key to success is to find and implement the strategy that best fits your own unique goals, objectives, needs, and most importantly – risk tolerances.

This article is a refresh and an update of an article I originally posted in 2015. However, the principles I am presenting are timeless and worthy of being revisited.

One of the great benefits for subscribing to The Dividend Kings service are the carefully-selected portfolios presented in our portfolio tracker. However, I want to caution the subscriber that these portfolios should not be looked at as simply cut-and-paste investment options.

This article is a refresh and an update of an article I originally posted in 2015. However, the principles I am presenting are timeless and worthy of being revisited. Moreover, I have updated the supporting examples to more precisely reflect our current market environment.

One of my greatest pet peeves as a long-time investment professional is the industries’ notion that stocks can be generally categorized into only two styles commonly referred to as growth investing or value investing.

I have held AbbVie (ABBV) since it was originally spun off from Abbott Labs. Moreover, I have been aggressively adding to my position for clients needing current income and dividend growth.

I am a firm believer and ardent supporter of conducting comprehensive research and due diligence on any company (stock) you might consider investing in. However, I have also experienced the reality that far too many investors make their decisions based on opinions, emotions or vague ideas about a company...

In his Berkshire Hathaway 1994 annual report Warren Buffett said ignore political and economic forecasts. I considered this one of the more profound pieces of investment advice and wisdom that I ever came across.

My personal anecdotal experience suggests that many investors operate under the fallacy: “my mind’s made up – don’t confuse me with the facts.” This behavior often results from only reading the headlines while skimming over the in-depth analysis that is truly needed to make a sound or prudent investing decision.

Avon’s Historical Operating Results and Price Action Since 2008 Avon’s earnings have continuously eroded and its stock price has followed. Moreover, after its dividend grew for many years, the company cut it by 18 ½% for 2012, slashed it an additional 68% in 2013 and then eliminated their dividend altogether in 2016.