Screening process

Amateur investors have their own habits in the process of screening stocks. Though probably for most DGI'ers the monthly list of David Fish is a great starting point. You can find the list at this website: http://dripinvesting.org/tools/tools.asp. The Excel-spreadsheet lists almost every (useful) indicator for companies who've paid dividends for at least 5 years (="challengers"), 10 years (="contenders") and 25+ years ("champions"). In this post I will describe some of my thinking in regards to the most recent CCC-list of August 30th.

Stock analysis: Textainer Group Holdings

Textainer Group Holdings Limited and its subsidiaries (“Textainer”) is the world's largest lessor of intermodal containers based on fleet size. The Company began operations in 1979 and as of the most recent quarter end had more than 1.9 million containers, representing more than 2.8 million TEU, in its owned and managed fleet. Textainer leases dry freight, refrigerated, and specialized containers. Each year the company is one of the largest purchasers of new containers as well as one of the largest sellers of used containers. Textainer leases containers to approximately 400 shipping lines and other lessees and sells containers to more than 1,000 customers worldwide and provides services worldwide via a network of regional and area offices, as well as independent depots. (Source: Financial Tear Sheet TGH, as of September 7)

The Single Best Investment: Creating Wealth with Dividend Growth - Lowell Miller

Often I read books just for fun and a good time. When I'm done with the book it's placed on the bookshelf, never to be opened again. A few months later I hardly remember what any of those books were about. This is not a big deal if it's a David Baldacci or Dan Brown, but for financially related books I'd like to make a difference. In this article I’ll offer my take on the book ‘The Single Best Investment: Creating Wealth with Dividend Growth’ by Lowell Miller.

Monthly update: August 2013

The month has passed and it's my favorite time, giving an update of my dividend portflio. This month I've initiated two new positions, Unilever and Coca Cola. Generally markets have been down a bit although that's not a big problem since I am not selling shares anyway.

Unilever: the Dutch P&G

Unilever is a Anglo-Dutch company, which supplies fast moving consumer goods. The two parent companies, NV and Unilever PLC (PLC), together with their group companies, operate as the Unilever Group (Unilever). The Company’s four product areas are Personal Care, Foods, Refreshment and Home Care. They have 14 brands with sales of more than €1 billion a year. The company is quite diversified, both in their products as well as their geographical markets. It's the Dutch version of Procter & Gamble.

Investing approach - Dividend Growth Investing

There are two ways to getting paid while investing – capital gains and dividends. A stock’s capital gain is significantly impacted by what the broader market does in a given period. Of course certain stocks have more risk than others, but the price of a stock is the result of short-term supply and demand and may – at times – be illogical, chunky or erratic.

On the other hand, dividends are usually paid whether the broad market is up or down. In his book ‘The Little Book of Big Dividends’ the author Charles B. Carlson mentioned that roughly 40 percent of the stock market’s long-run total return comes from dividends. Companies like Coca Cola or Procter & Gamble are making profits every quarter and returning them to their shareholders. Should we suppose to be worried if the stock price declines on broader market news? Or possibly some “earnings miss” by analysts at banks or brokers who earn their money if people speculate with their money, instead of investing with it?

Monthly update: July 2013

It's been a busy month! Earlier I've written about my start as a Dividend Growth Investor. Since the start of the month I initiated 7 new positions. The last two additions (BBL/DE) are a little riskier than other stocks, so I want to purchase my next two block of shares in low-risk companies like KO, MCD, PG or something similar.