Morning News: December 6, 2013
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on December 6th, 2013 at 7:02 am

Germany’s Central Bank Lifts Growth Forecast

Autobahn Thrills to Cost Foreigners Under German Plan

Australia PM Spurns Qantas Plea For Help As Carrier Cut To Junk Status

Lively Debate on the Influence of Proxy Advisory Firms

Brent Seen Over $100 for Fourth Year as OPEC Bets on Demand

US Talks to Ease Spending Cuts and Avert Shutdown Are In a Critical Stage

Economists React: ‘No Momentum’ in GDP Report

In the Murky World of Bitcoin, Fraud Is Quicker Than the Law

Shell Halts $20 Billion Louisiana Gas-to-Liquids Project

Chevron’s $6.4 Billion China Project Pushed Back Again

Total to Buy Stake in InterOil Assets for Up to $3.6 Billion

Glassdoor, a Jobs Website, Raises $50 Million

Twitter Ups Ad Relevancy with Tailored Audiences

John Hempton: Roddy Boyd and Degree of Difficulty

Jeff Carter: Computer Trading Documentary

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Cognizant Moving to Texas
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on December 5th, 2013 at 11:59 pm

Gasp! Good Economic News
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on December 5th, 2013 at 11:10 am

The markets were surprised this morning by some welcomed positive economic news. First, the government revised Q3 GDP growth from 2.8% to 3.6%. That would be the fifth-best quarter for economic growth in the last 30 quarters.

Wall Street had been expecting a higher revision but only to 3.1%. Today’s report was a big surprise. The big change was due to upward revisions in inventory.

The other good economic news was today’s initial claims report. The number of Americans filing first time jobless claims was the second lowest in the last six-and-a-half years.

Morning News: December 5, 2013
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on December 5th, 2013 at 6:32 am

BOE Seeking Exemption From European Bank Stress Tests in 2014

China Bans Financial Companies From Bitcoin Transactions

Japan Approves $182 Billion Economic Package, Doubts Remain

Moody’s Raises Spain Rating Outlook to Stable

New Forecasts May Put Policy Pressure on ECB

Treasury Chief to Declare Big Gains in Financial Reform

Trade Gap in U.S. Shrank in October on Record Exports

Growth Signs Pick Up Ahead of Key Fed Meeting

3 Banks Failed to Meet Some Relief Tests

Pump Up in Demand Fuels Gasoline

Carl Icahn Softens Stance on Apple’s Cash

BNP Paribas to Buy Stake in Rabobank

J.C. Penney Falls as November Sales Gain Misses Expectations

Cullen Roche: What Can We Learn From 25%+ Years?

Joshua Brown: Alan Greenspan: Bitcoin is a Bubble and Gold is Weak

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Stryker Raises Dividend by 15.1%
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on December 4th, 2013 at 2:57 pm

I love how Stryker ($SYK) consistently churns out a profit and dividend increases. Today the company announced that they’re raising their quarterly dividend by 15.1%. The payout rises from 26.5 cents to 30.5 cents per share.

“Given our strong balance sheet and cash flow generation, we continue to expand our dividend, which has grown 26% on a compound annual basis since 2008,” said Kevin A. Lobo, President and Chief Executive Officer of Stryker. “We remain committed to pursuing acquisitions for growth while also returning capital to shareholders at meaningful levels through dividends and share buybacks.”

Stryker’s dividend has doubled in just four years. Based on yesterday’s close, SYK yields 1.65%. The new dividend is payable on January 31 to shareholders of record on December 31.

Morning News: December 4, 2013
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on December 4th, 2013 at 7:05 am

E.U. Hits 8 Banks with 1.7 Billion Euros in Fines for Rate Rigging

OECD Warns Riksbank Against Obsessing Over Record Debt

Draghi Says Europe No Japan as Crisis Spurs Price Cuts

Ireland Recoups Bank of Ireland Bailout After Preferred Sale

Recovery Pauses in November, Euro Zone Divergence Deepens

Wall Street Sweats Out Volcker Rule With 18% of Revenue in Play

Out of the Doldrums, Automakers Post Strong U.S. Sales

Cyber Monday Set Record as Shoppers Sought Online Bargains

Sony Corp May Buy Renesas Electronics Corp Plant to Boost Sensor Production

IDC Lowers Tablet Shipment Forecast, Citing Effect of Bigger Phones

StanChart Set to End 10-Year Boom With 2013 Profit Drop

Diners Not Biting on KFC’s China Revival Campaign

Krispy Kreme Stock May Melt Further

Roger Nusbaum: Worker to Beneficiary Ratio—Not Good

John Hempton: Roddy Boyd and Degree of Difficulty

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Stepan Company: 46 Straight Annual Dividend Increases
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on December 3rd, 2013 at 11:21 am

Ever hear of Stepan Company ($SCL)? Don’t worry, you’re not alone.

It’s actually a good-sized outfit; $1.4 billion in market cap and a member of the S&P 600.

Here’s a description from Hoover’s:

Company secrets aside, makers of laundry detergents, shampoos, toothpaste, and other personal care products can come clean with Stepan Company. Surfactants, the company’s largest sector by far, are chemicals most commonly used as cleaning agents used in consumer products like detergents, toothpastes, and cosmetics. Stepan’s surfactants are also used in commercial and industrial applications ranging from emulsifiers for agricultural insecticides to agents used in oil recovery. The company also makes phthalic anhydride (an acid used in making polyester resins) and other polymers, as well as specialty chemicals for food and pharmaceutical uses.

Sexy, no? Phthalic anhydride!

The stock is almost completely ignored by Wall Street. Just two analysts follow it. Outside of its quarterly earnings report, Stepan generates almost no news.

Each day, about one-quarter of one percent of Stepan’s shares are traded. Facebook’s volume is about 5% of its float.

My point is that Stepan is about as dull as dirt, and that’s why I’m a fan (though I’m not saying I’m recommending the stock).

But what I really like about Stepan happened two months ago when the company raised its quarterly dividend from 16 to 17 cents per share. This marks the 46th year in a row that Stepan has increased its quarterly dividend. On the company’s website, they list all the dividend increases going back to 1967. In the last 40 years, the dividend has grown by more than 40 fold.

I love these boring companies that everyone else overlooks.

Dividends Continue to Grow
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on December 3rd, 2013 at 10:43 am

We still have a few weeks left this year, but Howard Silverblatt at S&P tells me that dividends for the S&P 500 are on pace to grow by another 3% this quarter.

That may sound low but keep in mind that it’s on top of the huge tax-related payouts from last year’s Q4. The truth is that dividend growth has been and continues to be quite strong. Since 2010, dividends are up 53%.

The S&P 500 looks to pay out $34.72 in dividends this year. That’s up 11% from last year. It also works out to a yield of 2.43% based on the S&P 500’s level at the start of the year.

Here’s a look at the S&P 500 (blue line, left scale) and its dividends (red line, right scale). I’ve scaled the lines at a ratio of 50-to-1, so whenever the lines cross, the dividend yield is exactly 2%.

So while it’s true that the stock market has rallied, it’s largely kept pace with dividends. In fact, the dividend yield has been close to 2% for more than a decade (except for during the worst period of the bear market).

But the chart shows the dramatic difference between today’s market and the stock bubble from 14 years ago. Back then, stocks were far, far ahead of dividends.

Morning News: December 3, 2013
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on December 3rd, 2013 at 6:56 am

Britain’s Christmas Spending Binge Leaves U.S. Trailing

Global Shares Jittery Over U.S. Stimulus, BOJ Talk Crops Yen

Japan Preparing $53 Billion Economic Stimulus Package This Week

Yuan Passes Euro as Second-Most Used Trade-Finance Currency

Obamacare’s New Goal: Stay Alive Until 2015

US Federal Reserve Approves JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs Capital Plans

Supreme Court Refuses Challenge By Online Retailers To N.Y. Tax Law

Cyber Monday Clicking With More Shoppers

Why Drone Delivery Will Be A Nightmare for Law Enforcement

Google Joins a Heavyweight Competition in Cloud Computing

Apple Buys Startup Topsy; Gets Rich Twitter Data

Rio Tinto Curbs Spending in Bid to Reduce Debt

Consumer Watchdog to Monitor Student Loan Servicers

Roger Nusbaum: Cliff Asness’ Ten Peeves

John Hempton: The Great Salad Oil Swindle

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Dow Nears All-Time Inflation-Adjusted High
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on December 2nd, 2013 at 4:01 pm

After nearly 14 years, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is nearing an all-time high adjusted for inflation. The thing is, it’s hard to know exactly when and where the magic mark is. The catch is that we don’t get the inflation data until about two weeks into the new month.

My best estimate says that the inflation-adjusted high works out to about 16,280 right now.