Masters Series: Whether You Invest $1,000 or $10 Million, Don't Ignore This
Editor's note: Yesterday, we showed you the first of five important financial clues to look for when finding "slam dunk" investments.
These are the kinds of investments that can make you a fortune with little risk… the kinds of stocks you can pass on to your children or grandchildren.
In today's edition of our weekend Masters Series – previously published in the September 25, 2013 issue of our free e-letter DailyWealth – Extreme Value editor Dan Ferris details the second clue to finding the world's greatest investment opportunities: shareholder rewards.
As he shows, there are two ways companies reward shareholders… one of which offers a huge tax "loophole"…
Whether You Invest $1,000 or $10 Million, Don't Ignore This
By Dan Ferris, editor, Extreme Value
By Dan Ferris, editor, Extreme Value
Great businesses "pay back" their investors.
Yesterday, I showed you the first "clue" that indicates you've found a great investment: huge amounts of free cash flow.
The thing is, not all businesses use their cash to reward shareholders... to pay their shareholders back. But the great ones do. That's the second "clue."
Great companies reward their shareholders in two ways. The first strategy is pretty straightforward. But the second strategy... Most folks don't understand how it works.
Today, I'll cover both strategies. And I'll show you how the second strategy offers a huge tax "loophole."
Let's get started...
The first way a great business rewards its shareholders is by paying cash dividends.
Cash dividends are usually paid quarterly, and they're good for two main reasons.
First, they provide you with a regular cash return on your investment. One study shows that investors earned 394% on stocks from 1991 to 2010, and that 43% of that return came from dividends.
Forty-three percent is a huge chunk of return. If you're investing in stocks, you simply can't afford to ignore dividends.
Really great dividend-paying companies raise their dividends every year for many years in a row, often for decades.
For example, Extreme Value readers have seen gains of more than 160% on Automatic Data Processing (ADP), which has raised its dividend every year for 37 years in a row.
With some good dividend-paying stocks, you'll make more on the dividends than you will on the share-price appreciation.
Extreme Value readers made more than 130% on Latin American Export Bank, for instance... with roughly 60% of that return coming from dividends.
What's interesting is, companies that begin paying dividends after not paying them often perform just as well as companies that raise their dividends.
A study by Ned Davis Research shows that stocks in the S&P 500 that either raised or initiated dividends from 1972 to 2004 outperformed all other stocks in the S&P 500.
The worst performers were companies that cut their dividends – or never paid them in the first place.
Bottom-line: Dividend-paying stocks are the best place to put a large chunk of your stock-market money.
Now... the second way companies reward shareholders is by buying back their own stock.
Why is this good for you? Well, when a company reduces its share count, it's like cutting a pie into four slices instead of eight slices. You're getting a much bigger piece of pie. Likewise, as the company's share count falls, each remaining share is worth more.
For example, tobacco giant Philip Morris (PM) is up 107% since I recommended it in Extreme Value in 2008. It has lowered its share count by 23% since then.
And here's another reason why share buybacks are good...
You have to pay taxes on cash dividends... but you DON'T PAY TAXES when a company is using cash to buy back shares... even though a share repurchase makes your shares more valuable...
In other words, a share repurchase is like a tax-deferred, non-cash dividend that you receive for as long as you hold your shares.
So to sum up:
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Look for companies that reward shareholders. Shareholders are rewarded in two ways: dividends and share buybacks. |
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Look for companies that raise their dividends every year. |
| • | Look for companies that buy back shares and reduce their share counts. |
Good investing,
Dan Ferris
Editor's note: Regardless of how much cash a business generates or how much it rewards its shareholders, there's one number you need to check before you know you've got a "sleep at night" investment. This number led Dan to one of the most hated, highest-upside stocks in his Extreme Value portfolio. It's cash-rich, treats shareholders well, and boasts a capable, honest management team. But investors are terrified of it… for now. See why you should get in immediately – before the market catches on – here.