Robert Ciura

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• These Stocks Are Giving Investors Big Pay Raises

  By Robert Ciura - May 25, 2013 | Tickers: AWR, BRS, NOV

  Income investors, rejoice: dividend payouts continue to get bigger for many of America’s best businesses. Investors who prefer to receive income from their stocks take those quarterly checks seriously, and for good reason. History has shown that some of the market’s best-performing stocks over long periods of time are dividend payers.

  Even better are those stocks whose businesses are so rock-solid that they don’t just pay dividends more »

• Can Retailers Really Blame the Weather?

  By Robert Ciura - May 24, 2013 | Tickers: HD, LOW, TGT

  On May 22, investors got a look at the sales reports for two of America’s biggest and most well-known retailers. Target (NYSE: TGT) and Lowe’s (NYSE: LOW) have seen weakness in sales in recent months and provided reports that didn’t exactly soothe the market’s fears.

  Target’s sales figures were received particularly poorly, and the stock got smacked nearly 5% lower on the day of its more »

• These Stocks Belong in Your Shopping Cart

  By Robert Ciura - May 24, 2013 | Tickers: BGS, CAG, GIS

  One particularly wise piece of investing advice is to buy what you know. In other words, investors who don’t have either the time or the patience to devote hours and hours of their valuable time to portfolio management, can do themselves a huge favor by focusing on stocks they already know a lot about.

  To that end, it’s extremely likely that you’ve come across these companies and more »

• Are Consumer Staples Stocks Still Undervalued?

  By Robert Ciura - May 24, 2013 | Tickers: CL, KMB, CLX

  Income investors already know the merits of investing in companies like The Clorox Company (NYSE: CLX), but it bears repeating: specifically, reliable profit growth and annual dividend increases. Investors who love receiving income from their stocks take those quarterly checks very seriously.

  Indeed, Clorox recently did what its investors probably take for granted. The company recently raised its dividend by 11%, marking the 36^th consecutive year of a dividend more »

• Searching for Attractively Valued Real Estate Investment Trusts

  By Robert Ciura - May 23, 2013 | Tickers: DLR, HCN, O

  It’s a frustrating time to be an income investor. The combination of historically low interest rates and rising equity markets has brought yields down significantly in recent months.

  One asset class that has received extra attention over the past couple years, because of their tendency to provide solid income above and beyond the yield available on the S&P 500, is real estate investment trusts (REITs). These companies invest more »

• What's The State of the Major Automakers?

  By Robert Ciura - May 23, 2013 | Tickers: F, GM, TM

  The major publicly-traded automakers in the United States, Ford (NYSE: F) and General Motors (NYSE: GM), continue to present investors with a mixed-bag of operational results. On the one hand, the global economic recovery remains steady in most markets. Specifically, North American sales are recovering strongly. On the other hand, continued problems in Europe keep a lid on Ford’s and GM’s valuations.

  Japanese auto manufacturer Toyota (NYSE: TMmore »)

• Dollar Stores Continue to Dominate

  By Robert Ciura - May 23, 2013 | Tickers: DG, DLTR, FDO

  Dollar stores in the United States have seen great success since the recession hit in 2008. Many consumers have scaled down their spending as a result of painfully high unemployment and stagnant wages.

  Furthermore, now that the payroll tax hike and ongoing sequester are taking deeper bites out of the American consumer, it’s appearing more and more likely that dollar stores in the United States may be taking meaningful more »

• Canadian Banks Have a Lot to Offer Investors

  By Robert Ciura - May 22, 2013 | Tickers: BMO, CM, RY, BNS

  Investing in big banks is a conversation usually confined to the biggest bulge-bracket banks in the United States. The resurgence of our nation’s financial institutions since the dark days of the recent financial crisis has been well-documented throughout the media. Indeed, there are many American banks that have shown renewed signs of life as the economy in the United States continues its gradual recovery and consumer lending levels begin more »

• Regional Banks Continue to Perform Well

  By Robert Ciura - May 22, 2013 | Tickers: FITB, KEY, NYCB

  Regional banks, those that cater to a particular section of the nation as opposed to their bulge-bracket peers, might fly under the radar of investors interested in buying bank stocks. While nearly all the coverage of bank stocks from the financial media pertains to the banking giants of the United States, investors would be wise to dig deeper into smaller regional banks that are performing well and aren’t under more »

• Looking for High Dividend Growth Stocks? Head North

  By Robert Ciura - May 22, 2013 | Tickers: KGC, POT, SU

  Investors tend to pigeon-hole themselves, with a tendency to focus exclusively on stocks domiciled in the United States. Some may be wary of diversifying their equity holdings internationally, due to a slew of geopolitical headline risks that seem to resurface every few months or so.

  Fortunately for investors, you don’t need to buy stocks from across the world that you’ve never heard of, nor do you need to more »

• Is There a Winner of the Toy Wars?

  By Robert Ciura - May 22, 2013 | Tickers: HAS, MAT

  The U.S. toy market is dominated by two companies: Hasbro (NASDAQ: HAS) and Mattel (NASDAQ: MAT). It’s extremely likely that you’ve come across one or more of the toys and games these two companies produce and market. Hasbro has a product portfolio that most consumers would easily recognize: games including Monopoly and Scrabble, and toy brands including Nerf and G.I. Joe. Meanwhile, Mattel’s stable of more »

• These Two Industry Leaders Are Fully Valued

  By Robert Ciura - May 22, 2013 | Tickers: ADP, PAYX

  The two major payroll processing companies in the United States, Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ: ADP) and Paychex (NASDAQ: PAYX) are darlings of the income investor community. Both companies provide a critical service that nearly all companies need, and they pay their investors solid dividend yields that exceed the yield on the broader market.

  While ADP and Paychex provide new investors with dividend yields of 2.4% and 3.4%, respectively more »

• Not All Oil Dividends Are Created Equal

  By Robert Ciura - May 20, 2013 | Tickers: CVX, COP, XOM, RDS-B

  There are many publicly traded, mega-cap energy stocks for investors to choose from. We’ve all likely encountered each of these companies in our daily lives and might assume they’re one and the same.

  However, while the integrated oil majors might seem like nearly identical companies with extremely similar businesses, their shareholder practices are quite different. As a result, investors need to determine exactly what they value most from more »

• Will These Theme Parks Take Investors on a Wild Ride?

  By Robert Ciura - May 20, 2013 | Tickers: FUN, SIX |

  Income investors have a tough job, which is the increasingly difficult search for yield. Markets keep breaching new highs, and it seems that the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 Index are up a percent or more every single day.

  When it comes to producing yield from your equity investments, it’s easy to default to the usual suspects: utilities, consumer staples, or telecom stocks. While those are more »

• Cisco Flexes its Muscles

  By Robert Ciura - May 20, 2013 | Tickers: CSCO, HPQ, INTC

  Technology giant Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO), maker of networking switches and other Internet protocol devices, is a stock on the comeback trail. After spending much of the past few years wallowing in the mid-teens, due to recurring disappointing earnings results, the company’s shares are on the upswing after a slew of corporate developments showing the company has gotten its groove back.

  Chief Executive John Chambers certainly took advantage of more »

• Why Apple Is Not Microsoft

  By Robert Ciura - May 18, 2013 | Tickers: AAPL, MSFT

  At this point, Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) stock story is well-known to many investors. After becoming the world’s most valuable company and breaking through $700 per share, Apple reached legendary status and sell-side analysts climbed over each other in a strange game of who-could-produce-the-highest-price-target.

  Fast forward to today, and the situation seems completely reversed. Nobody seems to want to own Apple anymore, as calls for the company’s imminent more »

• Consider These Under the Radar Tech Stocks

  By Robert Ciura - May 18, 2013 | Tickers: MXIM, MCHP, MOLX

  Income investors are in a tough spot. Because of the Federal Reserve’s ongoing quantitative easing program, interest rates are at historic lows. As a result, traditional fixed income products such as bank certificates of deposit or government bonds pay little interest. Even riskier fixed income assets, such as corporate bonds, have rallied considerably and now provide yields that are nothing to write home about.

  Consequently, many income investors have more »

• These Diversified Industrials Are Dividend Legends

  By Robert Ciura - May 17, 2013 | Tickers: DOV, ITW, SWK

  Companies within the industrial sector don’t have exciting businesses. They aren’t likely to be featured in the financial media as the next hot sector or major growth story. At the same time, they provide necessary functions to our society. They manufacture and distribute real, tangible things that build our very infrastructure and contribute heavily to the economy.

  While no one is likely to be excited by these businesses more »

• Are These Heavy Equipment Makers Good Buys?

  By Robert Ciura - May 17, 2013 | Tickers: CAT, DE

  The global economy continues its gradual, albeit painfully slow, recovery from the financial crisis. In particular, the housing market in the United States looks to be in the beginning stages of a clear recovery after its huge collapse during the depths of the Great Recession. Moreover, global economic development continues to show resilience, particularly in the emerging markets.

  On top of that, many heavy machinery companies have issued earnings reports more »

• This Sector Is No Bargain

  By Robert Ciura - May 15, 2013 | Tickers: BMY, LLY, PFE

  Many stocks within the pharmaceutical industry have rallied significantly over the past few years and now sit at multi-year highs. It’s not hard to understand why: in today’s investing environment of historically low interest rates, bank products like certificates of deposit pay little to no interest. The 10-Year Treasury Bond still yields less than 2%, so high-quality equities like these stocks that provide yields in excess of 3 more »

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