Author: WSTNN

Top Mother’s Day Stocks

by Nkem Iregbulem 

Mother’s Day is coming up on May 12th this year in the United States. On this special day, family members honor mothers and motherhood. Mother’s Day is celebrated by over 40 countries around the world in different ways and on various days – particularly in the months of March and May. To display gratitude, family members often shower mothers in gifts such as chocolates, flowers, jewelry, and cards.

The holiday was first created in the United States by Anna Jarvis in 1908 but did not become an official national holiday until 1914. Celebrations of motherhood, however, are centuries old and can be traced back to the ancient Greeks and Romans. The Greeks honored Rhea, their mother of gods, with offerings of honey-cakes, fine drinks, and flowers at dawn. The Romans honored Magna Mater by bringing gifts to the temple they built for her in Rome. During the 1600s, England  honored mothers of England with a Christian festival known as “Mothering Sunday.” Since then, the holiday has grown more and more popular around the world.

There are a few stocks that may benefit from the commercialization of Mother’s Day. These include Hershey (HSY), Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Inc. (RMCF), Nestle (NSRGY), 1-800-Flowers.com Inc. (FLWS), and CSS Industries Inc. (CSS). The RMCF and FLWS stocks are traded on the NASDAQ exchange. The HSY and CSS stocks are traded on the New York Stock Exchange, and the NSRGY stock is traded over-the-counter.

One company that could benefit from the annual celebration is The Hershey Co., one of the largest chocolate manufacturers in the world. The Hershey Company, headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania, controls around 45% of the domestic chocolate market. Its products are offered in about 80 countries including the United States, China, Brazil, India, and Mexico. The leading chocolate company sells Mother’s Day favorites such as chocolate and other sweets to its customers.

The company has a market cap of $26.1 billion and pays a dividend yield of 2.31%. With a price-to-sales ratio of 3.36, its stock is slightly overpriced. The stock trades at 22.59 times trailing earnings and at 22.22 times forward earnings. The company’s stock also has a high price-to-book ratio of 18.47. Its revenue has been increasing each fiscal year since 2015, giving Hershey a 3-year revenue growth rate of 1.79%.

A mother might appreciate a sweet gift from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Inc, a company that manufactures chocolate candies and confectionery products. Founded in 1981 and based in Colorado, it operates in the United States, Japan, Canada, Philippines, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates. The company’s business activity can be divided into a couple segments: Franchising, Manufacturing, Retail Stores, U-Swirl Operations, and Other. Its products include clusters, truffles, caramels, mints, and molded chocolates – all great Mother’s Day gifts.

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Inc. has a low market cap of $57.98 million and pays a dividend yield of 4.92%. With a negative 3-year growth rate of -2.84%, the company has seen decreasing revenue values each fiscal year since 2015. Its stock has a normal price-to-sales ratio of 1.64 and a price-to-book ratio of 2.82. The stock also trades at 23.85 times trailing earnings.

You might find the perfect Mother’s Day gift at Nestle, a well-known chocolate powerhouse founded in 1866.By sales, the Swiss company is the world’s largest food and beverage company. Brands such as Nestle, Nescafe, Perrier, Pure Life, and Purina are all part of the company’s product portfolio. Under these brands and various other brands, the company offers chocolate and other food products.

The company has a market cap of $284.96 billion and pays dividend yield of 2.57%. With a price-to-sales ratio of 3.22, the company’s stock is slightly overpriced. It trades at 24.32 times trailing earnings and at 22.42 times forward earnings. The stock has a price-to-book ratio of 5.07. Nestle’s revenue has been increasing each fiscal year since 2015, giving the company a 3-year growth rate of 0.99%.

Another company that might benefit from Mother’s Day sales is 1-800-Flowers.com Inc. Based in New York, the company was founded in 1982. 1-800-Flowers.com offers flowers, candy, stuffed animals, gift baskets, and candles – gifts a Mother would love to receive on her special day. Other products include fruits, popcorn, steaks, and cookies. These products are offered under brands such as 1-800-Baskets.com, The Popcorn Factory, and Fannie May.

1-800-Flowers.com Inc. has a market cap of $1.23 billion and does not pay a dividend yield. Its stock trades at 36.23 times trailing earnings and at 37.59 times forward earnings. It has a normal price-to-sales ratio of 1.06 and a price-to-book ratio of 3.46. With a 3-year revenue growth rate of 0.90%, the company has seen its revenue increase each fiscal year from 2010 to 2017 before a slight drop in 2018.

Founded in 1923 and headquartered in Pennsylvania, CSS Industries Inc. (CSS) is another company that offers Mother’s Day related products. The company makes gift wrap and greeting cards for special occasions. CSS Industries also offers products such as classroom exchange Valentines, journals, floral accessories, and scrapbooks. It distributes and sells these products to mass market retailers in the United States and Canada.

CSS Industries has a low market cap of $55.31 million and pays a dividend yield of 12.78%. The stock trades at 20.20 times forward earnings. The company’s stock has an excellent price-to-sales ratio of 0.14 and a low price-to-book ratio of 0.26. CSS Industries’ revenue has been increasing since 2015, giving the company 3-year revenue growth rate of 4.95%.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Disclosure: Author did not own any of the above at the time the article was written. 

Stocks Going Ex Dividend in May 2019

by Fred Fuld III

The following is a short list of some of the many stocks going ex dividend during the next month.

Many traders and investors use the stock trading technique called ‘Buying Dividends,’ also commonly referred to as ‘Dividend Capture.’ This is the strategy of buying stocks before the ex dividend date and selling the stock shortly after the ex date at about the same price, yet still being entitled to the dividend.

This technique generally works in bull markets and flat or choppy markets, but you need to avoid the strategy during bear markets. In order to be entitled to the dividend, you have to buy the stock before the ex-dividend date, and you can’t sell the stock until after the ex date.

The actual dividend may not be paid for another few weeks. WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has compiled a downloadable and sortable list of the stocks going ex dividend in the near future. The list contains many dividend paying companies, lots with market caps over $500 million, and many with yields over 2%. Here are a few examples showing the stock symbol, the ex-dividend date, the periodic dividend amount, and annual yield.

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (DAL) 5/1/2019 0.35 2.45%
Citigroup Inc. (C) 5/3/2019 0.45 2.59%
TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation (AMTD) 5/6/2019 0.30 2.32%
MetLife, Inc. (MET) 5/6/2019 0.44 3.90%
Wells Fargo & Company (WFC) 5/9/2019 0.45 3.75%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) 5/9/2019 0.53 2.09%
Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM) 5/10/2019 0.87 4.32%
Target Corporation (TGT) 5/14/2019 0.64 3.32%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) 5/17/2019 0.44 3.33%
Discover Financial Services (DFS) 5/23/2019 0.40 1.97%
Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS) 5/29/2019 0.85 1.67%
Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT) 5/31/2019 2.20 2.68%

The additional ex-dividend stocks can be found HERE . (If you have been to the page before, and the latest link doesn’t show up, you may have to empty your cache.) If you like dividend stocks, you should check out some of the other high yield stock lists HERE . Most of the lists are free.

Dividend definitions:

Declaration date: the day that the company declares that there is going to be an upcoming dividend.

Ex-dividend date: the day on which if you buy the stock, you would not be entitled to that particular dividend; or the first day on which a shareholder can sell the shares and still be entitled to the dividend.

Monthly Dividend Stock List

Record date: the day when you must be on the company’s books as a shareholder to receive the dividend. The ex-dividend date is normally set for stocks at two business days before the record date.

Payment date: the day on which the dividend payment is actually made, which can be as long at two months after the ex date.

Don’t forget to reconfirm the ex-dividend date with the company before implementing this technique.

Disclosure: Author did not own any of the above at the time the article was written.

Top 21 Sports Betting Stocks

by Fred Fuld III

Last year, the Supreme Court came out with a decision that would allow betting on sports in all states, with each state determining whether or not to allow this form of gambling. Several have already legalized legalized online sports betting. Almost half the states are considering legislation. This should lead to more online gambling, and a transition from illegal gambling to legal betting.

Even NBC Sports Broadcaster Jim Kozimor mentioned in an interview back in September that sports betting will be an extremely strong growth industry.

So if you are looking for a way to profit from sports betting without betting on stocks, you should look at the stocks that should benefit from the online betting of sports.

FanDuel is the second largest daily fantasy sports provider and is anticipated to be a leader in the legal sports betting market. Thast year, FanDuel was taken over by Paddy Power Betfair (PDYPY), which trades on the London Stock Exchange in Britain and on the Pink Sheets in the US. This $6,6 billion market cap company trades at 20 times forward earnings and pays a favorable yield of 4.2%.

Boyd Gaming Corp. (BYD), an operator of a company that runs 16 casinos across the United States, has recently released its B Connected Sports app in order to take advantage of increased legalization. The stock trades at 29 times  trailing earnings and has a forward price to earnings ratio of 17. It pays a small dividend of 0.8%.

The following is a list of over 20 companies that may benefit from online sports betting.

Company Symbol MktCap Yield
Paddy Power Betfair PDYPY 6.7 B 4.14%
MGM Resorts MGM 14.9 B 1.87%
Gaesar’s Entertainment CZR 6.3 B 0
Madison Square Garden MSG 7.3 B 0
Penn National PENN 2.6 B 0
GameHost GHIFF 177 M 7.04%
Boyd Gaming BYD 3.4 B 0.79%
Bragg Gaming BRGGF 16 M 0
Churchill Downs CHDN 3.8 B 0.58%
Stars Group TSG 5.1 B 0
William Hill WIMHY 1.9 B 9.58%
International Game Technology IGT 2.8 B 5.76%
El Dorado Resorts ERI 3.9 B 0
Scientific Games SGMS 1.9 B 0
Wynn Resorts WYNN 15.8 B 2.04%
Marriott International MAR 45.7 B 1.21%
Millennial Esports MLLLF 17 M 0
888 Holdings EIHDF 731 M 5.13%
GVC Holdings GMVHF 4.9 B 4.95%
Las Vegas Sands LVS 51.9 B 4.59%

Here’s hoping the stock you choose provide you with a big payoff.

Disclosure: Author did not own any of the above at the time the article was written. 

Speed Through Security During Your Summer Travel

by Fred Fuld III

If you haven’t already, you are probably planning your summer travel. However, there is something else you should plan on, one or more of the services available to travelers to help them get though security faster.

There are a few options available to you. One service, that gets to you the front of the security line is called CLEAR. This service has been around since 2010 and is available in more than two dozen airports, everywhere from Atlanta and Austin to Los Angeles and San Francisco to New York and Washington DC.

In addition to being escorted to the front of the line by a CLEAR representative, the company utilizes another feature to speed things up. Biometrics, such as your fingerprints and eyes are used to check your identity, so you don’t have to fumble around with a card.

I have used CLEAR and became an affiliate as it has saved me a ton of time at the airport. CLEAR has one other big advantage. It can be used at stadiums and other venues, such as Oracle Park, Madison Square Garden, and Yankee Stadium.

The cost of  CLEAR is $179 per year, and if you have kids under 18, they can accompany you for free. You can add a spouse for only $50.

An additional option is TSA PreCheck which is available in most airports across the United States. This allows you to avoid taking off your shoes and your jacket, and you don’t have to take your laptop out of your bag. The service is primarily for domestic’s flights.

The cost for PreCheck is $85 for five years. Children 12 and under are free if traveling with you, but kids 13 to 18 will require a separate registration. Some airline will PreCheck you for free; check with your airline.

For international travelers, the Global Entry program is available, with includes the same benefits as PreCheck but also allows you to return to the US through customs much faster. The price is $100 and children need their own pass The service is available in about a third of the PreCheck airports.

Happy travels!

Happy Money

If you are stressed about money, or have any other negative feelings that are money related, you need to read the book Happy Money: The Japanese Art of Making Peace with Your Money by Ken Honda.

Many believe that money paves the road to happiness, but Honda explains how achieving happiness can be the goal and money will flow.

The book is filled with great advice, along with humor, that will keep you turning pages.

If you need to improve your relationship with money, you need to read  Happy Money.

Upcoming IPOs

by Fred Fuld III

Were you able to get any IPO shares of Zoom Video (ZM), Pinterest (PINS), or Greenlane (GNLN)? If you did, you made out like a bandit.

Zoom closed up 72% for the day. Pintrest was up over 23$. And Greenlane traded over 20% from its IPO price.

If you want to get in on one of these popular IPOs, try calling your broker. One brokerage firm will let you get in on an IPO as long as you qualify. The qualification is either an account with over $250,000 in assets OR an account with over 60 trades in the last 90 days.

Just because you are approved, doesn’t necessarily mean that you will get shares. The firm has to be part of the underwriting, and it has to have enough shares to distribute to all its interested clients.

So if you are looking for upcoming IPOs, here is a list:

HEALTH SCIENCES ACQUISITIONS CORP HSACU
SONIM TECHNOLOGIES INC SONM
CONVERSIONPOINT HOLDINGS, INC. CPTI
CORTEXYME, INC. CRTX
SOUTH PLAINS FINANCIAL, INC. SPFI
MILESTONE PHARMACEUTICALS INC. MIST
MAYVILLE ENGINEERING COMPANY, INC. MEC
APPLIED THERAPEUTICS INC. APLT
NEXTCURE, INC. NXTC
PARSONS CORP PSN
AXCELLA HEALTH INC. AXLA
DIAMOND EAGLE ACQUISITION CORP.
UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC UBER
AGBA ACQUISITION LTD AGBAU
RED RIVER BANCSHARES INC RRBI
SO-YOUNG INTERNATIONAL INC. SY
ACT II GLOBAL ACQUISITION CORP. ACTTU
TREVI THERAPEUTICS, INC. TRVI
TRANSMEDICS GROUP, INC. TMDX
SCIPLAY CORP SCPL
BRICKTOWN BREWERY RESTAURANTS LLC BEER
IHEARTMEDIA, INC.
POSTAL REALTY TRUST, INC. PSTL

Maybe some of these will skyrocket, but be careful. Lyft (LYFT) has dropped substantially since its IPO price.

Disclosure: Author owns LYFT indirectly.

Forging an Ironclad Brand

by Fred Fuld III

Do  you own your own business or manage a business? If so, do you have a brand? If not, or if you do and you’re not promoting it, you better read the book, Forging an Ironclad Brand: A Leader’s Guide by Lindsay Pedersen.

The author goes into detail, but in an easy-to-understand way, what a brand is and the reasons why you need a brand and need to promote it. She also shows how to expand, extend, and enhance your brand.

The eight steps she provided in the second section, The How of Brand, is probably the most important, with Step Number 2 being the critical one.

Figures and graphics are included to make the concepts more understandable. In addition, there is an extensive glossary.

Forging an Ironclad Brand is a book you will need to get for your business and refer to on a regular basis.

 

Are You Watching the Streaming Video Stocks?

by Fred Fuld III

Could you have imagined 15 years ago that you would have the ability to watch almost any movie or TV show whenever you want, as many times as you want, and could pause it and replay parts of it, without having to insert a disc into a player, would you have believed it?

Most major films and television programs can now be watched on your smart TV, you computer, your laptop, and even your phone. Several companies are benefiting from this major trend, providing investors with stocks that they should keep an eye on.

Amazon’s (AMZN) Prime Video is an Internet video on demand service that offers television shows and films for rent or purchase and Prime Video, a group of Amazon Studios original content and licensed acquisitions including Bosch, The Man in the High Castle, Sneaky Pete, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Amazon trades at 64 times forward earnings, and revenues for the latest reported quarter jumped by almost 20% year-over-year.

Netflix (NFLX) is the biggest pure play in this arena, having around 140 million subscribers. The company also has extensive original programming including stand-up comedy specials. The stock trades at 88 times forward earnings. Sales for the latest quarter went up by over 27%.

Streaming video is a small but growing piece of Disney (DIS) which owns 60% of Hulu, in addition to its own streaming services. Like Netflix and Amazon, Hulu has its own original content. Disney has a very reasonable forward price to earnings ratio of 16, and even pays a dividend of 1.53%.

Of course, video streaming is a small part of a lot of large companies, such as Apple (AAPL), Facebook (FB), and YouTube, owned by Alphabet (GOOG) (GOOGL), better known as Google.

Let’s watch and see which company will be the best performer.

Disclosure: Author owns AMZN, AAPL, and DIS.

The Art of Preventing Stupid

If you own a small business (like me), or even run a medium size or larger business, you need to read the book, The Art of Preventing Stupid: How to Build a Stronger Business Strategy Through Better Risk Management by Matthew Neill Davis, Esq.

Businesses can’t avoid problems completely, but they can prepare for them and they can do many things to prevent problems as much as possible. Davis explains how businesses can do this, and one of the key ways is to avoid the stupid mistakes. The other strategy a business owner can utilize is to know how to deal with problems before they arise.

These strategies are covered thoroughly in the book. Probably the most important chapter is Chapter 6, The Preventing Stupid Method.

The book has many easy to understand tables and figures, and ends the book with actual case studies. In addition, the author provides bullet point summaries at the end of each chapter.

So if you want to prevent major problems (including bankruptcy) with your business, and how to deal with problems when they do happen, you should read  The Art of Preventing Stupid.

Water Stocks are Floating on Dividends

by Fred Fuld III

If you are looking for growth along with income, you should check out the water utilities. Most communities are served by governmental water district entities, but residents of some communities buy water through publicly traded companies that own water rights. The nicest feature about these companies is that they are practically recession-proof since people don’t stop showering or drinking water. There are several of these water companies that investors can choose from.

One example is American States Water (AWR), founded in 1929, which is a distributor of water in over 70 communities in California. It trades at 35 times forward earnings and pays a yield of 1.58%. Last summer, the company raised its dividends by 7.8%. Earnings for the latest quarter were up significantly, by 23%, year over year.

Aqua America (WTR) distributes water to customers in Pennsylvania, Texas, North Carolina, Ohio, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Florida, Indiana, Virginia, Maine, and Georgia. The stock has a forward price to earnings ratio of 24, and yields 2.41%. The company has raised its dividends every year since 1988 and has had many stock splits during that time.

Connecticut Water Service (CTWS) trades at 29 times forward earnings and yields 1.83%. The company, which was founded in 1956, serves customers in over 50 towns in Connecticut.

Maybe I’m all wet but one of these water companies might just clench the thirst of your portfolio.

Disclosure: Author didn’t own any of the above at the time the article was written.