Special Reports

Special Report: 10 Picks for the Coming Recession

Special Report: 10 Picks for the Coming Recession

10 Picks for the Coming Recession. This one is especially difficult. Not only do I face the usual crystal-ball problem that comes up whenever you try to pick an investment for the future–what’s the macro and micro world going to look like in 6 months or a year from now–but I’ve got two big Recession-specific challenges. First, is there actually going to be a Recession in 2023? All the signs, in my opinion, point toward a recession in the second and third quarters, but it’s by no means guaranteed that we’ll have the two quarters of negative GDP growth that’s required by the minimal definition of a recession. And what’s the point, you might well ask, of making picks for a coming recession that never arrives? And, second, how bad will this recession be?

Special Report: 7 AI Stocks to Own Now–with a couple of speculative picks to come on Thursday

Special Report: 7 AI Stocks to Own Now–with a couple of speculative picks to come on Thursday

You can understand the gold rush: One AI stock is up 105% (and 78% in the last month) in 2023 as of the February 17 close.

But are shares of that company, the software artificial company C3A (AI), the stock you want to own, or is this stock simply a beneficiary of hot money jumping on anything that sounds like artificial intelligence? As one market observer put it on Seeking Alpha recently, “The ticker is more valuable than the company.” This doesn’t mean that the current revolution in artificial intelligence isn’t real. And here I give you my 7 picks for investing in the latest AI revolution

Special Report: How to Save Your Retirement Portfolio Even If You’re Over 50

Special Report: How to Save Your Retirement Portfolio Even If You’re Over 50

It’s been a tough market–and a tough decade looms– but taking smart risks using this strategy can save your retirement portfolio even if you’re over 50. You can do it if you take some risk. Some smart risk. Emphasis on the “smart.” The goal is to find a way to get some extra upside return while keeping your potential downside losses to a minimum. And here are my 10 picks for starting a Save Your Retirement Portfolio.

Pick #8 for My Special Report Own the Future for Pennies with my 10 Best Penny Stock Picks: ESS Tech

Pick #8 for My Special Report Own the Future for Pennies with my 10 Best Penny Stock Picks: ESS Tech

Call this bookkeeping. I recommended ESS Tech (GWH) in my November 11 Quick Pick video on Youtube. Today I’m adding it to my Special Report: Own the Future for Pennies with my 10 Best Penny Stock Picks as pick #8. And to my Millennial Portfolio–For Investors With More Time Than Money. The stock is down $6.44% today November 30 to $3.0386, so this seems a good time to buy for patient, very long-term investors. Here’s what I said in that YouTube video.

Pick #4 for my Special Report 5 Safe Dividend Stocks Paying 6% or More: BHP

Pick #4 for my Special Report 5 Safe Dividend Stocks Paying 6% or More: BHP

You have to do a fair amount of work rearranging the dividend numbers for BHP (BHP) to understand why this diversified commodities producer makes this list. First, throw that 11.02% dividend yield reported on Yahoo Finance and other sources. As part of its corporate strategy of moving away from fossil fuels and investing in expanding existing copper production and in opening its first potash mine (in Canada at a cost of $5.7 billion), BHP sold its petroleum unit. Part of the big “dividend” distribution in fiscal 2021 and 2022 is a result of the company distributing the shares in the purchaser it acquired in payment for that deal to BHP shareholders. Of the $7.11 paid in dividends in fiscal 2022, for example, $3.86 came from the distribution of those shares. If you buy BHP now, you can’t expect a repeat of that distribution of shares. (BHP also sold its U.S. onshore petroleum assets in 2019.) So the question is what dividend payout can you expect from BHP in 2023?

Chartwell Retirement Residences: Pick No. 3 for my Special Report 5 Safe Dividend Stocks With Yields Above 6%

Chartwell Retirement Residences: Pick No. 3 for my Special Report 5 Safe Dividend Stocks With Yields Above 6%

I know I’m not getting any older. Just better. And I’d assume that’s true for you too. But sources tell me that Canadians–yes, Canadians–are aging. And that there’s a growing market for retirement living facilities in Canada. According to Statistics Canada, the current supply of long-term care and retirement suites is 450,000. And by 2038 Canada will have a need for an additional 430,000 suites. Sounds like a growth market to me. And right now you can buy units in the Chartwell Retirement Residences Real Estate Investment Trust (CWSRF) with a 7.61% dividend yield.

Special Report: 5 “Outlier” Dividend Stocks Paying 8% or More–Pick #1 PXD

Special Report: 5 “Outlier” Dividend Stocks Paying 8% or More–Pick #1 PXD

When I put together my Special Report: “5 Safe Dividend Stocks Paying 6% or More,” one key requirement was that the company showed a long track record of raising dividends every year and the clear potential to continue to raise dividends every year. That formula could turn a 6% annual dividend yield now into 8% or 9% or even more over the next ten years. A safe almost guaranteed 10% yield at the end of 10 years strikes me as a very attractive prospect, especially given how tough I think the financial markets are going to be over the next five years or more. (For more on that outlook see my recently revised Special Report: “Your Best Investment Strategy for the Next Five Years.”) But I realized, looking at all the high-yield stocks that didn’t make the cut for that report that the requirement for a high-probability trend of higher dividends each year for the next 10 years, that this requirement left a lot of stocks paying very attractive high dividends now on the cutting room floor. Stocks paying 8% or more got left off the list because I didn’t see a commitment at the company to continued dividend increases every year or enough growth in free cash flow to make it possible for a company to raise or maintain its dividend through the ups and downs of the business cycle. These stocks paying 8% or more were very safe bets to continue paying that yield for the next year or two. But 10 years? Too much uncertainty. Which doesn’t mean you shouldn’t own some of these stocks now. An 8% or better yield for a couple of years is a very attractive prospect given how uncertain the economy and the stock market are right now. And an investor has a very simple remedy if a company looks like it can’t or isn’t committed to sustaining that yield. Sell the stock. So with all that in mind, I’ve put together a list of five “outlier” dividend stocks paying 8% or more at a time when the SPDR S&P 500 Trust ETF (SPY) has a yield of just 1.6%.

Today I made Kinder Morgan the second pick in my Special Report 5 Safe Dividend Stocks Paying 6% or More

Today I made Kinder Morgan the second pick in my Special Report 5 Safe Dividend Stocks Paying 6% or More

You might expect this list to be dominated by oil and natural gas producers. You might expect that–but you’d be wrong. Stocks like Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD) and Devon Energy (DVN) certainly pay dividends now high enough t qualify for this list, at 9.86% and 7.50% for the trailing 12 months, respectively, but I don’t think it’s possible to project that level of dividend payout for the 10-year period that I’ve focused on for this strategy. (Which doesn’t mean stocks like these aren’t worth owning on their dividends for the shorter term. In fact, I’m putting together a list of what I’d call current dividend outliers as an extra for this Special Report. These outlier stocks pay very attractive (better than 6% again and sometimes way better than 6%) dividends but the companies don’t have a track record or corporate culture that makes me feel certain about the longevity of this level of payout. Pioneer, for example, pays a 2-part dividend with a core rate and a variable rate depending on revenue and profits. That to me speaks to a company that doesn’t feel able to commit to the current high payout for very long. For a dividend stock with a high payout and a predictably long duration of that level of payout in the energy sector, I’m going to look at pipeline companies, especially those with big exposure to natural gas exports (specifically LNG exports) and the growing CO2 sector.

Yesterday I made Verizon my first pick for my Special Report: 5 Safe Dividend Stocks Paying 6% or More

Yesterday I made Verizon my first pick for my Special Report: 5 Safe Dividend Stocks Paying 6% or More

This is what I wrote yesterday in my Special Report. (You can find all the picks (so far 2) and the strategy I’m using if you go to the full Special Report.) I think Verizon provides a very useful checklist of what to look for in long-term safe picks that yield 6% or more. Which is why I’m putting it in the leadoff position on this list. Verizon isn’t anyone’s favorite stock right now. And it’s pretty clear why.