I’ve probably overstayed my welcome in the Vanguard Short-Term Treasury ETF (VGSH) and the VanEck Preferred Securities ex-Financials ETF (PFXF), but with the Federal Reserve accelerating its interest rate increases, I think selling these two members of my Dividend Portfolio is a bit more pressing right now.
On Friday in my Quick Pick video on YouTube (have you subscribed yet–why not? It’s free and that way you’ll know when a new video goes up) I said I would add Truist Financial (TFC) to my Dividend Portfolio on Monday. And so I will. My rule of thumb at the moment is to buy dividend-paying stocks when the yield breaks 4%. At the time I shot the video, Truist paid 4.1%. Thanks to Friday’s sell off and the stock’s 3.69% drop, the yield rose to 4.18%.
My one-hundred-and-forty-third YouTube video “Quick Pick Truist Financial” went up today. My Quick Pick this week is Truist Financial Corp (TFC), a “super-regional” bank based in the Southeast. Bank stocks have been down recently on rising costs (got to pay more to keep your good people, these days), but Truist Financial, formed through a merger of BB&T and Sun Trust, is still taking out acquisition costs. My rule of thumb these days is to buy a dividend stock when the yield hits 4% or more. Thanks to the retreat in bank stocks Truist Financial now pays 4/02 plus with its share buyback plan the total yield hits 5.75%. I’ll be adding this Monday to my Dividend Income Portfolio on JubakPicks.com and JubakAM.com.
Ok, the bad news on profit margins from Target (TGT) was a big deal. No argument. When you’re operating margin falls to 5.37% when Wall Street was projecting 9.5%, it’s a big deal. And after yesterday’s earnings miss from Walmart (WMT), it’s reasonable to extrapolate and say the entire economy and stock market has a cost, inflation, and margin problem. But that doesn’t mean that every company has the same degree of problem. And it certainly doesn’t justify selling everything–and selling to the tune of big losses–shares of every company that sells stuff to consumers. And tomorrow, or the next day, I expect a little more analysis and discrimination in the market. Some of the stocks hit hardest today should rebound handily on that rethink. I’d put PepsiCo (PEP) and Coca-Cola (KO) at the head of that group.
I don’t know if Friday’s bounce will continue into the new week. I think the summer season is likely to be positive for revenue at many companies–travel, airlines, Las Vegas–but I don’t like the longer term fundamentals in the economy. Inflation is going to be harder to reduce than Federal Reserve rhetoric and Wall Street sentiment now credit. And there is a good chance of a recession in 2023. But I’m not looking for some kind of crash from here–at least not before a recession tests the credit markets in 2023. We’re on the edge of a bear–the Standard & Poor’s 500 was down 18.1% from its all time high as of the close on Thursday–or in a bear–for the technology stocks of the NASDAQ. The typical pattern from here is for a continued decline to be punctuated by sharp rallies and bounces (like Friday) until we put in the ultimate bottom (certainly after a few more Federal Reserve interest rate increases.)
We’re not there yet. This downward trend in equity markets is likely to continue for a while in my opinion. So what am I trying to accomplish with these sells?
Last week PepsiCo (PEP) declared a quarterly dividend of $1.15 a share, up about 7% from $1.075 a share. That brings the dividend yield up to 2.7%, almost exactly Coca-Cola’s (KO) 2.72% yield. On the basis of that yield and the pricing power that the company demonstrated in first quarter earnings I’m adding the stock to my Dividend Portfolio. I think it’s a good pick for a period of high inflation and uncertain economic growth.
For a day, Friday, May 6, at least the pattern of divergence between consumer staples stocks and consumer discretionary stocks that has ruled much of 2022 reasserted itself. Now the question is How long will the pattern hold?
Neither company crushed Wall Street earnings expectations, but both reported good enough news in a very tough environment. I own PepsiCo in my long-term 50 Stocks Portfolio, where it was up 220.4% from my initial December 30, 2008 pick as of the close on April 26. I will add the stock to my 12-18 month Jubak Picks Portfolio tomorrow, April 27, with a target price of $190 a share. The stock pays a 2.47% dividend I own shares of Coca-Cola in my Jubak Picks Portfolio, where it was up 29.8% from my February 19, 2021 pick, and in my Dividend Portfolio, where it was up 41.75% from my May 1, 2020 pick. Tomorrow, April 27, I will add shares of Coca-Cola to my long-term 50 Stocks Portfolio. In addition I will raise the target price on Coca-Cola in my Jubak Picks Portfolio to $78 from the current $56 a share.
Big banks will kick off another earnings season beginning with JPMorgan Chase (JPM) on Wednesday, April 13. Citigroup (C) and Wells Fargo (WFC) follow on April 14. Bank of America (BAC) reports on April 18. Bank earnings forecasts present a complicated picture for the quarter–which is only appropriate since that’s true of Standard & Poor’s 500 earnings forecasts as a whole.
Pfizer (PFE) will buy privately held respiratory syncytial virus drug maker ReViral for up to $525 million. Wall Street liked the deal–the stock was up 4.33% today, April 7–because it fits with Pfizer’s RNA virus program, which produced a successful vaccine for Covid-19.
This week my Quick Pick is Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD). I don’t like oil and gas companies in the long term (hello, global warming), but in the short term I like companies that are exercising restraint in spending on further exploration and development. With oil prices rising, Pioneer is set to generate high positive cash flows in the short term. That surplus will be distributed in the company’s two-tier dividend structure, giving investors a nice pot of money. I’ve added Pioneer to my Dividend Portfolio
For 2021 the total return–that’s price appreciation plus dividends–came to 18.59%. That was a slight improvement on the 15.71% total return for 2020. The dividend yield for the portfolio in 2021 came to 3.13%. That was a slight drop from the 3.43% yield in 2020.
