Barron's: Best Dividend Plays for 2009 [View article]
Do you really think the WHR dividend is "reasonably secure"!? How about the pharmas? PFE just halved theirs, so how can you be sure that BMY or MRK or others will not? How about tobacco, where we have glimpses of potential new litigation? You already mentioned that T and VZ may be at risk due to high payout ratios, so I will not add them here.
Bottom line is that very few are "reasonably secure". Even those that should be, really are not, since crony boards prefer to cut dividends before they touch executive compensation. After all, the recent business model has become that the real owners of a company, the shareholders, always get short shrift, while their employees (the management) busily reward themselves with the shareholders' money. This sorry state of affairs is an additional discount factor you have to apply when investing in dividend stocks.
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
I thought they already did.
Barron's: Best Dividend Plays for 2009 [View article]
Bottom line is that very few are "reasonably secure". Even those that should be, really are not, since crony boards prefer to cut dividends before they touch executive compensation. After all, the recent business model has become that the real owners of a company, the shareholders, always get short shrift, while their employees (the management) busily reward themselves with the shareholders' money. This sorry state of affairs is an additional discount factor you have to apply when investing in dividend stocks.