Dividends – cold hard cash paid out by corporates are often seen as an important criterion for a certain group of investors. These might be 1) folks targeting a steady stream of passive income, 2) retirees looking at dividends as a form of income to fund their day-to-day expenses, or 3) simply more risk-averse investors looking at “value” stocks which are often associated with a high dividend yield. There are, however, investors in the opposite camp, who aren’t big fans of regular cash payouts. They argue that these dividend-paying companies have run out of value-adding ways to reinvest their cash pile to grow the business. Hence, they need to “resort” to paying dividends as a rationale for investors to buy into their stocks. Regardless of where one falls on the dividend spectrum, there is

Dividend aristocrats are companies that not only pay dividends consistently but have also grown their annual dividend payments amount consecutively over the past 25 years. Only companies with some of the best financials and cash generation profiles (predictable cash flow) can consistently demonstrate dividend growth year after year and for at least 25 years. The best of the best are known as Dividend Kings. Dividend Kings are dividend-paying companies that have demonstrated 50 consecutive years of dividend increases! To be considered a Dividend Aristocrat stock, the company needs to not only fulfill 25 years of consecutive dividend growth (ie annual dividend increases) but also several other criteria: 1)      Member of the S&P 500 index, 2)   &nb

Options are one of the most popular trading vehicles that can result in you making (or losing) money fast. There are many different ways in which one can trade options, ranging from simple strategies to the more complicated ones, the latter often with fanciful names associated with birds and insects (Iron condor, butterfly, anyone?) The truth is that you do not need to know these fanciful and complex options strategies to make money. Very often, the simplest strategies work the best. As long as one comprehends the fundamentals associated with these basic options strategies, it is sufficient to generate a consistent stream of profit. In this article, I will look to introduce 4 option trading strategies for beginners. Knowing these 4 basic options trading strategies will be sufficient for a

There have been increasing chatters of an earnings recession in 2023, something that hasn’t occurred since COVID-19 blasted corporate results to the ground in 2020. To be clear, the definition of an earnings recession is a back-to-back decline in earnings. While 4Q22 results are still underway (82% of S&P 500 has reported results), the street is forecasting earnings to have fallen -4.7% from the year-ago period, according to data from Factset. Earnings recession in 2023 ( S&P 500 earnings growth) Source: Factset If -4.7% is the actual decline for the quarter, it will mark the first time the index has reported a YoY decrease in earnings since 3Q20. Negative EPS growth has happened only 4x over the past 23 years, with each year being followed by a “significant” price downside in the

The latest craze over artificial intelligence or AI for short, spurred on by the introduction of ChatGPT in late 2022, has seen many AI/Robotics-related ETFs outperforming the broader market in 2023.According to data from Stock Rover, the best-performing equity sectors on a YTD 2023 basis, using Sector ETFs as a gauge, are 1) Technology, 2) Consumer Cyclical, and 3) Communications.On the other extreme, 1) Utilities, 2) Consumer Defensive, and 3) Healthcare are the 3 worst performing sectors, thus far in 2023.Many interesting Thematic ETFs can be found in the technology sector. Let us take a closer look at which are some of the Best Thematic ETFs for 2023 that an investor can partake in.Do note that many technology-related thematic ETFs can be rather volatile in nature, as evidenced by thei

The time has come for most funds to disclose their latest quarter purchases/sales and there is none more closely monitored than Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway transactions. Given a large war chest of approx. US100+bn, is the Oracle of Omaha finally going “All-in” in an improving market? Well, that is not the case. Berkshire Hathaway made more sales than purchases in the final quarter of 2022, according to data taken from dataroma, one of my favorite websites to track the purchases/sales of superinvestors, such as Warren Buffett. According to Dataroma, Berkshire Hathaway’s 4Q22 purchases only consist of 3 stocks, and none of them are new purchases. Here are the details of the 3 purchases: Apple Inc. (AAPL)– Increase by 0.04% (333,856 shares) at a reported cost of $129.93 for a total p

I have written about incorporating options as part of your investing arsenal on several occasions. Options are often seen as a leverage tool, often viewed through the lens of fear and bewilderment. However, the truth is that options as an investing tool are not dangerous. People ARE. Options at the end of the day are just a financial product that provides you immense flexibility to structure your trades based on a myriad of factors such as your bullish/bearish view, time horizon, confidence level, etc. It is often GREED in humans that make options trading “risky”. As mentioned, the primary idea behind options lies in the strategic use of leverage. If done systematically, options trading can be safer than purchasing stocks directly. Why so? Let’s take for example one is bulli

The hype on Artificial Intelligence or AI for short is gaining traction, following the introduction of ChatGPT, an AI Bot developed by OpenAI, where Microsoft has publicly announced a $10bn long-term partnership with the AI start-up. ChatGPT has taken the world by storm, setting the record to reach 100 million monthly active users in a short span of just 2 months after its launch. The company is now offering a premium subscription of $20/month to monetize its existing user base. Not to be outdone, Google just announced its own AI Bot, Bard A.I.in response to ChatGPT. This is shortly after it announced a US$400m investment into Anthropic The race for AI is heating up and while many believe the AI story to be a structural growth theme good for the next decade, some investors/traders are capi

For those who are unaware, ASML $ASML Holding NV(ASML)$  is undoubtedly one of the most important companies in the world, one whose product the world cannot do without. ASML is a company that operates in the semiconductor industry, one of the hottest industries in terms of price performance on a YTD 2023 basis. I have recently written an article on the best-performing industries in 2023. While the semiconductor industry wasn’t featured in the Top 5 best-performing industries as of 1 Feb 2023, this industry has continued to outperform peers and is currently ranked #6 in the list (do check out the latest ranking list in the segment below). However, unlike semiconductor household names such as Nvidia, Intel, AMD, and TSMC, e

Which industry/industries would you want to invest in if you can rewind time and go back to the start of 2022? With the benefit of hindsight, that answer is simple. Across the 11 sectors that stocks are being classified into, the Energy sector has been the sole outlier, generating strong double-digit returns in an otherwise bearish year for the market. That is, however, water under the bridge. We are not able to turn back time. The bigger question now is, should you still be vested in the Energy sector? Is momentum still the strongest for stocks in the Energy sector or is there a new winner in 2023? In this article, I will be highlighting the best-performing industries in 2023 [Returns update as of 1 Feb 2023]. There are 153 industry categories within the more generic 11 maj

Some of you might have heard of the term “covered call”, an options strategy that aims to generate a steady stream of income every month. However, do you know of its alternative, the “Poor Man’s Covered Call” strategy which is targeted at investors who “are poor”, or who do not wish to commit a large amount of capital? The poor man’s covered call strategy allows one to enjoy the benefit of leverage (getting exposure to stocks at potentially > 50% discount) while generating a steady stream of “passive income” if done appropriately. Poor man’s covered call strategy The key differentiating point between the poor man’s covered call strategy vs. the traditional covered call strategy is that the former does not entail the purchase of (at least) 100 shares of the stock. The poor man’s covered

In our previous article, we highlighted the 4 best seasonal stocks to buy in January. The stocks highlighted were counters that have historically performed strongly in January, based on data collated over the past 10 years. Those 4 stocks highlighted in the article were (YTD 2023 performance highlighted in bracket, as of 27 Jan): AngloGold Ashanti (+8.3%) Netflix (+23.7%) Global Partners (+10.12%) Joyy (+9.56%) The best-performing counter in this list was Netflix, which surprised the street positively in its latest subscriber count. With a few more days to the start of a new month, I will be highlighting the 4 best seasonal stocks to buy in February. Best Seasonal Stocks to Buy in February #1: Digital Turbine (Ticker: APPS)