What an impressive record for the Dow Jones Index in October! 14% gain in just 1 month, the highest in 46 years. It is not surprising considering that the components of the Dow are "creme de la creme" or the best companies in the US. They are mostly in finance, consumer staples and actually not much tech stocks.
My favourite stock in the Dow is $Coca-Cola(KO)$ . It is not only a Dividend Aristocrat but a Dividend King. Coca-Cola has been paying increasing dividends for the last 60 years non stop. That is really an impressive record which is hard to beat.
Coca-Cola is the largest beverage company in the world. It has evolved and grown with the times by diversifying into sparkling soft drinks, water, sports drinks, juice, dairy, plant based drinks, tea and coffee.
A significant part of Coca-Cola's success is its emphasis on brand over product. Coke does not sell a soft drink in a bottle. Coke sells "happiness"in a bottle. Everyone in the world knows Coca-Cola. It also has a phenomenal distribution strategy. Coca-Cola generates revenue by selling concentrates and syrups to bottling facilities globally and by selling finished products to retailers and other distributors.
Coca-Cola has just reported an excellent 3Q22 results. Its Global Unit Case Volume grew 4%. Net revenues grew 10% to USD 11.1 billion. Operating Income grew 7%. Operating Margin was 27.9%. EPS grew 14% to 0.65 cents per share.
$Coca-Cola(KO)$ share price has jumped by 6% in the past year. This is excellent considering the S&P 500 index has fallen 20%.
No wonder Warren Buffett loves Coke. It is his favourite drink and favourite stock.
I do not own any shares in the Dow outright but through 3 ETFs. $Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund(XLE)$ is the star performer , up 50%. $SPLG(SPLG)$ is down 20% but $SPYV(SPYV)$ is down by just 1%. I am comfortable holding all 3 ETFs for the long term as they are well diversified and minimises my risks on individual stocks in the current Bear Market.
I believe that November will be a great month as it will be the start of the year end rally going into Christmas. However Jerome Powell may put a spanner in the works tomorrow if his speech is hawkish. Nonetheless whatever the outcome maybe, I am optimistic for the future as my time horizon is long term. In any Bear Market there are massive buying opportunities. The markets always bounce back after that with a strong Bull market.
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