Crypto price surge invites a torrent of crypto crime

Crypto price surge invites a torrent of crypto crime

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There are two types of dividend stocks: those that increase their annual dividend payments year after year, often referred to as Dividend Aristocrats, and those that grow their annual dividends by double-digit percentages every year. In early January, Rob Carrick, one of Canada’s best personal finance columnists, wrote an article about dividend stocks that doubled their payouts over the past 10 years. With an assist from Tom Connolly of DividendGrowth.ca, they’ve put together a list of stocks that have delivered 10-year annualized dividend growth of 7.2%. InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips Why 7.2%? That’s the amount of growth you’d need based on the Rule of 72 — 72 divided by 7.2% equals 10– the number of years growth required to double a company’s dividend payout. Now the names on the list, while excellent businesses, are mostly traded exclusively on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Thus, some of them are only available over-the-counter, through a broker that has access to the TSX, or not at all. Of the 15, eight trade on a U.S. exchange. I’d check them out. Masco (NYSE:MAS) Rollins (NYSE:ROL) Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Tractor Supply (NASDAQ:TSCO) Victory Capital (NASDAQ:VCTR) GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) T. Rowe Price (NASDAQ:TROW) S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) Open Text (NASDAQ:OTEX) FirstService (NASDAQ:FSV) 7 Overvalued Stocks Investors Just Don’t Get Tired Of In the meantime, here are 10 dividend stocks that are likely to do the same. Dividend Stocks to Buy: Masco (MAS) Source: Africa Studio / Shutterstock.com Business has been good for the global leader in home improvement and building products whose brands include Behr Paint, Delta faucets, and Endless Pools. On Feb. 9, the Michigan-based company announced that it was increasing its annual dividend by 68% from 56 cents to 94 cents, starting with the Q2 2021 payment. Also, the company announced a new $2 billion share repurchase program effective immediately. “The anticipated dividend increase we’ve announced today, along with the new $2B share repurchase authorization, underscores our strong financial position and the Board’s confidence in our future,” stated Chief Executive Officer Keith Allman. In recent years, Masco has ridden the home improvement boom to deliver a five-year annualized total return of 17.3% through Feb. 12. With a trailing 12-month (TTM) free cash flow (FCF) of $840 million, it has an FCF yield of 5.3% based on an enterprise value of $15.8 billion. Rollins (ROL) Source: Shutterstock I’ve always liked Rollins, one of the world’s largest providers of pest control services. In May 2016, I included ROL in a group of 10 top stocks that ought to be in every retirement portfolio. It’s up 224% since then, and that doesn’t even include the dividends. “Over the long haul, it hasn’t disappointed delivering 18 consecutive years of earnings growth and 14 consecutive years of dividend increases averaging 12%,” I wrote on May 18, 2016. In fiscal 2020, Rollins increased sales and earnings by 7.2% and 13.3%, respectively. Accounting for the 3-for-2 split on Dec. 10, 2020, Rollins’ board announced on Jan. 26 that it would increase its quarterly dividend by 50% over Q4 2020 to 8 cents starting with its February 2021 payment. The company paid out $161 million in dividends in 2020, up from $154 million in 2019. The company repurchases very little of its stock. Between 2017 and 2019, it repurchased just $28 million of its shares, opting to use most of its free cash for dividends and acquisitions. Rollins has a trailing 12-month free cash flow (FCF) of $380 million. That works out to an FCF yield of 2% based on an enterprise value of $18.8 billion. It’s not cheap at current prices, but it will deliver an above-average total return [dividend income plus capital appreciation] over time. 7 Blue-Chip Stocks That Aren’t a Gamble Definitely buy this one on the dips. Moelis & Company (MC) Source: PopTika/ShutterStock.com Moelis & Company is an independent investment bank based in New York City that went public in April 2014 at $25 a share. If you bought some of its initial public offering (IPO) and still hold it today, you’re sitting on a 119% return. There is no question the investment bank has had its ups and downs. In June 2018, it flirted with $70 before falling gradually to its 52-week low of $22.11 during the March 2020 correction. On Feb. 10, 2021, the company reported record Q4 2020 revenues of $422 million, up 89% from a year earlier. On the bottom line, its adjusted net income was $146 million, up considerably from $26 million in Q4 2019. In 2020, the company paid out dividends and executed share repurchases totaling almost $275 million. It included a $2 a share special dividend paid out in December while also increasing the regular quarterly dividend by 44% from the previous quarter and 8% from pre-Covid-19 levels. Tractor Supply (TSCO) Source: James R. Martin/Shutterstock.com Tractor Supply is one of my all-time favorite companies, retail or otherwise. Its business model servicing the rural lifestyle makes abundant sense. In 2001, Tractor Supply made a transformative acquisition, acquiring bankrupt Michigan-based Quality Stores, a competitor with 85 stores at the time. It had 323 stores. Today, it has almost 2,000. It hasn’t been as lucky with another acquisition it made. In 2016, it acquired Petsense, a retailer of pet supplies, for $116 million. Petsense had 136 stores at the time. In Q4 2020, the company had non-cash pre-tax impairment charges of $74.1 million related to its Petsense operations. As a result of the charge, Tractor Supply’s operating income in the fourth quarter was $184.5 million, 3.1% lower than a year earlier. On the plus side, fourth-quarter sales were 31.3% higher over Q4 2019. The board announced on Jan. 28 that it would increase its quarterly dividend by 30% to 52 cents a share. 7 Stocks That Are Ready for a Retail Rebound Tractor Supply is an outstanding retail stock to own for the long haul. Victory Capital (VCTR) Source: kan_chana/ShutterStock.com I thought Victory Capital was the only firm on my list of 10 dividend stocks that I’m unfamiliar with. Then it dawned on me that it’s the company behind VictoryShares and ETFs such as the VictoryShares Nasdaq Next 50 ETF (NASDAQ:QQQN). However, if the San Antonio-based asset management firm keeps delivering quarterly results as it did in Q4 2020, I’ll have to get a lot more acquainted with it in a real hurry. The company finished fiscal 2020 with $136.4 billion in assets under management (AUM), 33% higher than a year earlier. A part of the increase was due to its 2019 acquisition of USAA Asset Management. On the bottom line, Victory generated record adjusted net income of $285.5 million in 2020, 48% higher than a year earlier. As part of the Feb. 10 press release of its fourth-quarter earnings, Victory Capital’s board announced a 29% increase in its quarterly dividend to 9 cents a share. It is the company’s third increase in a year. GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Source: Willy Barton / Shutterstock.com Anyone who suffers from back or joint pain is likely familiar with Voltaren, one of GlaxoSmithKline’s many products made by its consumer healthcare products division, merged with Pfizer’s (NYSE:PFE) consumer healthcare business in August 2019. It plans to separate the joint-venture into its own separate company. In addition to Voltaren, it makes Polident, Otrivin, Advil, Tums, and Centrum, and many others. Once GSK separates its consumer healthcare products business, it will focus on pharmaceuticals and vaccines. On Feb. 3, GSK reported its full-year results. They included a 3% sales increase year-over-year of 34.1 billion euros ($41.3 billion) and an FCF of 5.4 billion euros ($6.6 billion), 7% higher than in 2019. As for the dividend, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. Although the company increased its quarterly payment by 15% from $0.1746 a share to $0.2008 starting with the December 2020 payment, it also said that it wouldn’t increase the total dividend payments in 2021 from what it paid out in 2020. These 7 Semiconductor Stocks Are Actually Winning From the Chip Shortage I’ve put it on the list of dividend stocks because it should provide investors with a much better entry point to buy its stock. It’s a definite value play at this point. T. Rowe Price (TROW) Source: Pavel Kapysh / Shutterstock.com One of the four financial services companies on my list of dividend stocks, the Baltimore-based company announced on Feb. 10 that it was raising its quarterly dividend by 20% to $1.08 per share, the 35th consecutive year it has done so. That makes it a Dividend Aristocrat. The $4.32 annual payout yields a reasonable 2.7%. On Jan. 28, T. Rowe Price reported Q4 2020 revenues of $1.73 billion, 18% higher than a year earlier, while adjusted earnings per share were 42% up over a year earlier. It was a good year for the investment manager in terms of asset gathering. In 2020, it had net client inflows of $5.6 billion, finishing the year with $1.47 trillion in assets under management. Its average assets under management in 2020 increased by 12.5%. The company finished 2020 debt-free with $6.2 billion in cash and investments in T.Rowe Price products. That’s up from $5.6 billion a year earlier. As long-term investments go, income investors ought to like T. Rowe Price. S&P Global (SPGI) Source: Shutterstock This isn’t the first time I’ve picked S&P Global as a stock to buy because of its increasing dividend. In April 2020, I picked SPGI stock along with nine other S&P 500 dividend stocks. Since then, it’s up 26%, a respectable, if not spectacular, return over 10 months. On Jan. 27, it announced that it was increasing its quarterly dividend by 15% to 77 cents from 67 cents. S&P Global has paid a dividend each year since 1937 and increased its annual dividend for 48 consecutive years. In 2020, SPGI returned $1.8 billion to shareholders, including $645 million for dividends and $1.16 billion in share repurchases, no mean feat during a pandemic. “Increasing the dividend demonstrates our confidence and optimism in the continued strength of our cash flow generation and financial position,” said Douglas L. Peterson, CEO of S&P Global. “Returning cash to shareholders remains a cornerstone of our shareholder value proposition.” 8 Electric Vehicle Stocks That Are More Than Just a Fad It has a very attractive FCF yield of 4.2% based on TTM FCF of $3.49 billion and an $82.34 billion enterprise value. Open Text (OTEX) Source: Shutterstock One of two Canadian companies that I’ve chosen for this article, Open Text is a cloud-based software company whose products and solutions help manage and utilize their information. The last year has not been kind to shareholders. Open Text stock’s generated a 52-week total return of just 2.5%, well below its software application peers, who gained 55.8% over the past year. However, its latest earnings report delivered hope. Excluding currency, the company reported recurring revenue of $674 million in Q2 2021, 19.5% higher than a year earlier. At the same time, its free cash flow was 46.5% higher to $275 million. Its free cash flow on a TTM basis is $1.07 billion for an FCF yield of 6.9% based on an enterprise value of $15.5 billion. That FCF yield’s approaching value territory. On Feb. 4, Open Text announced its March 2021 dividend would be $0.2008 a share, 15% higher than a year earlier. FirstService (FSV) Source: Shutterstock FirstService is the second of my Canadian picks of dividend stocks. The provider of residential property management and property services has been on my favorites list for some time. In December, I put FSV on my list of Canadian stocks to own that make money from America. On Feb. 4, FirstService announced it was increasing its quarterly dividend by 10% from $0.15 to $0.165. The annual payment of 66 cents yields a meager 0.4%. However, you won’t be sorry for owning its stock. It’s got a five-year annualized total return of 32.8%, almost three times the return of the U.S. markets as a whole. The dividend increase is FirstService’s fifth consecutive year upping it by 10% or more. Highlights of fiscal 2020 include a 15% increase in revenues to $2.77 billion, while its adjusted earnings per share were up 15% year-over-year to $3.46. “We capped off the year with a very strong fourth quarter, largely driven by organic growth,” said CEO Scott Patterson. “We are proud of our performance throughout 2020, demonstrating strength and stability in the face of the pandemic, and we look forward to capitalizing on our growth opportunities as the environment improves.” This could be the best fly-under-the-radar dividend stock available. On the date of publication, Will Ashworth did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. Will Ashworth has written about investments full-time since 2008. Publications where he’s appeared include InvestorPlace, The Motley Fool Canada, Investopedia, Kiplinger, and several others in both the U.S. and Canada. He particularly enjoys creating model portfolios that stand the test of time. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia. At the time of this writing Will Ashworth did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. More From InvestorPlace Why Everyone Is Investing in 5G All WRONG Top Stock Picker Reveals His Next Potential Winner It doesn’t matter if you have $500 in savings or $5 million. Do this now. #1 Play to Profit from Biden’s Presidency The post 10 Dividend Stocks Increasing Their Payouts appeared first on InvestorPlace.

‘Shoe drops’ for Aussies amid crypto surge

The skyrocketing price of Bitcoin has spurred an uptick in cryptocurrency investment among Australians looking for a financial safe haven and hedge against inflation, analysts say.

Driven by investors seeking returns amid low interest rates and a weakening US dollar, cryptocurrency speculation has boomed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The value of Bitcoin has tripled since November, the start of its most recent rally, and lifted more than eightfold since March 2020. It now has a market capitalisation of more than $US1 trillion.

It comes after finder.com.au data this month showed a quarter of Australians either own or plan to own cryptocurrency by the end of 2021, primarily as a means by which to achieve capital growth.

Millennials were 11 times more likely than baby boomers to own or plan to own cryptocurrency in 2021, finder.com.au also found.

Cryptocurrency exchange BTC Markets chief executive Caroline Bowler said her platform had experienced a 40 per cent jump in onboarding rates from the first half of 2020 to the second half.

She said a variety of users participated on her exchange, from traders buying in and out of positions across the day to those holding cryptocurrency for the long term.

And while cryptocurrencies experienced large swings in value on a day-to-day basis, Ms Bowler believed such volatility would temper as larger investors gain exposure to the asset class.

That includes Elon Musk-led electric car maker Tesla, which earlier this month purchased $US1.5 billion in Bitcoin and announced it would soon begin accepting the cryptocurrency as payment for its products.

“We predicted at the start of January 2020 that (it) would be the year of mainstream adoption, where the shoe would suddenly drop,” Ms Bowler told AAP.

“People are becoming increasingly comfortable and seeing cryptocurrencies and digital assets more broadly as a longer-term investment strategy, an asset they can grow for their future.”

Story continues

US investment bank JPMorgan last month said the value of Bitcoin could rise as high as $US146,000 if it becomes established as a safe haven asset to rival gold.

But the bank also argued the speed of Bitcoin’s appreciation is unsustainable.

Curtin University finance lecturer Vincent Chang told AAP the rise in the value of Bitcoin was reminiscent of the late-1990s dot-com boom, with uninformed investors “following the herd” amid the promise of massive capital growth.

That boom ultimately resulted in a crash, and people losing their investments.

“The amount of transactions that warrant this value of Bitcoin is really scary,” Dr Chang said.

“If (people) have disposable income, go for it, but you’ve got to let it go at the right time … for people getting something for the long term, I’d suggest they be careful, know what they’re getting into.”

The value of Bitcoin sat just shy of $71,700 at 1320 (AEDT) on Saturday, according to BTC Markets.

With Reuters

Are cryptocurrencies the future of money or just fringe players?

The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021 is among the list of bills to be presented in this Parliament session. While its contents are unknown, it touches upon two things:

1. Initiating laws to make it easier for RBI to create its own CBDC (central bank digital currency)

2. Banning ‘private crypto assets’ with some exceptions

We laud the government’s intent towards creating a CBDC. Several central banks around the world have been working on CBDC, and India can’t be sitting on the sidelines while other countries experiment and launch their own digital currency. CBDC will reduce the cost of providing financial services and lead to greater innovations that will empower faster business operations globally.

Also Read: What is Cryptocurrency Bill 2021; how it will impact bitcoin investors

However, the second part, which mentions banning ‘private crypto assets’ is concerning. It’s an incorrect term fuelled with misconceptions about crypto. Bitcoin, Ether, etc. are public crypto assets built on public blockchains and have their own specific use cases.

It’s also a misconception that CBDCs will render other crypto assets useless. They are digitised rupee, whereas crypto assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum have their own use cases. People use Bitcoin as a store of value, and Ethereum’s smart contracts to create decentralised applications (DApps). While CBDC would be helpful, it solves completely different problems compared to what existing crypto assets solve. Every blockchain needs its own native token to operate to maintain the sanctity of the ecosystem.

Look at the crypto ecosystem as the internet and each crypto asset as a website. The government having its own website does not mean citizens and businesses cannot create their own websites as well.

Crypto is the financial internet of the future, and global decentralised apps would be built on blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Over 1 crore Indians are already saving, earning, and investing in this thriving global crypto economy. Banning it would be like banning the Internet in 1990s which will set India back by years while the rest of the world moves forward.

Also Read: Inter-ministerial group recommends ban on Bitcoin, private cryptocurrency in India: FM

Next Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube will be built on decentralised platforms like Ethereum. To use it, Indians will have to pay in Ether. But more importantly, the next Facebook or WhatsApp could be built by an Indian startup on Ethereum. India’s technological talent has the potential to accomplish this. But such a ban could hamper the formation and growth of the next billion-dollar company out of India.

We are all well aware of the devastating impact that COVID-19 has had on the Indian economy. Despite this, crypto has been generating jobs across a variety of functions in India and abroad. As of today, over 300 startups are generating tens of thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue and taxes. A blanket ban will not only adversely affect investors, but also honest businesses, the employment of thousands of people, and the economy.

Before passing any ban in haste, the government should also take a cue from developed countries like the US, UK, Switzerland, Japan, and New Zealand, etc. which are trying to regulate crypto assets. We have examples of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issuing a letter allowing US banks to interact with crypto, CTFC classifying Bitcoin and Ether as commodities, Germany allowing banks to buy/sell crypto, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) talking about regulation of Global Stablecoin (GSC), and many more.

Also Read: ‘Bitcoin will touch $100,000 soon, it’s not a bubble,’ say cryptocurrency experts

Regulatory clarity has also prompted top global fintech giants and institutions like pension funds, unions, and endowments, etc. to hedge their investments with Bitcoin. For instance, Tesla has recently bought $1.5 Billion worth of Bitcoin, Nasdaq-listed MicroStrategy has bought over $425 million worth of Bitcoin, PayPal allows all of its around 350 million users access to buy crypto assets on its platform, MasterCard has announced bringing crypto onto its network, Square has invested $50 million in Bitcoin, and many more. In comparison, India has lesser institutional participation, and regulatory uncertainty is to be blamed for this. A blanket ban will further deprive Indian companies of participating in this technological revolution.

Industry participants understand the ground realities of crypto and welcome positive regulations. But a blanket ban is something that will harm the entire country’s financial and technology ecosystem.

That being said, positive regulations will give crypto adoption a big boost in India, leading to more job creation and increase in the tax revenue for the government. It will also foster innovation and fight crime at the same time. The government should take notice and hold discussions with the crypto industry of India before moving ahead with regulations for this sector.