NetApp (NASDAQ: NTAP ) has instituted an enhanced shareholder capital-return plan consisting of another $1.6 billion in stock repurchases over the next three years and a $0.15-per-share quarterly dividend, the company announced yesterday.
The $1.6 billion stock buyback program is in addition to the $1.4 billion remaining in NetApp's existing stock repurchase initiative. The $3 billion total in stock repurchases to be completed in the next three years includes $2 billion in the next 12 months, which includes $1 billion in the next four months.
NetApp also announced that shareholders of record on July 11 will receive a dividend equal to $0.15 a share, payable on July 23. The company said it intends to increase the dividend over time.
NetApp also said it has undertaken a "realignment of resources and restructuring" that will result in a reduction of its global workforce by an estimated 900 employees.The company has about 12,100 full-time employees, so 900 is about 7.4%. The job cuts will result in approximately $50 million to $60 million in pre-tax charges.
Top 10 Dividend Companies To Buy For 2014: Psychemedics Corporation(PMD)
Psychemedics Corporation provides testing services for the detection of abused substances through the analysis of hair samples primarily in the United States. The company provides commercial testing and confirmation by mass spectrometry using various practices for cocaine; marijuana; PCP; methamphetamine, including Ecstasy; and opiates comprising heroin, hydrocodone, hydromorphone, and oxycodone. Its tests provide information that indicates the approximate amount of drug ingested, as well as historical data, which shows a pattern of individual drug used over a period of time. The company offers its services to employers for applicant and employee testing, as well as to physicians, treatment professionals, law enforcement agencies, school administrators, parents concerned about their children?s drug use, and other individuals or entities engaged in business where drug use or potential drug use is an issue. Psychemedics markets its corporate drug testing services primarily t hrough its own sales force; and home drug testing service, PDT-90, through the Internet and retail distributors. The company was founded in 1985 and is based in Acton, Massachusetts.
Top 10 Dividend Companies To Buy For 2014: Wisconsin Energy Corporation (WEC)
Wisconsin Energy Corporation engages in the generation, distribution, and sale of electric energy and steam. The company also involves in the purchase, distribution, and sale of natural gas to retail customers, as well as in the transportation of customer-owned natural gas in Wisconsin. It generates electricity from coal, natural gas, wind, and hydro sources. The company offers its services under ?We Energies? name. It serves approximately 1,120,200 electric customers in Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan; approximately 1,064,500 gas customers in Wisconsin; and approximately 460 steam customers in metropolitan Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In addition, the company invests and develops in real estate properties, including business parks and other commercial real estate projects primarily in southeastern Wisconsin. It provides electric utility service to industries, such as mining, paper, foundry, food products, and machinery production, as well as to retail chains. The c ompany was founded in 1981 and is based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Dividend Stocks Online]
Rating: 97/100. Wisconsin Energy Corp has a dividend yield of 3.2% and a 5 year dividend growth rate of 18%. It has raised its dividend for 8 consecutive years and has a payout ratio of 49%. WEC has a 3 year net income growth rate of 10.8% and the stock is up over 16% in the last year. We would like to see a higher dividend yield on this name but we do like the rate of dividend increases.
Top 5 Undervalued Stocks To Invest In 2014: Summit State Bank(SSBI)
Summit State Bank operates as a community bank in Sonoma, Napa, San Francisco, and Marin Counties in California. It offers deposit accounts, such as transaction accounts, money market accounts, savings accounts, time deposit accounts, business checking accounts, time certificates of deposit, sweep accounts, and specialized deposit accounts, including professional, small business packaged, and tiered accounts for larger deposits, and Keogh and IRA accounts. The company also provides commercial and industrial lines of credit and term loans, credit lines to individuals, equipment loans, real estate and construction loans, small business loans, and business lines of credit; consumer loans, including auto loans, mortgage loans, home improvement loans, and home equity lines of credit; and loans for accounts receivable and inventory financing, loans to agriculture-related businesses, and equipment and expansion financing programs. In addition, it offers banking by appointment, on line and telephone banking services, direct payroll and social security deposits, letters of credit, access to national automated teller machine networks, courier services, safe deposit boxes, night depository facilities, notary services, travelers? checks, lockbox, and banking by mail. Further, the company, through its subsidiary, Alto Service Corporation, provides deed of trust services. It serves small-to medium-sized businesses, professionals and professional associations, entrepreneurs, high net worth families, foundations, estates, and individual consumers. The company operated five offices in Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, and Healdsburg. Summit State Bank was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in Santa Rosa, California.
Top 10 Dividend Companies To Buy For 2014: CPFL Energia S.A.(CPL)
CPFL Energia S.A., through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, distribution, and sale of electricity in Brazil. It generates electricity through hydroelectric, thermal, biomass, and wind power plants. The company also involves in the provision of energy commercialization, consultancy, and advisory services to agents in the energy sector; manufacture, commercialization, rental, and maintenance of electromechanical equipment; and provision of administrative services, as well as telephone answering services. It has an installed generating capacity of 2,309 MW. The company was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Louis Navellier]
It is a well-known fact that electricity consumption grows faster than the rate of growth of the economy. This is because as people build their wealth, they consume more. They buy bigger houses, they get more appliances and technology and such. Also, as industries enter a growth phase, they tend to use more power.
Because of the above characteristics, electric utilities in emerging markets are the first to see their businesses flourish. Brazil’s CPFL Energia S.A. (NYSE: CPL) distributes electricity to 6.4 million customers in about 570 communities, primarily in the states of Sao Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul. CPFL Energia also owns hydroelectric power plants and trades wholesale power in the open market and offers energy management services. Management estimates show that the company provides about 13% of Brazil’s electricity.
The company currently has a 6.9% dividend yield and should also benefit from a strong “currency tailwind” from the Brazilian real. The Brazilian real is a very strong currency as the central bank there maintains the highest real interest rates among major emerging economies. The shares offer a rare combination of both a high dividend yield and high growth rates, which makes them a great buy. Currently trading around $88, buy CPL on a pullback.
- [By David Sterman]
Market Value: $12 billion
Fall from 52-week high: 38%Utility stocks and growth stocks are rarely mentioned in the same sentence. Yet when it comes to Brazil, growth is everywhere. Even this regional power provider is posting solid growth in tandem with a fast-growing middle class. Sales grew from $8 billion at the end of 2006 to $12 last year. Profit growth hasn't kept pace, largely because the company is still investing heavily to expand capacity. When those investments catch up, CPFL will finally be able to boost its dividend, which has been stuck around $1.30 a share for each of the past three years. That's good for a 5% yield now, and likely a higher dividend yield when the current capital spending program winds down.
- [By Bryan Perry]
Hydropower accounts for nearly 80% of all electricity generated in Brazil and CPFL Energia S.A. (NYSE: CPL) is the largest electric utility in Brazil’s capital city of San Paulo. With a market cap approaching $12 billion and an annual growth rate of around 20%, it’s truly one of Latin America’s premier big-cap growth stocks and should provide consistent expansion and steady dividends as the Brazilian story continues to unfold.
Shares of CPL pay in May and again in October. Unlike traditional domestic utility dividend policies that strive to maintain dividend payouts at a stable rate, CPL’s dividend rate fluctuates every quarter in relation to the performance of the bottom line. This makes for a more interesting ride on your capital invested — not knowing how much the dividend will be from payout to payout.
With a stabilized economy under the current political system and growing demand for electricity to support San Paulo’s burgeoning growth prospects, CPL is a high-dividend value stock investors should seek to own on any bouts of weakness. Utilities within emerging markets are steeped in a history of paying out luxurious dividends in order to attract foreign capital. By sporting a dividend yield that varies from 6.5% to 8.5% income investors can revisit owning high-growth utilities during an industrial revolution, similar to the phenomenal returns that utilities provided during the U.S. industrial revolution. Buy CPL under $80.
Top 10 Dividend Companies To Buy For 2014: Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation(RL)
Ralph Lauren Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, marketing, and distribution of lifestyle products. The company offers men?s, women?s, and children?s clothing; and accessories comprising footwear, eyewear, watches, jewelry, hats, and belts, as well as leather goods, including handbags and luggage. It also provides products for homes, including bedding and bath products, furniture, fabric and wallpaper, paint, tabletop, and giftware; and fragrance products for women men. In addition, the company licenses its products, such as men?s sportswear, men?s tailored clothing, men?s underwear and sleepwear, eyewear, fragrances, cosmetics, and color and skin care products. It offers its products under the Polo by Ralph Lauren, Ralph Lauren Purple Label, Ralph Lauren Women?s Collection, Black Label, Blue Label, Lauren by Ralph Lauren, RRL, RLX, Rugby, Ralph Lauren Childrenswear, American Living, Chaps, and Club Monaco brand names. Ralph Lauren sells its products to department stores, specialty stores, and golf and pro shops; full-price retail stores, factory retail stores, and concessions-based shop-within-shops; and online through RalphLauren.com and Rugby.com. As of April 3, 2010, it operated 179 full-price retail stores and 171 factory stores worldwide, as well as 281 concessions-based shop-within-shops and 2 e-commerce Websites. The company was formerly known as Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation and changed its name to Ralph Lauren Corporation in August 2011. Ralph Lauren Corporation was founded in 1967 and is based in New York, New York.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Kathy Kristof]
Ralph Lauren has been a force in high-end fashion threads for more than 40 years. But Ralph Lauren Corp. recently launched a luxury accessory line that makes Coach products seem downright affordable. With handbags, for instance, retailing for up to $22,500, the brand is aimed at the truly rich, not the merely affluent. But the New York City–based fashion house also offers more-affordable clothing and accessories under its Polo and Chaps labels. UBS analyst Michael Binetti believes the combination of super-chic and more moderately priced fare will lead to big earnings gains in the fiscal year that ends in March 2014.
- [By iStockAnalyst]
The company is one of America's leading lifestyle brands encompassing multiple permutations targeted at specific demographics, usage occasions and price points. Merchandise is available at approximately 10,000 retail locations throughout the world.
RL holds leading market shares in department stores with four key department stores accounting for about 40 percent of its wholesale volume and Macy's (the largest wholesale account) for 19 percent. RL competes with Jones Apparel Group, Liz Claiborne and VF Corp., as well as private label offerings, which garner about a third of total apparel purchases and are an important differentiator for retailers. RL also sells directly to consumers through 367 specialty retail locations globally, spanning the luxury, mid-market and factory channels and at RalphLauren.com and Rugby.com.
The company's well-managed portfolio of strong brands, long track record of successful operating performance, and relatively stable profitability over recent years despite weak retail conditions make me bullish on the stock. Moreover, I see the stock benefiting from continued development and expansion of accessories, denim and home categories as well as brand re-positioning in China.
- [By Pat Racaniello]
Polo Ralph Lauren (RL) is one of the leading retailers and design houses known across the globe, and in a survey done of all major retailers in the US, RL ranked in the top 10 retailers in terms of sales per square foot. The company has beaten out other major high-end brands including Urban Outfitters (URBN) and Aeropostale (ARO) on the same metrics, registering over 9% year on year increase for sales per square foot.
The stock is at $129.26 currently, with the 52 week range of $74.5 - $141.71, currently trading near the 50 and 100 day moving averages and well above the 200 days, all of which indicate an upward trend. The price earnings is just about at par with the industry at 20 times, which although is on the higher side, the stock has enough fundamental momentum to push it upward.
Top 10 Dividend Companies To Buy For 2014: ConocoPhillips(COP)
ConocoPhillips operates as an integrated energy company worldwide. The company?s Exploration and Production (E&P) segment explores for, produces, transports, and markets crude oil, bitumen, natural gas, liquefied natural gas, and natural gas liquids. Its Midstream segment gathers, processes, and markets natural gas; and fractionates and markets natural gas liquids in the United States and Trinidad. The company?s Refining and Marketing (R&M) segment purchases, refines, markets, and transports crude oil and petroleum products, such as gasolines, distillates, and aviation fuels. Its Chemicals segment manufactures and markets petrochemicals and plastics. This segment offers olefins and polyolefins, including ethylene, propylene, and other olefin products; aromatics products, such as benzene, styrene, paraxylene, and cyclohexane, as well as polystyrene and styrene-butadiene copolymers; and various specialty chemical products comprising organosulfur chemicals, solvents, catalyst s, drilling chemicals, mining chemicals, and engineering plastics and compounds. The company?s Emerging Businesses segment develops new technologies and businesses. It focuses on power generation; and technologies related to conventional and nonconventional hydrocarbon recovery, refining, alternative energy, biofuels, and the environment. This segment also offers E-Gas, a gasification technology producing high-value synthetic gas. ConocoPhillips was founded in 1917 and is based in Houston, Texas.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Dave Friedman]
Institutional investors bought 49,282,090 shares and sold 75,744,640 shares, for a net of -26,462,550 shares. This net represents 1.79% of common shares outstanding. The number of shares outstanding is 1,479,330,000. The shares recently traded at $65.51 and the company’s market capitalization is $89,946,840,000.00. About the company: ConocoPhillips is an international, integrated energy company which operates in several business segments. The Company explores for and produces petroleum, and refines, markets, supplies, and transports petroleum. ConocoPhillips also gathers and processes natural gas, and produces and distributes chemicals and plastics.
- [By Fabian]
ConocoPhilips(COP) is a close second. This is a Warren Buffett darling that will benefit from its spinoff of refining assets some time in 2012.
Conoco also continues to pay a consistent and reliable 3.75%. Note that COP has underperformed the rest of the sector recently. Correlations are normally so close that such an underperformance by one stock can point the way to value.
Top 10 Dividend Companies To Buy For 2014: Qualstar Corporation(QBAK)
Qualstar Corporation designs, develops, manufactures, and sells automated magnetic tape libraries used to store, retrieve, and manage electronic data primarily in network computing environments worldwide. Its tape libraries consists of cartridge tape drives, tape cartridges, and robotics to move the cartridges from their storage locations to the tape drives under software control. The tape libraries also provide data storage solutions for organizations requiring backup, recovery, and archival storage of critical electronic information. The company also offers ancillary products related to its tape libraries, such as tape media, tape magazines, cables, bar code labels, and fiber channel adapters. In addition, it designs, develops, and sells switching power supplies that are used to convert alternate current line voltage to direct current voltages for use in electronic equipment, such as telecommunications equipment, servers, routers, switches, lighting, and gaming devices. Qualstar Corporation sells its tape drive products primarily to value added resellers and original equipment manufacturers, as well as switching power supplies primarily to original equipment manufacturers, contract manufacturers, and distributors. The company was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Simi Valley, California.
Top 10 Dividend Companies To Buy For 2014: Telecom Corporation of New Zealand Limited(NZT)
Telecom Corporation of New Zealand Limited, together with its subsidiaries, provides telecommunications services, as well as information, communication, and technology services in New Zealand and Australia. Its products and services include local, national, international, and value-added telephone services; mobile services; data, broadband, and Internet services; IT consulting, implementation, and procurement services; and equipment sales and installation services. The company also involves in the retail of telecommunications products and services. It serves residential, business, and government customers. Telecom Corporation of New Zealand Limited was founded in 1987 and is based in Auckland, New Zealand.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Chuck Carlson]
Trading for just seven times earnings and yielding a 10% dividend, it's also nice to know that it's a monopoly in New Zealand. And, on top of that, with gold prices soaring, it's worth noting that the currency most closely correlated with gold is the New Zealand currency (affectionately known as the Kiwi dollar), making the company a nice backdoor play on gold.
Top 10 Dividend Companies To Buy For 2014: Scana Corporation(SCG)
SCANA Corporation and its subsidiaries engage in the generation, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity to retail and wholesale customers in South Carolina. It owns nuclear, coal, hydro, oil and gas, and biomass generating facilities. The company also purchases, sells, and transports natural gas; offers energy-related risk management services; acquires, owns, and provides financing for nuclear fuel, fossil fuel, and emission allowances; and offers service contracts on home appliances, and heating and air conditioning units. In addition, SCANA Corporation owns two liquefied natural gas plants, including one located near Charleston, and the other in Salley, South Carolina; and provides tower site construction, management, and rental services in South Carolina and North Carolina. As of December 31, 2010, the company supplied electricity to approximately 660,000 customers; and natural gas to approximately 482,000 residential, commercial, and industrial customers i n North Carolina, and 313,500 customers in South Carolina, as well as to approximately 460,000 customers in Georgia. Further, SCANA Corporation owns and operates a 500-mile fiber optic telecommunications network and Ethernet network, and data center facilities in South Carolina. Through a joint venture, it builds, manages, and leases communications towers with interest in 2,280 miles of fiber in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia. The company?s retail customers comprise municipalities, electric cooperatives, other investor-owned utilities, registered marketers, and federal and state electric agencies. It primarily serves chemicals, educational services, paper products, food products, lumber and wood products, health services, textile manufacturing, rubber and miscellaneous plastic products, and fabricated metal products industries. The company is based in Cayce, South Carolina.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jeff Reeves]
SCANA Corporation (NYSE: SCG) is a regional utility serving over 300,000 customers in South Carolina.
Current Yield: 4.6% ($1.94 a share annually)
Dividend History: In July 2010, the company paid 47.5 cents a share for its quarterly dividend. This year, it will pay out 48.5 cents a share in July. That’s a 2% increase. Dividends have been paid since 1946.
Dividend Outlook: According to Bloomberg, SCANA has a 3-year expected dividend growth rate of 2.5%. Not blockbuster, but respectable.
Recent Performance: SCG stock is up about 11% in the last year, lagging the broader market a bit. However, shares are very close to a new 52-week high.
Strong Outlook for Shares: Utility stocks are safe-haven investments, and while some money has been moving out of these sleepy income plays in the last year, the recent focus on U.S. debt woes and fears of inflation are driving some traders back to low-risk plays like utilities. SCANA may not be sexy and won’t double your money, but shares should stay strong.
Top 10 Dividend Companies To Buy For 2014: Windstream Corporation(WIN)
Windstream Corporation provides communications and technology solutions in the United States. The company offers various solutions, including IP-based voice and data services, multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) networking, data center and managed services, hosting services, and communications systems to businesses and government agencies. It also provides high-speed Internet, voice, and digital television services to residential customers primarily located in rural areas. The company?s data services include data center and managed hosting, MPLS networking, and dedicated access, as well as high-speed Internet to business customers; integrated solutions consist of multiple voice and data services delivered over an IP connection; voice services comprise local and long distance, call waiting, caller identification, and voicemail; and special access services include point-to-point switching arrangements for voice and data traffic. In addition, it provides wholesale services, which primarily include voice and data services on a wholesale basis to other carriers; usage sensitive services to long distance companies; and other local exchange carriers for access to the network in connection with the completion of long-distance calls, as well as reciprocal compensation received from wireless and other local connecting carriers for the use of its facilities. As of June 30, 2011, the company served approximately 3.3 million access lines, 1.3 million high-speed Internet customers, and operated approximately 60,000 fiber route miles. Windstream Corporation is based in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Harding]
Windstream Corporation (WIN), together with its subsidiaries, provides various telecommunications services primarily in rural areas in the United States. Since 2006 the company has paid 25 cents/share every quarter. Windstream has been unable to cover its dividends from earnings in every year since 2008. One the bright side cash flow from operations has been relatively stable, although the company has ramped up capex spending in recent years. Yield: 7.90%.
- [By Jonas Elmerraji]
Nearest Resistance: $8.20
Nearest Support: $7.90
Catalyst: Earnings MissCommunications company Windstream (WIN) is off 5% this afternoon, shoved lower thanks to an earnings miss. The firm earned 9 cents per share, while analysts' consensus estimate was 11 cents. That falls well short of the 25 cents that management has promised to pay investors in dividends, far from a strong sign that WIN's massive 12.3% dividend yield can remain tenable long-term.
In the nearer-term, the technicals don't look much better. Windream had been looking bullish thanks to an inverse head and shoulders pattern that's been building since back in February. But today's gap down on earnings broke the pattern before it had a chance to complete, scuttling WIN's chances of recapturing highs found at the start of this year. This stock doesn't look pretty right now.
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