Month 110 - Buy Low! 12 A-rated Haven Stocks in the S&P 100 Index that aren’t overpriced - August 2020

Situation: There’s no mystery to saving for retirement. A good working game plan is to divert 15-20% of your monthly income to the purchase of stocks and government bonds, and then keep those assets in a 60:40 balance of stocks:bonds. You can also use any bond substitutes (e.g. gold, T-bills, and utility stock ETFs) that typically hold their value in a stock market crash. Mainly use stock index ETFs for your retirement savings but also buy stock in companies that tend to have an above-market dividend yield. Those “shareholder-friendly payouts” happen because the company has good collateral: Liabilities are protected by Tangible Book Value and a cushion of Cash Equivalents. In other words, avoid stocks issued by companies that have become over-indebted. 

Think of the bonds in your portfolio as the collateral that backs your stocks. So, a good way to start saving for retirement is to over-emphasize collateral-thinking: Dollar-average into the low-cost Vanguard Wellesley Income Fund (VWINX), which is 60% bonds and 40% stocks picked from the Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund ETF (VYM). VWINX has lost money in only 7 of the past 50 years, those losses always being less than 10%. Since its inception on 7/1/1970, VWINX has returned 9.7%/yr vs. 10.8%/yr for the S&P 500 Index with dividends reinvested.

The harder task is to stop putting additional money into stocks that have become overpriced. To do that you have to know how to calculate the Graham Number. Benjamin Graham wrote the first edition of The Intelligent Investor almost 100 years ago. It is hard to read because he uses numbers to express almost every pearl of knowledge. The “Graham Number” is simply the rational market price for any stock at any given moment, calculated as the square root of: 15 times earnings for the Trailing Twelve Months (TTM) multiplied by 1.5 times Book Value for the most recent quarter (mrq) multiplied by 22.5 (i.e., 1.5 times 15). So, the Graham Number is nothing more than what the stock’s price would be if it were to reflect a P/E of 15 and a Book Value of 1.5.  The purpose of doing this calculation on your stocks is to know their underlying worth. Benjamin Graham also explained why the 7-year P/E should not exceed 25, assuming that a single year’s P/E (TTM) should not exceed 20, which is an earnings yield of 5%/yr: In a normal inflationary environment, a company’s earnings are likely to grow 3% to 3.5% per year. After 7 years, a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 3.2%/yr takes a P/E of 20 to 25.

My definition of an Overpriced Stock is one that a) has a market price (50-day Moving Average) that is more than 2.5 times the Graham Number and b) has a 7-year P/E that is more than 30. Looking at the 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), I see that 5 A-rated stocks are overpriced (see Column AC-AH in Comparisons section of Table):

     Microsoft (MSFT), 

     Apple (AAPL), 

     Nike (NKE), 

     Coca-Cola (KO) and 

     Procter & Gamble (PG). 

Stocks get overpriced because they become popular with investors, leading to a Crowded Trade. Assuming that your goal is to Buy Low, why would you continue to add money to any of these 5 stocks that you already own? You would only do so because you harbor a Positive Sentiment regarding their future prospects, In other words, you would be making a speculative investment (“gambling”). To avoid gambling and instead employ a “risk-off” approach to buying individual stocks, you’ll need clear definitions for A-rated stocks and for Haven stocks to supplement the numbers-based system used above to avoid Overpriced stocks. You’ll also want to favor stocks issued by large companies, since those typically have multiple product lines and unencumbered lines of credit.

Mission: Define “A-rated stocks” and “Haven stocks”. Analyze A-rated Haven stocks in the S&P 100 Index that aren’t overpriced by using our Standard Spreadsheet.

Execution: see Table.

Administration: A-rated stocks are those that have a) an above market dividend yield (see portfolio of Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund ETF - VYM), b) positive Book Value, c) positive earnings (TTM), d) an S&P rating on the company’s bonds that is A- or better, e) an S&P rating on the company’s stock that is B+/M or better, and f) a 20+ year trading history. 

Haven Stocks are A-rated stocks issued by companies that aren’t encumbered with risk factors that are likely to threaten the company’s solvency during a recession. So, companies in the Real Estate Industry (i.e., REITs) and companies in the Financial Services Industry (i.e., banks) are excluded, as are companies with negative Tangible Book Value if Total Debt is more than 2.5 times EBITDA (TTM) or Total Debt is more than 2.0 times Shareholder Equity. 

Bottom Line: With the S&P 500 Index being priced at 29 times TTM earnings (see SPY at Line 28 and Column K in the Table), the stock market is overpriced relative to its long-term P/E of 15-16. But its 50-day Moving Average price is still less than 2.5 times its Graham Number (i.e., 2.1), and its 7-yr P/E is still less than 30 (i.e., 28), per Columns AC and AE at Line 28 in the Table. Using our example of the DJIA, the timely thing to do would be to avoid buying more shares of the overpriced A-rated stocks (MSFT, NKE, PG, KO, AAPL) but to continue buying more shares of SPY. This strategy allows you to retain exposure to volatility in stocks that are Overpriced (because of their future prospects) while using diversification to reduce your risk of serious loss.

Risk Rating: 5 (where 10-yr US Treasury Notes = 1, S&P 500 Index = 5, gold bullion = 10)

Full Disclosure: I dollar-average into NEE, INTC, WMT, JNJ, CAT, and also own shares of MRK, CSCO, TGT, DUK, SO, MMM. From late February through April 2020, I added shares of 6 new companies to my brokerage account--Comcast (CMCSA), Costco Wholesale (COST), Home Depot (HD), Merck (MRK), Disney (DIS) and Target (TGT), while selling shares of Norfolk Southern (NSC) and United Parcel Service (UPS). Regarding the 5 overpriced but A-rated stocks in the DJIA, I’ve stopped dollar-averaging into KO but continue to dollar-average into MSFT, NKE and PG because I expect those companies to continue to dominate their competitors. I have no plans to sell the shares of KO and AAPL that I already own.

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Month 101 - Moving the Needle: A-rated S&P 100 Companies in “The 2 and 8 Club” - November 2019

Situation: You’re now in your 50s. The “sunset years” loom ahead. While you have the advantage of being a more experienced investor, you’re losing time and may retire short of where you need to be. Even now, you need to have a “nest egg” at least 6 times your current salary. Your retirement account is likely to be 60% in stocks but that allocation falls to 50% by the time you retire. You’ll need to hold safer but more effective stocks. “The 2 and 8 Club” is one way to do that: buy stocks that carry both a higher dividend yield and a faster rate of dividend growth compared to the S&P 500 Index (SPY), i.e., stocks that yield at least 2%/yr and grow dividends at least 8%/yr. For safety, confine your picks to stocks issued by “mega-cap” companies in the S&P 100 Index. Why those? Because they’re large enough to have multiple product lines, i.e., they’re more able to respond to diverse market conditions. And, they’re required to have active hedging positions at the Chicago Board Options Exchange. Those “put and call” stock options are side-bets made by professional traders, which makes “price discovery” for the underlying stocks more rational. 

Mission: Use our standard spreadsheet to analyze companies in the S&P 100 Index that a) issue debt rated at least A- by S&P, b) issue stock rated B+/M or better by S&P,  c) are listed in the U.S. version of the FTSE High Dividend Yield Index--marketed by Vanguard Group as VYM, d) have the 16+ year trading record that is needed for quantitative analysis by the BMW Method, and e) have grown their dividend at least 8%/yr for the past 5 years. 

Execution: see the 13 companies at the top of this week’s Table.

Administration: Let’s explain the Basic Quality Screen (see Column AH in the Table). The idea is to give readers a quick take on which stocks are worthwhile to consider as a new BUY. The maximum score is 4. Overpriced stocks (see Column AF) are penalized half a point. Reading from left to right across the spreadsheet, the first opportunity to score a point is found in Column K. Stocks that have a 16-yr price appreciation that is more than 1/3rd the risk of ownership (Column M) score one point. A negative value in Column S for Tangible Book Value (highlighted in purple) results in a loss of one point if the debt load is either greater than 2.5 times EBITDA (Column R) or LT-debt represents more than 50% of the company’s total capitalization (Column Q). In Columns U and V, all 13 companies earn 2 points because their S&P ratings meet the requirement of being at least A- for the company’s debt and B+/M for the company’s stock. In Column Z, one point is earned if the stock appears likely to meet our Required Rate of Return over the next 10 years, which is 10%/yr, i.e., the dollar value is not highlighted in purple.

Bottom Line: As you approach retirement, look more closely at the stocks and ETFs in your portfolio. Those equities will need to be half your retirement savings. Where possible, choose stocks issued by large companies that offer higher dividend yields and faster dividend growth than the S&P 500 Index. Five of this week’s stocks are worth researching for possible purchase because of being rated 3 or 4 on our Basic Quality Screen (see Column AH): CSCO, JPM, USB, CAT and BLK.   

Risk Rating: 6 (where 10-yr US Treasury Notes = 1, S&P 500 Index = 5, and gold bullion = 10)

Full Disclosure: I dollar-average into NEE, JPM, USB, CAT and IBM, and also own shares of AMGN, CSCO, PEP, BLK and MMM.

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Month 97 - Members of "The 2 and 8 Club" in the Russell 1000 Index - July 2019

Situation: The idea here is to “beat the market” by making selective purchases of individual stocks. This is a delusion, given that the odds are less than 1 in 20 that a professional trader will (over any 10-year period) beat VOO--the ticker for the lowest cost S&P 500 Index Fund, which has an Expense Ratio of 0.03%. VOO is marketed by Vanguard. 

Since you have to actively trade stocks to even come close to beating VOO, trading costs will relentlessly keep you from beating the market. Those costs include brokerage fees, commissions, research time & expense, and capital gains taxes. So, this month’s blog is about an interesting game, like tennis or marriage: When you lose, you’re a fool if you take it personally.  

Mission: Run our Standard Spreadsheet for high-quality stocks in the Russell 1000 Index that have a good and growing dividend. High quality means an S&P bond rating of A- or better. A good dividend is one that gets the stock into the Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund (VYM). A growing dividend is one that has been 8.0%/yr (or better) over the past 5 years.

Execution: see Table.

Bottom Line: You’re toast. It isn’t going to happen. But you’ll come close to beating the market if you avoid making abstract considerations and instead follow concrete markers, such as avoiding stocks with a dividend yield plus dividend growth rate of less than 10%. And, find a way to quickly decide whether a stock is overpriced. For example, you can ask your broker if Morningstar rates the stock as being “overvalued”. Or, you can calculate the Graham Number on your smartphone. The Graham Number is what the stock’s price would be at 15 times Earnings Per Share for the trailing 12 months (TTM), multiplied Book Value for the most recent quarter (mrq). This is a power function (15 times 1.5 equals 22.5). So, you have to multiply those numbers (for the stock in question) by 22.5 before taking the square root, which is the stock’s rational price. If the stock is selling for more than 2.5 times the Graham Number, it is overpriced (see the numbers highlighted in purple at Column AB of the Table). In other words, many investors want to own the stock but relatively few owners want to sell it. You should wait for this fever to break before buying shares.

Risk Rating: 6 (where a 10-year US Treasury Note = 1, S&P 500 Index = 5, and gold = 10)

Full Disclosure: I dollar-average into NEE, JPM, CAT and IBM, and also own shares of CSCO, AMGN, TRV, CMI, MMM and BLK.

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Month 93 - Members of "The 2 and 8 Club" in the S&P 500 Index - Winter 2019 Update

Situation: Some investors are experienced enough to try beating the market, but few tools are available to help them. Business schools professors like to point out that it is a settled issue, with only two routes are available: A stock-picker can either seek information from a company insider (which is illegal) or assume more risk (buy high-beta stocks). The latter route can provide higher returns but those will eventually be eroded by the higher volatility in stock prices. In other words, risk-adjusted returns (at their best) will not beat an S&P 500 Index fund (e.g. VFINX) or ETF (e.g. SPY). 

Mission: Develop an algorithm for investing in high-beta stocks. Use our Standard Spreadsheet for companies likely to have higher quality.

Execution: see Table.

Administration: We call the resulting algorithm “The 2 and 8 Club” because it focuses on companies that a) pay an above-market dividend and b) have grown that dividend at least 8%/yr over the most recent 5 year period. Quality criteria require that a company’s bonds carry an S&P rating of BBB+ or better, and that its common stock carry an S&P rating of B+/M or better. We also require 16 or more years of trading records on a public exchange, so that weekly prices can be analyzed by the “BMW Method”.  We use the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA) as our benchmark, given that it rarely has a dividend yield lower than 2% or a dividend growth rate lower than 8%. And, we use the US companies listed in the Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) High Dividend Yield Index as our only source for stocks paying an above-market dividend. That index is based on the FTSE Russell 1000 Index. The Vanguard Group markets both a mutual fund (VHDYX) and an ETF (VYM) for the ~400 companies in the FTSE High Dividend Yield Index. The same companies are found on each list, and weighted by market capitalization and updated monthly.

Bottom Line: As expected, this algorithm beats the S&P 500 Index (see Columns C, F, K & W) at the expense of greater risk (see Columns D, I, J & M). Its utility lies in risk mitigation (see Columns R & S), where the cutoffs for S&P rankings make these companies above-average for the S&P 500 Index with respect to the risk of bankruptcy. Only 23 companies in the S&P 500 Index qualify for membership in “The 2 and 8 Club”, and only 5 of those are in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (JPM, TRV, CSCO, MMM, IBM). An additional 5 companies are found in the FTSE Russell 1000 Index but have insufficient market capitalization to be included in the S&P 500 Index (WSO, HUBB, SWX, EV, R; see COMPARISONS section in the Table).

Risk Rating: 7 (where 10-Yr US Treasury Notes = 1, S&P 500 Index = 5, gold bullion = 10)

Full Disclosure: I dollar-average into JPM and NEE, and also own shares of TRV, MMM, BLK, IBM, R and CMI.

Caveat Emptor: This week’s blog is addressed to investors who a) have been investing in common stocks for more than 20 years, b) don’t use margin loans, and c) have more than $200,000 available for making such investments. Most investors are best served by maintaining a 50-50 balance between stocks and bonds, e.g. by investing in the total US stock and bond markets (VTI and BND at Lines 30 & 38 in the Table). That 50-50 investment has returned ~8%/yr over the past 10 years and ~5%/yr over the past 5 years. The same result can be found by investing in a balanced mutual fund where stocks and bonds are picked for you: The Vanguard Wellesley Income Fund (VWINX at Line 35 in the Table). Either way, you’re likely to have no more than 2 down years per decade: VWINX has had only 7 down years since 1970. NOTE: all of the stocks in VWINX are picked from the same FTSE High Dividend Yield Index that we use for “The 2 and Club”.

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Week 390 - REITs That Qualify For "The 2 and 8 Club"

Situation: Membership in “The 2 and 8 Club” is based on the FTSE High Dividend Yield Index, which consists of the ~400 companies in the FTSE Russell 1000 Index that reliably pay an above-market dividend. Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) are excluded from the FTSE High Dividend Yield Index because their dividend payouts are variable, being fixed by law at 95% of gross income. But those payouts are usually higher than the yield on an S&P 500 ETF (e.g. SPY), which is ~2%. We are curious as to whether any REITs meet the 5 basic requirements for membership in “The 2 and 8 Club”, and find that there are 4 (see Table). However, REITs are typically “small cap stocks.” Only one of the four in our Table is a large enough company to be included in the FTSE Russell 1000 Index (Simon Property Group; SPG).

Mission: Populate our Standard Spreadsheet for REITs. Select only those that meet the 5 basic requirements for membership in “The 2 and 8 Club”:
   1) above-market dividend yield;
   2) 5-Yr dividend growth of at least 8.0%/yr;
   3) a 16+ year trading record that is analyzed weekly for quantitative metrics by the BMW Method;
   4) an S&P Bond Rating of BBB+ or higher;
   5) an S&P Stock Rating of B+/M or higher.
Add a column for FFO (Funds From Operations; see Column P in the Table), which is a ratio that the REIT Industry substitutes for P/E. 

Execution: see Table.

Bottom Line: Pricing for REITs is negatively correlated with rising interest rates but not as much as you might suspect. This is likely because the dividend yield for most REITs remains above the interest rate on a 10-Yr US Treasury Note. Pricing is more sensitive to the likelihood that the REIT will have enough FCF (Free Cash Flow) to fund dividend payouts (see Column R in the Table). Overall, it is hard to argue against the idea that high-quality REITs are a good “bond substitute.” 

Risk Rating: 4 (where 10-Yr US Treasury Note = 1, S&P 500 Index = 5, gold bullion = 10)

Full Disclosure: I dollar-average into SPG and own shares of KIM.

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Week 377 - Russell 1000 Non-financial Companies With High Sustainability and S&P Ratings

Situation: You’d like information about the durability of your investments. Sustainability is the jargon term that investment professionals have assigned to this topic. The problem is to quantify it by rating the 3 main components: Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG). The Yahoo Finance website now has a heading for sustainability that attempts to do exactly that. The editors of Barron’s also have a recent article looking more closely at the “100 Most Sustainable Companies”, with date suggesting that these may outperform the S&P 500 Index. We’d like to know which of those have also been examined by S&P. Specifically, which of those 100 Most Sustainable Companies have issued bonds that S&P has rated A or better?

Mission: Use our Standard Spreadsheet to analyze all of the Barron’s “100 Most Sustainable Companies” that are on the Russell 1000 List, selecting only the non-financial companies that have an S&P bond rating of A or better, and an S&P stock rating of B+/M or better. To identify stocks that are possibly overpriced, include columns for “Graham Numbers” and “7-Yr P/E”.

Execution: see Table.

Bottom Line: 18 companies meet criteria, 14 of which already appear on our two major lists: “The 2 and 8 Club” (see Week 360); “Blue Chips” (see Week 361). The new companies are Stanley Black & Decker (SWK), WW Grainger (GWW), Colgate-Palmolive (CL) and Deere (DE).

Risk Rating: 6 (where 10-Yr US Treasury Notes = 1, S&P 500 Index = 5, and gold bullion = 10)

Full Disclosure: I dollar-average into MSFT and PG, and also own shares of CSCO and CMI.

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Week 374 - Bet With The House By Picking Companies In The 2 And 8 Club

Situation: In the U.S., capital-intensive industries with strategic importance are tightly regulated (see Week 230). Electric power grids and railroad networks are expensive to install, maintain and upgrade but those chores are absorbed by shareholders in private companies. Regulatory bodies grant these companies monopoly-like pricing power, oversee safety practices, and set rates high enough to pay for maintenance and upgrades. 

Since the Great Recession, international Money Center banks have also come under intense regulation to meet Basel III requirements for sustainability and reduce systemic risks. A more specific definition now replaces Money Center Bank, which is Systemically Important Financial Institution (SIFI). 

Looked at from the shareholder’s point of view, companies in these three industries have enough government regulation (and monopoly-like pricing power) that bankruptcy is no longer a material risk. One downside risk is that the US market for their goods and services is largely saturated. So, significant growth in the “bottom line” requires innovation and international outreach that will be overseen by government regulators. 

Mission: Use our Standard Spreadsheet to highlight members of “The 2 and 8 Club” that are in the Electric Utilities, SIFI banking, and Railroad industries.  

Execution: see Table.

Bottom Line: The safest tactic in gambling is to “bet with the house” whenever you can. Politicians are now in effective control of three industries: Electric utilities, railroads, and international Money Center banks (now called Systemically Important Financial Institutions or SIFIs). These industries are not in danger of being “nationalized” because politicians would much prefer that shareholders (as opposed to taxpayers) put up the large amounts of capital needed to keep these industries safe and effective. 

Risk Rating: 6 (where US Treasury Notes = 1, S&P 500 Index =5, and gold bullion = 10)

Full Disclosure: I dollar-average into NEE and JPM.

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Week 372 - DJIA Companies in “The 2 and 8 Club”

Situation: The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is generally thought to be the most stable reflection of the stock market. As it should be. Those 30 companies are picked by the Managing Editor of the Wall Street Journal to do exactly that. Here at ITR, we have our own, less subjective, measure of stability: companies that pay a good and growing dividend. In other words, companies with a dividend yield and dividend growth rate that are as good (or better than) the DJIA’s ~2% yield and ~8% growth rate. We propose that you pick such stocks out of the DJIA, thinking you’ll just have to do better than you would have done by investing in the Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) for the DJIA (DIA), which is called “Diamonds” for good reason. 

Mission: Run our Standard Spreadsheet for the 8 companies in the DJIA that are members of “The 2 and 8 Club” (see Week 360).

Execution: see Table.

Administration: We have made two changes to “The 2 and 8 Club”: 1) Companies with a BBB+ S&P rating for their bonds are no longer accepted (see Column T in the Table); 2) all companies in the Russell 1000 Index that meet requirements (see Week 327) are included in “The 2 and 8 Club”(see Week 366). So, that phrase no longer refers specifically to companies in the S&P 100 Index.  

Bottom Line: These 8 stocks have performed remarkably well vs. DIA. Total Returns over the past 11 years (see Column C) were 26% greater, Finance Values (see Column E) were 25% better, dividend yields were almost 30% better (see Column G), dividend growth was almost 80 faster (see Column H), and the rate of price appreciation over the past 16 years was more than 70% faster (see Column K). So far so good, but the devil is in the details. We also measure risk. The story there is a bit shocking, even though these very stable companies were able to shake off challenges posed by the recent crash in commodity markets (see Column D). 

Five year price volatility was almost 25% greater (see Column I), P/E was twice as great (see Column J), and quantitative analysis of stock prices over the past 16 years predicts that losses will be almost 40% greater in the next Bear Market (see Column M). In other words, the risk-adjusted returns for these 8 companies are not significantly different than those for the DJIA. This conclusion is consistent with what we were taught in Business School, i.e., there are only two ways for a stock picker to “beat the market.” 1) use insider information (illegal), 2) take on more risk. Your best chance to beat the market without incurring more risk is to invest in the highest quality utilities, beverages, and pharmaceuticals (see Week 367).

Risk Rating: 6 (where US Treasury Notes = 1, S&P 500 Index = 5, gold bullion = 10).

Full Disclosure: I dollar-average into MSFT, JPM, CAT and IBM, and also own shares of TRV, MMM and CSCO.

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Week 367 - Safe and Effective Stocks

Situation: The stock market is becalmed, waiting for wind to fill its sails. "Risk-On" investors seem to be out of ideas, except for a renewal of interest in the energy sector. The bond market is experiencing hard-to-predict volatility. Safe stocks that will grow your money effectively are hard to find. The formula for Net Present Value tells us that more value is found when your original investment is returned to you quickly. Therefore, an “effective” stock is one that pays a good and growing dividend. 

Mission: “Safe stocks” = an oxymoron. Basically, we’re looking for a group of high-quality stocks issued by companies in “defensive” industries (Utilities, HealthCare, Consumer Staples, and Communication Services). “Effective stocks” are those that a) pay an above-market dividend, b) grow that dividend at an above-market rate, and c) have an above-market 16-Yr CAGR. Our reference for the “market” is the Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA). 

Execution: see Table.

Administration: What are “high-quality” stocks? Those are either “Blue Chips” (see Week 361) or members of “The 2 and 8 Club” (see Week 327 and Week 348) plus its Extended Version (see Week 362). “Safe and effective” stocks are those that have no red highlights in Columns D, E, G, I, K, and M of the reference Tables. (Red highlights indicate underperformance vs. DIA.) In addition, we require that the company be a Dividend Achiever, and that its long-term bonds have an S&P rating of A- or better (see Column T).   

Bottom Line: We find that only 5 companies issue “safe and effective” stocks (see Table). Were you to own shares of similar value in all 5, you wouldn’t be gambling. In other words, your risk-adjusted returns would likely “beat the market” by 1-2%/yr over a market cycle. But your transaction costs would also be 1-2% higher vs. owning shares in the leading S&P 500 Index Fund (SPY).  

Risk Rating: 4 (where US Treasury Notes = 1, S&P 500 Index = 5, and gold bullion = 10)

Full Disclosure: I dollar-average into NEE, KO, and JNJ.

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Week 366 - A Capitalization-weighted Watch List for Russell 1000 Companies

Situation: Every stock-picker needs to confine her attention to a manageable list of companies, called a “Watch List.” Here at ITR, the focus is on investing for retirement. So, our interest is in companies that have a higher dividend yield than the S&P 500 Index. Why? Because your original investment will be returned to you faster, which automatically gives your portfolio a higher “net present value” than a portfolio composed of companies that pay either no dividend or a small dividend. Once you’ve retired, you’ll switch from reinvesting dividends to spending dividends.

Mission: Assemble a Watch List composed of companies that are “Blue Chips” (see Week 361), companies that are in “The 2 and 8 Club” (see Week 344), and companies that are in the Extended Version of “The 2 and 8 Club” (see Week 362). 

Execution: see Table.

Bottom Line: If you’re saving for retirement and would like to pick some individual stocks to supplement your index funds, here is an effective and reasonably safe Watch List. However, the mutual funds that pick individual stocks haven’t done very well compared to benchmark index funds. So, your chances of doing well as a stock-picker also aren’t good. But index funds like the SPDR S&P 500 (SPY) expose you to significant downside risk. There is one conservatively managed mutual fund that we think is an excellent retirement investment, the Vanguard Wellesley Income Fund, which is mostly composed of bonds. Your risk of loss from owning VWINX is less than half that from owning SPY; the 10-Yr Total Return is 7.0%/yr vs. 9.0%/yr for SPY.

Risk Rating for our Watch List: 7 (where US Treasury Notes = 1, S&P 500 Index = 5, and gold bullion = 10).

Full Disclosure: I dollar-average into MSFT, JPM, XOM, WMT, PG, KO, IBM, CAT and NEE, and also own shares of GOOGL, CSCO, MCD, MMM, TRV, CMI and ADM.

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Week 362 - “The 2 and 8 Club” (Extended Version) = Non-S&P 100 Companies In The Russell 1000 Index

Situation: The risk of loss from owning small-capitalization stocks vs. large-capitalization stocks is material, i.e., greater than 5%. Stocks in the S&P 100 Index are safest to own, given that those are required to have actively-traded Put and Call options on the CBOE (Chicago Board Option Exchange), and are usually followed by at least a dozen analysts. Large companies also have the advantage of multiple product lines, one of which is likely to do well in a recession. This same lack of uncertainty makes their stocks boring to own, even though a number of S&P 100 stocks are statistically more likely to weather a Bear Market than the S&P 500 Index (see Column M in any of our Tables). Index investing is even more boring and predictable. 

You’re left trying to find a winner among the other 900 companies of The Russell 1000 Index. A sign that you’ve selected well for your investment occurs when you find that company highlighted in a Wall Street Journal article. Our blog for this week tries to help you do exactly that. We’ve already found a handy way to identify trendy S&P 500 companies, which we call “The 2 and 8 Club” (see Week 348). And, we published an Extended Version (see Week 350) that takes you through promising companies in The Barron’s 500 List. 

Caveat Emptor: “The 2 and 8 Club” focuses exclusively on companies in The Russell 1000 Index that have historically paid an above-market dividend and are judged (by The Financial Times) likely to continue doing so. That means they’re bond-like, and attract investors because of the near-certainty that they will continue to pay a good and growing dividend. The downside of this benefit is that price appreciation will flatten and decline in a rising interest rate environment, just as bond prices do. Why? Because of competition from newly-issued bonds that pay a higher rate of interest and have less risk of default. 

Mission: This week we double-down and identify putative winners in The Russell 1000 Index.

Execution: see Table.

Administration: Rules for membership in “The 2 and 8 Club”: 
   1) The company is listed on the FTSE High Dividend Yield Index (US), which contains the ~400 highest-yielding companies in the Russell 1000 Index. Those are companies that have historically paid an above-market dividend (usually ~2%) without reducing that payout in periods of market stress.
   2) The company has raised its regular quarterly dividend at least 8%/yr over the past 5 years.
   3) The company’s bonds carry an S&P Rating of at least BBB+.
   4) The company’s stock carries an S&P Rating of at least B+/M.
   5) The company’s end-of-week stock price has been analyzed quantitatively by using the BMW Method for the past 16 years.
   6) The company is graded annually as to cash flow trends and revenue growth by the editors of Barron’s.
   7) The company is required to be a Dividend Achiever, to offset the risk of loss of carried by these companies because of being less well capitalized than those in the S&P 100 Index.

Bottom Line: Of the 7 companies in this week’s Table, only two are reasonably safe bets: The Travelers (TRV) and WEC Energy (WEC). In other words, their risk of loss in the next Bear Market is lower than that for investors in the Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA) (see Column M of the Table). So, why not simply buy shares of DIA instead of gambling on one of the other 5 companies? After all, DIA has an ~2% dividend yield and grows its dividend ~8%/yr. Answer: You’re a speculator and think you can do better than settle for the 7-8% long-term Total Return/Yr you’d realize from owning shares of DIA.

Risk Rating: 7 (where 10-Yr US Treasury Notes = 1, S&P 500 Index = 5, and gold bullion = 10)

Full Disclosure: I own shares of The Travelers (TRV) and Cummins (CMI).

"The 2 and 8 Club" (CR) 2018 Invest Tune Retire.com All rights reserved.

Post questions and comments in the box below or send email to: irv.mcquarrie@InvestTuneRetire.com

Week 361 - Blue Chips

Situation: What is a “Blue Chip” stock, and why should you think highly of such stocks? There are several definitions but traders are generally talking about a stock in the Dow Jones Industrial Average when they use the phrase “Blue Chip.” More generally, they’re talking about a very large company that pays a good and growing dividend, and has a trading record that covers at least the past 40 years. This also includes any very large company that has a negligible risk of bankruptcy. These characteristics are important because traders think Blue Chip stocks are the only relatively safe bets for a “buy-and-hold” investor to place. Warren Buffett often highlights the importance of these same characteristics whenever he’s being interviewed, and Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B) owns shares in several: Apple (AAPL), Coca-Cola (KO), International Business Machines (IBM), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Procter & Gamble (PG) and Walmart (WMT).

Mission: Develop specific definitions for the above characteristics, and list all companies that meet those definitions. Use our Standard Spreadsheet to analyze those companies.

Execution: see Table.

Administration: Here are my specific definitions for the qualitative terms used above:
   "A very large company": Any company in the S&P 100 Index (OEF)

   "A good dividend": Any company in the Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index (VYM)

   "A growing dividend": Any company in the Powershares Dividend Achiever Portfolio (PFM)

   "A 40+ year trading record": Any company in the 40-Yr BMW Method Portfolio

   "A negligible risk of bankruptcy": Any very large company issuing bonds that carry an S&P Rating of AA+ or AAA. There are only 5 such companies: Apple (AAPL), Alphabet (GOOGL), Microsoft (MSFT), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), and Exxon Mobil (XOM). 

Bottom Line: If you want to include common stocks in your retirement portfolio, Blue Chips are the ones you’ll want to Buy and Hold, provided you buy shares in at least half a dozen. Those that carry a statistical risk of loss greater than “The “Dow” (DIA, see Column M in the Table) best purchased by dollar-cost averaging. But the 6 that carry no more than a Market Risk can be owned by using a “buy the dip” strategy: MCD, PEP, KO, JNJ, PG and WMT. Of course, those are still stocks and market volatility will still affect their prices. 

Caveat Emptor: Corporate debt has been steadily increasing over most of the past 10 years. Why? Because the Federal Reserve reduced to cost of borrowing money to almost nothing. So, pay attention to companies that have purple highlights in Columns P and R (see Table). In the next recession, you’ll be surprised how far their stock prices will fall.

Risk Rating: 5 (where 10-Yr US Treasury Notes = 1, S&P 500 Index = 5, gold bullion = 10)

Full Disclosure: I dollar-average into KO, JNJ, PG, MSFT, WMT, IBM, CAT and XOM, and also own shares of MCD and MMM.

"The 2 and 8 Club" (CR) 2018 Invest Tune Retire.com All rights reserved.

Post questions and comments in the box below or send email to: irv.mcquarrie@InvestTuneRetire.com

Week 360 - “The 2 and 8 Club” (Extended Version)

Situation: Market turmoil is turning stock and bond index funds into a “crowded trade.” Both are momentum investments, and both remain overvalued. Neither offsets the risk of the other. This is a good time to take some chips off the table and bulk-up your Rainy Day Fund. More importantly, it is a time to revisit the fundamentals of sound investing. For example, stop making “one-off” stock investments. Those are usually speculative. But follow Warren Buffett’s lead and continue to invest in strong companies by dollar-cost averaging. Those are “forever” investments that will likely prove worthwhile, through bear markets as well as bull markets, as long as you stay the course.

But how do we find “strong” companies? Experienced traders mainly offer 5 qualifiers: Look for 1) large and 2) well-established companies that have 3) strong Balance Sheets, and pay a 4) good and 5) growing dividend. We have converted those into numbers on a spreadsheet, and call it “The 2 and 8 Club.” We start by looking at the companies in the S&P 100 Index because those are required to have a robust market in Put and Call options (which facilitate Price Discovery). Approximately 20 of the 100 earn membership in our Club. Approximately 10 more companies on the Barron’s 500 List meet our requirements, allowing us to create an ~30 stock list (the Extended Version).

Mission: Produce a spreadsheet of the ~30 companies in the Extended Version of “The 2 and 8 Club.”

Execution: see Table.

Administration: What are our criteria for meeting each of the 5 qualitative objectives?

Large companies
Those are the 500 on the Barron’s 500 List published each May (see Columns N & O in our Tables).

Well-established companies
Those are the companies on the Barron’s 500 List that are also on the 16-Yr list of companies that are quantitatively evaluated each week by using the BMW Method. See Columns K-M in our Tables.

Strong Balance Sheet
Companies must have an S&P Bond Rating of BBB+ or higher (Column T in our Tables). For more granularity on this topic, we provide key metrics: Long-Term Debt as a percent of Total Assets (Column P), Operating Cash Flow as a percent of Current Liabilities (Column Q), Tangible Book Value per Share as a percent of Share Price (Column R), Dividend Payout as a percent of Free Cash Flow (Column S), Weighted Average Cost of Capital vs. Return on Invested Capital (Columns Z and AA). Values in those 6 columns that we think of as sub-par are highlighted in purple.

Good Dividend
Companies must be listed in the FTSE High Dividend Yield Index (US version). Those are the ~400 companies in the Russell 1000 Index that are judged by The Financial Times editors to have a dividend yield that is reliably above the market yield of approximately 2% (see Column G). The most convenient investment vehicle for that is the Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (VYM). The list is updated monthly, and you can access holdings here.

Growing Dividend
We require companies to have increased their dividend payout at least 8%/yr over the past 5 years (see Column H), as determined by calculating the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) for the most recent 4 quarters of regular dividend payouts vs. the same 4 quarters 5 years ago.

As a sanity check, we require that companies have historic returns relative to risk that is within reason for the retail investor, i.e., an S&P Stock Rating of at least B+/M (see Column U). 

Finally, there are two important caveats that you need to keep in mind: 1) No one invests solely on the basis of numbers. The story behind a company’s stock has to be examined by using multiple online sources, and revisited at least monthly. 2) Every investor needs a Watch List to help her get started with each month’s research. “The 2 and 8 Club” is our Watch List. 

Bottom Line: If you’re a downhill ski racer, your goal is to get to the Bottom Line safely and quickly. “Safely” is accomplished by setting up a few gates with line judges, and allowing you to “shadow” the course the night before. “Quickly” is assessed by using a stopwatch, combined with a video camera trained on the finish line. In other words, the activity is standardized to allow comparison with other racers and place limits on sanity. Stock picking isn’t much different. You need a starting place, a process governed by sanity checks, and a way to judge your performance. “The 2 and 8 Club” satisfies those basic needs. It will help give you a chance to outperform an S&P 500 Index enough to pay for the additional transaction costs and capital gains taxes that you’ll incur.

Risk Rating: 6 (where 10-Yr US Treasury Notes = 1, S&P 500 Index = 5, gold bullion = 10).

Full Disclosure: I dollar-average into MSFT, NEE, PEP, JPM, CAT and IBM, and also own shares of TRV, MMM, CSCO and CMI.

"The 2 and 8 Club" (CR) 2018 Invest Tune Retire.com All rights reserved.

Post questions and comments in the box below or send email to: irv.mcquarrie@InvestTuneRetire.com

Week 355 - Companies in “The 2 and 8 Club” with a Durable Competitive Advantage

Situation: It is now 10 years since The Great Recession began with the collapse of Bear Stearns. Trust in markets was broken and has barely begun to recover. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) grew out of The Great Depression because investors lost trust in markets. One of the ways it tried to rebuild trust was to require private companies to still have a strong balance sheet after a successful Initial Public Offering (IPO). If the SEC wasn’t convinced this would happen at the proposed price for the IPO, then the IPO wouldn’t be permitted.

Before the Great Recession of 2008, fewer than a third of companies in the S&P 500 Index had steadily growing Tangible Book Value (TBV), i.e., property, plant, equipment, and software priced at original cost (see Week 54, Week 94, Week 158, Week 241, Week 251, Week 271). After 2008, Balance Sheets were in need of  repair, and that was facilitated by low interest rates. Now, perhaps a quarter of S&P 500 companies again have steady TBV growth. 

Mission: Apply our Standard Spreadsheet to companies in the Extended Version of “The 2 and 8 Club” that have shown steady TBV growth (with no more than 3 down years) since 2008. Warren Buffett suggests that such companies have a Durable Competitive Advantage (see blogs listed above), as long as TBV meets the Business Case of doubling after 10 years (i.e., a growth rate of at least 7%/yr).

Execution: see Table.

Administration: Risk works both ways for stock investors, i.e., you’ll either lose or gain +20% every few years. Our investing behavior isn’t governed by numbers, so we don’t act appropriately when warning signs of a market crash emerge. Why? Because we can’t know for certain when and whether a market crash will indeed happen. Many of us will remain sitting at the table even after it has clearly become a gambling table. You know when that occurs because the risk-off investors have already cashed out. Those of us who remain are governed by a desire to have. After a few market cycles, we come to realize that having more is going to be either boring or exciting, based on one’s appetite for risk. To have more, and have it be exciting, involves good study habits and an ability to live with chronic anxiety. Simply being human will matter less and less. 

The trick is to maintain discipline 24/7/365, by using a system for monitoring and researching your investments. This has to be combined with a weird ability to stick with your system through good times and bad. Numbers won’t save you when the market is turning. Instead, you have to know whether or not the “story” that underpins the reason for each of your holdings has retained its agency. Truth be told, the moves you make (or don’t make) at turning points will come down to a gut feeling as to whether your holdings are overbought or oversold. Any decision you make at a turning point is a risk-on decision. Caveat emptor: This is not a formula for marital bliss. (Warren Buffett was mystified when his wife left to become an artist in San Francisco.)

Bottom Line: Now is a good time to have a boring investment posture, which means choosing to dollar-average into companies that have bullet-proof Balance Sheets and strong Global Brands. This week we look at the bedrock of strong Balance Sheets, which is steady growth in Tangible Book Value. Five of these 9 companies are part of S&P’s Finance Industry. Their strong Balance Sheets reflect the regulatory requirements of The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. If Dodd-Frank becomes eroded by a Risk-on Congress, you’ll have to dig deeper into Annual Reports when investing in a Financial Services company. REMEMBER: common stocks issued by Financial Services and Real Estate companies are the most risky places to park your money, aside from commodity futures.

Risk Rating: 7 (where 10-Yr US Treasury Note = 1, S&P 500 Index = 5, and gold bullion = 10)

Full Disclosure: I dollar-average into NEE and JPM, and also own shares of CSCO and TRV.

"The 2 and 8 Club" (CR) 2017 Invest Tune Retire.com All rights reserved.

Post questions and comments in the box below or send email to: irv.mcquarrie@InvestTuneRetire.com