Month 108 - 14 Buy-and-Hold Stocks in both the Dow Jones Composite Index and the S&P 100 Index - June 2020

Situation: If you’re a stock picker, you’ll need Buy-and-Hold stocks that are suitable for retirement but you’ll also need to know how to “buy low.” The job of an investor, according to Joel Greenblatt (CEO of Gotham Capital), “is to figure out what a business is worth and pay a lot less”. Those two words (buy low) separate investors from savers. 

The objective way to “buy low” is to listen to Warren Buffett and dollar-cost average a fixed amount each month into shares of large, well managed, and long-established companies with clean Balance Sheets. You do this by using an online Dividend Re-Investment Plan (DRIP). When the price of that stock falls during a Bear Market, you’ll automatically BUY LOW and acquire more shares per month than usual. 

The subjective way to “buy low” is to resort to labor-intensive Fundamental Analysis, which uses a bespoke set of metrics to repeatedly examine stocks in each sub-industry and decide which are bargain-priced. My requirements for a company to be “A-rated” and join my Watch List of “large and well-managed companies with clean Balance Sheets” can be seen in the Tables for each month’s blog. For example, a large company is one in the S&P 100 Index. A well-managed company is one picked by the Managing Editor of The Wall Street Journal for inclusion in the 65-stock Dow Jones Composite Index. A clean Balance Sheet is one earning an S&P Bond Rating of A- (or better), with positive Book Value for the most recent quarter (mrq). I also require that Tangible Book Value (TBV) be a positive number but a negative TBV is acceptable if the company is mainly capitalized by Common Stock and its Total Debt is no greater than 2.5X EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest Taxes Depreciation and Amortization) for the Trailing Twelve Months (TTM). The companies I analyze are listed in both the iShares Russell Top 200 Value ETF (IWX) and the Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index ETF (VYM). I interpret “long-established” to mean a 20+ year history of being traded on a public stock exchange.

Mission: Using our Standard Spreadsheet, analyze A-rated stocks that are in both the 65-stock Dow Jones Composite Average and the S&P 100 Index.

Execution: see Table. Columns AP and AQ give annual costs and the vendor URL for each dividend reinvestment plan (DRIP). 

Administration: The idea behind owning “value” stocks is to lose less during Bear Markets. The idea behind owning “growth” stocks is to earn more during Bull Markets. Column AO shows how much the price of each stock changed in 2008. Column D shows how much the price of each stock changed in 2018 (when the S&P 500 Index lost 19.9% in the 4th quarter). These 14 stocks lost 5% less than the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) in 2018, and 17.3% less in 2008. An additional benefit of owning shares in these “value” companies that pay above-market dividends is that 7 are also listed in the iShares Russell Top 200 Growth ETF (IWY): MRK, KO, PG, JNJ, CAT, MMM, IBM. You can have “the best of both worlds” by owning those. 

Bottom Line: The secret of stock picking is to have a short Watch List because you’ll need to practice due diligence: follow the evolution of each company’s “story” and the effectiveness of its managers. This takes time and money: online subscriptions to The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, Bloomberg Businessweek, and The New York Times don’t come cheap. Neither do online DRIPs: For example, the average expense ratio in the first year of using a DRIP to buy into these 14 companies is 1.56% (see Column AP in the Table: $18.76/$1200 = 1.56%). And, you’ll get a bigger bill from your accountant if you decide to sell a DRIP, besides spending more time yourself to get the paperwork ready. For example, you’ll have to list the “cost basis” for each of the 16 purchases you made each year (12 monthly purchases plus 4 purchases to reinvest quarterly dividends) of each stock so your accountant can calculate capital gains.

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

Full Disclosure: I dollar-average into PFE, NEE, INTC, KO, PG, WMT, JPM, JNJ, CAT and IBM, and also own shares of MRK, DUK, SO and MMM. 

NOTE: Aside from dollar-cost averaging, there is second objective way to buy low: make “one-off” purchases of any of these 14 stocks that appear on the “Dogs of the Dow” list, which is updated every New Year’s Day. For example, the 10 dogs on this year’s list include: International Business Machines (IBM), Pfizer (PFE), 3M (MMM), and Coca-Cola (KO).

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

Month 106 - A-rated Value Stocks in the S&P 100 Index - April 2020

Situation: Growth at a reasonable price (GARP) is often mentioned as an investing goal because value underlies the decision to buy. Warren Buffett is the king of value investing and has over $80 Billion in cash (his “elephant gun”) that he’d like to spend. We’re in a Bear Market fueled by the adverse economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. So, he’ll soon spend that cash pile to buy a large company. Let’s look at his options, considering the ways he has prioritized purchases in the past. Firstly, he likes large and long-established companies. Why large companies? Because those have multiple product lines, one of which is usually designed to help the company maintain a stream of revenue during a recession. In addition, those companies are large enough to have the marketing power needed to maintain and grow their brands. 

Mission: Let’s see which choices look attractive among A-rated “haven stocks” in the S&P 100 Index (see Month 104). Remember: These companies reliably pay an above-market dividend, so they’re found in the Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index (VYM), and they’re also listed in the iShares Russell Top 200 Value ETF (IWX). Warren Buffett places high store in companies that don’t overuse debt and also retain Tangible Book Value, so we’ll exclude companies with negative Tangible Book Value that also have a total debt load greater than 2.5 times EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation & Amortization) or have sold long-term bonds to build more than 50% of their market capitalization. Finally, the company's stock price has to meet both of our two value criteria: 1) Share price isn't more than twice the Graham Number; 2) share price isn't more than 25 times average 7-yr earnings per share. 

Execution: (see Table).

Administration: These 9 companies include 4 from the two most deeply cyclical industries: banks and semiconductor manufacturers. Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio already includes the 3 banks on the list, i.e., JPMorgan Chase (JPM), U.S. Bancorp (USB), and Wells Fargo (WFC) but doesn’t include the semiconductor manufacturer, Intel (INTC). Berkshire Hathaway is at heart an insurance company, so Warren Buffett always needs to diversify away from the Financial Services industry. There are only 4 non-financial companies on the list: Intel (INTC), Cisco Systems (CSCO), Pfizer (PFE), and Target (TGT), and only TGT is within the price range that Mr. Buffett is looking to spend ($80 to $100 Billion). 

Bottom Line: Target (TGT) appears to be the most attractive company to add to Berkshire’s stable, given that it is priced right and Mr. Buffett already has experience owning companies in the Consumer Discretionary industry.. 

Risk Rating: 7 (where 10-yr U.S. Treasury Notes = 1, S&P 500 Index = 5, and gold = 10).

Full Disclosure: I dollar-average into INTC and JPM, and also own shares of PFE, CSCO, TGT, USB, BLK and WFC.

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

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.

"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

Month 92 - Dow Jones Industrial Average - Winter 2019 Update

Situation: There have been 30 companies in the $7 Trillion “Dow” index since it was expanded from 20 companies on October 1, 1928. Since then 31 changes have been made. On average, a company is swapped out every 3 years. Turnover decisions are made by a committee directed by the Managing Editor of The Wall Street Journal. Dollar value is determined at the end of each trading day by adding the closing price/share for all 30 companies, and correcting that amount with a divisor that changes each time a company is removed & replaced. State Street Global Advisors (SPDR) markets an Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) for the Dow under the ticker DIA. To get “a feel for the market” before buying or selling a stock, investors around the world look to the Dow. They’re aided in that decision by Dow Theory, which uses movement of the Dow Jones Transportation Average to “confirm” movement in the Dow. If both march together to higher highs and higher lows, the primary trend in the market is said to be up if trading volumes are large. If the reverse is true, then the primary trend is said to down.

Mission: Use our Standard Spreadsheet to analyze all 30 companies in the Dow.

Execution: see Table.

Administration: Many investors use a tried-and-true “system” called Dogs of the Dow (see Week 305), which calls for buying equal dollar-value amounts of stock in each of the 10 highest-yielding companies in the Dow on the first trading day of January and selling those on the last trading day of December. The idea is to have better total returns on your investment over a market cycle than you would from simply investing in DIA. The system works most years and over the long term. Why? Because a high dividend yield a) moderates any price decreases during Bear Markets and b) is such a large contributor to total returns.  

Bottom Line: As a stock-picker, you need to keep up-to-date on Dow Theory and also know which high-yielding Dow stocks are among the 10 Dogs of the Dow. Dow Theory tells us that the stock market switched from being in a primary uptrend to being in a primary downtrend on December 20, 2018. The Dogs of the Dow for 2019 are the same as last year (see bold numbers in Column G of the Table), except that General Electric (GE) has been removed from the Dow and replaced by Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), which doesn’t have a high enough dividend yield to be considered a Dog. Instead, General Electric’s place has been taken by JP Morgan Chase (JPM).
        When picking stocks from the Dow Jones Industrial Average, be aware that the historically low interest rates we’ve seen over the past decade have led to excessive corporate borrowing. You’ll want to pay close attention to Columns N-S in the Table, where different consequences of corporate debt are addressed. Companies with items that are highlighted in red carry a greater risk of loss in the upcoming credit crunch than has been recognized in the price of their shares.

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

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

"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

Week 389 - Bond ETFs

Situation: You want to balance your stock portfolio with safe bonds. Right? Well, here’s a news flash: You need to start thinking about balancing your bond portfolio with safe stocks. Why? Because the world is gorging itself on debt--households, municipalities, states, nations, and corporations most of all. Yes, this is understandable because the Great Recession was so disabling that central banks everywhere dropped interest rates lower than the rate of inflation. It was free money, so people borrowed the stuff and invested it. Just as the central bankers had intended. Economic activity gradually returned to normal almost everywhere, now that 10 years have passed since Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy on September 15, 2008. But the Federal Open Market Committee is removing the punch bowl from the party and raising short-term interest rates by a quarter percent 3-4 times a year. Bondholders are stocking up on Advil due to interest rate risk (duration), meaning that for each 1% rise in short-term interest rates there is a material reduction in the value of an existing bond that is worse for long-term than short-term bonds. 

If a company is struggling and has to refinance a maturing issue of long-term debt, it will have to pay a materially higher rate of interest vs. that paid to holders of the expiring bond. This may impact the credit rating of its existing bonds, driving it closer to insolvency. General Electric (GE) is an especially vivid example of how this works. A few short years ago, GE had an S&P rating of AAA for its bonds. That rating is now BBB+ and falling fast. Larry Culp, the CEO, is desperately selling off core divisions of the company in an attempt to avert bankruptcy. 

Mission: Use appropriate columns of our Standard Spreadsheet to evaluate the leading bond ETFs, and compare those to the S&P 500 Index ETF (SPY) as well as a stock with an S&P Bond Rating of AA or better.

Execution: see Table. 

Bottom Line: To offset the risks in your stock portfolio (bankruptcy, market crashes and sensitivity to fluctuation of interest rates), you need a bond portfolio. Why? Because high quality bonds rise in value during stock market crashes and/or recessions, have much less credit risk, and usually less interest rate risk. Stock prices are more sensitive to short-term interest rates than any but the longest-dated bonds, e.g. 30-Yr US Treasury Bonds. Stock indexes like the S&P 500 Index (SPY) have average S&P Bond Ratings of BBB to BBB+, compared to AA+ for 30-Yr Treasuries. To cover those risks, you’ll need a bond fund that has low-medium interest rate risk and high credit quality. BND and IEF are examples (see Table). BIV differs only in having medium credit quality per Morningstar. TLT has high credit quality but also has high interest rate sensitivity. TLT can be compared to a stock with high credit quality and high interest rate sensitivity, e.g. Pfizer (PFE; see Table). The main thing to remember is that stock market crashes are invariably accompanied by a booming bond market (flight to safety). That’s a good thing because governments will have to take on a lot more debt to finance social programs like unemployment insurance.

Risk Rating: 1 for BND and IEF (where 10-Yr Treasuries = 1, S&P 500 Index = 5, gold = 10)

Full Disclosure: I own bond funds that approximate BIV and TLT.

"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

Week 386 - Retirement Savings Plan For The Self-Employed

Situation: Let’s follow the Kiss Rule (Keep It Simple, Stupid). There are many jobs that don’t offer a workplace retirement plan. For example, if you’re a long-haul truck driver and own your Class 8 tractor, i.e., you’re an “Owner/Operator”, you make over $100,000 per year but have high expenses. As an S corporation, you don’t pay taxes on the 15% of gross income that you try to set aside for retirement. 

How do you invest it? If you follow the KISS Rule, you’re best off putting all of it in Vanguard’s Wellesley Income Fund. That fund has an expense ratio of 0.22% and is half stocks and half bonds. The ~70 stocks are selected from the FTSE High Dividend Yield Index (i.e., the ~400 companies in the Russell 1000 Index that reliably pay an above-market dividend). You’ll recognize that Index as the same source we use to pick stocks for “The 2 and 8 Club”.

Mission: Run our Standard Spreadsheet using the 10 stocks that reliably pay good and growing dividends and are less likely to fall as much as the Dow Jones Industrial Average in a Bear Market. Compare that portfolio to the Vanguard Wellesley Income Fund (VWINX), the Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index ETF (VYM), and the SPDR S&P 500 Index ETF (SPY). 

Execution: see Table.

Bottom Line: If you’re self-employed (e.g. do seasonal work), you need a flexible retirement plan with low transaction costs. Safety is the main goal. Take no risks! If you want to pick your own stocks, all right. You can keep costs for that low by dollar-averaging but then your bonds have to be very low risk, i.e., US Savings Bonds.

Risk Rating: 4

Full Disclosure: I dollar-average into NEE, KO, T, JNJ and DIA, and also own shares of HRL.

"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

Week 375 - Producers Of Gold, Silver And Copper In The 2017 Barron’s 500 List

Situation: Commodity producers have a dismal record. Spot prices fall whenever mining (or drilling or harvesting) becomes more efficient. To make matters worse, supply-chain management and investment has become increasingly global and professionalized. Nonetheless, copper sales remain the best barometer of fixed-asset investment, particularly the ongoing proliferation of industrial plants and equipment in China. Silver has a growing role, thanks to the buildout of solar power. And gold remains a check on the propensity of government leaders everywhere to finance their dreams with debt, as opposed to revenue from taxes.

Mission: Use our Standard Spreadsheet to highlight the largest companies producing gold, silver, and copper.

Execution: see Table.

Administration: Gold and silver prices remain stuck where they were 35 years ago but are characterized by high volatility. Commodity prices (in the aggregate) trace supercycles that last approximately 20 years. The most recent came from a 1999 low and fell back to that level in 2016; since then it has ever so slowly risen from that low.

Bottom Line: The basic rule for commodity producers is that 3 years out of 30 will be good years, and you’ll make a lot of money. But over any 20-30 year period, you’ll lose money (measured by inflation-adjusted dollars). Our Table for this week confirms these points but does show that copper (SCCO) is worth an investor’s attention. But beware! That company’s share price is falling because of a falloff in trade with China and could fall further if a trade war takes hold.

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

Full Disclosure: I do not have positions in any commodity producers aside from Exxon Mobil (XOM), but do dollar-average into the main provider of mining equipment: Caterpillar (CAT).

"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

Week 369 - High Quality Producers & Transporters of Industrial Commodities in the 2017 Barron’s 500

Situation: Here in the U.S., debt/capita is growing at an alarming rate and is now greater than $60,000. U.S. Government debt is almost $20 Trillion and has been growing at a rate of 5.5%/yr (i.e., twice as fast as inflation) since 1990. By 2020, the Federal budget deficit will start to exceed $1 Trillion/Yr and the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency will be threatened. The gold reserves that stand behind the U.S. dollar (currently worth ~$185 Billion) would have to be increased on a regular basis, as would foreign currency reserves (currently worth ~$125 Billion)

The US economy is no longer capable of growing fast enough to balance the budget for even a single year, without introducing draconian measures. Nonetheless, it is worth noting that those can be effective given that Greece appears to have emerged from that process successfully. But the U.S. could not go through that process and still remain the “top dog” militarily. So, the trade-weighted value of the U.S. dollar will fall at some point, and we will no longer be able to afford imported goods and services. Before that happens, U.S. citizens will need to gradually move their retirement savings into commodity-related investments, as well as bonds and stocks issued in reserve currencies other than the U.S. dollar. 

Mission: Use our Standard Spreadsheet to highlight large U.S. and Canadian companies that produce, refine and transport raw commodities, i.e., materials that are extracted from the ground. Select such companies from the 2017 Barron’s 500 list, but exclude any that issue bonds with an S&P rating lower than A- or stocks with an S&P rating lower than B+/M. 

Execution: see Table.

Administration: The S&P Commodity Index has the following components and weightings:
Natural Gas (17.66%)
Unleaded Gas (12.16%)
Heating Oil (12.13%)
Crude Oil (11.41%)
Wheat (5.15%)
Live Cattle (4.87%)
Corn (4.48%)
Coffee (3.88%)
Soybeans (3.84%)
Sugar (3.80%)
Silver (3.67%)
Copper (3.39%)
Cotton (3.22%)
Soybean Oil (2.98%)
Cocoa (2.79%)
Soybean Meal (2.57%)
Lean Hogs (2.04%)

53.36% of the index represents petroleum products, 32.71% represents row crops, 7.06% represents industrial metals, and 6.91% represents live animals. Ground has to be mined, drilled, or planted & harvested with the help of heavy equipment to yield raw commodities. Those have to be transported by barge, rail, truck, or pipeline before being processed for market. 

We find 8 companies that warrant inclusion in this week’s Table. Seven are obviously appropriate, but the presence of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B) needs some explanation (unless you already know it owns the Burlington Northern & Santa Fe railroad). Berkshire Hathaway is the largest shareholder of Phillips 66 (PSX), which has 13 oil refineries and supplies diesel for the largest marketing outlet of that fuel: Pilot Flying J Centers LLC. Berkshire Hathaway purchased 38.6% of that company’s stock on October 3, 2017, and plans to increase its stake in 2023 to 80%.

Bottom Line: Commodity futures haven’t been a good investment, given that their aggregate value is back to where it was 25 years ago, given that the most recent 20-year supercycle recently finished and another is just starting. Nonetheless, the companies that produce, process, and transport those commodities did well over those 25 years (see Column AB in Table). The problem is the volatility of their stocks (see Column M in the Table), and the extent to which their stocks get whacked when commodities become oversupplied relative to demand (see Column D in the Table). If you choose to own shares in these companies (aside from CNI, BRK-B and perhaps UNP), you’d be flat-out gambling. 

Risk Rating: 7-9 (where US Treasury Notes = 1, S&P 500 Index = 5, and gold bullion = 10)

Full Disclosure: I dollar-average into UNP, ADM, CAT and XOM, and also own shares of CNI and BRK-B.

"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 368 - Are You A Baby Boomer (54 to 72 years old) With Only $25,000 In Retirement Savings?

Situation: Here in the United States, a third of you have less than $25,000 in Retirement Savings.

Mission: Assess options for a healthy married couple with a household income of $59,000/yr, whose breadwinner will retire when he or she reaches age 66 and the household starts receiving an initial Social Security check of $2,123/mo . Assume that they have $25,000 in retirement savings in an IRA, with an initial payout of $75/mo.

Execution: see Table.

Administration: The options for the couple to receive an income from their $25,000 IRA are unattractive. They’ll need a relatively safe way to come up with an income of 3-4%/yr from that $25,000, a way that grows the principal at least as fast as inflation (historically 3.1%/yr). That growth rate can be predicted from the 5-yr growth rate for the quarterly dividend. To have enough confidence in that stream of income, their only option is to find half a dozen high-quality stocks with low price variance (5-yr Beta less than 0.7) and secure dividends. 

They should be able to live reasonably well on $2,198/mo, given that the poverty line for a household of two is $1,372/mo. But let’s break it down: They’ll pay at least $900/mo for housing (rent, tenant’s insurance, and utilities), so they’re left with $1,300/mo to cover the consumer price index categories of food and beverages, apparel, transportation, medical care, recreation, education and communication, and other goods and services. “Other goods and services” include restaurant meals, delivery services, and cigarettes. Food will cost at least $250/mo. Now they’re down to ~$1,050/mo to cover clothing, car expenses, Medicare premium plus deductibles and co-payments, smartphones, meals out, vacations, delivery services, and cigarettes. Owning, maintaining, and operating a used car for 5,000 miles/yr will cost ~$625/mo, which leaves $425/mo for clothing, healthcare, smartphones, meals out, vacations, delivery services, and cigarettes. To avoid selling the car, one of them will need to find a part-time job. New clothes, dining out, and travel will be hard to fund. Out-of-pocket healthcare costs will go up, so they’ll need to save money by avoiding alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, and sweets. 

Bottom Line: When a couple is facing a retirement that will be funded only by the average Social Security payout at full retirement age ($25,476/yr), they won’t be living much above the Federal Poverty Level for a household of two ($16,460/yr). It they own a home, they’ll no longer be able to afford to maintain it and pay property taxes. So, they’ll need to sell it and invest the residual equity. Maintaining their car will barely be affordable. Having $25,000 in an IRA will help, but a third of couples in their situation will retire with an even smaller cushion. In our Table for this week, we show how $75/mo is the expected income from an IRA of $25,000 value that has an average dividend yield of 3.6%/yr.

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.

"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

Week 357 - Dividend Achievers That Support Commodity Production

Situation: Commodities crashed in 2014 but the only S&P industries to be affected were Energy, Industrials (specifically railroads) and Basic Materials. A new Commodity Supercycle began to take hold in early 2017.

Which companies stand to benefit?

Mission: Under the best of circumstances, commodity-related investments are highly speculative. If you gamble at this casino long enough, you’ll lose big and win big. So, let’s confine our attention to “the best of circumstances,” i.e., set up our Standard Spreadsheet to look at companies meeting these requirements: 
   1) S&P credit rating for long-term bonds is BBB+ or better; 
   2) S&P stock rating is B+/M or better; 
   3) Long-term Debt doesn’t exceed 33% of Total Assets; 
   4) Tangible Book Value is a positive number; 
   5) the company is a Dividend Achiever.

Execution: see Table.

Administration: Seven companies meet our requirements. Only the two railroads (UNP, CSX) and Exxon Mobil (XOM) meet the key requirement Warren Buffett has for saying that a company enjoys a “Durable Competitive Advantage” (see Week 54), i.e., steady growth in Tangible Book Value exceeding 7%/yr (see Columns AD and AE in the Table). It is also important to note that all areas of commodity production (aside from aquaculture) employ equipment that digs in the dirt. That makes Caterpillar (CAT) a useful barometer, and its stock has done well since the Commodity Crash of 2014-2016.

Bottom Line: If you’ve held shares in any of these 7 companies (see Table) for more than a few years, I commend your perseverance. Stick it out awhile longer and you may be rewarded. A new Commodity Supercycle appears to be starting, and will likely take hold if China stays the course and becomes a Superpower.

Risk Rating: 8 (where 10-Yr US Treasury Notes = 1, S&P 500 Index = 5, and gold bullion = 10)

Full Disclosure: I dollar-average into Union Pacific (UNP) and Exxon Mobil (XOM).

"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

Week 349 - Dividend Achievers with high Long-term Debt offset by a Strong Global Brand

Situation: Some highly indebted companies manage to pass through economic cycles with little difficulty, even though though they sometimes find it expensive to roll-over (refinance) their Long-Term Debt. This is a conundrum, given the impairment of their Balance Sheets (debt maturing in more than one year represents more than one third of their total assets). Think of having $200,000 left on your mortgage but your household assets (including equity in your home) are only worth $600,000. 

I try to avoid investing in such companies. When I do, I look for an excuse to sell. But there has to be a rational explanation for why these companies prosper, given the cost of servicing long-term debt. Two explanations come to mind: 
   1) These companies have a lower cost of capital, since so much of their capitalization is in the form of debt, where interest payments have not been taxed until recently. (The new tax law levies a 21% tax on interest payments that consume more than 30% of earnings.) 
   2) These companies have a strong Global Brand, which is an Intangible Asset that increases their acquisition value. That is, a strong Global Brand would increase the purchase price at least 5% above Tangible Book Value.
   3) These companies sell products that are remarkably “inelastic”, meaning that sales volumes are insensitive to price: “The price elasticity of supply measures how the amount of a good that a supplier wishes to supply changes in response to a change in price.[2] In a manner analogous to the price elasticity of demand, it captures the extent of horizontal movement along the supply curve relative to the extent of vertical movement [in price]. If the price elasticity of supply is zero the supply of a good supplied is ‘totally inelastic’ and the quantity supplied is fixed.” 

Mission: Analyze high-yielding Dividend Achievers (companies that have increased their dividend annually for at least the past 10 years). Select companies that have long-term Debt amounting to more than 33% of Total Assets, as shown in Column P of the Table. Reject companies that do not have a strong Global Brand. Also reject companies that do not have A ratings from S&P for both the bonds and common stocks that they have issued (see Columns T and U in the Table). Brand rankings are shown in Columns AB-AC of the Table. Examine a comparison group of companies in the Benchmark Section of the Table. 

Execution: see Table.

Bottom Line: The outperformance and low price volatility of these stocks, even during difficult market conditions (see Column D in the Table), cannot be explained by unique Tangible Assets such as strong Patent Protections or Tax Advantages. That leaves Brand Values (i.e., consumers prefer a brand they can trust) and Inelasticity (i.e., unit sales are not price sensitive) to account for the resiliency of their stock prices. That resiliency ultimately comes from pricing power. 

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 Coca-Cola (KO), and also own shares of IBM and McDonald’s (MCD).

"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

Week 311 - A-rated S&P 100 “Defensive” Companies With Tangible Book Value

Situation: We know for certain that this is a period of great anxiety in credit markets. Trillions of dollars in loans have been made by banks in Southern Europe and East Asia that are now worth less than a third of their face value. Many of these loans were made by private banks, but governments are ultimately “on the hook” for the debt. With non-performing debts on their books, banks have less ability to make worthwhile loans to support economic growth, education and upgrades of infrastructure. A credit crunch is going to happen, unless these bad debts are boxed up, tied with a ribbon, and sold to the highest bidder. Remember: the credit crunch of 2008-09 quickly cut worldwide GDP growth per capita in half, from 2%/yr to 1%/yr. And it didn’t start to recover until this year.

What’s the best way for you to drill down on this subject? I suggest that you read Peter Coy’s article, which appeared in Bloomberg Business Week last October. His analysis responds to the International Monetary Fund’s 2016 Global Financial Stability Report that was hot off the press. Here are bullet points from that report: “medium-term risks continue to build”, meaning 1) growing political instability; 2) persistent weakness of financial institutions in China and Southern Europe; 3) excessive corporate debt in emerging markets. In China, combined public and private debt almost doubled over the past 10 years, and is now 210% of GDP (worldwide it’s 225% of GDP).

Mission: What’s the best way to tailor your retirement portfolio in response to these global risks? Become defensive. That doesn’t just mean having a Rainy Day Fund that is well-stocked with interest-earning cash-equivalents (Savings Bonds, Treasury Bills, and 2-Yr Treasury Notes). It means overweighting high quality “defensive stocks” in your equity portfolio. What is the Gold Standard? Companies in the S&P 100 Index that are in the 4 S&P Defensive Industries:
   Consumer Staples;
   Healthcare;
   Utilities; and
   Communication Services.
Large companies have multiple product lines, and membership in the S&P 100 Index requires a healthy options market for the company’s stock, to facilitate price discovery. You have to drill deeper in your analysis, to be sure the company’s S&P credit rating is A- or better, and its stock rating is A-/M or better. Statistical information has to be available from the 16-Yr series of the BMW Method and the 2017 Barron’s 500 List. Check financial statements for signs of high debt: long-term bonds that represent more than a third of total assets, operating cash flow that covers less than 40% of current liabilities, or an inability to meet dividend payments out of free cash flow (FCF). Exclude companies with negative Tangible Book Value.

Execution: By using the above criteria, we uncover 7 companies out of the 32 “defensive” companies in the S&P 100 Index (see Table).

Bottom Line: Defensive companies are less interesting than growth companies or companies involved in the production of raw commodities. But high-quality defensive companies, such as Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and NextEra Energy (NEE), consistently grow earnings faster than GDP and are quick to correct any earnings shortfall. All an investor need do is learn to read financial statements, and regularly examine websites for data on companies of interest.


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

Full Disclosure: I dollar-average into Coca-Cola (KO), NextEra Energy (NEE), and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). I also own shares in Costco Wholesale (COST) and Wal-Mart Stores (WMT).

NOTE: Metrics are current for the Sunday of publication. Red highlights denote under-performance vs. VBINX at Line 15 in the Table. Purple highlights denote Balance Sheet issues and shortfalls. Net Present Value (NPV) inputs are described and justified in the Appendix to Week 256: Briefly, Discount Rate = 9%, Holding Period = 10 years, Initial Cost = average stock price over the past 50 days (corrected for transaction costs of 2.5% when buying ~$5000 worth of shares). Dividend Growth Rate is the 4-Yr CAGR found at Column H. Price Growth Rate is the 16-Yr CAGR found at Column K. Price Return (from selling all shares in the 10th year) is corrected for transaction costs of 2.5%. The Discount Rate of 9% approximates Total Returns/yr from a stock index of similar risk to owning shares in a small number of large-cap stocks, where risk due to “selection bias” is paramount. That stock index is the S&P MidCap 400 Index at Line 20 in the Table. The ETF for that index is MDY at Line 14. For bonds, Discount Rate = Interest Rate.

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

Week 294 - Don’t Leave Money On Table: Invest Online

Situation: Let’s use a hypothetical situation to make our case. You’ve retired and sold your house to pay off debts. For many people that would mean that you are now living in a rental that fits your needs and income. In addition, you may have a lot of money left over from the sale of your home and would like to invest it in a prudent manner. But cash is fungible. It can disappear into anything that someone thinks has an equivalent value. (Your minister might think tithing is equivalent, even though you’ve already paid tithing on the income that created your retirement plan.)

As a retiree, you need to develop a budget that will cut your living costs and execute on that plan. Aside from spending money, as directed by your budget, what kind of expenses are going to deplete your nest egg? The main factors to consider are inflation, taxes and transaction costs. There’s little you can do about inflation, other than to stay 50% invested in stocks and 50% in inflation-protected bonds, e.g. inflation-protected 10-Yr Treasury Notes, ISB Savings Bonds and inflation-protected bond funds like Vanguard Inflation-Protected Securities (VIPSX). There’s little you can do about taxes, other than own Treasury Bonds and Savings Bonds (because those pay interest that cannot be taxed by the state where you live). Also, you can avoid both Federal and state taxes by owning municipal bonds issued in the state where you live. But that is risky unless you happen to live in one of the 7 states that offer a AAA bond with investor-friendly covenants. You might also consider a low-cost, state-specific municipal bond fund if you live in a populous state that is in good fiscal condition and has a AAA credit rating, but Florida is the only state that fits that description.

Now we’re left to talk about transaction costs. You’ll like doing business with the US Treasury over the internet because there are no transaction costs. But with stocks, it gets more complicated. To reduce transaction costs, there are two routes you can take: 1) Invest in low-cost mutual funds. Vanguard Group has the best deals. Avoid Exchange-Traded Funds unless you want to throw a little business to your stock-broker in return for the research materials she’s been providing. 2) Make low-cost investments online, monthly and automatically. You can do this with any of the Vanguard mutual funds but also with individual stocks. There are 3 main websites: Computershare, Wells Fargo, and American Stock Transfer & Trust. 

Mission: Set up a spreadsheet (see Table) with metrics for a sample of stocks that are available for dollar-cost averaging (monthly and online using automatic withdrawals from your checking account). Pick examples from a single source (Computershare) and list the annual transaction cost for investing $100/mo. Balance stocks with 10-Yr Treasury Notes obtained through TreasuryDirect. Inflation-protected versions of those Notes are available, as are IRA-like versions called ISBs (Inflation-Protected Savings Bonds). Those fixed-income assets need to represent 1/3rd of your monthly investment, stocks from each of the 4 S&P Defensive Industries 1/3rd, and stocks from each of the 4 S&P Growth Industries 1/3rd. 

In the BENCHMARKS section, include low-cost mutual funds referencing a Standard Retirement Plan. NOTE: The 4 S&P Defensive Industries are Utilities, HealthCare, Communication Services and Consumer Staples. The 4 S&P Growth Industries are Financials, Information Technology, Industrials and Consumer Discretionary. The two commodity-related Industries (Basic Materials and Energy) are omitted. Why? Because even the few A-rated stocks have excess volatility. As a retiree, investing in those Industries would amount to gambling with your “nest egg.”

Execution: see Table.

Bottom Line: Transaction costs consume 2.5%/yr of most investor’s savings. But the internet allows you to reduce transaction costs to less than 1%/yr. Over a 10 yr holding period, that 1.5% difference would increase your return on a $10,000 investment by $1,600. In Column U of this week’s Table, we show that if you pick a dozen high-quality stocks and bonds from the main internet sources, and automatically invest $100/mo in each, your annual expenses would come to ~$135 for that investment of $12,000 (0.94%). But read the fine print first:

Caveat emptor: Owning individual stocks is a gamble unless a) you own at least 30 stocks, and b) your picks reflect the impact of each S&P Industry on the economy. Otherwise, you’ll lose money at some point because of selection bias. To avoid that risk altogether, invest in stock index funds that cover the entire economy, e.g. the Vanguard 500 Index Fund (VFINX), the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund (VTSMX), and the SPDR S&P MidCap 400 ETF (MDY).


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

Full Disclosure: In dollar-average into UNP, JNJ, T, NKE and KO, as well as ISBs (Inflation-Protected Savings Bonds).

NOTE: Metrics are current for the Sunday of publication. Red highlights denote underperformance vs. VBINX at Line 21 in the Table. Purple highlights denote Balance Sheet issues and shortfalls. Net Present Value (NPV) inputs are described and justified in the Appendix to Week 256: Briefly, Discount Rate = 9%, Holding Period = 10 years, Initial Cost = average stock price over the past 50 days (corrected for transaction costs of 2.5% when buying ~$5000 worth of shares). Dividend Growth Rate is the 5-Yr CAGR found at Column H. Price Growth Rate is the 16-Yr CAGR found at Column K (http://invest.kleinnet.com/bmw1/). Price Return (from selling all shares in the 10th year) is corrected for transaction costs of 2.5%. The Discount Rate of 9% approximates Total Returns/yr from a stock index of similar risk to owning shares in a small number of large-cap stocks, where risk due to “selection bias” is paramount. That stock index is the S&P MidCap 400 Index at Line 31 in the Table. The ETF for that index is MDY at Line 20.


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

Week 287 - Learn To Earn 9%/yr From Stocks Long-term

Situation: It is not difficult to pick 6 defensive stocks that will earn 6%/yr long-term (see Week 269). But try to pick 6 diversified stocks that will earn 9%/yr long-term without scaring you half to death. That is an order of magnitude more difficult but can be accomplished. Along the way, you’ll learn how not to “leave money on the table.”

Mission: Produce a spreadsheet that incorporates key tactics for picking stocks, limiting the sample to stocks in the S&P 100 Index that 1) had total returns/yr of at least 9% over the past 16 and 25 yr stretches; 2) had total returns/yr of at least 0% during the Housing Crisis (4/07-10/11); 3) have at least a market yield (currently 1.9%); 4) have had dividend growth of at least 9%/yr over the past 5 yrs; 5) have had trendline (“least squares” method) price growth of at least 9%/yr over the past 25 yrs; 6) have a clean Balance Sheet, meaning that long-term debt is no greater than 1/3rd of total assets, the company has Tangible Book Value (barring temporary short-term indebtedness to complete an acquisition), and the company is able to pay dividends from Free Cash Flow; 7) the S&P rating on the company’s long-term debt is no lower than A-; 8) the S&P rating on the company’s stock is no lower than B+/M.  

Execution: We find 6 companies that satisfy all requirements (see Table).

Administration: For efficacy, the key tools we use are to 1) select from a pool of “mega-cap” companies, specifically those in the S&P 100 Index because it has an important safety feature: efficient “price discovery” based on the requirement that listed companies actively trade put and call options at the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE); 2) demonstrate that Net Present Value is a positive number when using a 9% Discount Rate and 10-yr Holding Period. For safety, our key tools are to 1) calculate 3 ratios for determining whether or not the company has a clean balance sheet, and 2) select from companies that have a market yield or better. 

Bottom Line: Stock-picking at this level requires research time, focus, money, and enough discipline to avoid the two great dangers that Warren Buffett has identified: “I’ve seen more people fail because of liquor and leverage — leverage being borrowed money.” Getting a 9%/yr return over time is mainly about amortizing risk through diversification, which can be accomplished more safely and efficiently by dollar-averaging into a “Mid Cap Blend” index fund, like the SPDR MidCap 400 Index ETF (MDY), or Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B) which is an agglomeration of 100 mostly Mid Cap companies. During the Housing Crisis (4/07-10/11), MDY and BRK-B had total returns/yr of -0.7% and -0.3%, respectively (see Column D in the Table).

Caveat: By “shooting for the moon” like this, you will hone your stock-picking skills but also lose a lot of money from time to time (at least on paper). In other words, you would be fully committing to market risk. So, start by regularly investing small amounts in MDY and BRK-B. Then pause to reassess. Move on to Blue Chip companies (i.e., the 30 companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Index) that carry low risk and almost meet our criteria, such as Procter & Gamble (PG at Line 11 in the Table), which only grows dividends 5.0%/yr. PG clears our other hurdles and has a positive NPV at the 9% discount rate (see Column Y in the Table). 

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

Full Disclosure: I dollar-average into UNP, PG, and NEE, and also own shares of AAPL, HON, CAT, and MMM.

NOTE: Metrics are current for the Sunday of publication. Red highlights denote underperformance vs. VBINX at Line 17 in the Table. Purple highlights denote Balance Sheet issues and shortfalls. Net Present Value (NPV) inputs are described and justified in the Appendix to Week 256: Briefly, Discount Rate = 9%, Holding Period = 10 years (no dividends collected in 10th year), Initial Cost = average stock price over the past 50 days (corrected for transaction costs of 2.5% when buying ~$5000 worth of shares). Dividend Growth Rate is the 5-Yr CAGR found at Column H. Price Growth Rate is the 25-Yr trendline (“least squares”) CAGR found at Column K (http://invest.kleinnet.com/bmw1/). Price Return (from selling all shares in the 10th year) is corrected for transaction costs of 2.5%. The Discount Rate of 9% approximates Total Returns/yr from a stock index of similar risk to owning a small number of large-cap stocks, where risk due to “selection bias” is paramount. That stock index is the S&P MidCap 400 Index at Line 23 in the Table. The ETF for that index is MDY at Line 16.

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