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“If you’re not growing, you’re dying” is a well-worn phrase slathered all over the business and investment world, for good reason: It’s true. And it strikes a particularly loud chord when it comes to dividend investing. If your retirement portfolio is full of stocks that are paying the same dividend they did years ago, then, you’re certainly losing the war with inflation, and your nest egg probably isn’t performing to its full potential.
But if your retirement portfolio is stuffed full of companies like the five dividend growers I’ll share with you today, then you’ll stay ahead of the pack, year after year.
The easiest way to understand the importance of dividend growth is to simply look at inflation. Let’s say you bought something for $1 in 2016. Even with inflation at a snail’s pace of just 1.5%, that same item would cost about $1.01 this year.
Hot Dividend Stocks To Buy For 2018: S&P Smallcap 600(PH)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Charles Mizrahi, President and CEO, Hampton Investors, Inc.]
Parker Hannifin (PH) generates strong revenue from its aerospace division, while its primary industrial segment is lagging.
Overall, we like the company’s balanced portfolio. PH had solid order rates this past year with backlog of $3.6 billion between its industrial and aerospace segments.
Hot Dividend Stocks To Buy For 2018: Cellcom Israel Ltd.(CEL)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By WWW.THESTREET.COM]
That’s why Cramer said he’ll be listening for news coming from Celgene (CEL) , Amgen (AMGN) , Allergan (AGN) , an Action Alerts PLUS holding, and Regenron (REGN) , all of which are set to present. Of the four, Cramer said he’s sticking with Allergan and Amgen.
Hot Dividend Stocks To Buy For 2018: Raytheon Company(RTN)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Rich Smith]
On one particularly big news day, April 28, the DSCA announced that it has notified Congress of no fewer than seven separate pending arms sales that it plans to push through. These deals are aiming to sell:
110 radar-seeking air-to-ground “HARM” missiles to Australia, generating sales of $137.6 million for prime contractors Orbital ATK (NYSE:OA) and Raytheon (NYSE:RTN). Four P-8A Poseidonsubmarine-hunting jet aircraft to New Zealand — a $1.46 billion payday for Boeing (NYSE:BA). 13 76 mm cannonfor installation aboard Israeli Navy SA’AR 4.5 and SA’AR 6 Missile Patrol Boats at a purchase price of $440 million. (Italian firm Leonardo S.p.a.’s DRS North America subsidiary will be the contractor on that one.) Nine Bell 429light utility helicopters to Slovakia, yielding sales of $150 million for Textron (NYSE:TXT). And five CH-47D Chinookhelicopters, sold out of U.S. government surplus to Greece for $80 million.
Also included in the DSCA’s list of pending contracts are two directed toward the NATO Support and Procurement Agency, specifically:
- [By Money Morning News Team]
Not all defense firms are doing well in 2016. But Raytheon Co. (NYSE: RTN) is on our list ofbest tech stocksto watch. Not only does this defense giant have hundreds of millions in current missile systems contracts with the U.S. government, but it is also on the forefront of one of the world’s most pressing issues – cybersecurity.
- [By Money Morning News Team]
Our No. 2 pick, Raytheon Co. (NYSE: RTN), is involved in engineering technology for defense systems, government electronics, and information technology. Its largest and most profitable segments are Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) and Missile Systems (MS).
- [By Stephen Mack]
Defense contractor Raytheon Co. (NYSE: RTN) beat expectations last week, reporting earnings per share (EPS) of $1.89 compared to an expected $1.76. That’s still a 20% drop from $2.38 in the same quarter last year. But here’s what’s important to understand: It’s not as bad as it looks.
- [By Money Morning News Team]
If you’re looking for one of thebest investments today, it’s hard to beat Raytheon Co. (NYSE: RTN). It doesn’t matter if the market is up or down, defense spending continues to increase. In the past year, global annual defense spending hit $1.6 trillion, and this is considered to be an industry that is likely to continue to grow for the foreseeable future.
- [By Jon C. Ogg]
Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) has been one of the pot-election winners that benefitted from the so-called “trump Bump” due to higher military spending ambitions. It turns out that the hype behind higher defense spending is giving this military equipment giant confidence to boost its dividend handily.
Hot Dividend Stocks To Buy For 2018: Reynolds American Inc(RAI)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Rich Duprey, Demitrios Kalogeropoulos, and Brian Feroldi]
It remains true that the tobacco industry will continue coming under pressure from anti-smoking activists, politicians, and regulators who seek to stub out cigarettes further by raising taxes on smokes, but companies such as Altria and Reynolds American (NYSE:RAI) are largely able to offset their impact on profits by raising prices. The ability to command such pricing power without an overly large loss of customers obviously speaks to the addictive qualities of smoking but is also an otherwise enviable position to be in.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Just before 1pm today, shares of Reynolds American (RAI) took a sudden nosedive on reports that its merger with British American Tobacco (BTI) had “hit a snag” according to StreetInsider.com. Cowen’s Vivien Azer and team still think a deal gets done:
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Street Insider is reporting that BATS’ acquisition of RAI has “hit a snag,” and that “a potential transaction may be less likely near-term.” We view this source as less credible (vs. a WSJ or CNBC), in particular given the scant level of detail. While the delay in a consummated deal has extended longer than we thought, we still view the deal as likely (85% probability).
Shares of Reynolds American have dropped 1.3% to $55.47 at 2:26 p.m. today, while British American Tobacco has declined 0.2% to $112.71. Shares of Philip Morris International (PM), which could be interested in an acquisition of Altria Group (MO), have fallen 1% to$90.28 after getting cut toNeutral from Buy at BofA Merrill Lynch, while Altria has risen 0.5% to$67.94 after getting upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Merrill.
- [By Leo Sun]
With interest rates set to rise this year, many dividend investors are likely worried that their stocks will slip as bond yields become more attractive. While some dividend stocks will inevitably decline, investors can still find some low-risk income plays that have high yields and cheap valuations. Let’s take a look at three such stocks — AT&T (NYSE:T), Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO), and Reynolds American (NYSE:RAI).
Hot Dividend Stocks To Buy For 2018: Nucor Corporation(NUE)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Lee Jackson]
This top steel company could do very well if the economy sees a solid pickup this year and the administration’s infrastructure push remainsin place. Nucor Corp. (NYSE: NUE) and its affiliates are manufacturers of steel products, with operating facilities primarily in the United States and Canada. The company alsois North America’s largest recycler.
- [By Jon C. Ogg]
Then there are the steel plays. United States Steel Corp. (NYSE: X) was up 7.4% at $27.61 late on Monday. It has a market cap of $4.5 billion. Over the past five trading days the stock has gained 30%. Nucor Corp. (NYSE: NUE) was last seen up 1% at $59.34. Nucor has a total market cap of $18.8 billion. Over the past fivetrading days the stock has gained 17%.
- [By Jason Hall, Brian Stoffel, and Brian Feroldi]
With that idea in mind, we asked three of our top contributors to write about a stock they see as being a bargain today, and they gave us mortgage industry software lynchpinEllie Mae Inc(NYSE:ELLI), real estate holding companyStore Capital Corp(NYSE:STOR), and steelmaker extraordinaireNucor Corporation(NYSE:NUE).
- [By Jon C. Ogg]
Nucor Corp. (NYSE: NUE) was raised to Buy from Neutral on Monday. Nucor was last seen trading up 1.5% at $55.73. It has a 52-week range of $44.81 to $68.00 and has a consensus analyst price target of $69.83.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
But U.S. Steel is getting killed, as are AK Steel (AKS), Steel Dynamics (STLD) and Nucor (NUE). Can we chalk it up to Paul Ryan’s comments that tax reform could take longer than health care reform, which also seems to be tanking the overall market?
- [By Chris Lange]
The stock posting the largest daily percentage gain in the S&P 500 ahead of the close Wednesday was Nucor Corp. (NYSE: NUE) which rose 3.6% to $57.35. The stocks 52-week range is $45.30 to $68.00. Volume was 4.6 million compared to its average volume of 2.3 million.
Hot Dividend Stocks To Buy For 2018: CRB Futures Index(CR)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Lisa Levin]
Crane Co. (NYSE: CR) shares were also up, gaining 12 percent to $67.56 on stronger-than-expected Q3 earnings.
Equities Trading DOWN
- [By Monica Gerson]
Crane Co. (NYSE: CR) is expected to post its quarterly earnings at $0.86 per share on revenue of $644.60 million.
Oceaneering International (NYSE: OII) is projected to post its quarterly earnings at $0.35 per share on revenue of $641.85 million.
