What Did You Buy Today?

[Otter]

(04-16-2020, 03:46 PM)fenders53 Wrote:

(04-16-2020, 03:10 PM)EricL Wrote:

(04-16-2020, 11:34 AM)fenders53 Wrote: Anyone else like IP?  (International Paper)  Boring BIZ but the Div is almost as good as MO or T and the payout ratio around 50%.  I like it down here.  Or is cardboard packaging going away and I just don't realize it?  I think I am going to add some more IP.

Keep in mind that the 50% payout is off trailing earnings. According to 2020 estimates, the payout ratio is nearly 90%, and that is questionable as earnings are a tossup at this point. IP doesn't have a great dividend track record, and its BBB credit rating doesn't leave a ton of wiggle room for a cyclical company.

What's a good track record?  Div growth the past 10 years looks pretty good.  That's usually how far I look back.  I do like aristocrats best but to get a good PE you gotta buy stocks like XOM and SKT borrowing their Divs.

In the low-margin packaging space, there's also Sonoco (SON), with 37 years of dividend growth. Bemis was also an aristocrat, and acquired by Amcor last year (AMCR). Both sport BBB credit ratings. 

These are not companies that knock your socks off with annual earnings growth, but there is steady (and usually growing) demand for their products. Probably about as steady as it gets in the basic materials space.