Top Stocks

Great dividend stocks are easier to find than you think.

Income investors looking for safe dividend stocks in which to stash their retirement money are already familiar with many blue chips that have hefty yields. It's just that when investors stop at the grocery store or pay their phone bills, they aren't thinking about how the big brands they're doing business with are actually good income investments.

Here are three of America's best-known corporations with yields about twice what 10-year Treasurys pay. These low-risk blue chips are some of the most famous high-yield dividend stocks out there:

 

By Jim Cramer, TheStreet

 

Time for the patented rollover? Did we rally and rally until everything got taken up too high and too much money came in?

 

Sure looks like it. Just like that, the bid is gone underneath, we are worried about the euro, the Chinese are still regarded as cheaters, oil went too high and we are worried about a weak economy, punctuated by the spill in the Gulf.

 

It's as if the whole move upward was based on nothing but an easing of the crisis and the soft landing in China -- and now we are back in the range. I expect oil to slip back to $70, the euro to go back to $1.20 against the dollar and gold to go higher as a sign of craziness and destruction.

 

Until earnings are reported.

 

China's decision to end a strict yuan-dollar peg is getting all the headlines -- even though the likely appreciation of the yuan versus the dollar is in the vicinity of 3% or so in 2010. That's hardly a game changer. (For more on why China made this move now, see this post.)

But the bigger China-U.S. news dates back a few days to June 15: After reducing its holdings of U.S. Treasury debt by 6.5% from November 2009 through February 2010, China reversed its policy. 

In March and April, China increased its investment in U.S. government notes and bonds by 2.6% to $900.2 billion.

 

As a growth guy who focuses on sales and earnings, I have very strict guidelines as to how I screen penny stocks. Small stocks come with big risk, and there aren't always the concrete numbers I demand in these investments.

However, if you do your homework, you can often separate the poor penny stocks from the shiny picks that could deliver big profits overnight.

Here are three of my favorite penny stocks right now: 

After the stock market's antics in May, things appear to be on the mend in June, with the broader market trending upward -- especially thanks to a bullish start for this week as China moves to revalue its yuan.

But a rising tide does not lift all boats. Some stocks have been pushed down for a reason after the stock market's consolidation last month, and these picks need to be trimmed from your portfolio immediately.

 

Here are the three worst blue chips, according to my latest analysis of the market:

 

Risky assets bounced higher in overseas trading today after China finally acquiesced to global pressure and announced that it would once again allow its currency, the renminbi yuan, to start appreciating again. The Shanghai Composite jumped 2.9%, Japan's Nikkei index added 2.4%, and European stocks gained 1%.

 

But American traders are using the good news as cover to sell. As I write this, the smaller and riskier stocks in the Russell 2000 have dropped from a gain of 1.8% to trade with a deepening loss of 0.7%. The U.S. dollar is also moving higher and is trading with its largest gain since stocks bottomed on June 8.

 

With the major indexes overbought in the short term, and after a recent cross of significant technical resistance at the 200-day moving averages on the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average, a pause for breath was to be expected. There is evidence, both historical and anecdotal, that stocks have further to fall.

 

The e-book industry was shaken up Monday as Amazon(AMZN) and Barnes & Noble (BKS) made aggressive cuts to the prices of their book-reading devices.

First, Barnes & Noble cut its Nook reader to $199 from $259. That reader comes with 3G technology. The company also introduced a Nook that connects only through Wi-Fi for $149.

• Has America lost its edge?
  

A few hours later, Amazon followed by dropping the Kindle to $189 from $259. Other e-readers, such as one by Sony (SNE), are sure to follow.

 

We've spent a lot of time talking about the federal bailout of the banking industry, but guess what: The government's takeover of Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) will cost taxpayers even more money.

That's according to The New York Times, which had an excellent report Sunday on the sad state of Fannie and Freddie. The tab to take care of the companies is up to $146 billion, and the Congressional Budget Office predicts it could climb as high as $389 billion.

What happened here? Fannie and Freddie have been getting investors to fund mortgage loans for decades, promising to repay if borrowers defaulted, Binyamin Appelbaum writes. The companies used the money to buy loans already made by banks. 

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By Jim Cramer, TheStreet

 

The market knew something, all right. That persistent bid underneath that we all sensed, we all felt, turned out to be dead right.

I thought it might be because the euro was holding. Or because the Spanish banks had at last broken the backs of bearish investors. I thought it might be that employment is getting stronger -- or, more likely, has to get stronger -- because some companies, like General Motors, aren't doing their usual furloughs. I thought it might be the final financial regulation rules and how they wouldn't be that onerous.

 

I didn't think it would be China, because I already checked off the Chinese recovery box last week -- one of the key props I needed to see before we could leave the 2010 bear market behind.

 

The market's real smart.

 

 

It’s back, but just what is it this time?

That’s the essential question, as DreamWorks roars back to life after spending much of 2009 in the credit-market wilderness following its divorce from Paramount.

Now with over $800 million in privately procured financing in the bank and with the launch of six movies into production, the studio begins what can be termed its third life stage -- operating as a privately funded company with only one of the original Big Three founders, Steven Spielberg, still running the show.

Unshackled from their unhappy Paramount home, and beginning a more simple life as a pure-play movie-production house, DreamWorks officials brim with the kind of hope that can only be found at a studio that hasn’t been around long enough to see anything flop.

 

Question: Are you bullish or bearish?

Answer: It depends on what time period we're talking about.

In the very short term -- say, the next four to six weeks -- I'm bullish. I think the market is gradually inching its way higher after breaking through resistance at 1108 on the Standard & Poor's 500.

The summer rally could take us up another 30 or 40 points on the S&P 500 from here.

 

First we have high-end lawn mowers coming into fashion, and now luxury mattresses? Was the recession just a bad dream?

Sealy (ZZ) is making more mattresses for the luxury crowd, and just debuted the black-and-gold Golden Elegance king model for $4,999, The Wall Street Journal reports.

But that's nothing compared to the $44,000 "Sublime" mattress coming out later this year from California-based E.S. Kluft. It will likely become the most expensive American-made mattress, joining the ranks of other mattresses made with cashmere, mohair, silk and crimped wool, writes Anjali Athavaley. 

We've all heard the reasons to be fearful of stocks right now -- potential spillover from the European debt crisis, questions about the housing recovery's sustainability, a burgeoning national debt and budget deficits. All of those (and more) have been highlighted pretty extensively in the media.

 

But there are also plenty of reasons to be optimistic. And in a recent opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal, strategist Bob Doll pointed out some particularly interesting bullish signs. In fact, Doll (portfolio manager and chief equity strategist for fundamental equities for Blackrock) said that despite the formidable challenges the U.S. faces, “overweight positions in U.S. equities are more than warranted” right now.

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One of the most interesting factors Doll addresses involves corporate balance sheets. Unlike many companies in other countries, U.S. firms went into cost-cutting mode and became much more efficient when the financial crisis hit, he writes. As demand rebounds, that has them in very good shape. For nonfinancial companies, cash on the balance sheet is close to 11% of assets -- a 60-year high, he says. And he notes that, according to Citigroup, unit labor costs are falling at the fastest pace in 40 years.