Kellogg has announced plans to split into three independent companies, believing that separating its operating segments will provide better autonomy and room for growth while helping its rangebound stock price break higher as investors value each business separately. While details still need to be finalized, including board approval and a favorable ruling from the IRS, the tax-free spinoffs are expected to occur by the end of 2023. Management has reiterated its commitment to the dividend and plans to keep income investors whole in the aggregate, with each emerging company assuming re ..read more

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) plans to take Juul’s e-cigarettes off the market, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. Shares of Altria fell as much as 10% on the news. Altria paid $12.8 billion for a 35% stake in Juul in 2018. The Marlboro maker made this investment, which has since been written down to $1.6 billion, to gain exposure to allegedly less harmful vaping products that seemed poised to win over a growing number of cigarette smokers. However, Juul has faced increased regulatory scrutiny in recent years as the vaping giant’s flashy marketing, fruity fl ..read more

Cisco will be the latest battered tech stock when the market opens Thursday. Shares of the networking giant slumped as much as 15% in after-market trading following the firm’s disappointing earnings results and guidance. At the midpoint of guidance, Cisco expects sales in the current quarter to fall roughly 3% year-over-year, missing analyst estimates calling for nearly 6% growth. Adjusted earnings are also projected to miss consensus by about 13%. On its conference call, Cisco blamed the shortfall on the war in Ukraine (Russia, Belarus and Ukraine account for 1% of total sales) and Covi ..read more

McDonald’s on Monday announced intentions to sell its Russian business, two months after temporarily suspending operations in the country due to the war in Ukraine. While the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine is tragic and the headlines about McDonald’s exit of Russia may create some anxiety for conservative income investors, these issues should not impact the firm’s dividend policy. The fast-food chain operates in over 100 countries, and its restaurants in Russia and Ukraine represented only about 2% of system-wide sales in 2021. Maintaining the infrastructure of these locations costs McDonald’s ..read more

As inflation weighs heavy on consumers’ pocketbooks, shares of apparel retailers have fallen nearly 30% this year, almost double the broader market decline. On top of shoppers’ stretched budgets, clothing retailers continue to battle shipping and supply challenges exasperated by this year’s Covid-related lockdowns in China, the world’s largest textile producer. These economic headwinds have pushed shares of V.F. Corp back down to levels last seen during the depths of the pandemic in 2020, when it was unclear if retailers would survive the shuttered economy. The post V.F. Corp’s Outlook Remains ..read more

Shares of Philip Morris International have slumped 15% since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. Unlike most companies headquartered in America, Philip Morris has meaningful ties to Russia and Ukraine. Russia accounted for 6% of the firm’s 2021 net revenues, and Ukraine added another 2%. These countries also played a key role in Philip Morris’s push into so-called reduced-risk products such as heated tobacco, which represented 29% of net revenues last year and are the firm’s primary long-term growth driver. Philip Morris’s heated tobacco volumes grew 25% in 2021, and Russia accounted for 17 ..read more

This year, CVS Health raised its dividend by 10% after keeping the payout frozen for five years as the company prioritized deleveraging efforts, following the sizable 2018 acquisition of health insurer Aetna. With leverage reduced to pre-acquisition levels, CVS now intends to keep raising the annual payout in line with earnings growth. This plan implies the dividend is likely to grow at a high single-digit pace in the years ahead. The post CVS’s Deleveraging Efforts Improve Dividend Outlook appeared first on Simply Safe Dividends ..read more

The nation’s largest self-storage REIT, Public Storage, has kept its dividend frozen since 2017 despite having the balance sheet and cash flow to support increasing payouts. Given Public Storage’s strong financial health, many investors question why dividend growth has remained elusive in recent years – especially when considering REITs are required to distribute at least 90% of taxable income to shareholders. After all, 2021 was a banner year with same store revenue up 11% as more consumers decluttered their living spaces and became self-storage customers. With cash flow rising at its fastest ..read more

Despite a broad economic recovery, the struggles of skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) amplified by the pandemic continue to loom large. With SNFs accounting for nearly 80% of Omega’s portfolio, not much has improved since our note last August. Dividend coverage remains stretched as SNF operators, the REITs tenants, continue to struggle with reduced occupancy rates and labor issues. As such, we are reaffirming Omega’s Unsafe Dividend Safety Score. When Covid became a national concern, occupancy at Omega’s properties fell from 84% to a low of 72% in January 2021 and has since only ..read more

Intel on February 17 hosted an analyst day to provide more details on its turnaround strategy, which seeks to restore the chip maker’s technological leadership position while also building a foundry business to manufacture semiconductors for others. Expanding existing production and constructing new fabs, or chip factories, will require substantial capital investment. For example, Intel expects to spend $40 billion to build four fabs in Arizona and Ohio. Billions more will be spent on equipping current sites with advanced manufacturing technologies. In total, Intel’s capital expendit ..read more