ID’ing Cabot’s teased “#1 top dividend stock recommendation”

by Travis Johnson, Stock Gumshoe | November 7, 2018 11:08 am

It’s hard to get people lusty about dividends[1] when small tech stocks and marijuana[2] stocks are going bonkers… but perhaps now that October has reminded us of the “stocks fall faster than they rise” rule, a return to “boring” is in the offing.

At least, it seems that’s the hope of Cabot[3] Dividend Investor, which is trolling for new subscribers with bait that includes a reference to “My latest #1 top dividend stock recommendation” — so now that we’re all exhausted by the midterm mania, let’s settle in for a rest on the puffy old couch that is dividend investing[4] and see if we can’t lounge our way to revealing that teased stock.

The ad comes in from Chloe Lutts[5] Jensen, who is part of the “family business” at Cabot (I think Carlton Lutts must have been her grandfather, he started the Cabot letters in 1970)… much of the spiel is just about dividend investing in general — trying to break down what she says are the “myths” of dividend investing (that dividend-paying stocks grow slower, that you have to give up returns for safety, that current yield is the best measure, and, yes, that dividend investing is boring), which is an admirable goal. The more we chase the silly speculations, the more we miss out on the power of compounding.

And then she gets into the tease…

“My latest addition to the portfolio is in the consumer staples sector. They own a wide range of consumer brands found in grocery stores and other large retailers. Strong market or weak, stable or volatile, the market for these goods stays strong.

“That’s why this company’s income and earnings have increased steadily over the past 10 years. After a slight slowdown last year this year has returned to form, with earnings up 15%, sales up, and taxes down.”

She says that analysts are forecasting growth, too — 5% revenue growth and 20% earnings growth, so that’s perhaps not super-sexy… but 20% earnings growth is pretty high for a consumer staple stock (Hershey, which I own a few shares of, is likely to grow earnings by not much more than 5-6%, Procter & Gamble is in the 7% neighborhood, Colgate Palmolive is more like 2-3%… you get the idea).

And we’re told that this company has grown its dividend every year for 50 years, which puts them in rarefied territory — there are 100 or so “Dividend Aristocrats” who have grown their dividend annually for 25 years or more, but only about 20 “Dividend Kings” who have done the same for half a century.

And, apparently, the dividend growth has been pretty decent — more from Chloe:

“Over the past 5 years alone, the dividend growth has averaged more than 15%.

“The dividend payout ratio is still low (averaging 38% over the past 5 years) so there’s no reason to believe the growth won’t continue.”

So… hoodat? This is, sez the Thinkolator, none other than the Spam king — Hormel Foods (HRL), which, despite its seriously non-sexy nature, is close to hitting an all-time high stock price right now.

Hormely doesn’t have a particularly high dividend, with a current yield of 1.7%, but the dividend has been paid for 100 years or so, and grown annually for 52 years… and the increases have recently been meaningful, the last hike was by 10%. That adds up if you can be patient, and they are likely to declare their next dividend increase around the time that they report their fourth quarter earnings — which will be two weeks from yesterday, on November 20.

Hormel is mostly a portfolio of slow-growth brands that you’re probably familiar with — the namesake Hormel products like chili, bacon and other prepared meat foods, Spam, and Dinty Moore stews, and Skippy peanut butter, but they do also have some growth areas like prepared guacamole and salsas, Applegate Naturals sausages and meat products, frozen pizzas and deli products, and Muscle Milk that they use to try to appeal to younger generations.

You can see their latest corporate investor presentation here if you’d like more background, they say that they are aiming for 5% top line growth and 10% earnings growth as they invest in innovation, modernize their supply chain, and try to broaden their marketplace.

So it’s probably not the most exciting idea out there, and returns will be probably limited to less than 10% a year over the next 5-10 years, given the relatively high current valuation (24X current earnings), but they’ll probably be around for a long time and they aren’t big risk-takers — they don’t carry a lot of debt, the dividend increases will almost certainly continue, and they have pretty consistently posted a return on equity of 15-20% for 25+ years, despite the fact that I probably haven’t had a can of Dinty Moore Beef Stew since I was a boy scout 35 years ago.

Asleep yet? If you have enough energy to opine on Hormel or suggest other slow-and-steady dividend growers that you think we should consider, just type those thoughts into the happy little comment box below… thanks for reading!

Are you getting our free Daily Update
"reveal" emails? If not,
just click here...


Endnotes:
  1. dividends: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/dividends/
  2. marijuana: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/marijuana/
  3. Cabot: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/cabot/
  4. dividend investing: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/dividend-investing/
  5. Chloe Lutts: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/chloe-lutts/

Source URL: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/reviews/cabot-dividend-investor/iding-cabots-teased-1-top-dividend-stock-recommendation/


10 responses to “ID’ing Cabot’s teased “#1 top dividend stock recommendation””

  1. Erni says:

    Church & Dwight is another star in this category. Great products, consistent dividends, and lots of diversity besides baking soda.

  2. Paul says:

    One might look at NOBL for dividend aristocrats.

  3. quincy adams says:

    What might rip the “boring” label off the stock is for Hormel to add a little CBD to the Spam.

  4. mrachow says:

    I was on Hormel’s email list but they kept going to Spam.

  5. JayBee says:

    I used to eat a lot of Dinty Moore Beef Stew, but I found that I most enjoyed eating it when I was REALLY hungry. I would just scarf it down, no problem. But if I wasn’t very hungry, I really started to notice that the beef was really fatty. And I’m not just talking about the semi-solid orange layer of fat that I could remove from the top of the stew when I removed the lid. I am talking about grisly, fatty meat. The real sub-par stuff. Like I was eating a cooked woodchuck or possum. I think that they could rename it Off the Floor Beef Stew and people would have an easier time remembering the name.

  6. fwenzel says:

    Meh, the stock is at an all time high of 44.5 and when the big downturn hits they’ll be back at 30. I’ll pass for something of better value.

  7. BobH says:

    I grew up in North Dakota, in the 50’s & 60’s. Parents & 2 brothers nearly dirt poor. Sometimes no meals. I would have loved to have a bowel of Dinty Moore Beef Stew. Still eat it today. U.S. Millenials are spoiled trash!!!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.