Top 5 High Dividend Companies To Own In Right Now

The Intelligent REIT Investor's Brad Thomas discusses his outlook for real estate and the new class of data REITs.

SPEAKER:  Hi, I'm talking with Brad Thomas today about REITs.  Thank you for joining me, Brad. 

BRAD THOMAS:  Oh, glad to be here, thanks so much. 

SPEAKER:  You're welcome.  You know, we talked a couple of months ago and you were saying to me that there were a couple of things that investors really need to think about when they're investing in REITs, and one was what is the dividend yield, obviously, and second is the safety of that dividend.  So can you expand a little bit on that? 

BRAD THOMAS:  Sure.  Well, you know, REITs today are very attractive for investors because investors are looking for dividends and dividend safety.  You must remember that REITs are unlike any other public company in that they pay out dividends, forced dividends, and what I mean by that is by law, which is a law created in 1960 in the Eisenhower administration, so this is a law that was created over five decades ago, just point that out, that REITs are required to pay out 90% of their taxable income in the form of dividends, so that's created a very sustainable model for investors today.  That's what's attracted investors to this real estate secured industry because of the sustainability of the dividend model.  So we're seeing a lot of high dividends today, again because companies are forced to pay out at least 90%.  In most cases they pay out almost 100% of their taxable income in the form of dividends. 

Top 5 High Dividend Companies To Own In Right Now: Sandridge Energy Inc.(SD)

SandRidge Energy, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an independent natural gas and oil company in the United States. The company engages in the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas properties. Its Exploration and Production segment explores for, develops, and produces natural gas and oil reserves with focus on the Mid-Continent and Permian Basin. This segment also operates leasehold positions in the West Texas Overthrust (WTO), Gulf Coast, and Gulf of Mexico. The company?s Drilling and Oil Field Services segment is involved in the contract drilling of oil and natural gas wells primarily in the west Texas region. This segment also offers oil field services, including providing pulling units, trucking, rental tools, location, and road construction and roustabout services. Its Midstream Gas Services segment engages in purchasing, gathering, treating, and selling natural gas in west Texas. As of December 31, 2011, its estimated proved reserv es were 470.6 million barrels of oil equivalent, of which approximately 52% were oil. The company also had interests in 5,043 gross producing wells, as well as in approximately 2,695,000 gross acres under lease. In addition, it had 21 rigs drilling in the Mid-Continent and 15 rigs drilling in the Permian Basin. SandRidge Energy, Inc. is headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Selena Maranjian]

  Graham Capital Management reduced its stake in lots of companies, including SandRidge Energy (NYSE: SD  ) . Focused on the Mississippi Lime and Gulf of Mexico regions, the company has been improving its performance on many counts, such as declining well costs. Some are waiting to find out, by the end of the month, whether the company's CEO will remain or depart, with a departure possibly leading to a breakup of the company or other strategies recommended by activists.

• [By Tyler Crowe]

  Who's doing it the best?
  It can be pretty handy to evaluate the entire industry on how efficiently it's replacing reserves, but reserve replacement costs can be more effective in evaluating individual companies. The lower the costs, the better it is. According to Ernst & Young, the most effective company at controlling reserve replacement costs is private company�Antero Resources, with a three-year average reserve replacement cost of about $2.88 per barrel of oil equivalent. Antero, and four of the other top five companies on Ernst & Young's list, are almost pure natural gas plays. If we've learned one thing over the past couple of years, it's that oil reserves and natural gas reserves are two totally different things when it comes to value. The five following companies have more than 50% liquids on�their�reserves and had the lowest reserve replacement costs for 2012.

  Company % Liquids in�Portfolio Oil Production Replacement Rate (3 Years) Reserve Replacement Costs (3-Year Average) Per boe Rosetta Resources� (NASDAQ: ROSE  ) 57% 846% $6.99 Continental Resources� (NYSE: CLR  ) 72% 827% $12.61 Laredo Petroleum� (NYSE: LPI  ) 52% 1,042% $13.51 SM Energy� (NYSE: SM  ) 53% 392% $14.67 SandRidge Energy� (NYSE: SD  ) 58% 704% $14.85

  Sources: Ernst & Young and S&P Capital IQ; author's calculations.

• [By Matt DiLallo]

  Topping the list of companies I'd like to buy cheaper is SandRidge Energy (NYSE: SD  ) . The oil and gas producer has come under intense pressure from activist investors who don't like the way management has led the company. Further, its share price had been pressured by the debt it took on as it shifted from natural gas to oil; it's focused its attention on becoming the dominant player in the Mississippi Lime. Those past missteps have the company trading at a compelling value ��the company currently pegs its net asset value at $32 per share, while those same shares now trade at just over $5 apiece.

Top 5 High Dividend Companies To Own In Right Now: The AES Corporation(AES)

The AES Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates as a power company in Latin America, Africa, North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. The company owns and operates two businesses, Generation and Utilities. The Generation business owns and/or operates power plants to generate and sell power to wholesale customers, such as utilities and other intermediaries. It generates electricity through various sources, including coal, gas, fuel oil, biomass, hydroelectric, wind, and solar. The Utilities business owns and/or operates utilities to distribute, transmit, and sell electricity to end-user customers in the residential, commercial, industrial, and governmental sectors. As of December 31, 2010, the company owned electricity generation and distribution facilities with a total capacity of approximately 40,500 megawatts and distribution networks serving approximately 12 million people in 28 countries. The AES Corporation was founded in 1981 and is based in Arlingto n, Virginia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Justin Loiseau]

  Heading home
  Shares of AES� (NYSE: AES  ) hit 52-week highs last week in anticipation of its May 9 Q1 earnings report. A glance at its investments shows a massive 27-country spread, offering unheard of geographic diversity.

• [By David Dittman]

  Question: AES Corp (NYSE: AES) has been in a bit of downtrend. Any comments on what’s going on?

  Answer: AES Corp has a lot of exposure to Brazil, which I think is a long-term positive but has been a short- and medium-term headwind. Emerging markets are “out” right now, if you think of the stock market as a short-term popularity contest. The long-term weighing machine, I think, will have a positive view on this exposure.
  
  Management did reaffirm its earnings growth guidance for 2014 and 2015.

• [By Justin Loiseau]

  Corporate musical chairs
  AES (NYSE: AES  ) announced Friday that it has added former PPL (NYSE: PPL  ) CEO and Chairman James Miller to its board of directors. "Jim brings to AES' Board substantial experience in the energy industry, both in the U.S. and internationally, including in regulated utilities and competitive power markets," said AES Chairman Charles Rossotti in a statement.

• [By Seth Jayson]

  AES (NYSE: AES  ) is expected to report Q1 earnings on May 9. Here's what Wall Street wants to see:

  The 10-second takeaway
  Comparing the upcoming quarter to the prior-year quarter, average analyst estimates predict AES's revenues will wither -2.4% and EPS will shrink -18.9%.

Top 5 Mid Cap Companies To Buy Right Now: Powershares Etf Fund Trusts Ii (PGX)

The PowerShares Preferred Portfolio (Fund) is based on The BofA Merrill Lynch Core Fixed Rate Preferred Securities Index (Index). The Fund normally invest at least 90% of its total assets in securities that comprise the Index. The Index is designed to replicate the total return of a diversified group of investment-grade preferred securities. The Index is rebalanced on a monthly basis. The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before fees and expenses) of a securities index. The Fund invests in sectors, such as basic materials, financial, utilities and unclassified. Invesco PowerShares Capital Management LLC. is the investment adviser. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lawrence Meyers]

  Public Storage has 10 different series of preferred stock, but I like the Series T because it trades at $21.83, which is more than 12% below par. I don�� see any reason for this discount, and it also boosts the 5.75% dividend (at par) to 6.58% at the current price.

  Preferred Stocks to Buy: PowerShares Preferred Portfolio (PGX)
  

  Dividend Yield: 6.6%

Top 5 High Dividend Companies To Own In Right Now: Athabasca Oil Corp (ATHOF.PK)

Athabasca Oil Corporation, formerly Athabasca Oil Sands Corp., is focused on the exploration and development of unconventional oil resource plays in Alberta, Canada. The Company is organized into two divisions: thermal oil and light oil. Thermal oil includes the Company�� assets, liabilities and operating results for the exploration, development and production of bitumen from sand and carbonate rock formations located in the Athabasca region of Northern Alberta. Light oil includes the Company�� assets, liabilities and operating results for the exploration, development and production of unconventional oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids located in various regions in the province of Alberta. Athabasca has accumulated more than 1.5 million (net) acres of oil sands leases in the Athabasca area of northern Alberta. The Company�� oil sands projects are Hangingstone (100%), Dover West Sands (100%), Dover West Carbonates (100%), Dover (40%), Birch (100%) and Grosmont (50%). Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stephan Dube]

  Athabasca's most notable producers:

  Suncor Energy (SU) (Part 1), see article here.Suncor Energy (Part 2), see article here.Athabasca Oil (ATHOF.PK), see article here.Canadian Natural Resources, see article here.Imperial Oil, see article here.Cenovus Energy (CVE), see article here.MEG Energy (MEGEF.PK), see article here.Devon Energy, see article here.Royal Dutch Shell, see article here.Ivanhoe Energy (IVAN), see article here.Nexen (CNOOC) (CEO), see article here.

  An analysis of the current operations of the company will be examined with the objective to provide the most complete information available to potential investors before deciding to seize the opportunity that the 54,132 square miles of the Carbonate Triangle has to offer. Let's start by introducing Athabasca, a famous and most prolific region in the Canadian oil sands as well as one of the largest reserve in the world.

Top 5 High Dividend Companies To Own In Right Now: HyperSolar Inc (HYSR)

Hypersolar, Inc., incorporated on February 18, 2009, is developing renewable hydrogen using sunlight and any source of water, including seawater and wastewater. Unlike hydrocarbon fuels, such as oil, coal and natural gas, where carbon dioxide and other contaminants are released into the atmosphere when used, hydrogen fuel usage produces pure water as the only byproduct. The Company�� technology includes HyperSolar H2Generator. Its nano-size particle is designed to mimic photosynthesis and contains a solar absorber that generates electrons from sunlight, as well as integrated cathode and anode areas to readily split water and transfer those electrons to the molecular bonds of hydrogen.

The HyperSolar H2Generator consists of the following primary stages: Reactor Vessels, Hydrogen Compressor and Hydrogen Storage. The reactor vessels resemble transparent rectangular boxes containing water and billions of nanoparticles suspended in solution. When exposed to sunlight, hydrogen gas will bubble up into an air gap on top for separation and collection. Produced hydrogen gas will be compressed for space efficient storage. Hydrogen can be stored in compressed gas tanks or chemical canisters depending on the application. The HyperSolar H2Generator will be a self-contained renewable hydrogen production system that requires only sunlight and any source of water.

The Company competes with Air Products and Chemicals Inc. and Air Liquide.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  Small cap hydrogen fuel stocks Hydrogenics Corporation (NASDAQ: HYGS), FuelCell Energy Inc (NASDAQ: FCEL), HyperSolar Inc (OTCMKTS: HYSR) and HydroPhi Technologies Group, Inc (OTCMKTS: HPTG) are some of the lesser known small caps that are�working with hydrogen fuel or hydrogen fuel cell related technology. I should say that small cap hydrogen stocks are not for risk adverse investors as there are considerable unanswered questions about hydrogen fuel related technology and whether it can be a viable green technology given the fueling infrastructure needed along with the�energy and expense involved in creating hydrogen�(Note: None of these small cap�stocks are profitable at ). But any new technology will pose the same types of risks for early stage investors���especially if its so-called green technology.�