The media are dubbing today "dividend day," presumably in reference to Commonwealth Bank of Australia's (ASX: CBA) $1.98 per share fully franked interim dividend, announced today.
Dividend year, more like it.
Or Dividend Decade, especially given these low interest rates are likely to persist for many years to come.
As a reminder, the 10-year Australian Government Bond rate is just 2.55%.
10 years!
And if Bell Potter's Charlie Aitken is right, and the RBA does lower interest rates to below 2% over the next 12-18 months, the great "dash for dividends" might only just be getting started.
For all you dividend fanatics, in case you missed it, Andrew Page has just released his brand new stock pick, exclusively to Motley Fool Dividend Investor members. You can find out the name of the company, get full details of its fully franked yield of around 6%, and save 50% off a two year subscription, by clicking here now.
As mentioned above, market darling and the "dash to dividends" poster child Commonwealth Bank of Australia today reported an interim cash profit of $4.6 billion, an 8% increase on the previous year. The company will pay a fully franked interim dividend of $1.98 per share, also an 8% increase.
The results were largely in line with market expectations, hence the share price being flat to down on the day, trading around $92. At that price, CBA shares trade on a forecast price to earnings ratio (P/E) of around 16.6 and a dividend yield of 4.5%.
At those levels, there simply can't be too much fuel left in the CBA share price tank. It's a massive company, trading on a premium valuation, and only growing fairly modestly — revenue was up just 5% in the most recent half.
CBA's results will be analysed and dissected by investment bankers until kingdom come. Whatever stunning insights they come up with, all you need to know is in the paragraph below…
Sit back, enjoy the CBA dividends, and forget about any meaningful share price appreciation from here.
As ever, like Andrew Page, I'm looking elsewhere for my investing kicks. A nice dividend is all well and good, but it's share price appreciation I'm looking for too. It's a combination you're highly unlikely to get buying Commonwealth Bank shares today.
One small-cap stock I already own is an asset manager called K2 Asset Management Holdings Ltd (ASX: KAM). Its shares were up 6% this morning after the company reported interim results.
To date, it hasn't been one of my best investments. Even after today's jump, I'm still underwater on my buy price, even including dividends.
Still, I'm not overly bothered. K2 started out as a relatively small holding, and is now even smaller, mostly due to the appreciation of other companies in my portfolio (and the weak Aussie dollar).
It's a nice problem to have, of course. In an ideal world, every share I ever buy would only ever go up. Pigs might fly too.
In the stock picking business, you are doing well if you get six out of every ten stock picks right. The reason? Winners can go up hundreds and even thousands of per cent. Losers can 'only' lose 100%.
There is a catch — in order to get those MASSIVE winners, you've got to hold to your shares for the long-term. Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd (ASX: LNG) — up 950% over the past 12 months — is definitely the exception, not the rule.
Get rich slowly. It's not the most marketing-friendly slogan in my repertoire. It doesn't sell many of our stock picking newsletter services. But believe me. It works.
And judged by some recent feedback on our popular Motley Fool Dividend Investor member-only discussion boards, the Foolish Investing message is sinking in…
"It's worth the money. I joined when it started and it has been spectacularly successful financially and educationally for me. And I'm not being paid for this endorsement."
For us, it's the best of both worlds. Not only are members portfolio's benefiting from our share recommendations, but they are learning from our advice. All of which reminds me of this quote…
Another Motley Fool Dividend Investor member piled on top too…
"In my humble opinion it has to be worth the investment purely from the educational aspect alone for anyone contemplating or already investing in the share market."
Of course, our job is never done. In this business, you are only one profit warning away from eating a large helping of humble pie.
Thankfully, and with some level of skill, as judged by the winning scorecard for Motley Fool Dividend Investor members, it's a case of so far so good. Long may it last…
Back to K2 Asset Management. Just to be clear, this is not an official Motley Fool newsletter recommendation. It was an "off-road" Jackson special. Punctures are a distinct possibility.
Even though I hold it, the company has been off my radar for some time. It's what happens when all the action is happening elsewhere in my portfolio.
But after today's results, I'm interested again. From a yield perspective, with the shares trading at around 68 cents, K2 Asset Management trades on a trailing fully franked dividend yield of 8.8%.
Before you get too excited about that dividend yield, know the payout ratio is over 100%, and the dividend can be volatile — it's down to 6 cents per share from 10 cents per share last year. No wonder then perhaps that K2's shares are down 13% over the last 12 months.
An investment in K2 Asset Management is essentially a play on the strength of the share market, and the performance of their funds. As the share market increases, so does their assets under management, their management fees, and their potential performance fees.
The latter — performance fees — are the real kicker, and have the ability to really power profits, dividends and the share price significantly higher.
What rekindled my interest in K2 was this one liner, buried at the bottom of their media release…
"K2 starts the second half of the financial year on a solid base with January returns already placing the funds above their respective performance hurdles and funds under management (FUM) over $840 million."
It should be noted funds under management are up from $805m at December 31st, a significant increase in just one month.
Given their growth, that their funds are currently running above their performance hurdles, my faith in the long-term prospects of the share market, and their juicy fully franked dividend yield, K2 just might qualify as a top-up candidate for the Jackson "off-road" portfolio. I'll keep you posted.
