Free Cash Flow is a firm’s net income plus depreciation/amortization and all other non-cash charges - minus changes in working capital and capital expenditures.  It may sound complicated at first glance, but all that really means is that free cash flow is the amount of cash left over after paying the bills and making new investments [...]

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Welcome to part III of my series examining the attributes of good dividend stocks.   When buying a stock for income, the safety of the dividend is of utmost importance.  Dividend cuts are frowned upon because they amount to an admission of defeat by management and show a lack of confidence in the executive suite about [...]

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Welcome to part II of my series examining the attributes of good dividend stocks.  The first thing to look for when analyzing a dividend stock is its dividend history.  A long record of rising dividend payments shows discipline, sensible capital allocation, and demonstrates management’s commitment to shareholders.
Earnings You Can Take To The Bank
You might not [...]

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Dividend paying stocks are the bread and butter of every income investor living off their portfolio income (or aspiring to, anyway).  As far as passive income strategies go, dividend-paying stocks sit at the top of the heap.  After an initial research effort, good dividend stocks can be held for years, even decades, providing a stream of steadily [...]

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The term long tail, coined by Wired editor Chris Anderson in the October 2004 issue, refers to a socio-economic trend away from a hit-based economy to a niche-based one.  In essence, the theory of the long tail states that the revenue potential of all the less popular, long tail markets taken together far exceeds the [...]

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It may seem unfair, but over the past 20 years you would have been far better off investing in the provider than the service.  Over the last decade, for instance, T Rowe Price (TROW) the stock has returned an average of 12% per year as of 1/31/08.  The Vanguard 500 Index fund (VFINX), by contrast, has [...]

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To say that banks have been hit hard over the past year would be an understatement.  The subprime fiasco and ensuing credit crisis claimed many victims ranging from bankruptcy for such stalwart regional mortgage companies like Homebanc (one of the 100 Best Companies to work for in 2007 - oops!) to huge losses for such [...]

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At first glance, the future looks dim for General Moters (NYSE: GM).   But on second glance, a $38 Billion loss isn’t all that bad.  The fact that GM was down less than 2% on the loss is the first clue something is amok.  Think about it:  how could a company with a  $15.055 Billion market [...]

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