First off, "wow!" - this forum has grown exponentially since my last visit a few months ago. I had almost forgotten about it so congratulations to the mods/founders. My topic is, does anyone here invest in old fashioned blue chip stocks? Are there really many of them "down under" in the first place? I don't have the money to invest much in equities, but I do have some shares of Altria, the American/International tobacco conglomerate. I think there is something to be said for a consistent year-in year-out 6% dividend. Plus I am in Kentucky so I am biased towards tobacco (lots grown here, for those of you not up on your agricultural geography, haha). I'm just curious to see what people think of names like Proctor & Gamble, Coke, Exxon, General Electric, and so forth. As well as if there are Aussie or Kiwi equivalents (obviously not equivalent in total capitalization, but you get my idea I hope) Or is it all commodity stocks, just playing off the gold/silver/copper theme?
I too hold Altria in my portfolio. I'm a big fan of dividend paying stocks. The problem with some of those Blue Chips is the limited growth now and the somewhat meager dividends. I bought DOW and GE when they were hammered down into the low teens and Exxon when it was around $60. Right now I am a big fan of Seadrill (SDRL) and Exxon (XOM) -- those are my two picks for 2011. GE I traded out of back around $17 and I am thinking about getting back in because they seem to be turning a corner and improving their operations. Overall I think Coke, P&G, J&J, and those other often touted dividend payers have run up too much and don't offer the type of growth and dividend I personally look for. Verizon (VZ) is one I do like, and also own. They have good growth potential, the iPhone should help margins, and they have a nice dividend. I'm not sure what type of stocks you are looking for, but some other favorites of mine are ticker symbols NYB, MCHP, SSW, and UXG (no dividend here, but great growth potential).
In Australia we generally don't have the sort of quality large cap buy and hold growth stocks (Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Yum Brands, Nestle, Johnson and Johnson, 3M, etc) that they have in the U.S. and Europe. In Australia there are very few if any ASX listed companies that you can confidently buy and hold for decades. In terms of ASX listed large caps, Woolworths (WOW) if you can buy it at the right price (around $24 per share is reasonable in my opinion) it is a worthwhile company to hold for another 5-10 years. BHP Billiton (BHP) and Rio Tinto (RIO) have crap management and are therefore in my opinion unsafe to buy, (as is Wesfarmers (WES) for the same reason). Companies like Cochlear (COH) and CSL (CSL) are too reliant on a few key products to be considered safe. There are a few small and midcap stocks which are relatively low risk and pay okay dividends. Reckon (RKN) which sells business, accounting and personal finance software including the Quickbooks range is a dividend paying small cap which will likely grow at an above average rate while paying a good dividend for at least the next 10-20 years. Monadelphous (MND) is midcap engineering and mining services company with good management and a good track record. It pays a good dividend and and should be able to generate above average growth over the next 10-20 years. The problem in Australia right now is virtually all the high quality business are overvalued and hence unsuitable for purchase at the current time. Blue Chips in the U.S. and Europe generally offer better value right now. Many here consider the big banks (Commonwealth (CBA), Westpac (WBC), Australia and New Zealand Bank (ANZ), and National Australia Bank (NAB) to be reliable dividend payers. But like all banks they are inherently complex and incredibly risky and hence should in my view be avoided. In summary there aren't (leaving aside for now the question of price) many Australian large caps worth owning (I would say fewer than 10). There are however (again leaving aside for a moment the question of price) enough good small and mid cap stocks. Australia isn't a good place to look for Blue Chip stocks.
Im at the moment quite careful in regards to Blue chips. I expect a general down trend in the stock market and regard the gold silver stock space at a safe haven. In blue chips I invest in a general uptrend. For this I nearly see not drivers. Except : People escape bonds urgently... but many institutionals are not allowed to do this.
Thank you to all three responders. With the DOW at around 12,500, I do not see a lot of uptrend potential in the near future, but at least there are some stocks out there paying 5 or 6 percent.
How so? 20% profit downgrade and ongoing general crappy retail environment resulted in a 18% drop - doesn't look manipulated to me aside from DJ's BSing investors in May saying on track for 5% profit gain. http://www.news.com.au/business/bre...-carbon-tax-fear/story-e6frfkur-1226094649129 Myers also down 6.5% so retail all took a hit.
Look at the annual report of any ASX200 company, and those two names will pop up listed as major shareholders in at least 100 of them. Two other common ones are 'Citicorp Nominees' and 'National Custody Nominees'. BTW, Custody Nominees in most cases doesn't mean the financial institution itself has financial interest in the company - its more or less acting as an agent with limited decision-making power. Useful to have on-shore signatories for routine transactions, agreements etc. Also a way to circumvent certain restrictions on ownership, either from securities regulator or the entity's own bylaws/constitution. Of course, in some cases, the financial institution may actually be 'representing' itself.
