Customer Reviews

Handbook of Dividend Achievers

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There have been many periods of speculative frenzy in the U.S. equity markets in which investors rewarded stocks with no earnings, negative cash flow, and minimal prospects, merely because they presumed there was a greater fool elsewhere that would pay a higher price for the stock at some later date. Each and every time, the stocks without solid fundamentals crumbled like a house of cards. Investors that enjoyed the rewards of dot-com and technology stocks with no earnings have been humbled as the NASDAQ has tumbled since March. The moral to this story is that fundamentals do indeed matter.

The Handbook of Dividend Achievers is a well-organized, concise resource for all investors wondering where to turn in the volatility of today's markets. In order to return to fundamentally sound investing, nothing is more basic in investing than companies paying dividends. A company's current valuation is the present value of future cash flows and consistent, predictable dividends provide a basis for calculating that valuation. The book provides profiles of the 300 companies that have had the best record of delivering consistent dividends over time. In addition, it provides other key financial ratios and qualitative information that can serve as the basis for building a successful long-term investment portfolio. An excellent resource for any investor!

The book is very good and a start for people looking at dividend paying stocks. The layout is fine and the tables are excellent.

I came away a slight bit disappointed. I thought that they could go further back into the dividend paying history of the company. Perhaps they could graph the growth of the dividend from when the company started paying the dividend along with the standard stock chart. In most cases the indivudal company pages are a rehash of the Value Line or S/P company research that the reader can get from their on-line broker research link.

I also feel that a few short articles with case studies to support dividend orientated investing would hold up well for the handbook.

I love Peter Lynch's comment of it being a "bed-side thriller" !

This is an investment book that seems out of place. Nobody invests in stocks that pay dividends. Today, stocks that are in favor do not pay dividends and operate at negative earnings. One great truth about dividends, however, remains in place. A company can misrepresent sales, earnings and most other lines in a report. But they cannot lie about dividends because dividends arrive in the form of a check! It's actually fairly simple. A company that is poorly managed cannot, over time, increase the dividend payout. This book is a tribute to those that are well run and can.

A classic for successful and traditional investors.