8 Dividend Stocks Avoiding the Cash Trap

There has been much speculation in the recent past over what the bottom-line impact of surging stock buyback activity has been on the overall S&P earnings: after all, by removing shares from circulation, the denominator in "per share" calculation gets smaller and smaller with every incremental buyback. Courtesy of JPM we finally have a definitive answer to this long-running question. Of the change in S&P TTM operating earnings between Q3 2011 and the just completed Q1 2013, a stunning 60% or $2.20, of all "gains" of $3.70 have been the result of buybacks.

The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) topped the rankings with a website that is not only well designed and organised, but which properly introduces articles – encouraging clients to read on.

By Jae Jun: In a recent article on value stock and value traps, I highlighted 5 characteristics of value traps from a presentation by legendary short seller Jim Chanos.They were

By Richard Evans:Super high-yielding stocks are normally priced in the bargain basement because of investor fear that the dividend is in danger. However sometimes irrational market reaction can make for some temporary deals for the smart and agile investor. I screened stocks with some specific criteria, looking for a balance of high yield and safety.

By ZetaKap:Are you a dividend investor searching for stocks with high yields of over 5%? Would you be even more interested if you could get those high yields at a discount? If so, we ran a screen you may be interested in.

Whopper Investments submits:Under Armour (UA) reported blockbuster earnings this morning, and the stock price is up over 10% on the news. While the stock is certainly one of the great growth stories in recent memory, at these prices investors pay a hefty price for that growth and may find better value in one of their competitors, Nike (NKE) or Skechers (SKX), both of which trade for much more reasonable valuations.

By Valuentum: Online retail kingpin Amazon (AMZN) reported strong sales growth during its fourth quarter. Revenue jumped 27% year-over-year to $21.3 billion, slightly below expectations, but still strong. Earnings, as is the norm for Amazon, missed the mark, falling nearly 50% year-over-year to $0.21 per share.

After a bounce on the relief from the fiscal cliff deal that took place on New Year’s Day, the stock market has been in a sideways holding pattern. Investors are waiting to see if there was some collateral damage from the battle over the fiscal cliff. This week, we will begin to see if any damage was done to corporate profits in the fourth quarter of 2012.