Nine Natural Gas Stocks Yielding More Than 6% Dividends

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Natural gas prices in the U.S. rose this month due to the December cold snap which affected many states and the higher-than-anticipated storage withdrawals in December. Other reasons that have been attributed to the price increase include declines in gas production and higher oil prices. After hitting a seven year low last September prices have been trending up. Extremely cold winter season this year may keep prices high as the demand picks up.

The following nine stocks in the natural gas sector yield dividends in excess of 6%:

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Some of the companies listed above are integrated firms with operations in gathering, compressing, treating, and transporting natural gas and other energy products. For example, Kinder Garden Energy Partners (KMP) owns and operates pipelines and storage facilities for crude oil, refined petroleum products and natural gas in the U.S. and Canada.

11 Electric Utilities Paying More than 6% Dividend Yields

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Electric utility stocks are considered to defensive stocks as they offer relatively stable and steady growth. Investors are also attracted to them because of their excellent dividend yields. Since electricity is a basic necessity most people pay their bills on time unlike cell phone services and other items.

The utility sector is highly regulated in most parts of the world. In many markets electric companies operate as monopolies. This is especially true in most emerging countries where until recently industries such as the power sector were under the control of governments. The demand for power is growing rapidly in emerging countries such as China, India, Brazil, etc. due to the boom in infrastructure buildup and usage by consumers.

The table below lists electric utility stocks paying more than 6% dividends based on the closing price on January 13, 2010:

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CPFL Energia S.A (CPL) of Brazil had 6.4 million consumers at the end of 2008. The annual average EPS growth in the last 5 years was about 35%. The rest of the stocks in the above list are utilities based in the US.  Progress Energy(PGN) distributes electricity in portions of North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida and has 3.1 million residential customers. Xcel Energy Inc and Dominion Resources(DRU) Inc have 7%+ yields.Dominion serves customers in 12 states. Minneapolis,MN-based Xcel Energy(XCJ) operates both in the electricity and natural gas sector and has 3.4 million retail electricity customers in eight Western and Midwestern states.

36 Major Global Risks in 2010

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The World Economic Forum yesterday released the Global Risks 2010, its annual report on the most important risks facing the global economy this year and beyond.

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Global-Risks-2010

This  year’s report “highlights the impact of the fiscal crisis and the social and political implications of high unemployment rates in several major economies as key concerns. Notably, the current models for health, education and unemployment protection have been put under severe strain by the fiscal crisis, notwithstanding the longer-term implications of increasing life expectancy.”

More details can be found here.

9 Foreign Stocks Yielding More Than 5% Dividends

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In August 2008, I ran the stock screener with the following criteria:

1. Stocks must trade on the NYSE
2. Market cap. >= $25B
3. Must have dividend yields of at least 5%

This resulted in 28 stocks at that time. 14 of these stocks were in the financial sector and 21 were non-US companies.

When I ran the stock screener with the same conditions today, just 15 stocks are displayed. Many of the stocks that appeared in the 2008 list are not present now. After the global credit crisis banks slashed dividend payments and hence they did not make it to this list with the exception of Bank of Montreal.

Foreign stocks paying at least 5% dividend and trading on the NYSE are:

1.Bank of Montreal(BMO)
Current Dividend Yield: 5.24%
Canada

2.BP Plc(BP)
Current Dividend Yield: 5.16%
U.K.

3.Deutsche Telekom AG(DT)
Current Dividend Yield: 7.07%
Germany

4.Eni Spa(E)
Current Dividend Yield: 5.57%
Italy

5.France Telecom(FTE)
Current Dividend Yield: 6.73%
France

6.Telefonica (TEF)
Current Dividend Yield: 5.54%
Spain

7.Total SA(TOT)
Current Dividend Yield: 5.13%
France

8.Royal Dutch Shell plc (RDS.A)
Current Dividend Yield: 5.50%
The Netherlands

9.EcoPetrol SA(EC)
Current Dividend Yield: 5.50%
Colombia

U.S. companies currently paying 5% or more in dividends are:

Bristol Myers Squibb Co.(BMY), Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY), Altria Group, Inc. (MO), AT&T Inc. (T), The Southern Company (SO) and Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ).

The World’s Top 100 Mining Stocks

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Some of the world’s top mining company stocks such as Vale(VALE), BHP Billiton(BBL, BHP), etc. have handsomely rewarded long-term investors. After falling heavily in 2008, mining stocks rallied hard last year. For example, BHP Billiton’s London stock price more than doubled last year. Lesser known companies like Teck have seen their share price increase by more than 1,500% in past 12 months.

The Top 100 Mining Stocks of the World are listed below.The tickers are listed if they are traded in the US organized exchanges.

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Source: ROME WASN’T BUILT IN A DAY, Top 100 Mining Companies: What a difference a year makes  by Barry Sergeant, Mineweb

The top three global mining companies by market caps are BHP Billiton with around US$209B,Vale with US$166B and Rio Tinto at US$136B.US mining giant Alcoa(AA) now ranks at number 26 with market cap of just $17B.

NMDC, Hindustan Zinc, Sterlite, Sesa Goa, National Aluminium, Neyveli Lignite are some of the largest mining companies in India. Chinese miners listed here include Guizhou Panjiang, Shenhua, Qinghai, Zhongjin Gold and Yanzhou Coal.

Related:

The World’s Top Diamond-Producing Countries

The List of Diamond Mining Stocks by Country