I am "down under" in Australia for the balance of the week, after a grueling 33 hours of travel from Chicago to Perth. Accordingly, I will keep it brief this morning, and will quickly go over some upcoming dividends. We are getting into the meat of dividend season, as we always do post-earnings season, so there are plenty to discuss.
First, though, I wanted to point out that I've taken a sampling the prices of everyday goods in Sydney and Perth -- and it confirms that Australia is sustaining the value of its currency. Meanwhile, we in the U.S. are slowly devaluing ours. Given the progressively worsening debt problem the U.S. faces -- as I wrote about last week -- I am looking for the best foreign currencies in which to diversify. I like the commodity-driven economies, such as those of Australia and Canada, since commerce will thrive here as commodity prices rise against a falling U.S. dollar.
Now, let's take a peek at the plethora of forthcoming dividends that can be captured. Tech stocks have struggled, since they are somewhat cyclical, but you can play Seagate (STX), CA (CA), and Maxim Integrated Circuits (MXIM). With Seagate, keep in mind my warning from last month: The earnings momentum is gone in this name, so we are owning it strictly for the dividend. Don't get lulled into owning it beyond that. Similarly, Maxim has a nice payout but all the semiconductor names are rolling over, so in-and-out is your modus operandi here. The software name CA has an attractive payout.
Seagate and CA go ex-dividend on Aug. 10, while Maxim pays on Aug. 20.
In consumer land, I mentioned the special coming up from Limited (LTD), which equates to 5%. Avon (AVP) will also pay a juicy 1.4%, but keep in mind that Avon does not have the fundamental momentum that Limited does -- so Avon is strictly a rental, while Limited you can hold. Limited goes ex- on Aug. 21, while Avon will pay on Aug. 13.
