China’s Economy: Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Shoppers still make purchases in brick and mortar stores, but it takes a different kind of effort to draw them there.

CIM’s Strong Dividend History Helps Get It To The Top 10
Chimera Investment Corp (NYSE: CIM) has been named as a Top 10 Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), according to Dividend Channel, which published its most recent ”DividendRank” report. The report noted that among REITs, CIM shares displayed both attractive valuation metrics and strong profitability metrics. For example, the recent CIM share price of $15.74 represents a price-to-book ratio of 1.0 and an annual dividend yield of 12.20% — by comparison, the average stock in Dividend Channel’s coverage universe yields 3.9% and trades at a price-to-book ratio of 2.2. The report also cited the strong quarterly dividend history at Chimera Investment Corp, and favorable long-term multi-year growth rates in key fundamental data points.

Mega Millions Jackpot Breaks 1/2 Billion But Options Trading Provides Much Better Returns Than Lotto
Get out there. For a miniscule wager, riches are a possibility. It’s a dream. Why not dream for a while. Look at it as a small investment of risk capital. That’s the thought process of many Mega Millions players. With millions of options contracts trading per day on stocks, ETFs, commodities and other futures contracts, the mentality is the same. For a small investment you might make really good returns on your money. When I traded commodities in the options trading pits between the 1980s and up to 2010, it was estimated that 90% of the people that traded commodities lost money. That’s still quite a better than Lottery players. At least commodity trading was a zero sum game. Now it’s time to look at Lotto versus options trading. Mega Millions involves little preparation Mega Millions involves an extremely small investment Mega Millions involves no brokerage account Mega Millions can take several days to know whether you were a winner

Thor Industries Looks Like A Good Place For Investors To Set Up Camp
With a history of profit growth and beneficial trends in the recreational vehicle industry, Thor Industries makes an excellent portfolio addition.

Andreas Halvorsen Doubles Stake In Natural Gas Power Plant Company
Andreas Halvorsen (Trades, Portfolio), a former protégé of hedge fund pioneer Julian Robertson(Trades, Portfolio), on June 23 doubled his stake in one of the largest power generators in the U.S., Calpine Corp. (NYSE:CPN), as lower natural gas prices spur natural gas-fired generation and are expected to continue. The purchase consisted of 10,047,081 shares, increasing his stake by 95.8% to 20,540,332 shares, at an average price of $14. Halvorsen bought the position in the fourth quarter 2014 with 4,881,477 shares at an average price of $15 and increased it to 10,493,251 shares in the first quarter at an average price of $14. Calpine stock edged down 2% year to date and 20% for the past year. Thursday afternoon it is priced around $14.21.

Here’s How The Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) Technology Can Help eBay?
Recently, eBay announced that it has started using the Google-led open source Accelerated Mobile Pages technology to improve the mobile browsing experience of its platform. While in early stages, the use of this technology has improved eBay’s mobile browsing speed significantly, As a result, the company is partnering with Google to launch a full-fledged e-commerce experience using AMP. While the AMP technology is primarily used for news articles, adapting it for e-commerce will require several changes, such as adding smart buttons (e.g., “Add to Cart” and “Buy Now”). It will also require input elements such as search text boxes and advanced tracking. As eBay works towards creating a compelling browsing experience for its users, AMP technology looks promising as a way to create a faster e-commerce system. An increasing number of users prefer to use their mobile devices for e-commerce. Accordingly, we believe eBay’s move to provide a fast, user-friendly mobile interface for its website will boost its revenues in the long term.

Notable Thursday Option Activity: R, AET, HUM
Among the underlying components of the S&P 500 index, we saw noteworthy options trading volume today in Ryder System, Inc. (NYSE: R), where a total of 13,239 contracts have traded so far, representing approximately 1.3 million underlying shares. That amounts to about 170.3% of R’s average daily trading volume over the past month of 777,220 shares. Particularly high volume was seen for the $70 strike call option expiring August 19, 2016, with 3,036 contracts trading so far today, representing approximately 303,600 underlying shares of R. Below is a chart showing R’s trailing twelve month trading history, with the $70 strike highlighted in orange:

Samsung’s Strong Preliminary Q2 Results Point To A Resurgent Smartphone Unit
Samsung Electronics published its preliminary Q2 2016 numbers, indicating that its operating profit grew by about 17% year-over-year to 8.1 trillion won ($7 billion) – the highest level in about two years – while revenues likely rose by about 3% to about 50 trillion won ($43.31 billion). Below we take a look at the factors that likely drove the results.

What You Should Know About Verizon’s Postpaid Price Increase
Verizon hiked pricing on its new postpaid plans by $5-10 per month, while providing higher data capacity on most plans and a host of value-added features including data carryover and speed-throttling to eliminate overages, which are already offered by its smaller competitors. (See plan details) Below, we provide some of the key takeaways of the move for Verizon investors.

Noteworthy Thursday Option Activity: COST, MPC, GE
Looking at options trading activity among components of the S&P 500 index, there is noteworthy activity today in Costco Wholesale Corp (NASD: COST), where a total volume of 41,590 contracts has been traded thus far today, a contract volume which is representative of approximately 4.2 million underlying shares (given that every 1 contract represents 100 underlying shares). That number works out to 167.3% of COST’s average daily trading volume over the past month, of 2.5 million shares. Particularly high volume was seen for the $160 strike call option expiring July 15, 2016, with 6,003 contracts trading so far today, representing approximately 600,300 underlying shares of COST. Below is a chart showing COST’s trailing twelve month trading history, with the $160 strike highlighted in orange:

Thursday Sector Laggards: Utilities, Energy
The worst performing sector as of midday Thursday is the Utilities sector, showing a 1.8% loss. Within that group, Exelon Corp (NYSE: EXC) and Public Service Enterprise Group Inc (NYSE: PEG) are two of the day’s laggards, showing a loss of 2.6% and 2.5%, respectively. Among utilities ETFs, one ETF following the sector is the Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF (AMEX: XLU), which is down 1.8% on the day, and up 22.05% year-to-date. Exelon Corp, meanwhile, is up 30.78% year-to-date, and Public Service Enterprise Group Inc is up 19.99% year-to-date. Combined, EXC and PEG make up approximately 8.7% of the underlying holdings of XLU.

Thursday Sector Leaders: Technology & Communications, Industrial
The best performing sector as of midday Thursday is the Technology & Communications sector, up 0.1%. Within that group, Western Digital Corp (NASD: WDC) and Micron Technology Inc. (NASD: MU) are two large stocks leading the way, showing a gain of 4.0% and 3.8%, respectively. Among technology ETFs, one ETF following the sector is the Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (AMEX: XLK), which is down 0.3% on the day, and up 2.15% year-to-date. Western Digital Corp, meanwhile, is down 19.58% year-to-date, and Micron Technology Inc., is down 14.05% year-to-date. Combined, WDC and MU make up approximately 0.7% of the underlying holdings of XLK.

The UK Shouldn’t Worry About Brexit
The vote has come and gone. A major European nation has chosen to leave the EU. The markets have had their obligatory decline. A few weeks have passed. It is time to think about what exactly has happened… and what it means, if anything.

PM Dividend Yield Pushes Past 4%
Looking at the universe of stocks we cover at Dividend Channel, in trading on Thursday, shares of Philip Morris International Inc (NYSE: PM) were yielding above the 4% mark based on its quarterly dividend (annualized to $4.08), with the stock changing hands as low as $101.86 on the day. Dividends are particularly important for investors to consider, because historically speaking dividends have provided a considerable share of the stock market’s total return. To illustrate, suppose for example you purchased shares of the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) back on 12/31/1999 — you would have paid $146.88 per share. Fast forward to 12/31/2012 and each share was worth $142.41 on that date, a decrease of $4.67/share over all those years. But now consider that you collected a whopping $25.98 per share in dividends over the same period, for a positive total return of 23.36%. Even with dividends reinvested, that only amounts to an average annual total return of about 1.6%; so by comparison collecting a yield above 4% would appear considerably attractive if that yield is sustainable. Philip Morris International Inc (NYSE: PM) is an S&P 500 company, giving it special status as one of the large-cap companies making up the S&P 500 Index.

MFA Financial Passes Through 11% Yield Mark
Looking at the universe of stocks we cover at Dividend Channel, in trading on Thursday, shares of MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE: MFA) were yielding above the 11% mark based on its quarterly dividend (annualized to $0.80), with the stock changing hands as low as $7.26 on the day. Dividends are particularly important for investors to consider, because historically speaking dividends have provided a considerable share of the stock market’s total return. To illustrate, suppose for example you purchased shares of the iShares Russell 3000 ETF (IWV) back on 5/31/2000 — you would have paid $78.27 per share. Fast forward to 5/31/2012 and each share was worth $77.79 on that date, a loss of $0.48 or 0.6% decrease over twelve years. But now consider that you collected a whopping $10.77 per share in dividends over the same period, increasing your return to 13.15%. Even with dividends reinvested, that only amounts to an average annual total return of about 1.0%; so by comparison collecting a yield above 11% would appear considerably attractive if that yield is sustainable. MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE: MFA) is a member of the Russell 3000, giving it special status as one of the largest 3000 companies on the U.S. stock markets.