Dividends Premium: April 2025

Pricing Power and Strong Balance Sheets Will Weather Tariff Turmoil

Welcome to the April edition of Dividends Premium.

As they say, “April showers bring May flowers.” Let’s hope that proves true for the stock market, rather than the Sinatra line “flying high in April, shot down in May.”

The S&P 500 is currently down about -19 percent from the all-time high set in late February. That’s the most severe downturn since February/March 2020 at the height of the pandemic. It definitely qualifies as a correction. And with recent rallies failing to hold, we may be moving toward official bear market territory.

Whatever comes next, we’ll do best by sticking with our portfolio of high quality dividend paying stocks, backed by our still hefty cash position. I highlight each of our stocks in this report with an eye on two essential strengths for this uncertain environment: (1) Strong balance sheets that don’t depend on outside capital and (2) Pricing power that ensures revenue stability—should the stock market selloff trigger a recession.

This month’s top fresh money buys from the portfolio feature both essential strengths. But as was the case last month, my advice is to build positions incrementally, rather than all at once.

The stock market has come down a long way in a hurry. And historically, big sharp declines result in at least equally robust recoveries. But with rallies failing so far, we need to be prepared for more downside in the near-term.

Have questions on my stocks and strategy? Then please check out my “Dividends Roundtable” forum on Discord. I’ll answer anything you until ask. To revisit instructions for joining the Roundtable, check the welcome email you received when you became a Dividends Premium member. You can search it in your email provider with the title “Dividends are Yours.”

Thanks for your trust. And here’s to your wealth!--RC

Pricing Power and Strong Balance Sheets Weather Tariff Turmoil

There’s no longer any doubt about it: Big Tech is reeling.

After more than doubling in 2023-24, the Nasdaq 100 has dropped roughly -23 percent from its February 19 high. And dominated by the same Big 8 Tech stocks, the S&P 500 is down almost as much at roughly -19 percent.

Perhaps more alarming, the stock market has thus far failed to hold onto a meaningful rebound from what were a series of historically bad days. That’s in the past been a warning of more selling to come.

Thus far, our model income and growth portfolio has held up a lot better. On average, the 18 positions are down an average of -0.49 percent year to date. That compares very favorably to both the Big 8 Tech stocks and the iShares Select Dividend ETF (DVY), commonly used as a benchmark for dividend stock portfolio performance. Year to date, the DVY is lower by -9.13 percent.