Church & Dwight Co., Inc. Beats on Revenue, EPS, and Boosts Dividend :):)

February 7, 2017 The Security Whisperer Analysis, Commentary, Stock News baking soda, buy and hold, Clorox, consumer goods, detergent, dividend aristocrat, dividend growth, dividend payer, dividend yield, dividends, eps beat, non-discretionary, retirement account, retirement stock, The Clorox Company

Consumer goods major Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE: CHD) reported Q4 and fiscal 2016 numbers that were happily received by the Street and investors alike. Key YoY takeaways ( I prefer YoY numbers versus QoQ numbers…the former usually has less “noise”) include:

Reported sales growth: +2.9% (Organic: +3.2%);
Reported Gross Margin: +100 bps, Adjusted Margin: + 120 bps;
Reported EPS growth: 13.6%, Adjusted: +9.3%;
Cash from Operations: +$655M; +8.1%

And for the “icing on the cake”, CHD announced that it is increasing its quarterly dividend by 7% to $0.19/share. Today’s dividend increase marks the company’s 21st consecutive year of dividend increases, and it has been paying a regular consecutive quarterly dividend for 116 years.

See below for my analysis on CHD and why I prefer the company over consumer products stalwart The Clorox Company (NYSE: CLX):

Bleach or Baking Soda?

Penske Automotive Group Increases Quarterly Dividend 3.6%.

October 19, 2016October 19, 2016 The Security Whisperer Stock News Automobile Dealer, consumer goods, dividend aristocrat, dividend grower, dividend increase, dividend plays, dividends, growing dividends, PAG, Penske Automotive Group

Automobile retailer Penske Automotive Group (NYSE: PAG) announced a U.S. 1 cent increase in its quarterly dividend to U.S. 29 cents per share today. Today’s dividend increase follows similar increases announced in January, May, and July of this year, and amounts to a total increase over the final quarterly 2015 dividend of an impressive 16%.

You can read the announcement here:

http://investors.penskeautomotive.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=82644&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2212893

Don’t You Just Love Stock Splits :)

September 4, 2016 The Security Whisperer Commentary, performance, Stock News buy and hold, CHD, Church & Dwight, consumer goods, long term value, Long-term Hold, long-term investor, Long-term View, non-discretionary, set it and forget it, stock split

Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE: CHD), my favorite consumer goods company, just split its stock two for one on September 2…its fourth stock split since 1999.

http://www.splithistory.com has a pretty good write-up on how CHD has done after splits were factored in.

WARNING: ITS PRETTY GOOD!

https://www.splithistory.com/chd/

Nice…Church & Dwight joining S&P 500 Index

December 23, 2015December 23, 2015 The Security Whisperer Commentary Altera acquisition, CHD, Church & Dwight, consumer goods, index inclusion, Index rebalancing, Intel purchase, long term value, long-term investor

Shares of Church & Dwight (CHD) jumped 1.4% yesterday on news that it was going to be joining the prestigious S&P 500 Index after Intel’s acquisition of chip maker Altera Corp. closes, which is expected to be after the close of trading on December 28th. The celebratory mood continued today with CHD jumping a further 1.7%!

This inclusion should see higher demand for the Company’s shares in the near term as managers of index products, and both retail and other institutional investors react to the announcement.

The Management and staff of CHD must be commended on such a great achievement…I believe this is just one of many more good things to come from the Company.

Watching: Alimentation Couche-Tard

December 3, 2015August 22, 2016 The Security Whisperer Commentary consumer goods, convenience store chain, Couche Tard, future dividend boss, growth by acquisition, interesting stock, investing, possible long-term hold

Quebec-based convenience store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard (TSX: ATD.A, ATD.B) continues its consolidation drive with the recent acquisition of Irish convenience store and gas bar chain Topaz.

While I am generally not a fan of growth by acquisition, I must admit I am impressed with what Couche-Tard management has done while it consolidates what it says is an extremely fragmented industry (i.e. local convenience stores). The Company has managed to integrate most if not all of its acquisitions pretty smoothly and maintain financial discipline both in buying and controlling / paying down debt levels once deals are done.

Key to the Company’s strategy when acquiring convenience store networks is implementing best-in-class processes, improved controls, and a greater selection of private label and prepared food offerings…all of which tend to lead to both higher top and bottom lines.

Couche-Tard shares are currently changing hands at more than 30 times TTM earnings, a trailing yield of about 20bps, and have rallied about 30% YTD.

What do you think…do you like Couche-Tard for the (very) long-haul at these levels? I would rather wait for a pullback.

Bleach or Baking Soda?

August 11, 2015August 19, 2015 The Security Whisperer Analysis Clorox Church & Dwight, consumer goods, investing, stocks

For my first official post, I’d like to get things rolling with a bit of analysis. The Clorox Company and Church & Dwight Company recently released their respective earnings reports. In this post, I’m going to discuss which of the two companies I believe is the most attractive investment in the long run.

Continue reading →