PARKERYL, Author at Nzynga Coin

Mar 6, 2025 By PARKERYL Penny Stocks

Top Companies Will Dominate Despite Tariffs… Including This One

Tom Yeung here with today’s Smart Money.

Do you remember what happened on March 1, 2018?

James Hackett probably does.

On that day, the then-CEO of Ford Motor Co. (F) saw President Donald Trump announce a sweeping round of tariffs targeting steel (25% duties) and aluminum (10%) – two of the most essential raw materials for automakers.

Over the following year, Hackett saw his company lose a fifth of its stock value – driven by a $750 million loss from tariffs and another $1.1 billion from broadly higher commodity prices. Many other importers saw even steeper declines.

But to most investors, March 1, 2018, was relatively unremarkable. The broader S&P 500 would rise 5% over the next 12 months, and high-quality tech stocks like Salesforce Inc. (CRM) and Intuit Inc. (INTU) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) would rise 20% … 50%… even 100%.

That’s because top companies can perform well despite interference from the top.

These innovative firms make products that are so essential that no amount of trade wars or late-night presidential tweets can seem to derail them.

Fast forward to today, and we’re watching history rhyme.

Trump has returned to the White House, and tariffs are back on the table – this time in even bigger and broader forms. On Tuesday, tariffs on Chinese goods rose another 10%, while certain non-exempt goods from Canada and Mexico saw a 25% hike. (Yes, things have shifted since then, and they probably will again tomorrow.)

Predictably, the headlines are full of doom and gloom. But for investors, there’s little reason to lose sleep over tariffs – just like in 2018.

That’s because the most successful stock market stories of the next decade will have very little to do with Chinese imports, steel prices, or even the cost of eggs.

Instead, they’ll be about companies that are reimagining the very foundations of our economy, and the ones that have discovered products so desirable that customers will put aside their economic fears to savor those products.

So, in today’s Smart Money, I’ll share more about the industries and companies driving the next decade of wealth creation.

And, most importantly, where you can find them.

Desirable Industries and Desirable Products

Consider artificial intelligence. It’s no secret that this industry has already changed the market landscape… and will continue to change that of our economy.

Over the next five years, global spending on AI will surge to $800 billion, growing at 30% annually.

Companies pioneering the infrastructure of AI – from Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) with its specialized GPUs to OpenAI and DeepSeek with their groundbreaking language models – will drive productivity gains that dwarf the cost increases that tariffs cause.

That’s not just a theoretical argument. It’s already happening.

Over the past year, U.S. companies added over 160,000 AI-related job postings, even as they slashed positions in older sectors like retail and legacy manufacturing. It’s becoming harder to get through the day without encountering AI. At this point, it’s safe to say that most of us have encountered an AI-powered customer service chatbot.

And the story goes beyond AI.

In 2018, Salesforce, Intuit, and AMD thrived not because they were immune to tariffs, but because their core products – software solutions, financial technology, and advanced semiconductors – were too valuable for businesses and consumers to ignore.

That pattern will only accelerate in 2025 and beyond. Many companies around the world will panic over the next four years as they worry about what Donald Trump will do next.

But firms that make irresistibly desirable products will steam right ahead.

One of our favorite picks in this category is Dutch Bros Inc. (BROS), a drive-through coffee shop chain with a cultlike fanbase. Customers often drive for miles to get to a Dutch Bros location… and some rabid fans have even tattooed the company’s name and logo on themselves.

That’s dedication.

In fact, this Oregon-based company has proved so popular that it’s having no trouble spreading across America. In 2024, the firm opened 151 new stores in 18 states, helping drive a 35% surge in revenues. And they’re planning to open another 160 stores this year.

Eric added the company to the Fry’s Investment Report portfolio last August, and since then shares of this firm have risen 90%.

Incredibly, one-third of that growth has happened within the past two months… after President Trump first floated tariffs.

At Fry’s Investment Report, Eric remains focused on the megatrends that will outlive the tariff noise, and the companies set to prosper within them.

Here’s why this approach is so important…

Ignore the Noise, Focus on the Megatrends

If history teaches us anything, it’s that politics makes headlines – but great products make fortunes.

Investors who panicked over the 2018 tariffs and pulled money out of the market missed out on a golden era for tech stocks. Those who instead focused on transformative trends – cloud computing, mobile software, e-commerce – saw their portfolios surge.

The same principle applies today.

The 2025 Trump tariffs will make noise, but they won’t change the fundamental trajectory of industries driving the next decade of wealth creation.

Semiconductors, AI, next-generation energy, and advanced healthcare – those sectors will generate trillions in new economic value, completely independent of tariff rates. In addition, some select firms in traditional sectors are also going to succeed, even as rivals stumble.

Of course, there will be pain ahead for those on the wrong side of the trade war. To refer back to Ford, shares of the automaker are down 6% since Trump took office in January, and more losses could be on the horizon.

But let’s not forget the big picture: Many innovative firms are still doing incredibly well, and that’s always what matters in the end.

To learn more about the companies that will continue to weather the tariff storm, click here to become a member of Fry’s Investment Report today.

Getting Prepped for Nvidia’s “Q Day”

My colleague, the Wall Street legend Louis Navellier, certainly isn’t letting the tariff headwinds distract him from the AI boom.

As the AI megatrend quickly evolves, Louis will tell anyone who’ll listen, Nvidia has maintained its king status. And now he is telling us that on March 20, during the company’s first ever “Q Day,” Nvidia may announce a new breakthrough technology that is poised to ignite the next phase of the AI supercycle… and affect nearly every aspect of our lives.

But according to Louis, the media is missing out on the most important part of the story: One tiny small-cap company is positioned to be crucial to Nvidia’s AI reveal, thanks to its technology protected 102 patents.

So, on Thursday, March 13, at 1 p.m. Eastern, he’s holding a special time-sensitive briefing to get you ahead of the news (reserve your spot for this free broadcast by going here). Instead of buying Nvidia now, Louis will reveal six alternative stocks set to benefit from this AI breakthrough – including the one small-cap company that could deliver 10X to 50X gains.

Click here to sign up for the free event.

Regards,

Tom Yeung

Markets Analyst, InvestorPlace

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Mar 6, 2025 By PARKERYL Finance News

Mercosur-EU Trade Deal Challenges Protectionism

Twenty-five years in the making, the landmark agreement eliminates tariffs on over 90% of goods while reshaping South America-Europe trade ties.

A quarter-century after negotiations began, Mercosur, the South American trade bloc whose core members are Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay, has finally signed a trade agreement with the European Union (EU). The deal runs against the grain in an era of growing protectionism and rising deglobalization.

“This agreement is not just an economic opportunity, it is a political necessity,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at the Mercosur Summit in Montevideo in December, where the pact was signed. “I know that strong winds are coming in the opposite direction, towards isolation and fragmentation, but this agreement is our near response.”

The deal is the EU’s largest ever and Mercosur’s first with a major trading partner.

“European products will enter [the Mercosur] market under much better conditions than US or Japanese products,” Federico Steinberg, visiting fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC, wrote in a paper published on December 6. By eliminating tariffs on over 90% of goods, the agreement is expected to save EU exporters €4 billion annually while granting South American producers preferential access to European markets for competitive agricultural products.

The agreement has two parts. One covers goods, services, public procurement, and intellectual property, focusing on trade issues such as tariffs, with special attention to automobiles, agriculture, and critical minerals.

“Increasing uncertainties in geopolitics” have sparked interest in rare earth minerals, says Charlotte Emlinger, an economist at the Center for Prospective Studies and International Information (CEPII) in the French prime minister’s office. For sensitive items, such as beef exports to Europe, quotas put a lid on inflows.

The second part of the pact addresses broader themes, including human rights and the environment. Along with another 2024 EU trade pact with New Zealand, it breaks new ground by referencing the Paris Agreement on climate change, a detail notably accepted by Argentine President Javier Milei, a global-warming skeptic.

What Is Mercosur And Why Does It Matter?

With a combined GDP of nearly $3 trillion, the four core members of Mercosur—Spanish for “Southern Common Market” in Spanish—would rank as the world’s fifth-largest economy. Some 300 million people live in an area of nearly 15 million square kilometers. The GDP figure doesn’t include Bolivia, which has been approved for membership but is in a four-year “implementation period” to come fully on board.

The EU was already Mercosur’s second-largest trading partner two years ago for goods, accounting for 16.9% of total trade, trailing China but beating the US, according to the European Commission. The EU exported €55.7 billion worth of goods to Mercosur that year, with €53.7 billion going the other way.

Touted as the emerging EU of the South when it was founded in 1991, Mercosur has yet to evolve beyond an imperfect customs union. The original four added Venezuela in 2012 only to suspend it in 2016 for violating political standards; Bolivia rose to full membership last year. Suriname, Guyana, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Chile are associated states; they won’t be formally affected by the EU-Mercosur deal.

Intra-regional trade among the four founders jumped four-fold to $16.9 billion between 1990 and 1996, according to the Inter-American Development Bank, but true integration has proven elusive. Internal trade remained at just 10.3% of the global total in 2022, according to data from the Observatory of Economic Complexity, an online database.

Why Now?

The timing of the deal can be linked to efforts by the EU to ensure continued robust and diversified trade in the face of protectionist measures by the US under US President Donald Trump, the growing role of China, and the demise of the World Trade Organization (WTO) as an effective facilitator of international trade integration.

“In the last few years, the geopolitical situation has become more dire for the EU,” says Maximiliano Marzetti, associate professor of Law, Department of International Negotiation and Conflict Management, Lille Economics Management Lab in France, “with the war in Ukraine, Brexit, and the protectionist and aggressive policies of China and the United States. The EU needs new trade partners in a climate of hostility to free trade and also to assert its relevance on the current multipolar international stage.”

Mercosur-EU negotiations date much further back: to 1999, during the period of “peak globalization,” but they remained in low gear until late in the Obama administration, when the US began taking measures to weaken the World Trade Organization.

***Bartesaghi, Catholic University of Uruguay: With the sweeping deal, the EU wanted to send a message to Trump.***

Given a toothless WTO, bilateral and multilateral agreements became more critical, and the EU unleashed a flurry of activity. In Latin America, it added to accords with the Andean Community (Peru, Colombia, Ecuador) and Central America (Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Costa Rica, and El Salvador) as well as bilateral agreements with Chile and Mexico, both recently renewed.

With the sweeping new Mercosur deal, “the EU wanted to send a message to Trump,” says Ignacio Bartesaghi, director of the Institute of International Business at the Catholic University of Uruguay. “We know that you are going to close. We want to open.”

Mercosur, for its part, needed a victory. Either it “closed a deal with the EU, or it would die,” Bartesaghi argues.

All members are far from speaking with one voice, however.

Argentina’s self-described “anarcho-capitalist” President Javier Milei has offered harsh words for Mercosur, even as he begins a one-year stint as the group’s president pro tempore. During a speech at the Mercosur summit, Milei described the bloc as “a prison that prevents member countries from leveraging their comparative advantages and export potential.”

A month later, in Davos during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, Milei told Bloomberg that he would abandon Mercosur and its Common External Tariff, which preempts side deals, for an accord with the US. “If the extreme condition were that, yes,” he said. “However, there are mechanisms that can be used, even being within Mercosur.”

Uruguay, too, has been exploring an independent deal with China. But “negotiations never started because of Lula’s vision of Mercosur being together,” notes Bartesaghi.

Nor do these piecemeal agreements solve all the problems. The renewed bilateral deal with the EU will not solve associate member Mexico’s problems if it is hit with higher tariffs from its northern neighbor.

“Remember that the US accounts for 80% of Mexican exports and the EU accounts for less than 5%,” says Ashkan Khayami, senior analyst, Latin America Country Risk at BMI, a British multinational research firm. “It’s not really plausible for the EU to replace the US as kind of the main destination, or even a very significant destination, for Mexican exports.”

What’s Next?

Next comes ratification. For Mercosur, this is straightforward. Legislatures must vote, but if one balks, the accord will still apply for those that approve the deal. In Europe, however, the process is complex both bureaucratically and politically.

Prior to December, French farmers were out protesting the Mercosur deal; a resolution against the deal has been filed in the French parliament. Politicians in Poland, Italy, and the Netherlands, too, are raising questions. But observers tend to chalk this up to domestic posturing.

Thanks to the above-mentioned quotas for beef, for example, “that’s just a hamburger per inhabitant,” says Bartesaghi. Paraphrasing a French colloquial saying, “Mercosur is the tree that hides the forest,” Emlinger quips.

While the EU has sovereignty over trade, other treaty issues need member states’ approval. Proponents may therefore try to split the Mercosur text into its two component parts, trade and other. The trade section could presumably be fast-tracked though the European Parliament, where it would need votes representing 65% of constituents. Other sections, including environmental issues, would take the longer, country-by-country route.

“It is likely that the EU will opt, if it can, to split the ratification process,” says Marzetti.

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Mar 6, 2025 By PARKERYL Coin

ANA Honors Heritage’s Jim Stoutjesdyk with Presidential Award

Heritage Auctions partner and Senior Vice President Jim Stoutjesdyk has been named the recipient of the American Numismatic Association’s Presidential Award.

“This award is a fitting tribute for Jim, whose impact at Heritage and in the numismatic community is difficult to measure,” says Jim Halperin, Co-Chairman at Heritage Auctions. “He has as much knowledge and experience as anyone in the hobby and has helped to educate countless young numismatists. His many contributions that have helped Heritage remain the world’s premier auctioneer of coins can not be overstated.”

The award is bestowed upon people and entities who have made notable contributions to the ANA and numismatics. Board presidents have the discretion to make selections throughout their terms to recognize those making a difference in numismatics. Stoutjesdyk was selected for the award by current ANA president Thomas Uram. ANA past president Bob Campbell presented the award to Stoutjesdyk at the recent Long Beach Expo coin show.

“This is an award that is long overdue to a pillar of the numismatic community,” Campbell said. “Jim is a dealer’s dealer who provides liquidity to the rare coin industry and always remembers his roots by giving back to the hobby through his sharing of knowledge with others.”

Stoutjesdyk has enjoyed a long-standing relationship with the ANA, starting with a pair of summer internships at the ANA headquarters while he was in college, where he co-wrote a book about the colonial coins in the ANA Money Museum and learned coin grading from the staff of ANACS. He wrote articles, gave educational presentations, created educational exhibits and won two ANA YN (Young Numismatist) Best in Show awards; in 1987, the ANA named him Young Numismatist of the Year.

Stoutjesdyk has been a fixture at Heritage since his arrival in 1993. He quickly became a vital team member who buys and sells millions of dollars of rare coins each month, pricing the new coins available for sale each day and overseeing the daily operations of the rare coin department. In 2024, Stoutjesdyk was named a partner and owner of Heritage Auctions.

For nearly two decades, Stoutjesdyk has been an instructor at the ANA Summer Seminar, teaching Grading United States Coins, Part 1, and recently served as co-instructor for the ANA’s eLearning Academy as part of its Aristotle’s Vault video forum. He volunteers for one week every July as an instructor at Witter Coin University’s program for young numismatists.

In 2019, the ANA awarded Stoutjesdyk with the prestigious Doctor of Numismatics honorary degree. In 2021, he received the Glen Smedley Memorial Award for his efforts to promote grassroots education and goodwill in the numismatic community.

“I am extremely fortunate to be involved in the hobby of numismatics and be able to turn my passion into my profession,” Stoutjesdyk said. “Being able to handle some of the greatest rarities in numismatics on an almost daily basis is truly a dream come true. I have had a wonderful relationship with the ANA for over 40 years, and I will continue sharing my knowledge with fellow collectors through my teaching at the ANA Summer Seminar and my recent online video series on coin grading topics that has the potential to educate thousands of people.”

About Heritage Auctions

Heritage Auctions is the largest fine art and collectibles auction house founded in the United States, and the world’s largest collectibles auctioneer. Heritage maintains offices in New York, Dallas, Beverly Hills, Chicago, Palm Beach, London, Paris, Geneva, Brussels, Amsterdam, Munich, Hong Kong and Tokyo.

Heritage also enjoys the highest Online traffic and dollar volume of any auction house on earth (source: SimilarWeb and Hiscox Report). The Internet’s most popular auction-house website, HA.com, has more than 1,500,000 registered bidder-members and searchable free archives of five million past auction records with prices realized, descriptions and enlargeable photos. Reproduction rights routinely granted to media for photo credit.

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Mar 6, 2025 By PARKERYL Monthly Dividend

2025 Monthly Dividend Stocks List | See All 75 Now

Updated on March 6th, 2025 by Bob Ciura
Spreadsheet data updated daily

Monthly dividend stocks are securities that pay a dividend every month instead of quarterly or annually.

This research report focuses on all 77 individual monthly paying securities. It includes the following resources.

Resource #1: The Monthly Dividend Stock Spreadsheet List

This list contains important metrics, including: dividend yields, payout ratios, dividend growth rates, 52-week highs and lows, betas, and more.

Note: We strive to maintain an accurate list of all monthly dividend payers. There’s no universal source we are aware of for monthly dividend stocks; we curate this list manually. If you know of any stocks that pay monthly dividends that are not on our list, please email [email protected].

Resource #2: The Monthly Dividend Stocks In Focus Series
The Monthly Dividend Stocks In Focus series is where we analyze all monthly paying dividend stocks. This resource links to stand-alone analysis on each of these securities.

Resource #3: The 10 Best Monthly Dividend Stocks
This research report analyzes the 10 best monthly dividend stocks as ranked by expected total return.

Resource #4: Other Monthly Dividend Stock Research
– Monthly dividend stock performance
– Why monthly dividends matter
– The dangers of investing in monthly dividend stocks
– Final thoughts and other income investing resources

The Monthly Dividend Stocks In Focus Series

You can see detailed analysis on the individual monthly dividend securities we cover by clicking the links below:

Agree Realty (ADC)

AGNC Investment (AGNC)

Atrium Mortgage Investment Corporation (AMIVF)

Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. (APLE)

ARMOUR Residential REIT (ARR)

A&W Revenue Royalties Income Fund (AWRRF)

Banco Bradesco S.A. (BBD)

Diversified Royalty Corp. (BEVFF)

Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund (BPZZF)

Bridgemarq Real Estate Services (BREUF)

BSR Real Estate Investment Trust (BSRTF)

Canadian Apartment Properties REIT (CDPYF)

ChemTrade Logistics Income Fund (CGIFF)

Choice Properties REIT (PPRQF)

Cross Timbers Royalty Trust (CRT)

CT Real Estate Investment Trust (CTRRF)

SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust (CWYUF)

Dream Industrial REIT (DREUF)

Dream Office REIT (DRETF)

Dynex Capital (DX)

Ellington Residential Mortgage REIT (EARN)

Ellington Financial (EFC)

EPR Properties (EPR)

Exchange Income Corporation (EIFZF)

Extendicare Inc. (EXETF)

Flagship Communities REIT (MHCUF)

First National Financial Corporation (FNLIF)

Freehold Royalties Ltd. (FRHLF)

Firm Capital Property Trust (FRMUF)

Fortitude Gold (FTCO)

Gladstone Capital Corporation (GLAD)

Gladstone Commercial Corporation (GOOD)

Gladstone Investment Corporation (GAIN)

Gladstone Land Corporation (LAND)

Global Water Resources (GWRS)

Granite Real Estate Investment Trust (GRP.U)

H&R Real Estate Investment Trust (HRUFF)

Horizon Technology Finance (HRZN)

Itaú Unibanco (ITUB)

The Keg Royalties Income Fund (KRIUF)

LTC Properties (LTC)

Sienna Senior Living (LWSCF)

Main Street Capital (MAIN)

Modiv Inc. (MDV)

Mullen Group Ltd. (MLLGF)

Northland Power Inc. (NPIFF)

NorthWest Healthcare Properties REIT (NWHUF)

Orchid Island Capital (ORC)

Oxford Square Capital (OXSQ)

Permian Basin Royalty Trust (PBT)

Phillips Edison & Company (PECO)

Pennant Park Floating Rate (PFLT)

Peyto Exploration & Development Corp. (PEYUF)

Pine Cliff Energy Ltd. (PIFYF)

Primaris REIT (PMREF)

Paramount Resources Ltd. (PRMRF)

PermRock Royalty Trust (PRT)

Prospect Capital Corporation (PSEC)

Permianville Royalty Trust (PVL)

Pizza Pizza Royalty Corp. (PZRIF)

Realty Income (O)

RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust (RIOCF)

Richards Packaging Income Fund (RPKIF)

Sabine Royalty Trust (SBR)

Stellus Capital Investment Corp. (SCM)

Savaria Corp. (SISXF)

San Juan Basin Royalty Trust (SJT)

SL Green Realty Corp. (SLG)

Whitecap Resources Inc. (SPGYF)

Slate Grocery REIT (SRRTF)

Stag Industrial (STAG)

Timbercreek Financial Corp. (TBCRF)

Tamarack Valley Energy (TNEYF)

U.S. Global Investors (GROW)

Whitestone REIT (WSR)

The 10 Best Monthly Dividend Stocks

This research report examines the 10 monthly dividend stocks from our Sure Analysis Research Database with the highest 5-year forward expected total returns.

We currently cover nearly 80 monthly dividend stocks every quarter in the Sure Analysis Research Database.

Use the table below to quickly jump to analysis on any of the top 10 best monthly dividend stocks as ranked by expected total returns.

Table of Contents

You can instantly jump to any specific section of the article by using the links below:

Monthly Dividend Stock #10: Realty Income (O)

5-Year Expected Total Return: 7.3%

Dividend Yield: 5.5%

Realty Income is a retail real estate focused REIT that has become famous for its successful dividend growth history and monthly dividend payments.

Realty Income owns retail properties that are not part of a wider retail development (such as a mall), but instead are standalone properties.

This means that the properties are viable for many different tenants, including government services, healthcare services, and entertainment.

Source: Investor Presentation

Realty Income reported third-quarter 2024 earnings, with EPS at $0.30, missing estimates by $0.06, but revenue of $1.27 billion, a 26% year-over-year increase, beat expectations by $10.01 million. Net income for common shareholders was $261.8 million.

The company generated $915.6 million in Adjusted Funds from Operations (AFFO), or $1.05 per share. Realty Income invested $740.1 million in new properties, achieving an initial average cash yield of 7.4%, while maintaining a portfolio occupancy of 98.7%.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on Realty Income (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Monthly Dividend Stock #9: Agree Realty (ADC)

5-Year Expected Total Return: 8.0%

Dividend Yield: 4.1%

Agree Realty is an integrated real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on ownership, acquisition, development, and retail property management.

Agree has developed over 40 community shopping centers throughout the Midwestern and Southeastern United States.

At the end of December 2024, the company owned and operated 2,370 properties located in 50 states, containing approximately 48.8 million square feet of gross leasable space.

Source: Investor Presentation

On February 11th, 2025, Agree Realty Corp. reported fourth quarter and full year results for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024. The company reported its fourth-quarter and full-year 2024 financial results, highlighting continued investment and steady growth.

In Q4, the company invested $371 million in 127 retail net lease properties and launched eight development projects with $45 million in committed capital. Net income per share declined 5.7% to $0.41, while Core FFO and AFFO per share increased 3.5% and 4.7%, respectively.

The company declared a December dividend of $0.253 per share, up 2.4% year-over-year, and raised $651 million through equity offerings, maintaining a strong balance sheet with a net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 3.3 times.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on ADC (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Monthly Dividend Stock #8: EPR Properties (EPR)

5-Year Expected Total Return: 8.5%

Dividend Yield: 6.6%

EPR Properties is a specialty real estate investment trust, or REIT, that invests in properties in specific market segments that require industry knowledge to operate effectively.

It selects properties it believes have strong return potential in Entertainment, Recreation, and Education. The portfolio includes about $7 billion in investments across 340+ locations in 44 states, including over 200 tenants.

Source: Investor Presentation

EPR posted fourth quarter and full-year earnings on February 26th, 2025, and results were better than expected on both the top and bottom lines.

Funds-from-operations came to $1.23, which was a penny ahead of estimates. Revenue was up 3% to $177 million, beating estimates by $16 million.

Adjusted FFO per-share was down from $1.29 in Q3, but higher from $1.16 in the year-ago period. Revenue was also down from Q3, but higher from the year-ago period.

Property operating expenses were $15.2 million, higher from $14.6 million in Q3, and $14.8 million a year ago. Adjusted EBITDAre of $136 million was lower from $143 million in Q3, but higher from $129 million last year.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on EPR (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Monthly Dividend Stock #7: PennantPark Floating Rate Capital (PFLT)

5-Year Expected Total Return: 8.5%

Dividend Yield: 11.1%

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Ltd. is a business development company that seeks to make secondary direct, debt, equity, and loan investments.

The fund also aims to invest through floating rate loans in private or thinly traded or small market-cap, public middle market companies, equity securities, preferred stock, common stock, warrants or options received in connection with debt investments or through direct investments.

On November 26, 2024, PennantPark Floating Rate Capital reported strong results for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2024, with core net investment income of $0.32 per share. The portfolio grew 20% quarter-over-quarter, reaching $2 billion as the firm deployed $446 million across 10 new and 50 existing companies.

Investments carried an average yield of 11%, reflecting the continued strength of the middle market lending environment. After the quarter, PFLT remained active, investing an additional $330 million at a yield of 10.2%.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on PFLT (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Monthly Dividend Stock #6: LTC Properties (LTC)

5-Year Expected Total Return: 6.3%

Dividend Yield: 8.7%

LTC Properties is a REIT that invests in senior housing and skilled nursing properties. Its portfolio consists of approximately 50% senior housing and 50% skilled nursing properties.

The REIT owns 194 investments in 26 states, with 31 operating partners.

Source: Investor Presentation

In late February, LTC reported (2/24/25) financial results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024. Funds from operations (FFO) per share dipped -8% over the prior year’s quarter, from $0.72 to $0.66, and missed the analysts’ consensus by $0.01.

The decrease in FFO per share resulted primarily from impairment losses. LTC improved its leverage ratio (Net Debt to EBITDA) from 4.7x to 4.3x thanks to various asset sales.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on LTC (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Monthly Dividend Stock #5: AGNC Investment Corp. (AGNC)

5-Year Expected Total Return: 9.2%

Dividend Yield: 14.0%

American Capital Agency Corp is a mortgage real estate investment trust that invests primarily in agency mortgage–backed securities (or MBS) on a leveraged basis.

The firm’s asset portfolio is comprised of residential mortgage pass–through securities, collateralized mortgage obligations (or CMO), and non–agency MBS. Many of these are guaranteed by government–sponsored enterprises.

AGNC Investment Corp. reported strong financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2024. The company achieved a comprehensive income of $0.63 per common share, driven by a net income of $0.39 and other comprehensive income of $0.24 from marked-to-market investments.

Net spread and dollar roll income contributed $0.43 per share. The tangible net book value increased by $0.42 per share to $8.82, reflecting a 5.0% growth from the previous quarter.

AGNC declared dividends of $0.36 per share, resulting in a 9.3% economic return on tangible common equity, which includes both dividends and the increase in net book value.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on AGNC Investment Corp (AGNC) (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Monthly Dividend Stock #4: STAG Industrial (STAG)

5-Year Expected Total Return: 9.6%

Dividend Yield: 4.0%

STAG Industrial is an owner and operator of industrial real estate. It is focused on single-tenant industrial properties and has ~560 buildings across 41 states in the United States.

The focus of this REIT on single-tenant properties might create higher risk compared to multi-tenant properties, as the former are either fully occupied or completely vacant.

Source: Investor Presentation

In mid-February, STAG Industrial reported (2/12/25) financial results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024. Core FFO-per-share grew 5% over the prior year’s quarter, from $0.58 to $0.61, exceeding the analysts’ consensus by $0.01, thanks to hikes in rent rates.

Net operating income grew 9% over the prior year’s quarter even though the occupancy rate dipped sequentially from 97.1% to 96.5%. On the other hand, interest expense increased 25% year-on-year due to high interest rates.

STAG expects core FFO per share of $2.46-$2.50 for 2025.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on STAG Industrial Inc. (STAG) (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Monthly Dividend Stock #3: Horizon Technology Finance (HRZN)

5-Year Expected Total Return: 15.7%

Dividend Yield: 15.2%

Horizon Technology Finance Corp. is a BDC that provides venture capital to small and medium–sized companies in the technology, life sciences, and healthcare–IT sectors.

The company has generated attractive risk–adjusted returns through directly originated senior secured loans and additional capital appreciation through warrants.

Source: Investor Presentation

On October 29th, 2024, Horizon released its Q3 results for the period ending September 30th, 2024. For the quarter, total investment income fell 15.5% year-over-year to $24.6.7 million, primarily due to lower interest income on investments from the debt investment portfolio.

More specifically, the company’s dollar-weighted annualized yield on average debt investments in Q3 of 2024 and Q3 of 2023 was 15.9% and 17.1%, respectively.

Net investment income per share (IIS) fell to $0.32, down from $0.53 compared to Q3-2023. Net asset value (NAV) per share landed at $9.06, down from $9.12 sequentially.

After paying its monthly distributions, Horizon’s undistributed spillover income as of June 30th, 2024 was $1.27 per share, indicating a considerable cash cushion.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on HRZN (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Monthly Dividend Stock #2: Itau Unibanco (ITUB)

5-Year Expected Total Return: 16.5%

Dividend Yield: 9.1%

Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. is headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The bank has operations across South America and other places like the United States, Portugal, Switzerland, China, Japan, etc.

On November 5th, 2024, Itaú Unibanco reported third-quarter results for 2024. The company reported recurring managerial result for the third quarter of 2024 was approximately $2.1 billion USD, reflecting a 6.0% increase from the previous quarter.

The recurring managerial return on equity stood at 22.7% on a consolidated basis and 23.8% for operations in Brazil.

Total assets grew by 2.6%, surpassing $590 billion USD, while the loan portfolio increased by 1.9% globally and 2.1% in Brazil for the quarter, with year-on-year growth rates of 9.9% and 10.0%, respectively.

Key drivers included personal, vehicle, and mortgage loans, which saw quarterly growth rates of 3.1%, 3.0%, and 3.9%, respectively.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on ITUB (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Monthly Dividend Stock #1: Ellington Credit Co. (EARN)

5-Year Expected Total Return: 16.8%

Dividend Yield: 15.0%

Ellington Credit Co. acquires, invests in, and manages residential mortgage and real estate related assets. Ellington focuses primarily on residential mortgage-backed securities, specifically those backed by a U.S. Government agency or U.S. government–sponsored enterprise.

Agency MBS are created and backed by government agencies or enterprises, while non-agency MBS are not guaranteed by the government.

Source: Investor Presentation

On November 12th, 2024, Ellington Residential reported its third quarter results for the period ending September 30th, 2024. The company generated net income of $5.4 million, or $0.21 per share.

Ellington achieved adjusted distributable earnings of $7.2 million in the quarter, leading to adjusted earnings of $0.28 per share, which covered the dividend paid in the period.

Net interest margin was 5.22% overall. At quarter end, Ellington had $25.7 million of cash and cash equivalents, and $96 million of other unencumbered assets.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on EARN (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Other Monthly Dividend Stock Resources

Each separate monthly dividend stock has its own unique characteristics. The resources below will give you a better understanding of monthly dividend stock investing.

The following research reports will help you generate more monthly dividend stock investment ideas.

Monthly Dividend Stock Performance
In February 2025, a basket of the monthly dividend stocks above generated negative returns of -18.4%. For comparison, the Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) generated negative returns of -8.3% for the month.

Notes: Data for performance is from Ycharts. Canadian company performance may be in the company’s home currency.

Monthly dividend stocks under-performed the Russell 2000 last month. We will update our performance section monthly to track future monthly dividend stock returns.

In February 2025, the 3 best-performing monthly dividend stocks (including dividends) were:

Extendicare Inc. (EXETF), up 24.8%

San Juan Basin Royalty Trust (SJT) , up 18.9%

EPR Properties (EPR), up 16.4%

The 3 worst-performing monthly dividend stocks (including dividends) in the month were:

Mullen Group Ltd. (MLLGF), down 10.9%

Savaria Corp. (SISFX), down 13.7%

Exchange Income Corp. (EIFZF), down 15.4%

Why Monthly Dividends Matter
Monthly dividend payments are beneficial for one group of investors in particular; retirees who rely on dividend stocks for income.

With that said, monthly dividend stocks are better under all circumstances (everything else being equal), because they allow for returns to be compounded on a more frequent basis. More frequent compounding results in better total returns, particularly over long periods of time.

Consider the following performance comparison:

Over the long run, monthly compounding generates slightly higher returns over quarterly compounding. Every little bit helps.

With that said, it might not be practical to manually re-invest dividend payments on a monthly basis. It is more feasible to combine monthly dividend stocks with a dividend reinvestment plan to dollar cost average into your favorite dividend stocks.

The last benefit of monthly dividend stocks is that they allow investors to have – on average – more cash on hand to make opportunistic purchases. A monthly dividend payment is more likely to put cash in your account when you need it versus a quarterly dividend.

Case-in-point: Investors who bought a broad basket of stocks at the bottom of the 2008-2009 financial crisis are likely sitting on triple-digit total returns from those purchases today.

The Dangers of Investing In Monthly Dividend Stocks
Monthly dividend stocks have characteristics that make them appealing to do-it-yourself investors looking for a steady stream of income. Typically, these are retirees and people planning for retirement.

Investors should note many monthly dividend stocks are highly speculative. On average, monthly dividend stocks tend to have elevated payout ratios. An elevated payout ratio means there’s less margin for error to continue paying the dividend if business results suffer a temporary (or permanent) decline.

As a result, we have real concerns that many monthly dividend payers will not be able to continue paying rising dividends in the event of a recession.

Additionally, a high payout ratio means that a company is retaining little money to invest for future growth. This can lead management teams to aggressively leverage their balance sheet, fueling growth with debt. High debt and a high payout ratio is perhaps the most dangerous combination around for a potential future dividend reduction.

With that said, there are a handful of high-quality monthly dividend payers around. Chief among them is Realty Income (O). Realty Income has paid increasing dividends (on an annual basis) every year since 1994.

The Realty Income example shows that there are high-quality monthly dividend payers around, but they are the exception rather than the norm. We suggest investors do ample due diligence before buying into any monthly dividend payer.

Final Thoughts & Other Income Investing Resources

Financial freedom is achieved when your passive investment income exceeds your expenses. But the sequence and timing of your passive income investment payments can matter.

Monthly payments make matching portfolio income with expenses easier. Most personal expenses recur monthly whereas most dividend stocks pay quarterly. Investing in monthly dividend stocks matches the frequency of portfolio income payments with the normal frequency of personal expenses.

Additionally, many monthly dividend payers offer investors high yields. The combination of a monthly dividend payment and a high yield should be especially appealing to income investors.

But not all monthly dividend payers offer the safety that income investors need. A monthly dividend is better than a quarterly dividend, but not if that monthly dividend is reduced soon after you invest. The high payout ratios and shorter histories of most monthly dividend securities mean they tend to have elevated risk levels.

Because of this, we advise investors to look for high-quality monthly dividend payers with reasonable payout ratios, trading at fair or better prices.

Additionally, see the resources below for more compelling investment ideas for dividend growth stocks and/or high-yield investment securities.

Thanks for reading this article. Please send any feedback, corrections, or questions to [email protected].

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Mar 6, 2025 By PARKERYL Penny Stocks

Why Now May Actually Be a Great Time to Buy Stocks

What’s driving the rampant fear out there right now – and what’s making us bullish

Wall Street legend Warren Buffet is known for his belief that when it comes to investing in stocks, it’s best to be greedy when others are fearful.

Well, everyone is extremely fearful right now. A global trade war has begun. Government layoffs are spiking. Job growth is slowing. The economy is weakening. Consumer and business sentiment is sliding. And stocks are crashing.

Source: CNN

Does that mean it is time to be greedy? I think so.

But before you go thinking I’m putting the cart before the horse, let’s talk a bit about what’s driving the rampant fear out there right now – and what’s making us bullish.

Understanding the Market Risks

This week, U.S. President Donald Trump started what may be the biggest trade war seen in a century. He enforced 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico and levied an additional 10% tariff on goods from China. In so doing, Trump has raised the average tariff rate in the U.S. from 2.3% to 11.5%, the highest it has been since World War II.

Economists’ consensus belief is that this will have an adverse impact on the economy.

U.S. companies will face meaningfully higher import costs and either be forced to absorb them (shrinking profit margins), pass them on to consumers (raising inflation), or reorganize their supply chains (disrupting business operations).

No matter which path companies choose, a negative growth shock is likely. Researchers at the Federal Reserve suggest that by raising the average U.S. tariff rate to 11.5%, GDP growth will be negatively affected by 1.3%.

Meanwhile, real-time estimates for U.S. economic growth suggest that it is trending very weak this quarter. One estimate from the Atlanta Fed shows -2.8% growth; and that was even before the trade war began. Slicing off another 1.3% would put U.S. GDP growth below -4%.

That’s awful. And it doesn’t even take into account the tariffs yet to come…

Stocks Suffer Amid This Game of ‘Chicken’

Trump has made known that he wants to enact tariffs on aluminum, steel, copper, lumber, chips, pharma goods, and more over the next month. He also wants to put reciprocal tariffs in place by April.

If even just a portion of those are enacted, then the average U.S. tariff rate could spike to 15% or 20% by the summer. And at that point, we could be looking at another 1% to 2% hit on GDP, putting GDP below -5%.

That would be bad. We’re talking Covid-era bad… Great-Financial-Crisis bad…

So, yes, it makes sense why investors are fearful right now.

But we think folks should be greedy here because that worst-case outcome likely won’t materialize.

In our view, it’s clear that Trump is merely using tariffs as a strong-arm negotiating tactic to win better deals for the U.S. As a result, this trade war shouldn’t last long.

Just look at the pattern of behavior here:

In early February, less than 24 hours after Trump first announced sweeping tariffs against Canada and Mexico, all three countries came to a deal to delay them.

Less than 24 hours after Trump paused all military aid to Ukraine, reports leaked that the two came to an agreement to sign an overdue minerals deal that would resume aid.

Less than 24 hours after Trump actually enacted sweeping tariffs against Canada and Mexico, reports leaked that the three were working on a deal to remove some or all of the duties.

And less than 24 hours after that, Trump delayed Canadian and Mexican auto tariffs by a month.

Issue the threat. Force the other side to the negotiating table. Strike a deal. Rescind the risk.

If this pattern persists, then all these fears of a global trade war sinking the U.S. economy into a recession are overblown – which means the recent stock selloff is overdone, too.

Time to buy stocks?

We think so.

It Seems the Bottom Is In

Look at it from this perspective.

Due to these trade war fears, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq have crashed to right around their 200-day moving averages – widely considered the market’s “last line of defense.” As of this writing, the S&P sits just above its 200-day moving average, while the Nasdaq dropped below this level earlier this week, then swiftly rebounded above it.

The indices have dropped to their 200-day moving averages only twice in the past two years – in March and October of 2023.

Both times, stocks bottomed from a recent selloff and went on to soar over the next few months.

From March 2023 to July 2023, the S&P rose about 20%, while the Nasdaq rallied almost 30%. From October 2023 to July 2024, the S&P soared around 40%, and the Nasdaq climbed nearly 50% higher.

In other words, the last two times the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were languishing around their 200-day moving averages, stocks bottomed then soared for months.

We’re right back at that point again.

Either this time is different, or it is a great time to buy stocks – before they soar over the next few months.

The Final Word on Buying Stocks

Admittedly, there are a lot of reasons this selloff in stocks could be different. But it probably isn’t.

We’re likely just seeing another pullback within the market’s broader strong uptrend. If so, that means either the bottom is in or close to it – and stocks are primed to rally big over into the summer.

Time to buy? We think so.

Which is why we want to point you to an informational presentation I put together focused on the man at the epicenter of this selloff – Donald J. Trump.

It may be easy to tell by now that Trump will have a major impact on the economy and markets. But that impact will be multifaceted and complex, not straightforward.

To best prepare yourself for the next four years, you need to understand exactly what his impact could be, what stocks to buy under ‘Trump 2.0’ – and what stocks to avoid.

I detail all this and more in my new briefing.

Click here to check it out now.

_{On the date of publication, Luke Lango did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article.}

P.S. You can stay up to speed with Luke’s latest market analysis by reading our Daily Notes! Check out the latest issue on your Innovation Investor or Early Stage Investor subscriber site.

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Mar 6, 2025 By PARKERYL Currency

USD tumbles, EUR, GBP surge, as tariff trend turns – United States

Written by Steven Dooley, Head of Market Insights, and Shier Lee Lim, Lead FX and Macro Strategist

Greenback tumbles to four-month lows

The US dollar continued to fall overnight, down for the third straight session this week, as markets turned wary on US growth due to tariff worries.

The euro and British pound surged with markets hopeful Europe and the UK could avoid tariffs while expectations of increased defense spending saw the euro outperform.

This week’s moves bucked the recent trend of USD outperformance on tariff news. Markets instead are focused on a recent slowdown in US data, and improvement in European data, and the potential for relative outperformance for the euro.

Across the region, the greenback fell, with the AUD/USD as one of the better performers, up 1.1%. The Aussie was helped by an in-line December-quarter GDP result with full-year Australian growth at 1.3% over 2024.

The kiwi was even stronger as the NZD/USD gained 1.2%.

The USD/SGD fell 0.6% while the USD/CNH lost 0.2%.

Euro surges ahead of ECB

The euro has surged higher this week, with the EUR/USD up an incredible 4.1% this week, and the euro at or near five-year highs versus the Australian and NZ dollar.

The European Central Bank meets tonight and looks likely to cut the deposit rate by 25 basis points to 2.50%.

Furthermore, we believe that data results in comparison to the ECB’s projections lend credence to a rate reduction.

The ECB is expected to change its rhetoric about restrictiveness; we believe it will imply that rates are less restrictive today than they were previously as a result of the recent rate decreases and state that it will evaluate the degree of restrictiveness.

MYR outperformance backed by fundamentals

Today, Malaysia’s policy meeting will be held. We anticipate the BNM will reiterate that the present monetary stance is still supportive of the economy by keeping its policy rate at 3% and adopting a similarly neutral attitude to the previous MPC sessions.

Despite noting ongoing global uncertainties, we believe BNM will remain optimistic about the growth forecast and reiterate that the resilience of the local economy is expected to be maintained this year.

Although inflation remained steady in January due to the impact of the moving Chinese New Year vacation, Q4 GDP growth was revised up to 5.0% year-over-year from the advance estimate of 4.8%.

The ringgit’s superior performance in Asia is supported by Malaysia’s better trade balance and perhaps larger tourist surplus.

The next key resistance is 200-day EMA of 4.4740, where MYR buyers may look to take advantage.

USD extends losses as tariff trend reverses

Table: seven-day rolling currency trends and trading ranges

Key global risk events

Calendar: 3 – 7 March

All times AEDT

Have a question? [email protected]

*The FX rates published are provided by Convera’s Market Insights team for research purposes only. The rates have a unique source and may not align to any live exchange rates quoted on other sites. They are not an indication of actual buy/sell rates, or a financial offer.

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Mar 6, 2025 By PARKERYL Finance News

Latvia: Doorway To The EU

Location, business-friendly regulations, and a skilled workforce make Latvia attractive for FDI.

Despite a sluggish economy, Latvia is positioning itself as a prime gateway to the European Union, as foreign capital is flowing into key sectors, and recent reforms underscore its ambitions to become an investment hub in the Baltics.

The IMF projects GDP growth of 2.3% in 2025; 2.5% in 2026; and 2.5% in 2027. The Bank of Latvia, the country’s central bank, is more optimistic for 2026 and 2027, expecting growth of 3.1% and 3.3%, respectively, due to stronger domestic demand, lower inflation, and the inflow of foreign capital into Latvia’s fintech, defense and banking sectors.

The government’s decision in 2022 to simplify rules and regulations covering the operation of foreign and native businesses is bearing fruit. It has positively reshaped Latvia’s ability to offer enhanced support packages to investors in the Baltic state.

Vital Statistics

Location: Northeastern Europe

Neighbors: Estonia, Russia, Belarus, Lithuania

Capital city: Riga

Population (2024): 1.9 million

Official languages: Latvian (56.3%), Russian (33.8%), other 0.6%

GDP per capita (2024): $22,200

GDP growth (2024): 1.2%

Inflation (2024): 1.4%

Currency: euro

Investment promotion agency: Latvian Investment and Development Agency (LIAA)

Investment incentives available: Grants and financial incentives for domestic and foreign investors; VAT waivers and various tax rebates for companies operating in the country’s five SEZs, including two free ports; loans for new companies and startups; no performance requirements for foreign investors to establish, maintain, or expand investment in Latvia

Corruption Perceptions Index rank (2024): 38/180

Political risk: Small open-market economy sensitive to external changes and shocks; society and economy negatively impacted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and continuing war causing deteriorating relations with Russia; questions over Latvia’s ability to generate sufficient tax revenues to foster economic growth.

Security risk: Proximity to Russia; ongoing Ukrainian conflict destabilizing to Latvia’s national security and economic growth; petty crime; credit card, debit card, and ATM fraud; cyberattacks and extortion; harassment of women, LGBTQI+ persons, and racialized groups

Pros

Highly digitalized, tax progressive, modernizing, globalizing Baltic state within EU

Strong educational ethic, skilled labor force

Growing pool of talent with IT skills

Low-cost and tax-friendly for new domestic and foreign-owned startups

Member of EU and NATO since 2004, Schengen area since 2007

Joined eurozone in 2014 and OECD in 2016

Full spectrum of property rights

US Trade and Intellectual Property Rights Agreement, WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, and other international agreements

Cons

Stability of small, open economy susceptible to external factors such as supply chain fluctuations in key markets, EU, North America, and Asia

Downturns such as sharp rises in commodity prices can seriously impact growth in national economy

Proximity to Russia a concern

Sources: Baltic Times; Bank of Latvia; Bloomberg; CIA World Factbook; Delfi; Diena; European Central Bank; International Monetary Fund; Latvian Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Economics, Ministry of Finance, State Statistics Bureau, Tax Administration; LIAA; Reuters; Trading Economics; Transparency International; TVnet.lv; US State Department; World Bank; World Population Review.

For more information on Latvia, click here to read Global Finance’s country report page.

Specifically, Latvia hopes to build international interest in the country via an ambitious project aimed at developing the capital, Riga, as a low-cost, high-value Baltic center for banking. It’s also looking to AI, fintech, smart consumer electronics, biomedicine and pharmaceuticals.

Latvia anticipates a dividend from its largest-ever trade mission to the US, in September 2024. Led by Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs and Minister of Economics Viktors Valainis, the eight-day event included investor briefings in Houston, San Francisco, and Denver. Executives from Meta, Google, NASA, Groq and OpenAI convened. Microsoft signed a memorandum of understanding in December to build an AI hub in Latvia. The trade mission aims to double the value of Latvia’s exports to the US to $2 billion within three to five years.

Last April, Latvia’s government approved amendments to the Regulation of the Coordination Council for Large and Strategically Significant Investment Projects. The amendments introduced a more efficient decision-making process for screening funding applications and providing state support for projects with an investment volume of at least €10 million (about $10.5 million) or an export volume of €5 million.

The country is also generating foreign investor interest in capital-intensive projects. These include Rail Baltica, the Baltic region’s most ambitious investment in regional transport infrastructure. The project involves the construction of two European Transport Corridors (ETC). The ETC1 will connect the modernized rail networks of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland to the Continental European rail transport system by 2030.

International interest in Rail Baltica spiked after the Baltic states and the EU confirmed that external investors may participate in funding ETC1 and ETC2.

Rail Baltica secured an additional €1.4 billion from the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) in November. Up to 85% of the project’s eligible costs are being funded by the CEF. In total, the project obtained over €4 billion through the CEF.

According to one analysis, published last June, Rail Baltica is projecting regional economic benefits, both direct and indirect, of €48 billion. This projection exceeds the project’s total capital cost estimate of €15.3 billion covering the financing requirement to implement the first project phase, which will establish an operational Rail Baltica line across the three Baltic States to connect to Poland’s rail network by 2030.

The project’s long-term potential value to the security of the Baltic states and Europe will be amplified in ETC2, which aims to expand the integrated Baltic rail network’s reach to link countries in the neighborhood of the Baltic, Black, and Aegean seas, with extended rail line connections to Ukraine and Moldova.

“Geopolitical shifts have fundamentally changed how the project is viewed—Rail Baltica is now critical for NATO’s military mobility, increasing its strategic importance,” says Marko Kivila, the interim chief executive of RB Rail, Rail Baltica’s management company.

A Magnet for FDI

In January, Latvia’s government approved more than €644 million in additional spending to reinforce its Russian border. The country’s €1.6 billion defense budget allocates 42% to weapon systems procurement. The plan is to raise the defense budget to at least 4% of GDP in 2026.

The government also wants Riga to be a leading banking hub. In January, the government introduced a temporary solidarity contribution (TSC) on credit institutions to help cover national security costs. The TSC is being levied at 60% on a credit institution’s surplus net interest income generated during 2025, 2026, and 2027. It’s expected to raise $100 million.

The country’s foreign direct investment (FDI) stock rose by 4.4% to $26 billion in 2024, sustained by a stable monetary policy, modern infrastructure, and an advantageous geographic location between the EU and the Commonwealth of Independent States. That year, investments from other EU states represented over 82% of all accrued FDI. The FDI split by sector reveals that most foreign entities invested in banking, real estate, technical services and manufacturing.

“Latvia’s foreign investment results in 2024 have been impressive—from just under €619 million in 2023, the amount of attracted investments last year grew to over €655 million,” said Economics Minister Valainis during the January meeting of the Latvian Investment and Development Agency Coordination Council. “Latvia’s [2025] target for large investments is €790 million, and given the strong groundwork and growing interest from investors, I am confident we may even exceed this goal.”

The EU’s funding role continues to drive innovation and growth among SMEs operating within sectors such as digitization, energy efficiency and exports.

In this year’s budget, the Ministry of Economics is making €250 million in State and EU funding available to help small-to-medium sized (SMEs) businesses boost competitiveness. Around 61% of the funds are earmarked to support SMEs.

Latvia saw the volume of active investment projects grow from just over €4 billion in 2023 to around €11 billion in 2024 as foreign investment increased.

Five special economic zones (SEZs), including two free ports, offer tax and financial incentives essential for attracting foreign investors. The SEZs offer up to 80% rebates on corporate income tax. The rebates on property assets lower the effective tax rate to 0.3% for foreign and native enterprises. The tax rebates will remain in force until 2035.

The country’s business-friendly policies and EU membership are also generating increased investments from Asia. Last year, Indian IT group Tech Mahindra opened a Baltic business processing services (BPS) hub in Riga, creating 500 jobs.

“We are at an important step in our Baltic growth strategy. Latvia offers a vibrant technology ecosystem, skilled workforce, strong IT infrastructure, and favorable government policies,” says Birendra Sen, head of BPS at Tech Mahindra.

Likewise, Uzinfocom, Uzbekistan’s largest player in biometrics and facial recognition technologies, selected Riga for its European headquarters. The decision “was not difficult,” says Uzinfocom Europe’s chairman Aleksandrs Petrovs. “We also want to look at forming close cooperation partnerships with state and private enterprises in Latvia.”

Meanwhile, the Bank of Latvia is developing a strategy to transform Riga into the largest fintech hub in the Baltics. Touting a pro-innovation approach, the central bank aims to drive investment and growth within the fintech community.

As Bank of Latvia governor Mārtiņš Kazāks told the November 2024 Fintech Latvia Forum in Riga:

“Our value proposition is based on a friendly and supportive ecosystem, prioritizing access to capital, developing world-class talent, and fostering deeper collaboration with stakeholders to build Latvia’s competitive position.”

The post Latvia: Doorway To The EU appeared first on Global Finance Magazine.

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Mar 6, 2025 By PARKERYL Coin

CSNS to Present 2025 Bowers Award to Numismatic Expert Jeff Garrett

Jeff Garrett

One of the country’s most distinguished numismatists is receiving yet another prestigious honor.

The Central States Numismatic Society (www.CSNS.org) will present its annual Q. David Bowers Award this year to long-time professional numismatist, award-winning author, and acclaimed hobby leader Jeff Garrett of Lexington, Kentucky.

The CSNS Bowers Award recognizes the contributions made by numismatic professionals in the hobby.

Among his many accomplishments in his illustrious career, Garrett founded Mid-American Rare Coin Galleries; served as President of both the American Numismatic Association (2015-2017) and the Professional Numismatists Guild (2005-2007); founded the Bluegrass Coin Club; authored or co-authored a half-dozen award-winning numismatic reference books; and is a consultant to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Numismatic Collection in Washington, D.C.

Since 2019, he has served as Senior Editor of The Official Redbook: A Guide Book of United States Coins.

“Jeff Garrett certainly deserves this award for his unselfish devotion, scholarly contributions and the investments of time and resources made to the hobby by a numismatic professional,” said CSNS President Mitch Ernst.

“The professional side of the hobby is often asked to fund many of the benefits the collector side of the hobby enjoys. Sadly, those contributions many times go unrecognized by the organizations that have long benefited by the contributions made by the numismatic professionals of our hobby. Interestingly, when the concept of creating this award was originally presented to the CSNS Board of Directors, it was with a person like Jeff Garrett in mind,” explained Ernst.

Grateful for the award, Garrett stated: “The Central States Numismatic Society has been a part of my numismatic journey for almost 50 years. The organization has always been important to me, especially since I live in one of the ‘central states.’ I am very honored to be named the Q. David Bowers award recipient.”

“Dave Bowers has been one of the most important mentors of my career. He taught me so much about numismatic writing and the importance of numismatic knowledge. Our work together on Redbook over the years was inspiring and motivated me to try to educate others as Dave did so well over the decades. His contributions to the hobby will never be matched and being given an award that is connected with him is truly humbling,” emphasized Garrett.

Recipients of the Bowers Award, named after the prominent dealer and esteemed numismatic author Q. David Bowers, are selected by members of the Central States Numismatic Society Board of Directors. The 2025 award will be presented to Garrett during the annual CSNS membership meeting at 8:00 am, Saturday, April 26, at the upcoming CSNS convention in the Chicago suburb of Schaumburg, Illinois, April 24-26, 2025.

For additional information about the Central States Numismatic Society and its annual convention, visit www.CSNS.org.

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Mar 6, 2025 By PARKERYL Monthly Dividend

Dividend Aristocrats In Focus: Target Corporation

Updated on March 4th, 2025 by Felix Martinez

Every year, we publish a review of each of the Dividend Aristocrats, a group of 69 companies in the S&P 500 Index with 25+ consecutive years of dividend increases. Thanks to their long histories of annual dividend increases and strong business models, we believe the Dividend Aristocrats are among the best dividend stocks to buy.

With that in mind, we created a list of all 69 Dividend Aristocrats. You can download your copy of the Dividend Aristocrats list (along with important metrics like dividend yields and price-to-earnings ratios) by clicking on the link below:

Disclaimer: Sure Dividend is not affiliated with S&P Global in any way. S&P Global owns and maintains The Dividend Aristocrats Index. The information in this article and downloadable spreadsheet is based on Sure Dividend’s own review, summary, and analysis of the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats ETF (NOBL) and other sources, and is meant to help individual investors better understand this ETF and the index upon which it is based. None of the information in this article or spreadsheet is official data from S&P Global. Consult S&P Global for official information.

Next on our list of Dividend Aristocrats is Target Corporation (TGT).

Target has a long history of dividend growth. The company has grown its dividend for 57 consecutive years. Target is a Dividend King, an even more exclusive list of companies that have increased dividends for at least 50 consecutive years.

Target has been one of the best-performing retail stocks over the last five years, thanks to its execution of numerous growth initiatives.

Business Overview

Target is a discount retail giant with a market capitalization of $80 billion. Today, it operates approximately 1,956 stores in the U.S. and an e-commerce business. It has a diverse product lineup and annual sales of more than $107 billion.

The company has implemented many growth initiatives in recent years. As a result, Target has returned to its long-term growth trajectory in the last five years.

Target posted fourth quarter and full-year earnings on March 5th, 2024, with strong results. The company reported net sales down 0.8% due to one fewer sales week compared to 2023. On a comparable 52-week basis, net sales grew 1%, and earnings per share increased nearly 3%. Fourth-quarter comparable sales rose 1.5%, driven by strong traffic and an 8.7% increase in digital sales. GAAP and adjusted EPS for the quarter were $2.41, while full-year EPS reached $8.86, aligning with initial projections. Key growth categories included Apparel, Toys, and Electronics.

Operationally, Target achieved over $2 billion in cost savings over two years. Full-year comparable sales were flat at 0.1%, with strength in Beauty, Apparel, and Essentials. Traffic increased 1.4% across stores and digital channels. However, higher supply chain and promotional costs led to a decline in operating income, with the fourth-quarter margin falling to 4.7% from 5.8% in 2023.

For 2025, Target expects around 1% sales growth and a modest increase in operating margins. However, factors like tariff uncertainties and shifting consumer confidence may pressure short-term profits. The company remains focused on digital expansion, supply chain improvements, and shareholder returns, including dividend increases and stock buybacks, with $8.7 billion still available under its repurchase program.

Source: Investor Presentation

Growth Prospects

Target has grown its earnings per share by 8% per year on average over the last decade. The retailer stagnated during 2012-2017 due to its failed attempt to expand into Canada, but thanks to some growth initiatives, it has returned to strong growth mode since 2017.

The biggest reason for this excellent growth is that Target has invested heavily in growing new sales channels, which have paid off. First, Target has invested heavily in e-commerce. The rise in e-commerce initially caught many retail companies, including Target, off-guard. Target has revamped its online offerings and has seen rapid growth.

Target has also rolled out its same-day fulfillment service. Lastly, the company continues redeveloping stores and building smaller stores with much less square footage in places that cannot provide the necessary space to build a large store. These stores are located in areas that see high traffic, such as densely populated large cities and college campuses.

Taken together, these measures have significantly affected Target’s growth. We expect Target to grow its earnings per share by 7% per year over the next five years.

Source: Investor Presentation

Competitive Advantages & Recession Performance

Target operates in a difficult industry. Retail is highly competitive and thus it is characterized by razor-thin profit margins. Retail brands often take a back seat to price and convenience for consumers.

This is why Target has invested so heavily in store redevelopment. That has enabled the company to retain its brand strength, even in a fiercely competitive industry. Most importantly, the retailer has massive distribution and scale capabilities allow it to keep prices low.

In addition, Target operates in a defensive retail niche. Discount retail tends to hold up relatively well during economic downturns, when consumers typically shift from higher-priced retailers.

Target’s earnings-per-share during the Great Recession are as follows:

2007 earnings-per-share of $3.33

2008 earnings-per-share of $2.86 (14% decline)

2009 earnings-per-share of $3.30 (15% increase)

2010 earnings-per-share of $3.88 (17% increase)

2011 earnings-per-share of $4.28 (10% increase)

Target proved remarkably resilient during the Great Recession. It posted a 14% decline in 2008 but followed this with three consecutive years of double-digit earnings growth.

Target once again performed very well in 2020, a year in which the U.S. economy encountered a fierce recession due to the pandemic. And yet, Target continues to raise its dividend reliably each year.

Valuation & Expected Returns

Based on the current share price of $117, Target has a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.5. Our fair value multiple is 17. If shares were to revert to their average price-to-earnings ratio, TGT stock would see annual returns increase by 3.5% over the next five years due to a falling P/E multiple.

At the same time, Target is offering a 3.7% dividend yield. Adding expected annual earnings per share growth of 7%, total returns come out to 14.2% per year over the next five years. This is a fairly attractive expected return for such a recession-resistant business model.

With annualized expected returns above 14%, we rate TGT stock a buy.

Final Thoughts

Target has faced some major downturns over the last decade. It failed to expand into Canada and struggled dealing with the rise of e-commerce shopping along with the rest of retail, but the company appears to have returned to sustained growth.

Overall, we feel that Target’s current valuation is slightly elevated, but the company’s strong EPS growth justifies a higher valuation. We rate the stock as a buy.

If you are interested in finding more high-quality dividend growth stocks suitable for long-term investment, the following Sure Dividend databases will be useful:

The major domestic stock market indices are another solid resource for finding investment ideas. Sure Dividend compiles the following stock market databases and updates them monthly:

Thanks for reading this article. Please send any feedback, corrections, or questions to [email protected].

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Mar 6, 2025 By PARKERYL Penny Stocks

Technology’s Creepy Next Step | InvestorPlace

Technology’s spooky next step … enormous potential market size … the easiest way to invest today … nervous about a market crash? Keith Kaplan has you covered

In the pantheon of business/investing clichés, high on the list is the phrase immortalized by hockey legend Wayne Gretzky:

I skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been.

The quote has been recycled and mangled by countless investment professionals in PowerPoint presentations for years.

However, it accurately reflects how wise investors set themselves up for life-changing investment returns.

So, where is the puck going today?

Here’s a clue from Tesla CEO Elon Musk:

“[This cutting-edge technology product] will be overwhelmingly the value of the company” with “the potential to be north of $10 trillion in revenue.”

Got your guess?

Sci-Fi meets real life

Congrats if you answered “humanoids.”

Humanoids are advanced robotic machines that can mirror human movements, reasoning, and day-to-day activities. They sit at the convergence of multiple technological trends: AI, biomechanics, machine learning and sensor connectivity.

Whether you think they’re cool or creepy, they’re coming…and bringing with them a multi-trillion-dollar investment opportunity.

Let’s jump to our technology expert, Luke Lango:

These creations are finally stepping out of science fiction and into reality, possibly poised to become the most disruptive AI advancement yet.

From factory floors to elder care, these machines could easily reshape industries, redefine labor… maybe even challenge what it means to be human…

Everyone who’s anyone in the tech world is betting on humanoid robots being the next big AI breakthrough.

Tesla’s Optimus humanoid is the most visible example. And as noted earlier, Musk believes the future of Tesla isn’t in electric cars, it’s in humanoids.

Source: @Tesla

Optimus is already being used inside Tesla factories to complete a variety of tasks. Reports suggest Tesla will sell them to outside companies next year.

And after that, they’re headed to a household near you.

Here’s Luke:

We could soon have our own personal humanoid robot assistant in our homes, doing everything from unloading groceries and cleaning to safeguarding our house while we’re away.

It’s not just Tesla – all the Big Tech players are moving on humanoids

Luke points toward, Meta, Apple, Alphabet, Nvidia, and OpenAI as just a few of the companies working on aspects of humanoid technology.

Meanwhile, many private companies are involved as well. A Polish startup called Clone Robotics just released a video of “Protoclone.” This is its “faceless, anatomically accurate synthetic human.”

Source: @clonerobotics

Whether this thrills or terrifies you, some version of it is headed your way over the next 5-10 years.

Sizing the market potential

Let’s go to ETF provider and research shop, GlobalX:

The potential market opportunity for humanoids is massive, and it’s accelerating.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and industry stakeholders believe there could be over 1 billion humanoids on Earth by the 2040s.

While adoption of single-purpose collaborative robots (cobots) is already widespread in industrial settings, the potential of general-purpose humanoid robotics remains largely untapped, with their appeal being their versatility.

Humanoids are now a tangible reality, capable of working in diverse settings like hazardous factories, and elderly homes, bringing innovative solutions to sectors like logistics, manufacturing, and healthcare.

Given the widespread potential use cases for industrial humanoids, GlobalX puts the total industrial addressable market size at nearly $2 trillion over the next decade.

But the market for household humanoids could be even bigger. GlobalX estimates 15% household penetration and a price point of $10,000 – $15,000. That results in a market size of almost $3 trillion by 2035.

So, how do you invest?

We profiled the easiest way to invest back in September.

Regular Digest readers will recall an issue in which I shared part of an internal email from InvestorPlace’s CEO Brian Hunt to a few members of our leadership team.

Brian described the technological advancements coming (like humanoids), the potential for market volatility, but the even greater potential to make enormous wealth over the next five to 10 years.

With that as our context, here’s Brian from that email with the most effortless way to ride this trend:

If you want to make it simple, easy, and powerful, just look up the five largest AI/robotics ETFs and buy them in equal parts and go to sleep for a while. Maybe throw in some QQQ.

Ignore the corrections. They will be painful but temporary.

This tailwind will blow with hurricane force.

As our experts make their single-stock humanoid recommendations over the coming quarters, we’ll highlight them for you. For now, Luke is eyeing the next step in the evolution toward humanoids – self-driving cars:

The next stage of the AI Revolution has begun.

But it’s about more than just humanoid robots unloading groceries or doing factory work. It also includes robotic driving systems – like self-driving cars.

This future may still seem many years away. But it’s already a reality… Of course, the arrival of the Age of Autonomous Vehicles also means the arrival of huge opportunities in AV stocks.

If you’d like a deeper dive into the opportunity, Luke just put together a special informational presentation focused solely on the Autonomous Vehicle Revolution. You can check it out here.

What if you can’t handle the market corrections that Brian referenced?

Not everyone has a decade-long investment horizon.

What if you’re a few years from retirement and can’t afford the type of painful pullback Brian referenced?

What if you’re saving for a downpayment on a home, or a child’s tuition, or an aging parent’s healthcare needs, and you can’t absorb a haircut of, say, 30% on your capital?

You need a tool to help you sidestep the worst of a bear market crash. And that’s where the quant-based market tools from our corporate partner, TradeSmith, come in.

Here’s a quick story from TradeSmith’s CEO Keith Kaplan to illustrate:

It was early 2020 and I had flown to Florida to meet with a group of 50 of my peers where each of us pitched our best and biggest investment ideas.

When it was my turn, I told them all “I sold almost all my stocks on Friday.”

As you would imagine, I was not the most popular person in the room.

I urged people to protect their investments and consider warning their subscribers that a bear market was rapidly approaching.

I even showed them proof of how I knew we were headed toward the fastest bear market in history — one that would catch everyone by surprise and destroy years of wealth building.

I showed them the alerts I received and then how accurate these alerts have been over the last 20 years.

I was laughed at and told not to panic. Not a single person in the room wanted to hear what I had to say.

But anyone who acted on my systems advice saved their portfolio.

Keith was using a quant-based trading tool that sent him “bear market” alerts.

Here’s an example of what he saw on Friday February 27, 2020…

…which was shortly before the S&P 500 suffered its steepest plunge in the Covid crash…

Back to Keith:

In 2020, my personal portfolio was saved a huge loss thanks to the indicators I got.

Next Thursday at 8 PM ET, Keith is holding an event to explain how this tool works, and how it could help protect your wealth from a similar crash

If protecting the money that you already have is as important as generating new investment gains, this event is for you.

That said, I’ll point out that this same tool works in reverse – notifying investors when to buy back in after a crash.

Returning to Keith, here he is describing what happened not long after those sell alerts arrived:

Just a month later, our indicators did it again, alerting me to a bullish set up in the markets.

By this time the CNN Fear and Greed Index had plummeted to extreme fear and people were nervous.

Heck, I was nervous!

But again, I trusted the math and these signals, and I took action. I started gobbling up stocks that had big pullbacks and were noted “healthy” in our system by their green designation.

Boy was that the right decision!

As you know, the S&P would go on to soar nearly 70% from its March 2020 low through the end of that year.

Source: TradingView

I’ll bring you more on TradeSmith’s market timing tool over the next few days, but to reserve your seat for next Thursday’s presentation right now, click here.

During the event, Keith will walk through how this tool helps you know:

When to buy a stock

How much of a stock to buy

When to sell a stock

And how risky that stock is – how much movement you should expect

He’s also going to unveil the biggest market prediction in his company’s 20-year history.

It’s all next Thursday at 8 PM ET.

More on this to come…

In the meantime, start looking into humanoids. It’s going to be a big one.

Have a good evening,

Jeff Remsburg

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Vital Statistics
Location: Northeastern Europe
Neighbors: Estonia, Russia, Belarus, Lithuania
Capital city: Riga
Population (2024): 1.9 million
Official languages: Latvian (56.3%), Russian (33.8%), other 0.6%
GDP per capita (2024): $22,200
GDP growth (2024): 1.2%
Inflation (2024): 1.4%
Currency: euro
Investment promotion agency: Latvian Investment and Development Agency (LIAA)
Investment incentives available: Grants and financial incentives for domestic and foreign investors; VAT waivers and various tax rebates for companies operating in the country’s five SEZs, including two free ports; loans for new companies and startups; no performance requirements for foreign investors to establish, maintain, or expand investment in Latvia
Corruption Perceptions Index rank (2024): 38/180
Political risk: Small open-market economy sensitive to external changes and shocks; society and economy negatively impacted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and continuing war causing deteriorating relations with Russia; questions over Latvia’s ability to generate sufficient tax revenues to foster economic growth.
Security risk: Proximity to Russia; ongoing Ukrainian conflict destabilizing to Latvia’s national security and economic growth; petty crime; credit card, debit card, and ATM fraud; cyberattacks and extortion; harassment of women, LGBTQI+ persons, and racialized groups

Pros
Highly digitalized, tax progressive, modernizing, globalizing Baltic state within EU
Strong educational ethic, skilled labor force
Growing pool of talent with IT skills
Low-cost and tax-friendly for new domestic and foreign-owned startups
Member of EU and NATO since 2004, Schengen area since 2007
Joined eurozone in 2014 and OECD in 2016
Full spectrum of property rights
US Trade and Intellectual Property Rights Agreement, WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, and other international agreements

Cons
Stability of small, open economy susceptible to external factors such as supply chain fluctuations in key markets, EU, North America, and Asia
Downturns such as sharp rises in commodity prices can seriously impact growth in national economy
Proximity to Russia a concern