Special Dividends

First, I checked my mechanical portfolio listings and it looks like there is nothing new to add this week. I suspect I'll just stand pat in my 23% cash position. I did find it interesting that two MFI stocks declared special dividends last week. It was also interesting how the market reacted.

TRA announced a whopping $7.50 dividend (Terra to pay $7.50 a share special dividend). That was announced on Thursday, after the market closed. The stock opened up Friday up 75 cents to $37.25. But the luster fell off quickly and Terra ended up down $1.30, or a $2.00 drop from the open.

BKE announced a special $1.80 dividend, plus their normal 20 cent dividend (The Buckle, Inc. Announces a $1.80 per Share Special One-Time Cash Dividend and a $0.20 per Share Regular Quarterly Dividend). This news was released Tuesday morning. BKE had closed Monday at 28.99. Here is the action the rest of the week:

Date	Open	High	Low	Close	Volume	Adj Close*
25-Sep-09	32.00	33.95	31.50	33.52	1,856,000	33.52
24-Sep-09	30.30	31.74	30.30	31.54	1,047,100	31.54
23-Sep-09	31.35	31.35	30.25	30.50	841,100	30.50
22-Sep-09	30.67	31.37	29.85	30.47	1,477,200	30.47
21-Sep-09	29.25	29.59	28.57	28.99	970,200	28.99

Steady progress up every day.

Why the difference? I don't really know. The BKE dividend is actually supported by earnings, they expect to make $2.63 in Fiscal year ending Jan 2010. The TRA dividend is more clearly a payment of excess cash, they expect to earn $2.26 during the current fiscal year. The TRA dividend may be viewed as taking them out of play of being bought by CF.

I am glad to be owning BKE. I do kick myself for prematurely selling TRA (I bought a chunk right after Obama was elected thinking he would be pro-farmers).

One stock of mine that has been quietly moving north is BIOC. They went up 5% on what was a dreary Friday and are now over $4. Here is what they have done in September. The interesting statistic is the volume, in what is typically a sleepy small cap stock:

PRICES

Date	Open	High	Low	Close	Volume	Adj Close*
25-Sep-09	3.78	4.01	3.78	4.01	48,900	4.01
24-Sep-09	3.80	3.85	3.72	3.81	215,800	3.81
23-Sep-09	3.72	3.85	3.72	3.75	89,500	3.75
22-Sep-09	3.78	3.78	3.70	3.72	8,500	3.72
21-Sep-09	3.61	3.75	3.61	3.71	12,600	3.71
18-Sep-09	3.61	3.80	3.56	3.56	38,400	3.56
17-Sep-09	3.63	3.70	3.60	3.70	25,300	3.70
16-Sep-09	3.75	3.80	3.63	3.63	85,300	3.63
15-Sep-09	3.52	3.83	3.52	3.74	61,800	3.74
14-Sep-09	3.54	3.62	3.52	3.53	13,300	3.53
11-Sep-09	3.48	3.56	3.30	3.52	16,400	3.52
10-Sep-09	3.55	3.55	3.50	3.51	4,200	3.51
9-Sep-09	3.54	3.61	3.50	3.61	8,800	3.61
8-Sep-09	3.42	3.52	3.42	3.50	22,300	3.50
4-Sep-09	3.32	3.45	3.29	3.35	76,300	3.35
3-Sep-09	3.45	3.48	3.31	3.39	41,200	3.39
2-Sep-09	3.51	3.52	3.48	3.48	9,100	3.48
1-Sep-09	3.50	3.58	3.50	3.55	8,500	3.55
31-Aug-09	3.47	3.48	3.46	3.48	5,400	3.48

Not sure what in means, even 200,000 shares is small money in the grand scheme. But maybe there is some interest in BIOC.