Instant Gratification

Nice to be right every now and then. I mentioned in my weekend blog that I had bought ENH as I felt the selling based on their crop book was largely over-done.  And guess what? It was. They reported earnings last night and the stock has had a nice 5% pop today.  It was simple math.  The stock had traded off 15% from their highs, which is over a $200m drop in market cap. But looking at their data, that would be a very outsized loss.

TROX also had pretty decent earnings and is trading up about 5% as well. Very nice day.  My dividend portfolio continues to do well and as of this writing is up about 12.5% on the year... beating the broader indices by about 3 points.  I do get LNC earnings after the bell, that is one beaten down stock.

My Favorite Things

No, it isn't Raindrops on Roses, nor Whiskers on Kittens.  Instead, I love it when dividends are increased.  I got a new one from last week:

 Marathon Petroleum Corporation Increases Dividend

That is a 40% increase, for those of you mathematically challenged. So here is a chart of companies I own that have increased their dividends in the past 8 months or so. It may not be exciting, but it is a route to becoming the richest man in Babylon:

Dividend Changes
Date	Stock	Prior	Current	Change
12/1/11	KMF	1.64	1.67	2%
12/30/11	LNC	0.20	0.32	60%
1/31/12	CSQ	0.63	0.84	33%
2/3/12	PRE	2.40	2.48	3%
2/3/12	AZN	1.85	1.95	5%
2/7/12	STO	0.94	0.98	4%
2/7/12	FCX	1.00	1.25	25%
2/9/12	CSCO	0.24	0.32	33%
2/9/12	SBS	2.39	3.03	27%
3/13/12	USB	0.50	0.78	56%
4/2/12	RTN	1.70	2.00	18%
4/2/12	KMF	1.67	1.70	2%
4/25/12	XOM	1.88	2.28	21%
5/3/12	WBK	0.80	0.82	2%
5/7/12	INTC	0.84	0.90	7%
5/9/12	KSW	0.15	0.20	33%
5/10/12	PVD	4.67	5.13	10%
6/5/12	HFC	0.40	0.60	50%
6/6/12	BHK	0.80	0.88	9%
6/28/12	KMF	1.70	1.72	1%
7/30/12	MPC	1.00	1.40	40%