Companies Boosting Dividends

www.investopedia.com April 28, 2011- In this issue... Add Investopedia to safe sender list Find Investopedia on  Companies Boosting Dividends  VMware Singes The Shorts … Again Coal Boom Continues For Peabody  4 Banks That Reported Loan Growth Feature - Real Estate: From Crash To Cash   A depressed real estate market can provide the pick-me-up investors and home buyers need. Check out our Real Estate Special Feature to learn how you can profit. More: Income Tax, Economic Recovery, View All » Companies Boosting Dividends Unlike earnings, dividends are real cash outlays. Earnings can be manipulated or massaged to meet or beat expectations, but dividend payouts cannot be manipulated. A company has to pay out a dividend from its cash coffers. More so, dividends can serve as a barometer by which to measure the health of some companies.  Related Reading :Kimberly Clark's Above-average Dividend Stocks To Add To Your Portfolio VMware Singes The Shorts … Again Like it or not, "early" and "wrong" can mean the same thing in investing. It is hard to argue that VMware's (NYSE:VMW) valuation makes much sense or will be sustainable, but shorting this name has been a tricky proposition over the past couple of years. So even if the skeptics are right that VMware is apt to hit a wall in terms of growth and market penetration, this could still be a case where Wall Street's ability to remain irrational outlasts an individual investor's ability to stay short and remain solvent.  Related Reading : F5 - Is This The End Of The Beginning Or The Beginning Of The End? , 5 High-Beta Stocks To Watch THIS WEEK'S NEWSLETTER IS SPONSORED BY: Can't Wait Until Thursday? Get Stock Watch Weekly Instantly! Coal Boom Continues For Peabody Coal producer Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) continued its trend of strong profits, as it reported robust first quarter earnings. The quarter's results were achieved despite problems from flooding of Peabody's key Australian operations. Australian pricing helped drive total company revenues in the quarter to $1.74 billion, up from $1.52 billion in the quarter a year ago. Consolidated company sales totaled 61.2 million tons, an increase from 58.3 million tons. While U.S. sales advanced by 9 percent, Australian sales fell by nearly 10 percent to 5.6 million tons due to the flooding. Metallurgical and seaborne thermal coal shipment prices increased 43 percent per ton in Australia. The higher pricing was offset by $70 million due to the impact on EDITDA with the effects of rains and other costs. Peabody also made progress on a number of mine expansions in its Australia operations.  Related Reading : Nucor Gains Strength, Ensco Ready For The Future 4 Banks That Reported Loan Growth Many banks reported a profit in the first quarter of 2011, but struggled with growing loans as weak demand continued to impact many parts of the economy. There were a few institutions that managed to grow loan balances on either a sequential or year-over-year basis. Huntington Bancshares (Nasdaq:HBAN) reported a 3% annualized growth in average total loans in the first quarter of 2011, compared to the final quarter of 2010. The bank cited particularly strong annualized growth in commercial and industrial loans and automobile loans, which were up 11% and 13%, respectively. Commercial real estate loans and other consumer loans were the weakest areas with annualized declines of 16% and 12%, respectively. (Learn more about commercial real estate. see Find Fortune In Commercial Real Estate.)  Related Reading :Betting On America's Underbanked , PNC Financial: On Track And Underpriced   Find Stock Watch Weekly Useful? Check out our other FREE newsletters! • Investing Basics • Forex Weekly • Term of the Day • Warren Buffett Watch • News To Use • The Chart Advisor Report • Professionals in the Money Thank you for reading Stock Watch Weekly on April 28, 2011 Stock Watch Weekly Admin Center You are receiving Stock Watch Weekly as a registered member of Investopedia.com - you joined on 20110412 10:05 Currently, you are subscribed to investopedia-advisor-free as: duitlumbung@gmail.com To unsubscribe or change your email settings, click here. Ensure Delivery: Please add webmaster@investopedia.com to your email address book or safe-senders list. Copyright © 2009 Investopedia ULC. All Rights Reserved