Using Seeking Alpha to Review Key Holdings

Monthly Dividend Health Checkup Using Seeking Alpha

Yesterday I talked about a review of our top ten investments using Seeking Alpha’s health checkup functionality. It is also possible to look at portions of a portfolio to see how each portion fits with the overall strategy. Because I like monthly dividends, even if they are not prone to increase, I decided to use the tool to look at the non-ETF holdings that pay a monthly dividend.

Also note that two of the stocks that pay a monthly dividend are also in the top ten. They are O and MAIN. Also, please realize that some of my holdings are relatively small in total value. So, for example, SLRC is only about $5,700 of our invested dollars, whereas O and MAIN are considerably more. In a future post I plan to enter my number of shares for these monthly dividend stocks so that Seeking Alpha will give me a more accurate health score.

Seeking Alpha Disclaimer

Use any tool understanding the limitations of the tool

Never take any recommendation or rating tool as the final answer when selecting an investment. Seeking Alpha wisely says, “Investors should not use these ratings or grades as the only sole part of their investment research process. Rather, they should be used to find compelling ideas and check companies against the universe of all other companies. Human review is required to choose exceptional investments.”

How Safe Are the Dividends?

As you can see in this illustration, I am taking on some added risk due to a couple of the holdings. For example, GAIN and SCM have a very poor dividend “safety” rating. However, my experience with both has been positive and I am willing to assume some additional risk.

There are some risks with the “dividend safety” for some of my holdings.

QUANT Scores and Profitability

MAIN, STAG, and O are some of our largest holdings. However, GAIN is as wll.
QUANT Ratings are based on Seeking Alpha’s quantitative models. Let the computer do the work.

Again, these eight investments are not as strong as the top ten investments. SLRC has a red profitability rating. It only shines in “valuation.” Again, this is a fairly small investment with only $5,700 of the total dollars invested in monthly dividend stocks.

The overall “health” of the portfolio is not terrible. The “dividend safety” and “growth” drag the scores down.

Full Disclosure

I cannot recommend any of these investments without knowing the total value of your investment accounts. You might be far better off sticking to ETFs like VYM, DGRO, and SCHD. However, if your investment portfolio is at least $250K, then adding some monthly dividend stocks might give you some consistent income in retirement.