wall street
User enhancements in 2015 helped eBay increase the number of active users on its websites as well as its revenue—before exchange rates.
Dollar General Corp., $82.27, symbol DG on New York (Shares outstanding: 286.4 million; Market cap: $23.6 billion; www.dollargeneral.com), operates 12,575 discount stores in 43 states. About 70% of the company’s outlets serve communities with populations of 20,000 or less. The sales mix of Dollar General’s stores is as follows: consumables (including beverages and snacks, paper and cleaning products, pet supplies, and health and beauty items), 75.9%; seasonal (decorations, toys and gardening), 12.4%; home products (kitchen supplies, light bulbs and bed and bath goods), 6.3%; and basic apparel, 5.4%. The company’s motto is “Save time. Save money. Every day!” Most of the items it sells are priced under $10, with about 75% at $5 or less....
Cintas Corp. raised its dividend for the 32nd year in a row and recorded a 68% jump in earnings over the last five years
McDonald’s Corp. will sell more of its company-owned restaurants to cut costs, grow revenue and increase share buybacks – that’s in addition to raising its dividend.
Strong cash flow for Tupperware Brands Corp. should protect its dividend yield despite lower revenue because of unfavourable exchange rates.
The Global X Social Media ETF offers low-MER, easy access to social media stocks like Yahoo!, but too many are overvalued and speculative.
Dun & Bradstreet Corp. boosted its dividend for the tenth year in a row after selling some operations and buying back a former holding.
Apple is focused on developing new products—electric cars to Internet TV—to make up for slowing iPhone sales
Global X Social Media ETF, $16.63, symbol SOCL on Nasdaq (Units outstanding: 4.1 million; Market cap: $68.2 million; www.globalxfunds.com), invests in companies that provide social networking, file sharing and other web-based media applications. This exchange traded fund holds 36 social media stocks. U.S. social media stocks make up 49% of assets. China is next with 28%; Japan, 12%; Russia, 7%; Ireland, 2%; Taiwan, 2%; and Germany, 1%. The fund’s MER is 0.65%. It began trading as a new issue on November 14, 2011....
Tegna Inc. is using cash from ad revenue to pay down debt, buy back shares and purchase TV stations