Over the past year, a lot has gone right for Regions with the bank completely repaying its TARP loans and focusing its efforts on traditional banking practices (e.g., loans and deposits) rather than relying on riskier derivative instruments to make money. Going this route has allowed Regions to build up ample liquidity and put the bank in good shape to deliver improved results in the future. At just 82% of book value as of yesterday’s close, I suspect there’s still room to run for Regions.
Ford
Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) has been flexing its muscles since 2009 with the introduction of the EcoBoost engine, which utilizes turbochargers for extra power while using less fuel the remainder of the time, and by infiltrating the rapidly growing Chinese car market. CEO Alan Mulally has clearly worked wonders in his effort to return Ford back to its glory days.
Those glory days became a bit more real when Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F), in January, doubled its quarterly payout to $0.10 from $0.05. This payout is still very sustainable at less than 30% of its forecasted EPS this year, leaving plenty of room for R&D, paying down debt, and possibly even increasing its payouts in the future. With the F-Series truck still running circles around Silverado and Sierra, and Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) making waves in China, this is a company with potential written all over it.
Source: Robert Scoble on Flickr.
MasterCard
Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA) may have drastically boosted its payout in February, but it hardly made a dent for income seekers with the stock yielding just 0.4%. Investors will likely forgive that low yield, though, with shares up better than 340% since early 2009 and MasterCard also initiating a $2 billion share repurchase program.
The question of whether or not Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA) can march higher seems like a no-brainer to me: absolutely!
As a payment processing facilitator, it isn’t exposed to debt defaults and still has metaphorically and literally a world of opportunity ahead of it. With 85% of global transactions still being handled in cash, emerging markets represent a multi-decade growth opportunity for Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA).
National Oilwell Varco
Much like we saw with Helmerich & Payne, National-Oilwell Varco, Inc. (NYSE:NOV), a supplier of rig equipment for land and offshore drill rigs, has a moat of opportunity ahead of it thanks to huge land-based shale deposits in the U.S. and recently tapped deepwater oil fields in the Gulf of Mexico.
Because of National Oilwell’s robust cash flow, it was able, in May, to double its quarterly payout to $0.26 from $0.13 and effectively boost its annual yield to a respectable 1.5%. The dividend alone is still probably not enough to excite income seekers, but the company’s role in supplying practically everything for offshore and some land-based drillers is more than enough to get me excited about its prospects over the coming years.
Allison Transmission
Allison Transmission Holdings Inc (NYSE:ALSN) — a maker of medium to heavy-duty transmissions for the energy, defense, and commercial markets — bumped its dividend up to $0.12 per quarter from $0.06 just a year after initiating a dividend. The new payout jumps Allison’s yield up to 2% and pushes its payout ratio over 50% based on this year’s forecast of $0.92 in EPS.
While a nice way to give back to shareholders, I admit to being a bit concerned about the possibility of budgets cuts weighing on its defense and energy sector orders. Allison even alluded to weakness in those markets in its most recent quarter despite sticking to its full-year forecast. I’m not quite sold on this dividend just yet and would recommend investors be extra cautious around Allison.
The article 7 Companies Doubling Their Dividends This Year originally appeared on Fool.com.
Fool contributor Sean Williams has no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen name TMFUltraLong, track every pick he makes under the screen name TrackUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle @TMFUltraLong.The Motley Fool owns shares of, and recommends, Ford, MasterCard, and National Oilwell Varco. It also recommends Southwest Airlines.
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