Dividends

“Regardless of yield, when investments are absent of value, cash is always a better option than permanently losing money.”

“When stocks yield as much as bonds, you get the growth free.”

“The stockholder wants both income and appreciation, but in general the more he gets of one the less he realizes of the other.”

“The true measure of common stocks values, of course, is not found by reference to price movements alone, but by price in relation to earnings, dividends, future prospects and, to a small extent, asset values.”

“It is an axiom of investment that securities should be purchased because the buyer believes in their soundness, and not because he needs a certain income.”

“In the halcyon days of prosperity, the investor is satisfied with increased dividends and a rising market, and cares very little about dry statistics.”

“The true measure of common stock values, of course, is not found by reference to price movements alone, but by price in relation to earnings, dividends, future prospects and, to a small extent, asset values.”

“What the corporate tax actually works out as is a dilution of the stock equities. It is the equivalent of a payment of a stock dividend which goes to the government instead of to the stockholders.”

“Rates of return on stocks are a function of three things: beginning dividend yields, growth of earnings, and changes in valuation.”

“I think that we only get estimates of the distributions and that we can only be somewhat sure of the estimates. That makes the problems in the financial world much more difficult, I think, because you have these uncertainties in the distributions.”

“It is one of the common pieces of Wall Street experience that when the public goes stock mad and the market leaders are filled with the arrogance of prolonged success, such little things as high money rates or decreases in earnings or unraised dividends have no instant effect on the market — that is, on the state of mind of the speculating public. In the end, of course, all violations of the fundamental laws of economic and financial common sense are paid for; but every bull thinks he will unload before the break.”

“I have nothing against a stock split. I did two in the Sixties, but this is really a non-event. So is the stock dividend. It’s really paper shuffling.”

“When most people think about the future, they ignore that the future is a distribution of possibilities.”

“If you think Treasuries have no risk and high yield bonds have risk, the yield spread is there to compensate for the bearing of that incremental risk. The question is whether it is adequate.”

“The income statement lies more than the balance sheet.”

“In point of fact, all sorts of considerations enter into the market valuation which are in no way relevant to the prospective yield.”

“I always look for red flags. My major red flag all the time is when long governments yield 600 basis points over the yield on the S&P 500. At that point, stocks have always been overpriced.”

“We don’t invest for income. If you invest soundly for growth, the income follows.”

“If managers can’t think of anything else to do with their money they should pay dividends. If they have good places to invest it, that’s much better.”

“Finance has its anatomy and its physiology. The former is studied through the medium of balance sheets, the latter through income statements.”

“When debt grows faster than income, problems emerge”

“The fact that a stock is considered to be growth stock is no assurance against a decline in income or market value during the downtrend of a business cycle, as growth stocks often depreciate as much as other groups.”

“There are two sound reasons for investing in common stocks — growth of income and growth of principal.”

“The three main objectives of investors are: (1) Capital conservation, or stability of market value of invested principal; (2) Liberal income at a fixed rate; and (3) Capital growth.”