Four Dividend-paying Investment Ideas from the Baron Investment Conference

Four dividend-paying investment ideas from the Baron Investment Conference in New York offer ways to gain income from growth-oriented equities.

The four dividend-paying investment ideas from the Baron Investment Conference feature two funds and two stocks that not only offer income but recently have been trending up. Baron, founded in 1982, had adopted a long-term and fundamental growth investing.

Baron operates mutual funds that invest in companies that that have strong operational and financial fundamentals, as well as unique market insight or proprietary advantage to deliver long-term capital gains. Despite the focus on growth, income investors also have ways to tap into the company’s research and screening of each stock it includes among its holdings.

Ron Baron, founder, chief executive officer and portfolio manager at Baron Capital, told the roughly 5,000 attendees at his company’s 30^th annual investment conference on Nov. 10 that the key to financial success is the strategic ownership of assets likes businesses, real estate, art and intellectual property that appreciate rapidly in value for the long haul. In a world focused on short-term results and news, most people overlook the power of acquiring and holding valuable assets, he added.

Paul Dykewicz meets with Ron Baron in New York.

Four Dividend-paying Investment Ideas from the Baron Investment Conference: SPY

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE ARCA: SPY) is not a direct holding of Baron Funds but it does hold companies that the investment research analysts and portfolio managers there have selected. The fund is meant to track the performance of the S&P 500.

Mark Skousen, PhD, who heads the Forecasts & Strategies investment newsletter, attended the Baron Investment Conference on Nov. 10. He recommends the Baron Growth Fund (BGRFX) in Forecasts & Strategies and it has produced a total return of 8.12% so far this year for his subscribers.

Mark Skousen, head of Forecasts & Strategies and scion of Ben Franklin, talks to Paul Dykewicz.

However, Skousen also recommends SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, which holds stocks such as Norwalk, Connecticut-based FactSet Research Systems Inc. (NYSE; FDS). FactSet’s Chief Executive Officer Philip Snow presented a PowerPoint presentation about his company.

Skousen described SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust as his favorite broad-based investment fund. He has held it in his Forecasts & Strategies portfolio since November 2020. The fund offers a current dividend yield of 1.4% and has climbed 19.05% so far this year.

Chart courtesy of www.stockcharts.com

Four Dividend-paying Investment Ideas from the Baron Investment Conference: SPY for Income

Another way to produce income from SPY is to trade options. One way to do so is through a trading service called Pick of the Day, led by seasoned option traders Hugh Grossman and Ahren Stephens.

Stephens, whom I interviewed on Nov. 17, informed me that he and Grossman produced a perfect record in January 2023 for investing in SPY options repeatedly 19 times without incurring a loss.

If an “easy win” didn’t present itself, the duo merely skipped recommending a trade on that day, Stephens said. For their Pick of the Day subscribers who followed their guidance, they would have attained a total return of 124% for that month alone, Stephens continued.

“That’s enough to turn an initial $500 into $1,115… and $5,000 into $11,150,” Stephens said. “And then imagine doing the same thing… over and over again.”

Hugh Grossman is the lead partner of the Pick of the Day.

Ahren Stephens uses analytics as co-head of Pick of the Day.

Four Dividend-paying Investment Ideas from the Baron Investment Conference: SPY Options

The Pick of the Day is a trade made at or near the market’s open to lock in a quick 6% gain, often times within the first 30 minutes of each session. The trade typically is initiated within the first two minutes of the market’s open at 9:30 a.m.

This is a unique service for people who are short on time but want to earn quick profits each morning. Both fundamental and technical indicators are used with the combined 40-plus years of market participation experience of Grossman and Stephens. The latter member fo the two-man team has been studying chart patterns since his teen years, serving as a precursor to him becoming a technical analyst at a multi-million-dollar commodity fund.

Stephens told me he uses his background and skills in investing the way that the movie character James Bond strategically deployed his secret weapons of choice to navigate any challenge that confronted him.

Chart Courtesy of www.stockrover.com; Click this link to learn about www.stockrover.com.

Four Dividend-paying Investment Ideas from the Baron Investment Conference: India Fund

India Fund Inc. (NYSE: IFN) is a fund recommended by Bryan Perry, a Wall Street veteran who heads the Cash Machine investment newsletter. The fund is up 28.53% so far this year, while offering a current dividend yield of 9.3%.

Chart Courtesy of www.stockcharts.com

Baron analysts at the conference opined that emerging markets such as India have underperformed on Wall Street for more than a decade and have been hurt by the Ukraine-Russia and Israeli-Hamas wars lately. One of the Baron portfolio managers said, “Emerging markets are the cheapest we’ve seen in 30 years.”

As far as where to invest, Perry is not alone in advising India, as he recommended to his Cash Machine subscribers. Baron managers at the conference described India as providing a unique opportunity. India is expected to be the fastest-growing economy in the world over the next 10 years. It also is the country in that consists of the largest weighting in Baron’s emerging markets fund.

Paul Dykewicz interviews Cash Machine investment newsletter leader Bryan Perry.

Four Dividend-paying Investment Ideas from the Baron Investment Conference: FactSet

Philip Snow, chief executive officer of Norwalk, Connecticut-based FactSet Research Systems Inc. (NYSE; FDS), has led his company since 2015 with a goal of creating open, flexible data and software solutions for investment professionals worldwide. FactSet offers instant access to financial data and analytics that investors use to make decisions.

The company has amassed 190,000 global users, 8,000 client institutions and 12,000 employees worldwide. FactSet, founded 45 years ago during the dawn of the technological revolution, has progressed dramatically from its early days when bicycle messengers delivered reports that included a four-page analysis of each company it tracked.

The company’s Universal Screening toll can help clients find stocks that fit certain characteristics. In Snow’s presentation, he described screening for a company in the S&P 500 that had grown revenue every year for the past 27 years, increased its annual dividend each year for the past 24 years and achieved 24 years of consecutive earnings per share (EPS) growth. He concluded by telling attendees the only stock that met the exacting criteria is his own company: FactSet.

FactSet offers software and a screening process to analyze and manage financial data for individual stocks and funds in competition with Bloomberg and Yahoo, among others, said Skousen, who wrote to his Forecasts & Strategies subscribers that he was impressed the company has had 24 years of expanding earnings growth.

Chart Courtesy of www.stockcharts.com

Four Dividend-paying Investment Ideas from the Baron Investment Conference: Kinsale Capital

Kinsale Capital Group (NYSE: KNSL), of Richmond, Virginia, is a specialty insurance company focused using technology to provide excess and surplus lines (E&S) coverage in the United States. Founded in 2009, Kinsale Capital Group is expanding largely by using its underwriting expertise to write coverages for hard-to-place small and mid-sized business risks.

The company’s mission is to deliver long-term value for its stockholders by generating exceptional, consistent financial growth. It aims to produce reliable and attractive underwriting profits and steady investment returns, as well as manage its capital prudently.

Kinsale Capital Group’s founder and chief executive officer Michael P. Kehoe told attendees his company is both entrepreneurial and highly efficient, leveraging its proprietary technology platform and the expertise of its employees.

Richmond, Virginia-based Kinsale Capital Group Inc. (NYSE: KNSL) has grown rapidly since starting operations in March 2010 as an underwriter of specialty commercial insurance in 50 states and the District of Columbia. The company has an A (Excellent) rating from the AM BEST Company.

Despite its role in the insurance industry, the company has used technology and recently artificial intelligence to differentiate itself from competitors. The result is strong profit margins and growth, Kehoe told attendees of the Baron Investment Conference.

Kinsale Capital Group Inc. was only one of the four companies that pays a dividend among the four whose CEOs spoke at the Baron event. The company offers a modest 0.16% dividend yield that could grow in the future along with the business.

Chart Courtesy of www.stockcharts.com

Political Risk Mounts with Wars in the Ukraine and the Middle East

Investors must be willing to accept headwinds of higher-for-longer interest rates, runaway federal deficits and rising political risk with Russia’s unrelenting war in Ukraine amid a sustained military response in the Middle East to the murderous Oct. 7 rampage by Hamas inside Israel that caused more than 1,200 deaths.

President Joe Biden invoked the Defense Production Act on Oct. 30 in an executive order that is reserved for the most urgent of times, such as mobilizing the nation during war or developing COVID vaccines amid a pandemic. His executive order focused on artificial intelligence (AI) and applied the same authority to make companies prove that their most powerful systems are safe before allowing their use.

That means companies must inform the government about the large-scale AI systems they’re developing and share rigorous independent test results to prove they pose no national security or safety risk to the American people, President Biden said. At the same time, President Biden said he would direct the Department of Energy to ensure AI systems don’t pose chemical, biological, or nuclear risks.

In the wrong hands, AI can make it easier for hackers to “exploit vulnerabilities” in the software that makes American society run, President Biden said. For that reason, President Biden said he was directing the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security to develop “game-changing cyber protections” that will make computers and critical infrastructure more secure than today. As part of that response, President Biden said his administration would take “decisive steps” to prevent the use of cutting-edge AI chips that could undermine U.S. national security, he added.

Further political risk is occurring in many countries from widening protests that smack of antisemitism. Certain pro-Hamas protestors are calling for the destruction of Israel and the killing of its people.

The four dividend-paying investment ideas from the Baron Investment Conference offer a way to profit and produce income amid the rising political risk.

Paul Dykewicz, www.pauldykewicz.com, is an accomplished, award-winning journalist who has written for Dow Jones, the Wall Street Journal, Investor’s Business Daily, USA Today, the Journal of Commerce, Seeking Alpha, Guru Focus and other publications and websites. Attention Holiday Gift Buyers! Consider purchasing Paul’s inspirational book, “Holy Smokes! Golden Guidance from Notre Dame’s Championship Chaplain,” with a foreword by former national championship-winning football coach Lou Holtz. The uplifting book is great gift and is endorsed by Joe Montana, Joe Theismann, Ara Parseghian, “Rocket” Ismail, Reggie Brooks, Dick Vitale and many others. Call 202-677-4457 for special pricing on multiple-book purchases or autographed copies! Follow Paul on Twitter @PaulDykewicz. He is the editor of StockInvestor.com and DividendInvestor.com, a writer for both websites and a columnist. He further is editorial director of Eagle Financial Publications in Washington, D.C., where he edits monthly investment newsletters, time-sensitive trading alerts, free e-letters and other investment reports. Paul previously served as business editor of Baltimore’s Daily Record newspaper, after writing for the Baltimore Business Journal and Crain Communications.

Sincerely, Paul Dykewicz, Editor DividendInvestor.com