Actions speak louder than words, as the old saying goes. So why does the media focus so much attention on what Wall Street says about companies instead of what it does with them?
Luckily for Wall Street watchers, the Internet brings us MSN Money's list of which companies the institutions are buying. True, we should be as skeptical of Wall Street's actions as we are of its words. But when the 115,000-plus lay and professional investors on Motley Fool CAPS agree with Wall Street's opinions, it just might be time for some buying.
Here's the latest edition of Wall Street's Buy List, alongside our investors' opinions of the companies involved:
| |
Recent Price
|
CAPS Rating
(5 max):
|
|
Telecomunicacoes de Sao Paulo S.A. (NYSE: TSP )
|
$25.35
|
*****
|
|
Imclone Systems (Nasdaq: IMCL )
|
$68.47
|
**
|
|
Diamond Foods
|
$28.60
|
**
|
|
Huntsman Corp (NYSE: HUN )
|
$11.87
|
**
|
|
AirTran Holdings
|
$3.20
|
**
|
Companies are selected from the "Institutional Ownership Up Last Month" list published on MSN Money on the Saturday following close of trading last week. Recent price provided by Yahoo! Finance. CAPS ratings from Motley Fool CAPS.
So here we have five of Wall Street's top picks of the month -- and what are the chances? Fools hate nearly all of 'em. We'd rather read Martha Stewart Living than own Imclone, wonder why we should want Huntsman when private equity firm, Apollo, obviously does not.
Turns out, the only professional pick CAPS members really do approve of is one few of us have ever heard of -- the mellifluously named "Telecomunicacoes de Sao Paulo S.A." Now it's time to learn a little something about ...
The bull case for TSP
- anavalluc introduced us to this company a little over two years ago as: "the sao Paulo telphone company. Great defensive business. Huge cash flow , great dividend and in the richest party of Brazil."
- Earlier this year, ResearchLover added a bit of detail on this "richest party": "Brazil and Sao Paulo are a growth market for basic telecom. Not going to change with a US slowdown."
- And in July, ChrstphrRCA gave us the real kicker: "Thanks to the price depression, this is a high, high yield telecom."
Twice high, huh? Sounds good, good, but just how high is "high, high?"
Pretty darn high, as it turns out. TSP offers a robust 11.6% yield, which as telecom dividends go, compares awfully favorably to U.S. offerings. Sure, you can get 11.9% out of Qwest (NYSE: Q ) -- but only if you can stomach a debt-to-equity ratio 100 times as large as TSP's.
Meanwhile, Verizon (NYSE: VZ ) , Sprint (NYSE: S ) , and AT&T (NYSE: T ) all sport lower debt loads -- but they've got correspondingly lower dividends as well. Of this less-leveraged bunch, Verizon pays out 6.7%, AT&T 6.3%, and Sprint a miserly 3%.
Foolish takeaway
If dividend yield is your thing, I have to say that TSP looks like a mighty fine way to nab it. And if the current credit crunch has you worried, then TSP's faraway location, and far-below-peer debt, should let you cash those dividend checks in peace and enjoy a restful night's sleep thereafter.
Time to chime in
Of course, the aim of this column isn't just to tell you what I think about Telecomunicacoes de Sao Paulo S.A. -- or for that matter, even what our CAPS members are saying. What we really want to know is what you think. So here's your chance. Ring up Motley Fool CAPS and leave us a message.
Motley Fool CAPS: It's fun, it's free, and it just might make you famous.
RSS Headlines
Fool UK