Five for the Weekend #19

Here are five items you might check out between now and Monday:

• BCE (BCE/NYSE) announced today it will reinstate its dividend at the previous rate, and buyback up to five percent of its outstanding stock. The dividend is good, and at least one analyst says the buyback is underwhelming. Some investors had been hoping for a one-time payout that won't be coming. Simon Avery of The Globe and Mail has a piece on President and CEO George Cope's plans for BCE maintaining "maximum liquidity."

• Staying with BCE, and The Globe and Mail, Derek DeCloet writes that the company is back to being a stock for widows, orphans and "those with more patience than sense." Ouch! I actually think owning a stock that's boring, financially strong and paying a good dividend might be a welcome thing in this environment. The most worrisome factor with BCE in the short term is that there's an overhang of shares out there in the hands of investors playing the takeover.

• I guess the week shouldn't go by without some mentioning of General Motors and the other Detroit automakers. So I'll link you to not one, but two, columns by the indispensable Jerry Flint of Forbes. The first deals with the Big 3 and the second is on GM in particular, separating the myths from realities about the company.

• Jonathan Heller's Cheap Stocks blog looks at land assets in companies of interest to him. This week he posted part I of his land review, with part II coming soon. He discloses which stocks he owns as well. Great stuff.

• Fortune has an article, "The Best Stocks for 2009." I'm not much for these types of pieces, but am a sucker for any article with lists.

Have a great weekend.

Comments

[Ethan Bloch]

I too am a sucker for lists :p That reminds me of this YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9BfLMHNhxE

enjoy and have a great weekend.

Cheers.

Ethan

[Dan]

Also a sucker for lists,

The current issue of TIME is their list issue, lots of top ten lists.

Dan

[John]

Ethan: Great link, thanks.

Dan: I'll check that out, haven't seen it yet.