Home Depot Raises Quarterly Dividend 21 Percent (Bloomberg)
Ask 100 analysts opinions on the strength of the U.S. economic recovery, and you???ll get 101 different answers. But that variation shouldn???t surprise anyone: there are simply too many variables, metrics and indicators pointing in different directions to get one definitive answer. However, that???s not the case when talking about the validity of recovery in the United States housing market. Or, to be more specific, the renovations portion of the housing market has been in a bull???s bull for the last six years... and Home Depot (HD) has been riding the crest of that wave. In fact, HD has topped analysts??? estimates 23 times since mid 2008. And for income investors looking for their next winner, HD just raised its quarterly dividend by 21 percent, to 47 cents per share. And the prospects for continued profitability in 2014 look bright indeed.
