Below are the 22 companies on our U.S. Dividend Watch List that are within 11% of their respective 52-week lows. Stocks that appear on our watch lists are not recommendations to buy. Instead, they are the starting point for doing your research and determining the best company to buy. Ideally, a stock that is purchased from this list is done after a considerable decline in the price and rigorous due diligence.
| Symbol | Name | Price | % Yr Low | P/E | EPS (ttm) | Dividend | Yield | Payout Ratio |
| FRS | Frisch's Restaurants, Inc | 16.64 | 1.40% | 18.70 | 0.89 | 0.64 | 3.85% | 72% |
| MYE | Myers Industries | 13.29 | 2.78% | 15.10 | 0.88 | 0.36 | 2.71% | 41% |
| FDS | FactSet Research Systems | 90.08 | 3.68% | 21.35 | 4.22 | 1.24 | 1.38% | 29% |
| CATO | Cato Corp. | 24.63 | 3.88% | 11.67 | 2.11 | 0.20 | 0.81% | 9% |
| JW-A | John Wiley & Sons CL 'A' | 37.36 | 4.88% | 12.29 | 3.04 | 0.80 | 2.14% | 26% |
| EXPD | Expeditors International | 36.21 | 5.88% | 23.06 | 1.57 | 0.56 | 1.55% | 36% |
| CTWS | Connecticut Water Service | 28.39 | 6.37% | 18.56 | 1.53 | 0.97 | 3.42% | 63% |
| SBSI | Southside Bancshares | 21.10 | 6.67% | 10.55 | 2.00 | 0.80 | 3.79% | 40% |
| SYBT | S.Y. BanCorp. | 22.27 | 6.76% | 12.04 | 1.85 | 0.80 | 3.59% | 43% |
| BCR | CR Bard | 100.11 | 6.85% | 16.25 | 6.16 | 0.80 | 0.80% | 13% |
| AROW | Arrow Financial Corp. | 24.17 | 6.96% | 13.06 | 1.85 | 1.00 | 4.14% | 54% |
| TDS | Telephone and Data Systems | 20.71 | 7.86% | 27.61 | 0.75 | 0.51 | 2.46% | 68% |
| NWN | Northwest Natural Gas | 44.24 | 7.88% | 19.93 | 2.22 | 1.82 | 4.11% | 82% |
| CAT | Caterpillar | 84.60 | 8.12% | 9.98 | 8.48 | 2.08 | 2.46% | 25% |
| DBD | Diebold | 30.00 | 8.74% | 24.39 | 1.23 | 1.15 | 3.83% | 93% |
| INTC | Intel Corp. | 20.94 | 8.89% | 9.83 | 2.13 | 0.90 | 4.30% | 42% |
| MSFT | Microsoft Corporation | 28.70 | 9.29% | 15.77 | 1.82 | 0.92 | 3.21% | 51% |
| WABC | Westamerica BanCorp. | 44.28 | 9.33% | 15.11 | 2.93 | 1.48 | 3.34% | 51% |
| RBCAA | Republic BanCorp. | 21.44 | 9.61% | 3.77 | 5.68 | 0.66 | 3.08% | 12% |
| WEYS | Weyco Group | 24.18 | 9.86% | 13.98 | 1.73 | 0.68 | 2.81% | 39% |
| FDO | Family Dollar Stores | 59.40 | 9.88% | 16.55 | 3.59 | 1.04 | 1.75% | 29% |
| MSEX | Middlesex Water Company | 19.28 | 10.30% | 21.42 | 0.90 | 0.75 | 3.89% | 83% |
| 22 Companies | ||||||||
Watch List Review
Frisch’s Restaurants (FRS) which operates Big Boy restaurants in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana topped our list this week. The stock had tremendous run last year, rising by more than +70%, after the board of directors approved several special dividend payments. The company operates in a very competitive and low margin industry. Profit margins stand at 2.2% and return on asset of 4%. The earnings multiple of 18 appears to be high for the company but that may have been driven by the collapse in EPS which fell by -28.3% on a year-over-year basis.
Myers Industries (MYE) continues to lag the market and continues its downward trend. The stock has broken the $13.50 level which has been the support for over 6 months. We now look for $13 to be the a support level on a technical basis. Fundamentally, the company is growing its bottom line at a very healthy rate. Net income rose +22% from $24,505 to $29,962 while EPS rose +24% from $0.71 to $0.88. The dividend also increased by +14% from $0.28 to $0.32. More information of their 2012 performance can be found here. Anyone wishing to learn more about the company may want to checkout their investor presentation which can be found here.
Top Five Watch List Performance Review
In our ongoing review of the NLO Dividend Watch List, we have taken the top five stocks on our list from April 6, 2012 and have check their performance one year later. The top five companies on that list can be seen in the table below.
| Symbol | Name | 2012 Price | 2013 Price | % change |
| TR | Tootsie Roll Industries Inc | 22.33 | 29.63 | 32.69% |
| CHRW | C.H. Robinson Worldwide | 65.12 | 58.98 | -9.43% |
| NFG | National Fuel Gas | 47.12 | 58.68 | 24.53% |
| CWT | California Water Service | 17.94 | 19.74 | 10.03% |
| MATW | Matthews International Corp. | 30.89 | 33.71 | 9.13% |
| Average | 13.39% | |||
| DJI | Dow Jones Industrial | 13,057.57 | 14,565.25 | 11.55% |
| SPX | S&P 500 | 1,397.45 | 1,553.28 | 11.15% |
Disclaimer
On our current list, we excluded companies that have no earnings. Stocks that appear on our watch lists are not recommendations to buy. Instead, they are the starting point for doing your research and determining the best company to buy. Ideally, a stock that is purchased from this list is done after a considerable decline in the price and extensive due diligence. Our view is to embrace the worse case scenario prior to investing. It is important to place these companies on your own watch list so that when the opportunity arises, you can purchase them with a greater margin of safety. It is our expectation that, at the most, only 1/3 of the companies that are part of our list will outperform the market over a one-year period.