This is the last watch list for 2019 and what a year it has been to be long equities.
The S&P 500 index increased +30% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose +25%.
Our team has been working hard to fine tune our strategies and we look forward to highlighting the results next year. For now, here are companies on our watch list to ending the decade.
| Symbol | Name | Price | % Yr Low | P/E | EPS (ttm) | P/B | Yield | Payout Ratio |
| HRB | H&R Block | 23.39 | 2.63% | 11.5 | 2.03 | -60.0 | 4.4% | 51% |
| BEN | Franklin Resources | 26.25 | 2.66% | 11.2 | 2.35 | 1.3 | 4.1% | 46% |
| SWX | Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. | 75.24 | 2.69% | 21.0 | 3.59 | 1.7 | 2.9% | 61% |
| TCO | Taubman Centers | 30.45 | 3.15% | 7.8 | 3.91 | 32.7 | 8.9% | 69% |
| CBRL | Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. | 154.83 | 3.57% | 17.0 | 9.10 | 6.1 | 3.4% | 57% |
| MCY | Mercury General Corp. | 48.58 | 4.05% | 13.0 | 3.73 | 1.5 | 5.2% | 68% |
| ROL | Rollins Inc. | 32.66 | 4.15% | 52.7 | 0.62 | 13.3 | 1.3% | 68% |
| FCBC | First Community Bancshares | 30.99 | 4.31% | 12.8 | 2.42 | 1.4 | 3.2% | 41% |
| ANAT | American National Insurance | 115.89 | 4.40% | 9.4 | 12.34 | 0.5 | 2.8% | 27% |
| CHRW | C.H. Robinson Worldwide | 77.93 | 5.14% | 16.3 | 4.79 | 6.3 | 2.6% | 43% |
| CLX | Clorox | 153.53 | 6.93% | 24.4 | 6.29 | 35.1 | 2.8% | 67% |
| EVR | Evercore Inc. | 75.38 | 8.37% | 9.3 | 8.14 | 3.9 | 3.1% | 29% |
| ATRI | Atrion Corporation | 734.39 | 8.74% | 37.5 | 19.57 | 5.9 | 0.8% | 32% |
| NJR | New Jersey Resources Corp. | 43.87 | 8.80% | 23.2 | 1.89 | 2.5 | 2.8% | 66% |
| NFG | National Fuel Gas | 46.87 | 9.05% | 13.4 | 3.51 | 1.9 | 3.7% | 50% |
| STFC | State Auto Financial Corp. | 30.84 | 9.75% | 44.7 | 0.69 | 1.4 | 1.3% | 58% |
| UGI | UGI Corp. | 44.70 | 10.32% | 31.7 | 1.41 | 2.4 | 2.9% | 92% |
| DUK | Duke Energy Corporation | 90.97 | 10.32% | 18.8 | 4.83 | 1.5 | 4.2% | 78% |
| CNP | CenterPoint Energy, Inc. | 26.91 | 10.97% | 21.4 | 1.26 | 2.0 | 4.3% | 91% |
Companies in green and blue are part of the Dividend Achiever and Dividend Aristocrat, respectively.
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.