Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Splitsville?


Follow the dancing ball…and three 2-1 splits later and you now have 8 times the number of shares originally owned! As a quick, and hopefully meaningful post, I have noticed a significant bullish trend developing. There are now a tremendous number of S&P 500 companies approaching levels where they have historically either performed a 2:1 or 3:2 split. This seems to lend credence to my hypothesis of hitting Dow 20,000 by December 31st, 2016. It is time for investors to embrace Log Base 2 (chart above.)

A quick review of the S&P 500 component list will quickly identify multiple candidates for potential splits, the vast majority of which haven't had a stock split in 10-14 years. Along with higher profits and increasing quarterly dividends, a great additional barometer is an equity's share price in relation to its last split. As many equities hit or are near their all-time highs, this litmus test should prove profitable to financial farmers.

If history is any indicator, those who wish to Invest Like A Farmer should see considerable split action in many of their high-quality, high-priced stocks in the next 18-24 months as the Dow Jones Industrial Average is driven higher due to continued easy money, increased corporate earnings, and stabilization of the housing market. Couple all of this with a backdrop of a considerably stronger employment picture, and I think Dow 20,000 should become a reality by the end of 2016.