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5/30/24 Capitalist Times Live Chat
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AvatarRoger Conrad
5:53
What MPLX' Chairman and CEO said during the Q1 call after touting the 10% dividend bump this year is the company "is in a strong position to continue to consistently growth our distribution." He then gave a very long winded answer to an analyst differentiating "blue bar" or sustaining cash flow from "red bar" or more cyclical cash flow, touted 8% business growth the past three years and talked about stock buybacks and "prioritizing blue bar" cash flow.

He obviously didn't want to get pinned down guiding to any specific dividend increase. But to me that strongly implies MPLX will boost the payout more than its purported 5% annual growth target. And there's another very good reason to expect higher dividend growth: Dividends are the only was Marathon Petroleum realizes its returns from the MPLX assets. And they own 63.71% of the common stock.
Guest
6:00
Hi Roger: I am a subscriber to three of your publications. I am 76 years old, retired, and in good health. I know that each situation is different. What would your suggestion  be of stocks to bonds, living off the interest and dividends ? What percent in bonds and what percent in stocks? (An approximation would suffice)
AvatarRoger Conrad
6:00
I think it depends on if you're willing to actively manage your bond portfolio as you do your stocks. At this point, for example, you can buy near-term bonds of utilities with improving financial positions--candidates for credit rating boosts--with yields in the 5% range. That's an attractive parking place for cash. And you can ladder them to mature and provide proceeds to time large payments like property taxes etc.

I confess that I prefer stocks as a general rule for buy and holders of any age--the rising dividends keep up with inflation and principal usually increases over time along with the payout. But the more you depend on your investments to live, the more you need part of your portfolio that's generally not volatile. And bonds with maturities of 2 years or less not only have generation high yields. But if you choose your issuers like your stocks, your principal will remain stable no matter what the economy does. And if the Fed does cut rates and money market yields tumble, you won't lose income.
Randy D
6:09
Good afternoon gentlemen.  Could you please comment on the arrangement that has been struck between Microsoft and Brookfield Renewable (BEP)?  Do you view this as a sell opportunity to lock in profits?  Do you think BEP has a chance of going back to $60 a share where it was in 2021?  Thank you.
AvatarRoger Conrad
6:09
Hi Randy. i think it's another strong deal for Brookfield Renewable to lock in new long-term cash flow, from which to raise dividends and fund growth. It's the same kind of deal management has engineered time and again, no matter what capital market conditions. And the company appears on the verge of doing it again buying a majority stake in French renewable energy company Neoen, as announced today.

It's hard to believe now. But in early 2021--at the peak of the renewable energy stock bubble, Brookfield traded at nearly $50 a share, and its dividend was about -20% less than today. And readers were able to sell some or all of their holdings well over our "Consider Taking Profits" target. We're 180 degrees from that now, however, with BEP still below the Dream Buy price of 30 and BEPC just above it. With renewable energy survivors of the past 3 years selloff now rejoining the energy bull market, I think both BEP and BEPC are headed a lot higher and are buys. I do commend you on buying at a much lower price.
AvatarRoger Conrad
6:12
Well, that's all we have for this month's chat. If for some reason your question was not addressed fully, please contact us at service@capitalisttimes.com and we'll answer as soon as we can.
6:14
We very much appreciate everyone joining us today. As always, your questions and comments have given us a lot to think about as we plot out our editorial direction going forward. We will send you a link to the transcript of the complete Q&A tomorrow morning. And as always, it will be posted to the CUI and EIA websites.
Thanks again everyone!
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