Be skeptical of paid advertisements
I was reminded of a key limitation to all information obtained from a reputable news source; there is very little analysis or filtering for accurate recommendations. Within the past week, having been snowed in by an uncharacteristic snow storm for our region, I was inclined to review Yahoo finance’s stock pick recommendations. More importantly, I was interested in high cash dividend yield paying stocks.
Part of the reason for this was pure curiosity, and the other half was necessity. 2025 saw interest rates on savings and certificates of deposit drop significantly with the federal reserve’s return to quantitative easing. For investors such as myself, the fed’s manipulation of the money supply supports speculation and irresponsible parties only interested in stock price manipulation; both which are not sustainable without treasury and fed intervention. Where CD rates were hovering around the low to mid five percent ranges at the end of 2023 and through most of 2024, they saw steep declines in 2025.
This is not surprising as the current administration is following the practice of only gauging their economic policies on the whims of Wall Street and speculative stocks, not the average American household. Nevertheless, this brings me to the main topic of this post; accuracy of investing decisions.
I am still a huge proponent of measured investments; mostly high yield CDs, and high yield cash dividend paying stocks which do not have large fluctuations or swings in price. The article in question was visited on February 4th, and included recommendations for two stocks; Rithm Capital Corp, and Global Net Lease Inc. The article went on indicating above market dividend yields and historic financial performance to support those claims.
Naturally, my interest was piqued and therefore I went into research mode using the charts and data on this website to dissect both companies. What I uncovered following some basic statement searches and analysis is that these companies resemble a lot of what I witnessed in WeWorks back when it was a meme stock, and prior to its failed initial public offering. Their debt to equity ratios, and operating margins are unhealthy and indicate speculative stock pricing.
In contrast, after reviewing the top 100 dividend paying companies list, I settled on a couple reasonably priced firms which actually have viable business models and historic earnings and cash dividend yields; Energizer Holdings Inc. and Ethan Allen Interiors Inc. Both companies appear to have reasonably sound product lines which consumers require (batteries and home furnishings), and they also practice a balanced approach to shares outstanding, removing the possibility for stock manipulations through buyback programs, splits and other tactics to dilute and then pump and dump.
Ultimately, any investment and or cash flow strategy should not only be about reasonable and sustainable earnings, it should also center on capital preservation. In today’s information overload and AI hallucinations and/or speculation, a slow and steady strategy wins out in my opinion. I can safely assert that my family has never lost money in the stock market. We continue to earn more interest in CDs and high yield cash dividend stocks than we pay to our home mortgage. That spread continues to widen, and in my book, that is winning.
Written by:
1. Ron Stephenson
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