In today’s daily we provide you with 3 High Dividend Stocks to Buy along with Dividend History for ANZ, Westpac, CBA, NAB, BHP and RIO. Also we have covered stock research on Metcash.

S&P 500 was up by 8.58 points or 0.46% to 1857.62 on Friday. U.S. stocks ended up on Friday but off their session highs as a late afternoon selloff in the biotechnology sector weighed on the overall market. The recent selloff in biotech and other recent big gainers could persist. Investors have been putting money into utilities and other sectors.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov met in a bid to resolve the crisis in Ukraine. Gold fell to six-week lows of just above $1,285 an ounce, marking the second weekly decline as optimism on the U.S. economy lifted the dollar and bolstered risk appetite. The Commerce Department said on Friday that consumer spending rose 0.3 percent last month after gaining 0.2 percent in January. 


S&P 500 Daily Chart   (Source – Thomson Reuters)
 
S&P ASX 200 was up 16.8 points or 0.31% and closed at 5366.90 points on Friday. Rio Tinto has won a regulatory battle in the United States after staring down a major Utah power ­company, paving the way for its copper mine to obtain cheaper power. Business groups including theMinerals Council of Australia have rejected ­billionaire miner Gina Rinehart’s push for northern Australia to be declared a special economic zone.
Nine Entertainment Cochief executive David Gyngell has hosed down talk that the company could merge with Fairfax Media, as debate over the Abbott government’s media reforms intensifies.


S&P ASX 200 Daily Chart (Source – Thomson Reuters)


The top gainers on ASX 200 were:-
 

Code	Company	Price	Change	%Change
DLS	DRILLSEARCH ENERGY	$1.68	$0.10	6.33%
TPM	TPG TELECOM	$6.69	$0.37	5.85%
NVT	NAVITAS	$7.33	$0.40	5.77%
KMD	KATHMANDU HOLDINGS	$3.55	$0.18	5.34%
AWC	ALUMINA	$1.20	$0.06	5.26%

 
3 High Dividends Stock to Buy – Click Here


Stock of the Day – Metcash (MTS)
Metcash Limited is a wholesale distribution and marketing company specializing in grocery, fresh produce liquor, hardware and other fast moving consumer goods. Metcash has five business units: IGA Distribution, IGA Fresh, Campbells Wholesale, Australian Liquor Marketers and Mitre 10. Centralized wholesale distribution enables retailers to access the combined scale of a large number of retailers to negotiate sizeable volume discounts.

Metcash has downgraded its outlook for fiscal 2014 from a decline in underlying earnings per share or EPS of 10% to a range of 13% to 15%. The downgrade is attributable to the food division. Price deflation was not offset by volume growth causing operating costs, as percentage of sales, to rise and dilute returns. We view this as an ongoing problem as both majors Woolworths and Coles reinvest capital into lowering product prices to drive volume growth away from independent retailers. Metcash aims to invest up to AUD 675 million during the next five years to refurbish and reinvigorate its store network, improve supply chain efficiency and move to price matching for all products against Woolworths and Coles.


Source - Metcash
 
The capital expenditure program will be done in conjunction with IGA retailers whereby each contributes an equal share of capital to store refurbishment. Metcash will lower its dividend payout ratio from 80% to 60% to finance the increase in capital expenditure. We expect broth Woolworths and Coles will continue to take share from the independent channel as they increasingly invest in lower prices to further cement their value proposition.


Metcash Daily Chart  (Source - Thomson Reuters)

The metcash transformational program will focus on driving sales across the independent retail portfolio. There is considerable hindrance in rolling out a new strategy when your retail store base is also your customer. Metcash as the wholesaler needs to get retailers on board and help them invest in initiatives and suggest ways to improve store layouts. Many of these retailers have been struggling as consumers have become increasing cost conscious and we expect they will have difficulty accessing the required capital to invest. We believe the stock is currently overvalued and would review it again at a later date.
 

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