TMF: BA Systems & Go Ahead Group

[idpickering]

I’d sell this FTSE 100 dividend star to buy this 6% yielder instead

The FTSE 100 is full of top dividend stocks, but some of these companies are better dividend buys than others.

Indeed, finding a top dividend stock requires more than just buying the share with the highest dividend yield. You have to be sure that the payout is sustainable, the last thing you want is to be on the receiving end of a dividend cut, which could wipe out years of income gains with capital losses in just a few seconds.

This is why I’m cautious of BAE Systems (LSE: BA) as an income investment.

http://www.fool.co.uk/investing/2017/11 ... r-instead/

I hold BAE Systems in my HYP, but I'm certainly not in a rush to sell my holdings to buy Go Ahead Group. Anyone tempted?

Ian.

[jackdaww]

i dont like either ..

[idpickering]

i dont like either ..

Hi jackdaw, you're a rare breed if you don't have BAE Systems on board your HYP . Each to their own I guess. I've had them on board since 15 Oct 2009, having bought at 323.95p ps. OK, they're not yielding as much as in the past, even now digitallook has them on a forward yield of 4%. Also, as a nice aside currently, they're up 2.3% in sp terms.

Ian.

[jackdaww]

i dont like either ..

Hi jackdaw, you're a rare breed if you don't have BAE Systems on board your HYP . Each to their own I guess. I've had them on board since 15 Oct 2009, having bought at 323.95p ps. OK, they're not yielding as much as in the past, even now digitallook has them on a forward yield of 4%. Also, as a nice aside currently, they're up 2.3% in sp terms.

Ian.

================================

thanks , yes ive always felt different......

i think its the pensions deficit , plus cloak and dagger arms dealings with middle east KINGDOMS that put me off.

[idpickering]

i dont like either ..

Hi jackdaw, you're a rare breed if you don't have BAE Systems on board your HYP . Each to their own I guess. I've had them on board since 15 Oct 2009, having bought at 323.95p ps. OK, they're not yielding as much as in the past, even now digitallook has them on a forward yield of 4%. Also, as a nice aside currently, they're up 2.3% in sp terms.

Ian.

================================

thanks , yes ive always felt different......

i think its the pensions deficit , plus cloak and dagger arms dealings with middle east KINGDOMS that put me off.

Fair enough jackdaw.

Regards,

Ian.

[Arborbridge]

i dont like either ..

Hi jackdaw, you're a rare breed if you don't have BAE Systems on board your HYP .

Ian.

A rare breed of at least two, then, for I have never had BAE Systems either. Buying booze or fags is OK by my - people only have themselves to blame if they over-indulge in those products - but the consumers of BAE products don't have much choice when they get incinerated. I'd rather avoid them - as I did Provident Financial, with its rather dodgy ethics.
I know the whole "ethics" debate is open to all sorts of arguments*, but I just decided to draw the line there.

* like: one could argue the whole of capitalist society is founded on unethical principles, so why draw lines in the sand

Arb.

[idpickering]

i dont like either ..

Hi jackdaw, you're a rare breed if you don't have BAE Systems on board your HYP .

Ian.

A rare breed of at least two, then, for I have never had BAE Systems either. Buying booze or fags is OK by my - people only have themselves to blame if they over-indulge in those products - but the consumers of BAE products don't have much choice when they get incinerated. I'd rather avoid them - as I did Provident Financial, with its rather dodgy ethics.
I know the whole "ethics" debate is open to all sorts of arguments*, but I just decided to draw the line there.

* like: one could argue the whole of capitalist society is founded on unethical principles, so why draw lines in the sand

Arb.

Hi Arb, thanks for your post, and for sharing your opinion, which I totally respect. Each to their own. BAE Systems currently counts as being 3.8% in capital value terms of my 29 share HYP.

Regards,

Ian.

[Gengulphus]

Hi jackdaw, you're a rare breed if you don't have BAE Systems on board your HYP .

A rare breed of at least two, then, for I have never had BAE Systems either. ...

With the very minor exception of my holding in GDHYP, neither have I. Partly for ethical reasons, which differ from yours but I won't go into them here (*); partly for government-interference reasons - specifically, the UK is (or at least appears to be) taking a considerably more robust attitude towards bribery than the governments of some of BAE Systems's competitors, which raises the concern of whether BAE Systems is being put at a competitive disadvantage by the difference (note that although bribery is an ethical issue, this government-interference issue is not: even an investor who had no objection whatsoever to bribery itself could be concerned about such a competitive disadvantage.

I don't find either my ethical reasons or that government-interference reason compelling - they just make me more reluctant to buy BAE Systems than many other companies. But together, that adds up to quite a bit more reluctant, and so far, that has been enough to tip the balance in favour of other companies every time I've considered BAE Systems. No guarantees that that will continue to be the case, so I might eventually end up buying it - but on current form I'm not holding my breath while I wait for that "eventually" to arrive!

(*) Though I will willingly discuss ethical reasons with you (or anyone else) if the discussion can be held on a board where it's on-topic and so isn't liable to be brought to an abrupt halt by moderation. On TMF, there was an Ethical Investing board that would have ideal; here, I think from a quick scan through the board list that the closest fit is probably the Other Investing board - though if the discussion became heated, which is a danger with discussions about ethics, the Polite Discussions board might be deemed more appropriate! So if anyone is interested, I'd suggest that they either start up a discussion on Other Investing and let us know here, or simply say that they're interested and I'll start one up similarly.

Gengulphus