CenturyLink (NYSE:CTL)

CenturyLink CenturyLink Inc. (NYSE:CTL) is an integrated communications company that offers a range of telecommunications services, including telephony, Internet access and broadband services. CenturyLink merged with Denver-based Qwest in April 2010. The transaction is effectively a acquisition from Qwest by CenturyLink by exchange of shares. Century shareholders will hold 50.5% of the new group and Qwest shareholders 49.5%. The transaction is expected to be finalized during the first half of 2011.

CenturyLink is a bit of an intruder in our portfolio. In fact, it is the only company that, to my knowledge, does not operate outside the US borders. Our strategy requires us to focus on companies of international scope that could benefit from a decline in the dollar or on others whose appreciation potential is significant enough to cover a decline in the greenback. CenturyLink is part of this second category.

CenturyLink currently offers a dividend of over $6%, significantly higher than its long-term average of $4,93%. The company has managed to increase it by 123% per year in the medium term, which is remarkable, but it has also continued to grow for 37 years.

Of course, it will be difficult to maintain such significant dividend growth in the future. payout is Already of 91.89%, which leaves no margin for CenturyLink in the event of a difficult passage. The volatility is 16.25%, slightly higher than that of our portfolio. Note that this is notably due to the recent surge in the price of the action, which gained 40% in six months (reference currency USD). We acquired CTL in April 2010, before the merger was announced, because the stock presented a very strong buy signal that could counteract a decline in the greenback. To date, we have made a gain in CHF of 18.60% on CTL.

Although our long-term Buy & Hold approach tends to encourage us to buy stocks that are overlooked by the market, our model still considers CTL to be a buying opportunity today.