Recent Buy - 3M (MMM), Cardinal Health (CAH), and DOW Inc (DOW)

Well, it has been nearly 3 months since I last purchased shares of any stock.  With the recent political shenanigans surrounding trade and the Fed's anticipated actions the markets have seen some greater than usual volatility.  Today was no exception as such, seized the opportunity add to some existing position in addition to a purchase I made earlier this week which resulted in a new position to the portfolio.

----- 3M Corp -----

Company Profile: 3M Company develops, manufactures, and markets various products worldwide. It operates through four business segments: Safety & Industrial, Transportation & Electronics, Health Care, and Consumer. The Safety & Industrial segment offers personal safety products, adhesives and tapes, abrasives, closure and masking systems, electrical markets, automotive aftermarket, and roofing granules. The Transportation & Electronics provides electronics, such as display materials and systems, electronic materials solutions; automotive, aerospace, and commercial solutions; advanced materials; and transportation safety products. This segment serves transportation and electronic original equipment manufacturer customers. The Health Care segment offers medical solutions, oral care, separation and purification sciences, health information systems, drug delivery systems, and food safety products. The Consumer segment provides home improvement, home care, and consumer health care products, as well as stationery and office supplies. This segment is also involved in the retail auto care business. The company serves automotive, electronics and automotive electrification, appliance, paper and printing, packaging, food and beverage, construction, medical clinics and hospitals, pharmaceuticals, dental and orthodontic practitioners, health information systems, food manufacturing and testing, consumer and office retail, office business to business, home improvement, drug and pharmacy retail, and other markets. 3M Company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Purchased: 10 shares x $161.00 = $1,610.00 (+$4.95 commission)

Dividend Income:  This purchase adds $57.60 of income annually ($5.76 annual dividend; paid quarterly in Mar, Jun, Sep, and Dec)

Forward P/E ratio: 16.92 vs. S&P Forward P/E @ 17.62

Debt to Capital < 50%: No, 58.17%

Interest Coverage ratio of at least 3:1: Yes, 16.48

S&P and/or Moody's credit rating of BBB+/Baa1 or better: Yes, AA-

Current dividend yield > 1.5x S&P yield: Yes, 3.58% vs. 1.83%

Payout Ratio < 60% (or < 85% for utilities): Yes, 59.47%

Dividend King or CCC classification:  Dividend King - 50+ years of dividend growth

Comments:  3M had been trading at a hefty premium for a while and but recently come down in price to much more reasonable levels.  Looking forward to building the position from here and can only hope that the valuation remains reasonable for the near future to entice me to do so.

----- Cardinal Health (CAH) -----

Purchased: 18 shares x $42.98 = $773.64 (+$4.95 commission)

Dividend Income:  This purchase adds $34.56 of income annually ($1.92 annual dividend; paid quarterly in Jan, Apr, Jul, and Oct)

Forward P/E ratio:  8.60 vs. S&P Forward P/E @ 17.62

Debt to Capital < 50%: No, 52.79%

Current dividend yield > 1.5x S&P yield: Yes, 4.46% vs. 1.83%

Payout Ratio < 60% (or < 85% for utilities): Yes, 42.40%

Dividend King or CCC classification:  Dividend Contender, 23+ years of dividend growth

Comments: Price/FCF remains incredibly attractive based on current valuations of the company.  Of course, it is no secret that CAH is involved in litigation concerning the drug addiction that has plagued many communities across the nation and until these cases are settled or go away, the company's valuation will likely remain suppressed. The great thing is that management has done a great job of executing buybacks at these insanely low valuations for the past several quarters.  I hope this continues to be the case so that shareholders will reap the compound returns that will surely follow such action.  I first initiated a position in CAH back in December of last year, which was can be seen here.

----- DOW Inc (DOW) -----

Purchased: 42 shares x $40.56 = $1,703.52 (+$4.95 commission)

Dividend Income:  This purchase adds $117.60 of income annually ($2.80 annual dividend; paid quarterly in Mar, Jun, Sep, and Dec)

Forward P/E ratio:  11.99 vs. S&P Forward P/E @ 17.62

Current dividend yield > 1.5x S&P yield: 6.90% vs. 1.83%

Comments: I initiated a position in this company back in May, in fact, this was the last purchase I made prior to this week.  In that post, which you can read here, I posted much more information regarding the metrics, company profile, and further commentary on why I initiated my position. This second purchase effectively doubled my position in DOW.  In the near term, consensus seems to be the earnings will decline before growing again in 2020/2021.  Such is the story with the industry and surely the tariff war is not helping valuation here.  However, my investment decisions are rarely ever driven by short term expectation, but rather than long term prospects of a business to remain a going concern and I am confident that DOW will perform well over the decades to come.