I’ve been studying BHP Billiton non-stop the past week or two because the company seems to offer one of the better dividend opportunities in the market today. BHP Billiton has returned almost 13% since 1987 (I’m tracing the company back to its Australian, rather than British, origins when I calculate that because I cannot find data on the British side prior to the June 2001 merger of BHP and Billiton). What has caught my attention is this: The price of BHP Billiton has come down quite a lot, from the $70s to the $40s despite the fact that profits are expected to decline from only $13.8 billion to $13.5 billion. Despite all the negative attention about commodity prices, this is still expected to be the 4th or 5th most profitable year in the company’s history.
BHP has indicated that it will spin off BHP Billiton and not rebase … Read the rest of this article!