Investors might profit by searching for equities that are trading at a cheaper price and pay a high dividend. When stocks fall as they have recently, their annual dividends typically rise while their dividends stay about the same, the value of their stock is lower. This gives investors an excellent opportunity to start investing in stocks that provide passive income, and they may also earn money through price appreciation.

Investing in the following three companies below may help you turn $12,000 into over $16,000 in less than a year’s time.

1. AT&T

AT&T is the world’s largest provider of mobile service, with over 173 million subscribers as of March 31, 2019 (T 1.84%). It has had a good year, with shares up about 4% in 2022. With the S&P 500 down approximately 21.5% this year, AT&T is significantly outperforming expectations.

It’s not unusual to see investment migrate to the telecommunications business as inflation rises, since communication via mobile phones and gadgets is essential to our society and will continue to be for some time. In fact, as the world becomes more distant and digital, businesses like AT&T will become even more vital, not that it isn’t already competitive.

AT&T has taken a different approach in recent years, focusing on its core telecommunications business while divesting non-core assets. In order to focus more closely on its main telecom sector, including 5G and fiberoptic broadband, AT&T recently spun off Warner Bros. Discovery. The dividend was reduced by about half as part of its spin-off, from $2.11 to $1.08. Investors were dissatisfied, but at AT&T’s current share price, the annual yield is still around 5%.

2. Life Storage

Life Storage (LSI 2.86%) as a REIT is required to pay out 90% of its taxable income in annual dividends to keep its tax benefits, which are unique in the industry. This is why you’ll often find strong dividend payers among REITs. Life Storage has over 1,100 self-storage facilities in 36 states throughout the United States.

Self-storage is a popular industry these days, and it’s considered recession-proof due to how big e-commerce has become for our economy, which depends on storage space. The company has also done a great job of increasing its adjusted funds from its operations per share over time, with a almost 10% compound yearly growth rate from 2010 to 2021.

Although stock prices have plummeted roughly 27.5% so far in 2022, Life Storage’s share price has increased more than 108% in the last five years. The firm continues to provide a high annual dividend yield of about 3.4%.

3. Citizens Financial Group

In 2014, the huge regional bank Citizens Financial Group (CFG 5.35 percent) was created out of the Royal Bank of Scotland, which is now called NatWest Group. Management has worked hard to improve the bank’s fundamental operations and is now beginning to see results.

Citizens has grown its deposit base considerably while also creating a stronger, more diversified business from a revenue point of view, including a significant commercial lending operation, home loans, wealth management services, and investment banking capabilities.

Citizens has also launched a national consumer digital bank that includes a variety of consumer debt solutions. The 4.3% annual dividend yield is still very respectable.

If you are trying to find some decent stocks to invest in, a good strategy is to try and follow the “smart” money, which means finding the stocks that expert institutional investors like asset managers and hedge funds are investing a lot of money in. And an even better strategy is invest in the same stocks that the institutional investors are investing in.

With markets experiencing high volatility, it’s also a great idea to look at the large, well-established firms in the Dow that have the large size and capacity to get through recessions and hard market conditions. Here are two Dow stocks that billionaires are investing in.

1. Warren Buffett has invested in Chevron

Warren Buffett and his firm Berkshire Hathaway has made a large bet on the big U.S. oil producer Chevron, increasing their stake from around 38 million shares up to 159 million shares in Q1.

Berkshire’s investment in Chevron is now worth over $23.7 billion. The firm makes up 7.7% of Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio, and is tied for the portfolio’s third-biggest holding. Chevron’s stock is one of the few leaders out there in 2022, up over 24% so far this year. Russian oil embargoes and bans due to the country’s ongoing war with Ukraine have increased the price of oil and made the domestic oil producers a lot more valuable.

After reaching all-time highs, Chevron’s stock has dropped a bit and no one knows exactly where oil prices might go in the future. But the firm is a strong dividend stock and has raised its long-term projections earlier in the year for its operating cash flow and capital returns.

2. George Soros has made investments in Salesforce

In Q1 if 2022, regulatory filings reveal that George Soros, who heads Soros Fund Management, purchased 106,250 additional shares of Salesforce, raising the fund’s stake in the cloud firm by close to 70%.

And it seems like Soros has made a timely investment. Following Salesforce’s newest earnings report, shares have rebounded after what has still been a hard year for the firm. For Q1 of fiscal year 2023, Salesforce has delivered revenue and earnings that have beat analyst predictions and raised guidance. Investors were very pleased because they had been worried about the demand heading into the quarter because of everything that was going on in the economy.

The company still has a lot of untapped potential. Salesforce’s market opportunity has continued to grow as firms digitize their operations and continue to move to the cloud. The firm said that its serviceable market will increase to $13 billion this year and then continue to grow to $33.5 billion by 2029.

It hasn’t been a great year for Netflix investors. In Q1, the streaming pioneer has reported its first subscriber loss in ten years, sending its stock plummeting, losing over a third of its value in a single night, resulting in a loss of 75% since its record high reached in late 2021.

In the wake of this surprising member decline, the management team has announced a change to the business model it currently uses. In addition to its subscription services, it now plans to provide an ad-supported level, something the firm has long resisted putting in place. The recent decision to provide a lower-priced tier that includes some advertising could mark a significant turning point for Netflix and some estimates suggest that its revenue might surge, fueling a rebound for its falling stock price.

It all “ads” up

Much like the offerings from Walt Disney’s Warner Bros and Hulu. Discovery’s HBO Max and Netflix plan to provide a lower-priced tier to its customers that will use occasional advertising to defray the normal subscription cost. The firm has yet to decide on any specifics, such as the amount of hourly ads and the cost of its ad-based video on demand (AVOD) services, which will ultimately have an impact on its subscriber base and revenue growth. Investors could, however, use the estimates to get close.

HBO Max is offering a plan that starts at $9.99 per month, which will also include about four mins of advertising each hour. If Netflix were to do the same, the company could boost its U.S. subscriber numbers from its current levels — estimated at around 66 million active users– to 76 million users, according to estimates given by The Information.

The goal is obviously to boost its revenue and subscriber count, so the actual combination of subscription cost and advertising will most likely differ — but it is easy to see how Netflix cam benefit by providing an ad-supported level.

Rumor has it

While Netflix has been silent as to the exact nature of its future plans, the rumor mill has filled in the blanks. Roku stock has recently surged on rumors of a potential acquisition by Netflix, as the firm would directly benefit from Roku’s advertising experience, but the meetings might have been to talk about marketing services. The firm has also reportedly had meetings with Comcast, Alphabet’s Google, and its subsidiary NBCUniversal to talk about  potential advertising partnerships.

Netflix has closed out 2021 in a fine fashion, generating revenue of almost $30 billion, up an impressive 19% YOY. In fact, since the beginning of the Covid pandemic, revenue increased 47%, fueled by the 55 million new active subscribers. However, as the pandemic subsided, Netflix’s long history of growth promptly reversed its course, resulting in the loss of almost 200,000 accounts in Q1 — and the company is predicting it will lose another 2 million in the second quarter.

Now would be an excellent time for Netflix to engineer a turnaround and the creation of a lower-priced tier may be just the catalyst Netflix needs.

With the S&P 500 index officially having entered a bear market after losing 20% year to date, it’s more essential than ever to make sure your investments allow you to sleep well.

Investors may benefit from dividend-growing companies with a consistent track record by adding significant reliability to their portfolios.

Verizon Communications (VZ 0.56%) and Target (TGT -2.54%) are two safe-havens. Here is why each stock could provide safety to any portfolio.

A “staple” with a five percent yield

Verizon is a market leader in the broadband and wireless industries, as well as device sales. Verizon is a major player in the industry, pioneering the 5G networking movement. In recent years, the firm has struggled to expand, but it makes up for it with dividend yield and profitability.

In the last three years, revenues have been between $128 billion and $134 billion each year, with operating margins in the range of 22 to 24 percent. Which has allowed the firm to generate more cash flow, allowing it to keep the dividend. The most recent stock decline has pushed the dividend yield well over 5 percent.

Investors may enjoy the stock price decline because they can obtain almost the highest yield paid by Verizon in recent years. This might be a fantastic chance to lock in gains. There is really no telling where the market will go in the near term, and Verizon’s share cost might fall further, but investors can sleep well knowing they are receiving a high return on an excellent firm.

Short-term problems should not distract from long-term strengths

Target has made headlines lately for all the wrong reasons. In May, when the firm published first-quarter 2022 results, one of the headlines stated that it had underestimated its inventory, causing it to have an overabundance of big items such as outdoor furniture, kitchen appliances, and televisions. Since then, shares have fallen almost 14%.

The inventory concerns are worth keeping an eye on since they may have a major impact on the financial performance. However, looking past this short-term problem, there is still much to admire about Target’s business and long-term potential.

Target has been very generous to shareholders in recent years. In Q1, the firm repurchased $10 million of stock, and over the previous five years, it decreased its shares outstanding by over 15%. The dividend yield is now 2.58%, significantly outpacing the S&P 500’s yield of 1.37 percent.

Amazon (AMZN 0.25%) completed a 20-to-1 stock split on June 6, bringing the share price to around $100 at the time of this writing. While this modification does not decrease Amazon’s trillion dollar market capitalization, it does make the company more accessible to investors who might not have thousands to invest in the stock market.

Let’s go over the advantages and drawbacks of investing in this stock now.

First-quarter earnings weren’t as bad as they seem

Amazon is a global online marketplace that has evolved into a one-stop shop for electronics, groceries, and other items through its brick-and-mortar affiliate Whole Foods. Amazon has been under pressure from inflation, which drives up the cost of doing business while potentially reducing consumer purchasing power. Lower than-expected first-quarter results have prompted many investors to question whether it’s time to jump ship.

Amazon recorded a net loss of $3.8 billion in the first quarter, down from a profit of $8.1 billion in the same period last year. While this appears to be a severe decline, it isn’t as bad as it appears at first glance.

Amazon’s bottom line is partially driven by a pre-tax loss of $7.6 billion from its investment in electric automobile company Rivian Automotive, which has dropped 66% from its IPO price of $78 per share. Investors should be aware that Amazon acquired Rivian before its IPO for $11.8 billion in noncash gain in the fourth quarter of 2021. So while the deficit appears worrisome, it has nothing to do with Amazon’s main operations.

Pivoting to new growth drivers

Amazon’s North American e-commerce business grew revenue by 8% to $69.2 billion in the first quarter of 2018, according to market research firm eMarketer. However, due to inflation and supply chain difficulties, the flagship company posted a $1.57 billion operating loss. It’s impossible to say when these headwinds will end, but Amazon’s huge size and diversified model should help it recover in the long run.

Amazon has become a major player in the cloud computing market with the help of its AWS subsidiary. Revenue in this sector grew 37% year over year to $18.4 billion, and operating income increased 57% to $6.5 billion.

Amazon’s secret weapon isn’t merely cloud computing. Amazon has surpassed Google and Meta Platforms’ Facebook to become the third-largest digital advertising business, according to Business Insider. The advertising industry expanded by 23% in the first quarter, bringing the total to $7.9 billion. And Amazon’s massive user base of over 300 million shopping-motivated active users should enable it to continue its rapid expansion.

Amazon is also expanding into direct-to-consumer streaming with its $8.5 billion acquisition of the MGM film studio. While investors shouldn’t expect Amazon to become the next Netflix, MGM’s intellectual property might help boost Amazon Prime and enhance consumer satisfaction. In the first quarter, subscription revenues for Amazon reached $8.4 billion, up 11% from the year before.

The S&P 500 is in a bear market, with a noteworthy decline of more than 20%. Such declines might be frightening, but they do offer long-term investors with some great opportunities to acquire shares at fractions of their former price. Since 1950, the S&P 500 has gone through 11 bear markets on average, which have lasted around one year. While no one really knows how long any given bear market will last, so far they’ve all come to an end, and new bull markets have begun.

While the sell-off may continue, now is a good time to chomp on some beaten-down fintech companies. Here are two you can buy now at a discount.

1. LendingClub

LendingClub offers personal loans to customers who want to combine their high-interest credit card obligations and other debts into a single lower-rate loan. The firm was created in 2006 as a peer-to-peer lending platform, and it has 15 years of data that it puts into its AI algorithms to help it make better loan decisions.

LendingClub acquired Radius Bancorp in Feb. 2021, enabling the firm to start keeping loans on its books. Under this new approach, LendingClub does not need to rely solely on loaning money to generate revenue.

The company is already seeing results. In the first quarter, it earned $100 million in net interest income, up 440% from the same period last year and 20% from Q4. During its first-quarter investor conference call, management predicted that second-quarter revenue would rise by between 44% and 49%, as well as net income growth by between 327 percent and 380%.

LendingClub’s business transformation has resulted in significant growth during the last year. Investors, on the other hand, may be in a wait-and-see mode to determine if this development can continue; because the stock closed at a one-year forward price-to-earnings ratio of just under 8 on Tuesday.

2. Tradeweb Markets

Tradeweb Markets is a platform that allows big players on the market, like central banks and hedge funds, to exchange various assets.

Tradeweb was founded in 1996 and began offering services to help bring U.S. Treasury trades into the present age. Tradeweb’s platform has been gaining more clients over the years, and its market share of the United States’ Treasuries industry has risen from 7.5% to 19.6%. The company’s share of corporate  equities, credit markets, and money markets has grown significantly over the past few years, despite a decrease in total market volume growth since 2015 .

A higher level of volatility will benefit the firm because it promotes increased trading volume. This was true in Q1, when Tradeweb’s entire trading volume rose to a new high, with revenue increasing by 14% and net income by 22%.

Tradeweb is somewhat risk-averse to extreme volatility across assets. Tradweb is hesitant to accept levels of volatility that become so high that consumers may negotiate transactions directly with one another, bypassing its platform entirely. That said, if the economy worsened, customers might renegotiate Tradeweb’s fees, putting pressure on its profit margins.

Tradeweb’s stock has tumbled 31% thus far, but it appears to be another no-brainer given its increasing market share.