The Little River Investment Guide focuses on stocks that offer a combination of growth and income. Here, editor Nate Pile looks at two recent additions to the portfolio — a New York regional bank and a Dallas-based REIT.
Citizens & Northern Corp. (CZNC) is a small regional bank that is based in Pennsylvania and operates primarily in that state, though it also has a small presence in New York state as well.
The company has been around since 1864, and while it remains to be seen just how much growth (vs. income) it will end up providing for us as time goes by, it has shown up on various screens that I use a number of times over the past few months as a stock that might fit nicely into our model portfolio.
As a result, I am finally adding it this time around, primarily for its dividend, but also because I like the way things seem to shaping up for small regional banks.
The dividend works out to roughly 4.5% annually. Though we did just miss the most recent dividend, you are encouraged to follow my lead in starting a small position this month, with plans to buy another round of shares next month (and perhaps again the month after that) while we wait for the next dividend to roll around.
The second new recommendation is NexPoint Real Estate Finance, Inc. (NREF), a Dallas-based REIT focused primarily on making investments in the multi-family and single-family rental markets, as well as in the areas of self-storage, hospitality, and office segments of the real estate market.
To be sure, the outlook still remains a bit cloudy when it comes to Covid and how it may ultimately impact the domestic economy going forward, but, at the moment, the wind still seems to be at our backs when it comes to being invested in a well-run REIT.
The shares of this REIT have been performing well lately (along with the very attractive 8.4% that is currently being generated by the stock). The REIT is still quite small, and, thus, may have the potential to provide some additional upside if the company does find a way to thrive in the years ahead.
Having said all of that, please note that both of these new recommendations are fairly small companies that do not see a whole lot of trading volume in their stocks on some days, and, consequently, this means that they have the potential to be quite volatile. Please be patient about not chasing them.
