There are many wonderful examples of companies whose business has made consumers lives easier. An example is Garmin which specializes in GPS for all kinds of uses. For many generations, many people had only a little sense of direction on their journeys for they did not either read or bring a map. In retrospect that may be part of the more interesting journeys. Then Garmin invented the GPS for your car and a host of other uses. The car use was the biggest category for the company and had the highest profit margins. The company expanded to many other uses and now you can even buy a watch with a GPS. All was good, exciting, profitable and then came the smart phone. . As more and more people have smartphones or they become the standard (cell phone companies make more money from the data then people talking on the phone) the app is downloaded and used. Are revenues the same as before, not surprisingly they are less. Does Garmin still do lots of things with GPS, yes, but changes abound for it and companies like it.

Linking to dividend producing companies, we all get use to receiving services one way, until there is a change and then wonder how we did it before? When there is a change to make life better or easier for consumers, there tends to be an affect on a company or group of companies. Those companies have to adjust, to concentrate on higher margin products or increase the volume on lower margin business to sustain itself. If the company is attuned to the consumer, then the stock has a legitimate opportunity to rebound and continue to be a holding. However if you are changing, then others are also changing, and sometimes it may be better to watch from the sidelines from seemingly more stable companies.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.