Dividend stocks aren't usually the champions of the stock market, but they certainly have more room to grow.

It’s easy to see how extra cash will help credit card companies. And overall, this is a very good move.

Income investing has a place in every investment portfolio, and can be used as a strategy for diversification.

Just as importantly, these investments can provide a healthy source of income in periods when the stock market is moving sideways. And contrary to popular belief, investors can reap big profits in income generating investments - including fixed income securities such as bonds.

Given the current market volatility, "safer" income-generating investments are increasingly considered by smart investors.

Today I'm cooped up in an Alexandria, Virginia hotel room while my wife attends a National Association of Drug Court Professionals conference.

If you're not familiar with drug courts, and how they can save our criminal justice system huge amounts of money every year, you should read this brief article in the Economist about how drug courts keep drug addicted Veterans out of prison - by keeping them clean and sober.

I won't ruin the ending, but basically these courts seek to help people beat their addictions instead of throwing them in jail where they're not likely to get much of any treatment - and their rate of drug abuse is likely to increase. A novel approach...

The ADP Payroll report is out – and it is bad. As in, not at all good. Not even a little. According to payroll processing firm ADP, payrolls in the U.S. rose by 38,000. Expectations were a bit rosier, at 170,000. Some sources were even looking for 190,000.

 

This sure doesn’t bode well for Friday’s Non-Farm payroll number. 180,000 jobs are expected for May. We’ll see if the government statisticians can pull a rabbit out of Uncle Sam’s hat. It would seem unlikely.

In a recent survey by the National Association of Business Economics, 70% of economists said they believe the U.S. economy will grow by more than 2%. Just three months ago, only 61% of surveyed economists had such bullish expectations.   

 

And it gets better. 24% of surveyed economists believe 3% growth is coming, up from just 14% January.   

 

The details of the survey also show that employment is improving in the hardest-hit sectors: real estate, finance and manufacturing. And salaries are also on the rise.   

Bespoke Investment Group is reporting that 10% of U.S. corporations are raising earnings expectations, compared to 4.1% that are lowering them. That's the largest gap on record, and suggests that analysts still have earnings projections that are too low.

It's hard to blame the analysts for being cautious. While the economy has improved, uncertainty about unemployment is an issue. It's easy to imagine that consumer demand could drop. Still, let's not ignore what corporations are saying. After all, they are the ones in direct communication with their customers. I can't help but be a little optimistic that there is more upside for the stock market.

Don't ignore the consolidation news from the commercial real estate sector this morning. Mall owner Simon Properties (NYSE: SPG) is offering $10 billion for its rival, General Growth Properties (NYSE: GGP).

Several investors and economists believe commercial real estate will be the next shoe to drop. And within that sector, shopping malls are probably the most beaten down group. That Simon Properties is considering a buyout means that it sees opportunity. And it is moves like these that often mark a bottom for an industry or sector.

I've recommended a commercial real estate stock that may have some terrific upside. Maguire Properties (NYSE: MPG) is back to its support level at $1.50. If you didn't catch it there last time, you might want to give it a look.

Mention “real estate” around stock traders, and many are likely to cringe. But there are some bright spots amid the rubble of the subprime lending fiasco and the burst housing bubble, and CoStar Group (Nasdaq:CSGP) could be one of them.

The Bethesda, Md.-based company celebrated last year its 20th anniversary of providing data to the commercial real-estate sector, which undeniably has been hurt by a wounded U.S. economy. By some measures, though, commercial has fared better than residential.

While CoStar Group is not on the front lines searching for a buyer, it is an enabler, dishing up data to connect buyers and sellers.

Analysts who follow CoStar have a generally favorable outlook, despite the sluggish real estate demand. In a recent tally by Thomson Reuters, of the six analysts surveyed, two rated CoStar a “strong buy,” one had it at “buy,” with the other three at “hold.” The Thomson median price target is $56.

However on Tuesday, Needham & Co.’s Jonathan Maietta cut CoStar to “buy” from “strong buy” based on current valuation, but kept his price target at $65.

Since the start of the year, CoStar Group’s share price has meandered closer to its 52-week high of $62.88, set last Oct. 11, while distancing itself from the 52-week low of $35.94 hit on Feb. 7. CoStar Group closed Friday at $53.86.

In its 2007 annual report, CoStar Group calls itself “the leading provider of information services to the commercial real estate industry in the United States and United Kingdom,” backing up that assertion by stating that it offers “the most comprehensive commercial real estate database available, [and has] the largest research . . .

You wouldn’t guess it from looking at the country’s average of over 8% in annual GDP growth in the past few years, but economic conditions in Argentina are about as gripping and imbalanced as a glass of over-oaked Malbec wine.      

Rising inflation, high export taxes, and a lack of (or perhaps wariness toward) credit and controversial government fiscal policies have taken a bit of the shine off the relatively wealthy South American country’s recent rebound from its 2001 to 2002 economic implosion.

Amazingly, however, these factors have done nothing to slow the boom in building houses, condos, shopping malls, hotels and office buildings that the crisis set in motion. In fact, the real estate sector grew by an estimated 8.3% in 2007, and the best part of it is that it’s all being driven by private investment from individuals with soaring incomes rather than through mortgage lending (unlike certain other recent housing bubbles). 

One company that has diversified broadly in this capital-driven building bonanza is the profitable emerging markets fund darling Buenos Aires-based IRSA Investments and Representations (NYSE:IRS) — a dual citizen of the U.S. and Argentine stock markets and parent of shopping mall and credit card operator Alto Palermo S.A. (Nasdaq:APSA).

The $825-million market cap company has a range of real estate businesses and subsidiaries that buy, sell, develop and renovate retail, commercial, office and residential properties in high-growth and upscale areas of the country. It boasts occupancy rates over 98% in its shopping center and office holdings and has building projects in affluent neighborhoods too numerous to detail here. Suffice it to say, business is booming.

On the top line, at least, IRSA’s results for the nine months ended March 31, 2008, do indeed reflect impressive demand. Revenues for the development and sales segment were up 338% to $55.8 million compared with the same period in 2007, while . . .

Currently living in both New York and London, having worked as a financial journalist around the globe, and speaking seven languages, Vivian Lewis is as "international" as one can get.

Lewis has spent decades searching worldwide for growth and income opportunities that often aren’t on the radar screens of most advisors. "I try to avoid broad-brush macro-economic investing in favor of a diversified portfolio of lesser-known small-cap stellar stocks," she says. "Keeping all your money on Wall Street in dollars is one of the biggest mistakes U.S. investors can make. By sticking with the dollar, you are holding an inflation-battered currency losing value against others."

Lewis' ongoing analysis can be found in her Global Investing newsletter (www.rightside.com), which has consistently been ranked among the top long-term performers by the Hulbert Financial Digest.

Lewis focuses on investments that U.S. investors can buy with ease — such as ADRs, closed-end funds and ETFs — without the added risks of investing on foreign exchanges.

"My mission is to get U.S. investors to expand their portfolios overseas," she says. (For those comfortable with the complexities of investing abroad, Lewis also publishes
GlobalInvestingPRO.)

Having just spent several weeks touring China, Lewis has uncovered several intriguing new ideas, including one small-cap stock in the homebuilding sector — Xinyuan Real Estate (NYSE:XIN), with a market cap of $568 million. (XIN, Lewis tells us, is pronounced like “chin.”)

"My latest Chinese stock pick is a smaller entrepreneurial offshore Chinese newcomer," Lewis says. Offshore China? Indeed, while the company is headquartered in . . .

American Campus Communities, Inc. (NYSE: ACC) shares are increasing moderately after the real estate investment trust announced it is buying the student housing business of GMH Communities Trust (NYSE: GCT) for about $1.4 billion. The deal includes outstanding debt of approximately $963 million.

American Campus’s board approved the agreement and the transaction is projected to close at the end of the second quarter. American Campus said in a statement that the deal includes the acquisition of 64 student housing properties as well as a minority interest in eight properties held in two existing joint ventures.

In morning trading, ACC shares are up 0.6%, or $0.16, at $26.61. Over the last 52 weeks, shares have ranged from $23.18 to $31.68.

Shares of Dolan Media Company (NYSE: DM) are jumping in pre-market trading after theStreet.com's Jim Cramer said late Monday that the provider of business information and professional services to the legal, financial and real estate sectors is “one of the most interesting plays around as it is a play directly on mortgage defaults.”

“What's good about Dolan Media is that it has not attracted much attention,” Cramer said.

Cramer said the Minneapolis, Minn.-based firm works in two segments, publishing business journals and acting as a mortgage default processor. Acting as a mortgage default processor is a part of Dolan Media’s professional services division, which helps law firms process residential mortgage defaults, according to Cramer. 

The company said on Sept. 6 that it will ratchet up its professional services division. Cramer said he believes that division will comprise a larger portion of Dolan Media’s business.

Shares of Dolan Media (DM) gained $1.75, or 7.23%, to $25.95 in pre-market trading.