A special dividend?

I was very surprised this morning to learn that Constellation Software would distribute a special dividend of 20 USD per share in april plus the normal 1 USD dividend. If I put that money VS what I’ve paid for my first shares in 2012, it’s something like a 32% dividend on a single quarter. Holy fucking shit. I almost forget my bad moves like Valeant with that fucking home-run. 

I’m mostly surprised because Mark Leonard has said at least once that he wouldn’t hesitate to cut the dividend if an interesting acquisition was possible. So, I’ve always expected a cut instead of a raise. And even if I like dividends, I trust Leonard better than I trust myself to do valuable things with money. In that regard, the dividend is not that good. But, who can be unhappy with a 800$ surprise dividend?  The market seems to like that because the stock is up something like 14% today.

I realize that many stocks with a historical and steady forward PE around 20-25 are usually the best things to look. You may find some big fucking bias in that statement, but I actually have at least 15 names in mind of great stocks with that steady valuation over long periods of time. 

So, thank you for the money Mark Leonard. I’ll go visit the Machu Picchu with that fucking pile of cash.