Bank of America released a list of stocks you should buy. They have dividends. They have free cash flow. They did not specify whether these stocks go up or down after you buy them.
The firm rates these names a buy, which means someone at the firm clicked a button that says buy instead of sell. Revolutionary stuff. They identified quality stocks, a term that has no legal definition and cannot be measured but sounds good in a headline that needs seven words before the comma.
Free cash flow is money a company has left over after expenses. Dividends are when they give you some of that money instead of buying back stock or acquiring a competitor nobody wanted. Bank of America wants you to own both qualities at the same time, like finding a used car with working brakes and a full tank of gas.
Attractive dividend yields appear nowhere in the actual analysis. The word attractive does not mean high. It does not mean safe. It means the analyst needed an adjective and could not use good twice in the same sentence.
Retail traders will read this and buy three shares of something they cannot pronounce. They will check the price sixteen times before lunch. They will sell when it drops four percent and blame Jerome Powell, who has never heard of them and never will.
Bank of America rates things for a living. They get paid whether you make money or lose it. The stocks are quality until they are not. The dividends are attractive until they get cut. The free cash flow is plenty until the company spends it on something stupid.
None of this matters because the chart already told you everything six weeks ago, but Bank of America does not have a chart division because lines do not generate advisory fees.
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