HP (formerly Hewlett-Packard) is a behemoth in the PC and printing markets. It has focused on these markets since it exited IT infrastructure in 2015 with the split from Hewlett Packard Enterprise. HP focuses on the commercial market, but maintains sales of consumer devices and printers. The firm has a broad and global customer base, with only one third of sales coming from the US. HP completely outsources manufacturing and relies heavily on channel partners for its sales and marketing.

HP (formerly Hewlett-Packard) is a behemoth in the PC and printing markets. It has focused on these markets since it exited IT infrastructure in 2015 with the split from Hewlett Packard Enterprise. HP focuses on the commercial market, but maintains sales of consumer devices and printers. The firm has a broad and global customer base, with only one third of sales coming from the US. HP completely outsources manufacturing and relies heavily on channel partners for its sales and marketing.

HP (formerly Hewlett-Packard) is a behemoth in the PC and printing markets. It has focused on these markets since it exited IT infrastructure in 2015 with the split from Hewlett Packard Enterprise. HP focuses on the commercial market, but maintains sales of consumer devices and printers. The firm has a broad and global customer base, with only one third of sales coming from the US. HP completely outsources manufacturing and relies heavily on channel partners for its sales and marketing.

Value stocks -- a market segment that includes high-yield stocks -- outperformed growth stocks in 2022 and have taken an early lead in 2025. That's a recent rarity, as for the past decade-plus, the performance record has favored growth. Since 2015, the Russell 1000 Growth Index has climbed more than 400%, compared to an advance of almost 200% for the Russell 1000 Value Index. In 11 of the past 14 years, growth stocks have topped value stocks. Growth has not always been the leader. In the 2000-2010 decade, including the Great Recession, value stocks were better performers than growth stocks, advancing an admittedly low 8% -- but still better than growth, which declined 15% during the decade. Value investors have a long and illustrious history, of course, tracing their roots to the famous "Security Analysis" textbook written by Ben Graham, an economics professor at Columbia University. Warren Buffett was one of his students. "Security Analysis" was published in 1934, the same year that Argus Research was founded. Why has the recent performance favored growth? For one thing, the make-up of the economy has changed. Decades ago, when the U.S. economy was manufacturing-based, tangible capital (factories, locomotives, steel mills, etc.) offered a key signal of value. But in a service-based economy, intangible assets (software code, brands, even supply chains and distribution channels) are much more important. Another factor, in our view, has been the level of interest rates. Analysts put a value on stocks using discounted cash flow models. These models estimate future cash flows for companies and discount them back to the present at the company's cost of capital in order to estimate current net asset value. If interest rates are low, discount rates will be low, and the future profits will be worth more, favoring growth stocks. The tide turned in 2022 as the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines gave a lift to some of the cyclical companies (energy and regional banks) that had lagged, and value stocks outpaced growth stocks that year. While growth stocks retook the lead in 2023, the Federal Reserve is keeping interest rates high to fend off inflation. This could cap multiple expansion for growth companies in coming quarters. In any event, the value sector is the place to achieve income. The current yield on the iShares Russell 1000 Value Index ETF is 1.9%, compared to the 0.5% current yield on the iShares Russell 1000 Growth Index ETF. For our recently updated High-Yield Theme Model Portfolio, we looked for new holdings that feature yields of at least 3.0%. The following stocks are new holdings in the portfolio.