Bulls and Bears Battle on Berkshire Hathaway
Posted on May 20, 2008 - Filed Under Credit Cards, Investing, Stocks | 1 Comment
I was surprised to see two different opinions this week in Barrons on the stock market performance of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A). In separate articles, the bulls and bears both have their opinions of where the stock was going.
The bullish opinion was provided by T2 Partners Hedge Fund. T2 points out that the value of investments of Berkshire has climbled to $90,343 in 2007 from $52,507 in 2002.
In calculating future stock growth, T2 uses a formula to calculate intrinsic value. Intrinsic value is the investment value per share + 12 times earnings per share , excluding investment income.
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Financial Links
Posted on May 19, 2008 - Filed Under Investing | Leave a Comment
While surfing the web last week here are some of the financial sites that caught my attention:
- FlyerTalk is a great site for travelers and collectors of frequent-flier miles
- FatWallet is terrific site on credit cards.
- The Bank Deals blog, is a great resource for new high-rate account offerings.
- Consumerist is provides really good advice for anyone who feels as if they have gotten a bad deal from a particular retailer or service provider. A
- Bogleheads investment forum is a good place for information on index-fund investing
- Wealth Junkies has solid advice on debt, credit, investing, and money
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Top-Performing Midcap Blend Funds
Posted on May 16, 2008 - Filed Under Mutual Funds | Leave a Comment
Midcap blend is that sweet spot in the market between growth and value stocks. A blend fund is a fund that buys enough growth and value stocks to being categorized as either one of those groups. Managers either jump back and forth across the divide as needed or tend to hold a steady array of each kind.
What got my attention is that the MidCap Blend Funds is the second best performing group for both year-to-date and the past five years, according to Morningstar Inc. For the past five years, Midcap Blend Funds returned an average annual 13.51% vs. 10.25% for the S&P 500.
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Stock Focus: W.W. Grainger (GWW)
Posted on May 15, 2008 - Filed Under Stocks | Leave a Comment
For those investors looking for a stock that provides a steady divided income, W.W. Grainger is a stock they should consider.
Grainger is a stock with a stable growth pattern, Over the last three-years and five-years its earnings have grown by 17% a year and its sales by 8%.
It is this sort of stable performance that has Grainger to raise its dividend for 37 consecutive years. Only 20 companies in the S&P 500 can match or surpass that claim. After raising the dividend in April, its yield now stands at 1.8%.
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Learning From Peter Lynch
Posted on May 14, 2008 - Filed Under Investing | Leave a Comment
Peter Lynch is the legendary former investment manager of Fidelity’s Magellan fund. In today’s volatile investment climate, the investment philosophy of legends like Peter Lynch and Warren Buffet are suddenly back in vogue.
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Stock Focus: Parker Hannifin (PH)
Posted on May 12, 2008 - Filed Under Stocks | Leave a Comment
The falling U.S. dollar has many investors looking for U.S. stocks with large international footprints. One such stock is Cleveland-based Parker Hannifin (PH).
Company Profile:
Parker Hannifin Corporation manufactures fluid power systems, electromechanical controls, and related components worldwide.
Background:
In 2001, international industrial sales made up about 21% of Parker Hannifin’s net sales. Today that number is 42% and some analysts think even that number is understated. North American industrial sales make up about 34% of net sales; aerospace, 15%; and climate and industrial controls, 9%.
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Stock Focus: Nabors (NBR)
Posted on May 8, 2008 - Filed Under Stocks | Leave a Comment
While the price of oil has skyrocketed over the last year, natural gas has not seen such a dramatic growth. That means that there are still opportunities for investors looking to get into energy stocks. One such stock is Nabors (NBR)
Nabors Industries, Ltd. is the largest U.S. land drilling contractor. It conducts oil, gas, and geothermal land drilling operations in the United States, Alaska, Canada, South America, Mexico, the Caribbean, the Middle East, the Far East, Russia, and Africa. As of December 31, 2007, its fleet of rigs consisted of approximately 535 land drilling rigs, approximately 564 domestic and 173 international land workover and well-servicing rigs, 35 offshore platform rigs, 12 jack-up units, and 4 barge rigs, as well as various trucks and fluid hauling vehicles.
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Stock Focus: ConocoPhillips (COP)
Posted on May 7, 2008 - Filed Under Stocks | Leave a Comment
While the price of oil has skyrocketed over the last year, natural gas has not seen such a dramatic growth. That means that there are still opportunities for investors looking to get into energy stocks. One such stock is ConocoPhillips.
ConocoPhillips trades around $84 a share which is only about 7 or 8 times 2008 estimated earnings. Among the super-major energy companies, Conoco has the lowest P/E and is the best U.S. natural gas play due to its acquisition of Burlington Resources.
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Stock Focus: Petrobras (PBR) Update
Posted on May 6, 2008 - Filed Under Stocks | Leave a Comment
Back in January we wrote about Petrobras (PBR) which is Brazil’s largest oil company. The in oil prices has helped propel Petrobras upwards, and the stock has doubled since labor day. It is up about 25% since we recommended it!
What is intriguing to many investors is that Petrobras has two class of stock, the main PBR stock as well as a class A (PBR-A). The only difference between the two classes is that the A shares have no voting rights.
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Gold as a Hedge Against a Declining U.S. Dollar and Rising Inflation
Posted on April 26, 2008 - Filed Under Investing | Leave a Comment
The thought that gold has preserved wealth is very vital these days in an economic environment where investors deal with a declining U.S. Dollar and rising inflations. The rise in inflation in the economy is due to increased commodity prices. If we look at history gold has served as a hedge against both of these scenarios, which are occurring today. As inflation rises gold will generally appreciate. When investors come to the realization that their money is decreasing in value, they will begin to position their investments in a type of hard asset that has, usually, maintained its value. The 1970’s is a perfect example of how gold prices will increase, while inflation is on the rise.
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