1,900; now what?
The US stock market, the best market in the world for a multitude of reasons, hit new highs on Friday, ascending to the 1,900 level, on a closing basis. The market is confounding because of the lack of normal draw-down (no meaningful pull-backs in a long enough time to be scary) and because many high…
Read MoreBig Orange; Home Depot 1Q results soft on weather – outlook a positive signal for housing
Home Depot (HD) 1Q14 results reflect a benefit to earnings, net of tax, of $61m from a sale of a portion of the company’s equity ownership in Home Depot Supply Holdings (HDS). Exclusive of this gain, HD reported EPS of $0.96 relative to consensus estimates of $0.99. A miss in a difficult to predict quarter…
Read MoreThe widow maker trade spreads from Japan to the US
Since 1990, one trade that has always lost money, over any reasonable time period, has been the shorting of JGBs (Japanese 10-year). This trade, unique in its consistency, developed its own name; “the widow maker”. With JGBs yielding 57 bps today, the widow maker is alive and kicking. Over the past 24-year time period, JGB…
Read MoreWhole Foods proactively lowering prices; an opportunity for the patient
For a retailer, cutting prices generates a certain amount of self-inflicted pain through the P&L. The problem is rather intuitive; existing customers continue to purchase the same amount of goods at the new lower prices (hurts sales growth) and it takes time, to an uncertain extent, to attract new customers to the better value offering.…
Read MoreApril employment report; strength broadens to lower-end
This month’s job report will rightly be questioned; late-winter/early spring weather for much of the country was horrible in February and March, and this morning’s report reflects payback from depressed activity making results appear better than they actually are. Nonetheless, trends in April, and thus far year-to-date, reflect a potentially important change in labor market…
Read MoreEnergizer Bunny gets a boost; how ENR’s split-up creates immediate shareholder value
Energizer (ENR) stock is up 15% this morning based on a corporate action that is long overdue; the company is splitting itself into two separate and distinct public companies. Energizer contains products within two segments; household products (batteries) and personal care (razors, shaving, skin care, feminine care). Going forward, the stock will be split into…
Read MoreWealth Effect; gaining steam from asset returns and persistence
The ongoing economic tug-of-war remains tied. Growth spurts with better momentum (housing, auto, healthy corporate profits, job market) are almost immediately met by numerous automatic stabilizers (higher mortgage rates, deteriorating housing affordability, satiation of replacement cycles). But weighing the good and the bad, we are in a fine environment for the stock market. The environment…
Read MoreBoeing at cruising altitude; the world needs more planes!
Boeing’s investment performance has been spectacular since the announcement, and subsequent investigations of battery fires in late 2012. The stock price marched from $70 to $140, achieving a rapid 16-month double. The opportunity in late 2012/early 2013 was outsized; it is rare to purchase a company as dominant as Boeing, in the early stages of…
Read MoreStudent debt bubble; should school loans be repaid, or not?
Tuesday’s WSJ presented an interesting cover story on student debt forgiveness. Push back is growing with respect to managing the amount of total debt forgiveness or capping it to a maximum amount; the article states $57,500 as potential forgiveness cap per student. Bubble aftermath is never pretty and the fascinating case of runaway US student…
Read MoreGoogle is getting cheaper; valuation attractive after consistent growth and stock pullback
Google continues to roll. The share price will zig and zag but the company is making strides by investing for growth and positioning for better results in the future. Current results are still quite respectable today and earnings and cash flow growth are catching up to the stock price. The GOOG investment theme has been…
Read MoreRisk-reduction driven market corrections are healthy; this one presents opportunities
The pullback in the market should not be a surprise. The real surprise is the extent of the market’s ascent over the past 18-months, without a single significant draw-down. Corrections are normal during the course of a bull market, and aid in accomplishing a number of items: building the wall of worry; an important source…
Read MoreAlcoa is “reinventing the wheel” – potential to be a big multi-year investment theme
Back-to-back posts on Alcoa (AA) to follow up on a powerful investment theme with the potential for outsized returns over several years. There is a time and a place for each individual stock investment, and the proper synchronicity is all the more important for out-of-favor / out-of-consensus investment themes like Alcoa. The classic elements for…
Read MoreAlcoa (AA); well positioned and stock worth revisiting
Alcoa (AA) just hasn’t received respect over the past several years. This is in the process of changing today, and AA has the potential to continue its rally to the low $20s from $12-$13. AA morphed into a classic out-of –favor stock since the financial crisis but lackluster stock performance created value amidst horrible sentiment.…
Read MoreEarnings preview for a bull market; what to expect for 1Q14
1Q14 earnings will begin in earnest by mid-April with the market flirting with new highs over the past several sessions. Geopolitical concerns, and Fed taper fears, are gradually fading into the background, and investors are in for a period of individual earnings results driving stocks, and ultimately, market performance. The setup for 1Q is unique;…
Read MoreTime to go global with hydraulic fracturing investments
Ukraine is dependent on Russian energy sources; an unsustainable co-dependence, which is now set to change. In fact, Europe, more focused on green initiatives, is woefully behind the US with respect to energy independence. Putting aside the environmental arguments, geopolitical events have a way of focusing policy actions, and just this past week, there has…
Read MoreCrimea Annexation; the implications for global capital allocation
Around geopolitical events, political posturing is generally the short-term focus for all parties involved, and markets, but the longer-term implications are often unrelated to what is obvious in the short-term. The despotic approach of Vladimir Putin, and his “damn the torpedoes” approach to dealing with market/economic consequences exacerbates this effect. A fascinating take on…
Read MoreSnap, Crackle and Pop; Uninterrupted 18-month Bull Market!
Over the past 18-months, the S&P 500 surged 43%, without more than a 6% drawdown. That dear reader is a Bull market. This post is somewhat backward looking based on the writing hiatus at CF. The forward plan is for content at regular interviews from here. Where we stood: Entering June 2012, the market stood at…
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