Believe in Wachovia Friday, July 25, 2008
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Talk about putting your money where your mouth is! Robert Steel, President and CEO of Wachovia, spent 16.1 million dollars on 1 million shares.
Despite announcing a second-quarter loss of 8.9 billion dollars, Steel confirmed his belief in the company and the fact that he could turn things around. Having said this, he then went out and made this massive buy the following day stating: “I made the investment because I believe in the core strengths of the organization and that it is an excellent investment.”
As far as insider buys go, you can always argue how much they really mean and that with the kind of salaries that CEOs make, sometimes, they are more of PR stunts but this buy definitely shows someone who is intent on getting things back on track and who is incredibly closely aligned to all other shareholders…
Link to Insider Transactions: here.
Profit from CO2 Thursday, July 24, 2008
Posted by ei-forum in EU Traded Stocks, US Traded Stocks.add a comment
One of the mega trends that all investors should be looking at is CO2 reduction. How this will develop and how to profit from this is not a very easy call as this is a very complex issue and moreover, one which is highly impacted by legislation and enormous power/interest struggles.
One company we recently came across could be an interesting way to gain some exposure to this and despite not having analyzed it in detail we still wanted to share this with you.
Climate Exchange (mainly listed in Europe but also in the US CXCHF.PX) owns the European Climate Exchange which accounts for roughly 80% of exchange-traded volumes of CO2 in Europe and also owns the Chicago Climate Exchange, which is the only CO2 emissions trading platform in the US.
We are sure that there are other exchanges that will try to challenge them and enter this market but they will be playing catch-up. Goldman Sachs has been behind this project and the own 10% of Climate Exchange PLC… and we all know that Goldman usually makes winning bets.
We will continue to keep an eye on this sector and hopefully bring you some further updates in the near future.
Please read our disclaimer.
Quality Systems Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Posted by ei-forum in US Traded Stocks.1 comment so far
Once again, we witnessed Mr. Market in one of his crazy days where he completely misunderstands/undervalues a company.
Following news that Mr. Silverman, Quality Systems (QSII) CEO since 2000, resigned the stock dropped by almost 5%. Does this event change QSIIs numbers? No. This remains a strong business with a bright future operating in the right sector. Healthcare will continue to grow and QSII is in an ideal position to reap all potential gains.
All the key management team remains in place and this event does not change the outlook for the company. If anything, it will stop recent boardroom discussions and hopefully serve as a catalyst for more focus.
Having said this, despite recent upgrades and BUY ratings, QSII currently has a short percentage of the float of 30.20%! Is this justfified by the following numbers? Up to you to make your mind up:
- ROA – 23.67%
- ROE – 39.11%
- Net margins – 21.49%
- Operating margins – 31.84%
- Sales growth – 18.67%
- Profit growth – 20.60%
- EPS growth – 19.65%
Please read our disclaimer.
Schultz Returns Thursday, June 19, 2008
Posted by ei-forum in US Traded Stocks.Tags: CEO Interviews, Investing, starbucks, stocks
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WSJ interview with Mr. Schultz on his return to Starbucks as CEO and how he plans on getting the company back on track. He talks about his strategy, the economy, new competitors in the coffee market and more….
He has definitely started to kick-start the restructuring / refocusing program but it will be an uphill battle to take the stock price back to former glory. We will continue to follow his progress.
Please read our previous post on Starbucks: here.
DPS: Strong Insider Buy Tuesday, June 17, 2008
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We wrote about Dr Pepper Snapple Group (DPS) on May 22nd when we talked about how we thought it was a classic case of a misunderstood spin-off – read post here.
Despite the fact that Mr. Market is still not looking favorably on this company, we wanted to update our readers on the fact that, apart from having posted great quarterly results, insiders are standind behind the company and taking advantage of these bargain prices:
- John Adams (Director) bought 20,000 shares on the open market at 24.97-25.00 USD for a total of 500,000 Dollars – reported on June 9th 2008.
We continue to believe this will turn our to be a Peter Lynch play!
Please read our disclaimer.
Value in Ford (2) Thursday, June 12, 2008
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Following on from our previous post – Value in Ford: here - we think that the time has come for the long-term investor to open a position under 6 USD.
This could be a first third with the aim of adding to your position should we see 52 week lows again but the bottom line is that Ford is trading at -at least – a 30% discount to long-term value.
The reorganization is on track and despite higher fuel prices, Ford is on the right path. It’s strong international business will continue to allow them to off-set the slow US business and their strength in smaller segments and diesel outside the US will be an incredible asset should they need to go down that road in the home market.
Please read our disclaimer.
Succession planning at Apple? Wednesday, June 11, 2008
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There has been a lot of talk surrounding Steve Job’s health following the recent iPhone presentation where he did appear to have lost a lot of weight.
We hope he is doing fine and that this is all just speculation, but here is an interesting video on the subject that raises some valid succession planning issues that Apple will have to deal with sooner or later.
Enjoy!
Dr Pepper Snapple Group Thursday, May 22, 2008
Posted by ei-forum in US Traded Stocks.5 comments
Why is the Street staying away from Dr Pepper Snapple Group (DPS)? Is this one of those classic misunderstood spin-offs that Peter Lynch always talks about? We definitely think so – this is a great company that holds a number of classic brands like:Dr Pepper, Snapple, 7 UP, Sunkist, A&W, Hawaiian Punch and a lot more.
As most people already noted, when DPS started to trade towards the begging on this month, it presented investors with a big discount to the LBO price. However, the stock still went down; probably due to a lot of the UK based funds that did not want to or could not hold securities traded in the US.
DPS is currently trading at a discount to competitors with a P/E ratio that is one of the lowest among major food and beverage companies. Most analyst value the company above 32 USD per share which represents a premium of about 30% to current prices.
The company is moving in the right direction and despite the weakness in the economy, brands like Dr Pepper, Snapple and A&W will continue to be American classics! And don’t forget Mott’s Apple Juice, Canada Dry, Sunkist, and so on. Furthermore, despite troubles with 7-Up, they are also moving strong with brands like Orangina in Europe and Emerging Markets remain strong.
As Peter Lynch state, Spin-offs often are usually misunderstood and offer great investment opportunity also due to the fact that, once set free, their managers do their best to perform as independent entities!
Please read our disclaimer.
Watchlist: Home Depot Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Posted by ei-forum in US Traded Stocks.add a comment
It is only a matter of time before the housing market picks up again and despite this slowdown, even the houses that are being foreclosed need to be fixed-up. Home Depot (HD) is ideally placed to reap all potential gains and is paying a healthy dividend while you wait.
Ahead of earnings and as a long-term buy-and-hold, we would be looking for a miss and therefore share price decline to open a position.
Please read our disclaimer.
Autos insider buys Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Posted by ei-forum in US Traded Stocks.1 comment so far
We were taking a look at the latest insider activity on the MSN lists: here. And it looks like automotive executives keep on putting their money on the table – once again, Autozone (AZO) and Autonation (AN) are on the top 10 list…
…well, not really all automotive executives. A closer look reveals that it’s Lampert that keeps on increasing his stake in these two companies: he now ownes 38,7% of Autonation and 31% of Autozone.
He stepped down from AutoNation’s board in May to devote more time to his hedge fund, ESL Investments Inc., and Sears (which we all know needs it!) and it is exactly through ESL that he is making purchases… he must be pretty sure of his bet!
Let’s see how this plays out.
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