Debunking Warren Buffett’s Phillips 66 Investment
If Warren Buffett did not recently agree to buy Precision Castparts for $32 billion, I think he would have considered finding a way to buy Phillips 66 outright. The problem is that the company’s market...
View ArticleCoca-Cola’s Reported $3 Billion Tax Bill
On Seeking Alpha, a Coca-Cola investor wrote that he sold 11,000 shares of Coca-Cola stock after reading a headline about its $3.3 billion tax bill, arguing that it turned the stock into dead money for...
View ArticleThe Anheuser-Busch Plan To Buy SABMiller
I have not covered Anheuser-Busch stock nearly as frequently as some of the other companies that have the top slots in a consumer market segment. My hesitation for covering the stock has been a product...
View ArticleSome Stocks Are Not Value Investments At Any Price
The current analyst consensus for Pier 1 Imports (PIR) calls for the stock to trade at $30 per share within five years. Based on the current price of $8 per share, you might think that sounds like an...
View ArticleReal Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) Are Buying Back Stock
Stock buybacks are one example of theory not quite holding up to reality. After the Securities & Exchange Commission issued a 1981 ruling which stated that companies will not be held liable for...
View ArticleClorox Stock In A Blue-Chip Portfolio
Since June of 1998, Coca-Cola stock has returned 2.5% annually. I always keep that figure in the back of my mind, as it is a harsh reminder that getting the company right is never enough–you can’t mess...
View ArticleSears Stock Will End Up At $0
I have been mulling over one of the seeming paradoxes of investing: Stocks that are trading in the cheapest quintile according to book value go on to outperform the other four quintiles combined by...
View ArticleJack Lew’s $10 Treasury Mistake with Alexander Hamilton
If you ever study alternative dispute resolution methods, the central principle that you will learn is that not everything in life must be a zero sum game. A great mediator is different from a good...
View ArticleThe Performance of Trust Funds
The average trust fund in the United States has underperformed the S&P 500 by 2.3 percentage points annually during 2004-2014, according to a study released by the U.S. Trust. That may not be quite...
View ArticleThe Deception Of Book Value
When Benjamin Graham covered stocks, he used book value as his primary determinant in calculating value. He was well aware that when a company in distress goes on to survive, the share price of the...
View ArticleThe Japan ETF (EWJ) vs. Aflac Stock
Since 2009, the United States stock market has outperformed the stock markets of most other countries, and you have not heard as much investment commentary touting the value of international...
View ArticleTwo Ways To Find An Undervalued Stock
The word “undervalued” is one of the most commonly used, yet often undefined, words in investment discussions. The general principle of searching for undervalued stocks is straightforward enough:...
View ArticleMy Ten Best Investments – 2020 Edition
In 2014, I published “My Ten Largest Investments” which discussed, you guessed it, my ten largest investments and the basis for why I made the investment. To this date, it is the best selling ebook or...
View ArticleStock Market Irrationality in a Bull Market
A reason why index funds that track things like the S&P 500 have become popular in recent years is that each investor is shielded from seeing the volatility of individual components that can...
View ArticleThe Public Investment of Saudi Arabia’s Ambitious Global Investment Strategy
With everything going on in 2020, it can be easy to ignore one of the biggest storylines that has been somewhat quietly developing–namely, the Public Investment of Saudi Arabia has been aggressively...
View ArticleJohnson & Johnson: A Merger Lies Ahead
Since Altria stock has crossed the $50 per share mark, I have been critical of the American tobacco giant’s valuation that has put the company at over 22x profits. Altria makes all of its money in the...
View ArticleWal-Mart Stock: Dividend Aristocrat on Sale
After hitting a high of $91 per share earlier this year, shares of Wal-Mart (WMT) have retreated to the below the $60 mark today–trading at $59.37 at the time of writing. That gives Wal-Mart a 34%...
View ArticleCitigroup: Great Speculation for Five Years (No Idea After That)
Citigroup (C) lost $64.20 per share in 2008. Its Tier 1 Capital Ratio sank below 5%, and it had a portfolio worth hundreds of billions of dollars in loans that it did not originally underwrite that...
View ArticleTesla, Berkshire Hathaway, and the Foundations of Investments
A common news item this week is that Elon Musk now has a higher net worth than Warren Buffett as a result of Tesla’s meteoric stock price rise from $177 last year to $1,500 now. Setting aside the fact...
View ArticleDeferred Taxes: Investment Compounding’s Little Helper
The United States stock market consists of approximately $42 trillion in net worth. Of that, 72% of the wealth is held in what we call taxable accounts. And, once you get past the day traders, the...
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