The Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) shareholder meeting takes place each year during the first weekend in May in Omaha, Neb. The 2010 meeting, held this past weekend, was attended by an estimated 40,000 loyal shareholders, many of which have held shares of Berkshire for decades and have become wealthy due to Warren Buffett’s ability to grow money at one of the most rapid rates in history. Since Berkshire’s start in 1965 and running through 2010, Berkshire has experienced a 20.2% annual growth rate in… Read More

The Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) shareholder meeting takes place each year during the first weekend in May in Omaha, Neb. The 2010 meeting, held this past weekend, was attended by an estimated 40,000 loyal shareholders, many of which have held shares of Berkshire for decades and have become wealthy due to Warren Buffett’s ability to grow money at one of the most rapid rates in history. Since Berkshire’s start in 1965 and running through 2010, Berkshire has experienced a 20.2% annual growth rate in book value. This is more than double the 9.4% annual growth rate in the stock market, as measured by the return of the S&P 500 Index. Over this period, this means that Berkshire has returned 490,409% — while the market is up 6,262%. Both rates of growth have been impressive, but Berkshire’s qualifies as spectacular. #-ad_banner-#Buffett has relayed numerous times that future growth rates at Berkshire will fall below its historical growth trends, but there is still potential for investors to earn above-average returns by investing in the stock. Just… Read More

In late March, I wrote an article in which I explained why General Motors (NYSE: GM) can rally more than 50% from current levels. I still think that to be the case, but since then, turmoil in the Middle East and specifically a NATO-led military campaign in Libya that started… Read More

#-ad_banner-#Coffee chains like Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX) get the lion’s share of press when it comes to the $7 billion fresh coffee market. And up until now, the company has focused primarily on the chain’s retail side of the coffee business. What investors haven’t realized is that 86% of coffee drinkers… Read More

The “Dogs of the Dow” strategy consists of buying a basket of the cheapest stocks out of the 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. One of the more popular strategies in recent years has been to buy Dow stocks with the highest… Read More

In investing, assets that have performed well in the past have a good chance of continuing to do well in the future. This is especially true when the factors that have driven the outperformance remain in place to drive the future performance. Investment research firm Lipper recently released data detailing the best investments of the past decade. Below is an overview of the top five performers of the past 10 years. As you will see, a couple of recurring factors have driven the stellar results, so I expect them to continue to do so for many more years for a… Read More

In investing, assets that have performed well in the past have a good chance of continuing to do well in the future. This is especially true when the factors that have driven the outperformance remain in place to drive the future performance. Investment research firm Lipper recently released data detailing the best investments of the past decade. Below is an overview of the top five performers of the past 10 years. As you will see, a couple of recurring factors have driven the stellar results, so I expect them to continue to do so for many more years for a number of these top performers. 1. Precious metals Annual gains in the past decade: 25.4% Precious metals such as gold and silver were used in the past as currencies, but these days they qualify primarily as an alternative asset under the commodity asset class. In addition to gold and silver, this category also consists of metals such as platinum, palladium and diamonds. This investment class collectively had its best decade in more than 30 years, as demand for metals increased for… Read More

Between 1970 and 1975, a quarter of companies in the U.S. railroad industry were forced to file for bankruptcy protection. There were simply too many competitors and they could not handle the high levels of government regulation, volatile fuel costs and the billions of dollars it took to maintain thousands of miles of track, locomotives and freight cars. Since that time, the remaining competitors have steadily merged and there are only seven leading players today. The leading players now have the size and scale to justify high capital expenditure costs and can effectively compete with the trucking… Read More

Between 1970 and 1975, a quarter of companies in the U.S. railroad industry were forced to file for bankruptcy protection. There were simply too many competitors and they could not handle the high levels of government regulation, volatile fuel costs and the billions of dollars it took to maintain thousands of miles of track, locomotives and freight cars. Since that time, the remaining competitors have steadily merged and there are only seven leading players today. The leading players now have the size and scale to justify high capital expenditure costs and can effectively compete with the trucking industry. A government report stated that railroads have seen productivity gains that have far exceeded the gains seen in other industries and the economy as a whole. In perhaps the biggest vote of confidence the industry could ever receive, Warren Buffett announced he would spend $26 billion to acquire Burlington Northern Santa Fe, one of the largest companies in the space, in late 2009. Railroads have become great investments. But I’m not interested in railroads as an investment. I’m more interested in the next sector to follow in their footsteps:… Read More

This past week, two highly-respected investment publications opined that this stock is a top turnaround play. Barron’s touted that there is “hope, at last” in this name, even though its stock has fallen by more than 50% in the past decade to trail the S&P 500 and a number of archrivals badly. In this same period, the market is about flat, while rivals have returned between 75% and 150%. The Financial Times offered an analysis that was a bit more skeptical, but still concluded the CEO is making a big bet… Read More

This past week, two highly-respected investment publications opined that this stock is a top turnaround play. Barron’s touted that there is “hope, at last” in this name, even though its stock has fallen by more than 50% in the past decade to trail the S&P 500 and a number of archrivals badly. In this same period, the market is about flat, while rivals have returned between 75% and 150%. The Financial Times offered an analysis that was a bit more skeptical, but still concluded the CEO is making a big bet on “fresh growth” that relies on beefing up sales to emerging markets, reemphasizing key divisions that focus on infrastructure, and returning to research and development to drive innovation in the coming decade. Those statements are all well and good, but the historical numbers show that General Electric (NYSE: GE) has lost its way and needs a turnaround to return to the growth heyday it experienced while under the fearless leadership of Jack Welch. The truth is that current CEO Jeff Immelt has had an uphill battle since taking the helm in 2001, as Welch saddled… Read More

Back in August 2009, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released a report stating that a global economic recovery had begun to finally take hold following the credit crisis. Since that time, global economies have continued to recover and stock markets across the world have… Read More

#-ad_banner-#So far in 2011, technology is among the worst-performing industries in the market. The stock market, as measured by the S&P 500, ended the first quarter up nearly 6%, while tech returned just over 3%. Additionally, the average price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio for the stock market is around 14, while many leading tech companies trade well below this level — some even trade with single-digit earnings multiples. With weak near-term performance and low valuations, I see a contrarian buying opportunity. By the… Read More

#-ad_banner-#So far in 2011, technology is among the worst-performing industries in the market. The stock market, as measured by the S&P 500, ended the first quarter up nearly 6%, while tech returned just over 3%. Additionally, the average price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio for the stock market is around 14, while many leading tech companies trade well below this level — some even trade with single-digit earnings multiples. With weak near-term performance and low valuations, I see a contrarian buying opportunity. By the P/E metric alone, the tech sector is cheap. However, tech may be even cheaper than you think. This is because many of the leading players in the industry have managed to sock away billions of dollars in excess cash not needed to run daily operations. From a valuation perspective, it has become necessary to back out these net cash positions to focus solely on the underlying operations. Below is a table detailing share price and fundamental data for five of the largest tech companies out there.  As you can see, the stated P/E ratios, which are simply… Read More

Less than a year ago, China unveiled what it considered to be a younger and stronger statue of a bull to rival the one sitting on Wall Street in New York. The fact that it is also larger shows China’s ambition. With an… Read More