Carl Icahn has a pretty simple formula for investing: Find a company with unappreciated assets and a sleepy management team, rattle a few cages, and wait for shares to finally appreciate. That’s what he did with Motorola (NYSE: MOT) and many other companies over the years. [Read my take on that here.] He doesn’t always succeed, but several big hits have pushed him into the billionaire’s club (he’s actually worth an estimated $8.9 billion, according to Forbes). He’s at it again. Icahn has been buying up shares of natural gas firm Chesapeake Energy (NYSE:… Read More

Carl Icahn has a pretty simple formula for investing: Find a company with unappreciated assets and a sleepy management team, rattle a few cages, and wait for shares to finally appreciate. That’s what he did with Motorola (NYSE: MOT) and many other companies over the years. [Read my take on that here.] He doesn’t always succeed, but several big hits have pushed him into the billionaire’s club (he’s actually worth an estimated $8.9 billion, according to Forbes). He’s at it again. Icahn has been buying up shares of natural gas firm Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK), and is gearing up some fresh cage rattling. Icahn just announced in a 13-D filing that his firm now owns 5.8% of the company and “intends to seek to continue to have conversations with the company’s management to discuss the business & operations of the company and the maximization of shareholder value.” There’s one small problem: Chesapeake’s CEO Aubrey McClendon is stubborn as a mule, and not likely to warm to Icahn’s overtures. As I noted this summer, McClendon thinks he’s smarter than his peers and can identify cheap assets better than anyone else. But I… Read More

As gold flirts with all-time (non inflation-adjusted) highs, many investors wonder whether gold can surge yet higher, or if we’re merely in a bubble. Although we lack a crystal ball on that question, we do know some basic facts that help to explain just how far from a baseline value that yellow metal has come. Gold serves four main purposes: 1. As a key ingredient in a range of industrial processes 2. Jewelry 3. As a key asset held by governments that can be used in trade when they want to take… Read More

As gold flirts with all-time (non inflation-adjusted) highs, many investors wonder whether gold can surge yet higher, or if we’re merely in a bubble. Although we lack a crystal ball on that question, we do know some basic facts that help to explain just how far from a baseline value that yellow metal has come. Gold serves four main purposes: 1. As a key ingredient in a range of industrial processes 2. Jewelry 3. As a key asset held by governments that can be used in trade when they want to take steps to fund their budget deficits or provide confidence in their currencies 4. As a hedge by investors that fear eventual high inflation. It’s that last factor that has caused gold to nearly triple in the past five years to around $1,400 an ounce. It’s hard to get a true read of how much gold is bought and sold between countries. Some countries have sold off major gold reserves, while others have loaded up on it. Assume that major governments do not impact gold, and… Read More

The remarkable run in gold and silver prices this year has had me thinking lately — particularly silver’s run. Recently, gold’s poorer cousin reached 30 year highs, with prices reaching $30 per ounce on the futures market. It reminded me of a story… Read More

One of the curious aspects of the recent rebound in the IPO market is the heavy slate of China-based companies in the mix. It remains pretty hard for U.S.-based companies to line up a deal, but investment bankers have had little trouble if the… Read More

The recent agreement in Washington to resolve the tax impasse has led many economists to re-check their assumptions about the economy in 2011. Their conclusion: the outlook for 2011 just got a little better. Let’s look at the specific economic indicators, and where most think they will be by… Read More

If you started the year with three wishes and one of them was for more consistency from the energy sector, you wasted a wish. Although many energy stocks are up this year, by double-digits in some cases, others are flat and still others are down (also by double-digits in some… Read More

Since reaching a multi-decade low of $251.70 in August 1999, gold has been a top performing investment. Even during the 2008 financial crisis, it was only one of the few assets that increased in value (up +5.8%). While top-notch investors like John Paulson are still bullish, gold… Read More

Eight times a year in Washington, D.C., a dozen men and women sit down to vote on the economic fate of the United States. They come representing regions around nation — rural and urban, rich and poor — and the power they wield is unmatched. Together, they make decisions that… Read More

The day will come when a public company becomes worth $1 trillion. It’s a big number to swallow, but I think it’s possible… When I say a company will one day become “worth $1 trillion,” I’m referring to when a company reaches a… Read More

Even with all of the hype around clean energy, a wide number of solar stocks have never been able to find much affection on Wall Street, settling for single-digit price-to-earnings (P/E) multiples. Blame it on Germany. The country has been such a huge supporter… Read More