It’s among the scarcest metals on the planet. There’s only one large above-ground store, a strategic reserve the Soviet Union spent 50 years accumulating. Russia decided to put the stockpile up for sale in 1990 when it was estimated to total 27 million ounces. Since then, buyers… Read More
Results
Just when it looked like the auto industry’s wounds from the recession were going to fully heal, disaster struck in Japan and cut off key auto parts supply lines for nearly every major manufacturer. It was out of the frying pan of weak… Read More
What would you do with $10 billion? That’s the tough question posed to a handful of CEOs every year. These executives must redeploy that much money every year, trying to find the right mix of acquisitions, share buybacks, debt reductions and dividend streams. How they spend it is largely a function of where that company is in its life cycle. For ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), the prodigious profits have a clear purpose. The energy giant topped the list of America’s most profitable companies and usually focused on stock buybacks. Exxon’s share count… Read More
What would you do with $10 billion? That’s the tough question posed to a handful of CEOs every year. These executives must redeploy that much money every year, trying to find the right mix of acquisitions, share buybacks, debt reductions and dividend streams. How they spend it is largely a function of where that company is in its life cycle. For ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), the prodigious profits have a clear purpose. The energy giant topped the list of America’s most profitable companies and usually focused on stock buybacks. Exxon’s share count fell for eight straight years before rising a bit in 2010. Profits were spread over 6.8 billion shares back in 2002, yet ExxonMobil has bought back two billion shares since then, leading to a 29% reduction in the share count. #-ad_banner-#Why did the share count rise slightly in 2010? It’s because the oil giant deviated from the game plan a bit, making a few stock-based acquisitions in the natural gas sector such as the early-year acquisition of XTO Energy. Assuming ExxonMobil will once again focus on stock… Read More
#-ad_banner-#If you can handle risk, I’ve found a potentially very lucrative investment idea for you — a stock that could triple your money, or better, in the next three to five years. The stock’s risky for a couple reasons. First, it’s a small cap. As you probably… Read More
For clean energy investors, 2010 finished on a dismal note. A change of political control in Congress signaled diminished support in Washington for any kind of major financial incentives in alternative energy. In Europe, fiscal challenges led countries such as Italy and Germany to scale back their previous commitments to… Read More
When a company decides to split its stock, it’s usually a good sign for shareholders. For one reason or another, the company has decided it would like more shares outstanding on the market. This is usually accompanied by a run-up in the share price… Read More
There’s something more to insurance giant Aflac (NYSE: AFL) than just the funny (and wildly successful) duck mascot. Weighing in at a hefty $26.8 billion market cap, Aflac (originally the American Family Life Assurance Co.) writes supplemental health and life insurance in the United States and Japan. Read More
Friday’s employment report has created an even hazier backdrop for stocks. Recent economic data showed an economy starting to cool, but with 244,000 jobs created in April — the best showing in 11 months — this expansion still may have legs after all. The key distinction: the economy‘s areas of support are not what you would have expected a few months ago. In recent weeks and months, investors have been trying to assess stocks in the context of a sharp spike in commodities — from oil to silver to… Read More
Friday’s employment report has created an even hazier backdrop for stocks. Recent economic data showed an economy starting to cool, but with 244,000 jobs created in April — the best showing in 11 months — this expansion still may have legs after all. The key distinction: the economy‘s areas of support are not what you would have expected a few months ago. In recent weeks and months, investors have been trying to assess stocks in the context of a sharp spike in commodities — from oil to silver to wheat. Only recently, we’ve seen how the massive flooding in the Midwest is leading to forecasts of sharply falling farm output and eventually, higher food prices. Consumers didn’t need to hear that while gasoline prices were eating a hole in their pocketbooks. #-ad_banner-#Despite that, stocks were able to rally through much of April, thanks to a declining dollar that was boosting prospects for U.S. blue chips. In effect, the domestic economic picture looked troubling, while the rest of the world promised to provide at least a decent tailwind. That scenario now looks backward, as… Read More
My colleague, High Yield Investing newsletter guru Carla Pasternak, often advises subscribers to look off the beaten path for the best yields. Sometimes, the best dividends can be found in asset classes that are… Read More
#-ad_banner-#Years ago, when my cousin Andrea was in law school, she and my dad were talking about the “hottest” area in the law — water rights. This was probably 15 years ago and today Andrea is one of the nation’s leading experts on the death penalty. Dad and I were… Read More