Month: July 2013

On January 23, a new Reuters article stated that Pamplona Capital has disclosed an 8.8% stake in Nabors Industries and that it is having discussions with the company. This could be another sign of major undervaluation and if Pamplona Capital becomes an activist investor that pushes management to create shareholder value, this could help boost the share price. Two insider buys were announced today.  Newly appointed director Kotts bought 120,000 shares of NBR at $14.95.  Director Wolf bought 11,000 at $14.90 and a additional 7000 at $14.78.  While potential risks remain, such as possible low demand for natural gas drilling, another recession, … Read more

With the market at new highs and the end of the month nigh, money managers will have itchy trigger fingers.  And the market will give them lots of things to shoot at including: Monday USA Pending home sales up slightly HIT Tuesday Case-Shiller Home Price Index.   A sharp rise in home prices might stoke further Fed fears of inflation since they are meeting the day the indicator comes out.  Consumer confidence survey comes out same day and its already at a high level.  Further rise will do much to confirm tapering is on for September. Wednesday Euro-Zone Consumer Price … Read more

Verifone Systems (PAY) is a company in flux and one I am struggling with as to whether we want to endure the pain of short-term underperformance to benefit long-term from the big upgrade cycle. Verifone is the leading point of sale terminal solution that enables secure electronic payments like credit cards.  Next time you are at the check out aisle look at the card swipe machine.  Verifone most likely makes it. This leading global provider of payment solutions has fallen on hard times.  Verifone (PAY) was incorporated in 1981, introduced the first check verification and credit authorization terminals in 1984, … Read more

We are long MO and LO.  Altria launches their much anticipated e cigarette August 1 on a limited roll out.  I expect cigarette usage to radically change.  E cigarettes are what the car was to horse and buggy.   The New Tobacco Shop is Here: E-Cigarette Store Opens in ManhattanArticleCommentsMETROPOLIS HOME PAGE »smallerLargerfacebooktwittergoogle pluslinked inEmailPrintKeith Bedford for the Wall Street JournalSpike Babaian, the co-owner of VapeNY, a Lower East Side Shop that only sells e-cigarettes.By Zara StoneIt’s the modern-day version of a tobacco shop.Electronic cigarettes have become such a booming business — there’s now dozens of brands to choose from … Read more

10 Best Growth-Stock ETFs for 2013Top-Rated ETFs Growth is hot.  It’s outperforming value.  These ETFS are a good way to play it   Top Domestic Growth ETFs as of 6/30/13 Fund Name Get Info Overall Rating Risk Grade SPDR S&P Software & Services ETF XSW A+ B+ First Trust Small Cap Val AlphaDEX FYT A+ B First Trust Mid Cap Val AlphaDEX FNK A+ B PowerShares Fundamental Pure Lg Val PXLV A+ B PowerShares S&P SC Cnsmr Staples PSCC A+ B Madrona Domestic ETF FWDD A+ B Consumer Discretionary Sel Sec SPDR XLY A+ B PowerShares KBW Prop & Casualty … Read more

I don’t like playing earnings but BCC, this recent IPO has pulled back and may present a bounce opportunity for Monday.  I am doubtful of anything more than a bounce because private equity Dearborn Madison firm owns a control position with no real lock ups. From their recent prospectus “From 2005 to 2011, total housing starts in the United States declined by more than 70%. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, total housing starts in the United States were 0.59 million in 2010, 0.61 million in 2011 and 0.78 million in 2012. While 2012 housing starts increased from 2011 levels, they remained significantly … Read more

Not Microsoft, not Google, not Ebay, not even Detroit going bankrupt can bring this market down.  Bad news in one stock or sector is greeted with 52 week highs in another, like Schlumberger and GE today.

Apache is the second largest position in the Sax Angle Partners Fund Apache to Sell Shallow Gulf Operations for $3.75 BillionSale to Fieldwood Energy Marks Change of Direction as Firm Seeks to Pare DANIEL GILBERT Apache Corp. APA +1.57% said it would sell its shallow-water operations in the Gulf of Mexico to Fieldwood Energy LLC, a private-equity-backed firm, for $3.75 billion in cash.The deal marks a new direction for Apache, one of Americas biggest energy explorers with a stock-market value of $32 billion, which until now has produced more oil and gas in the shallows of the Gulf than any of … Read more

“Why would anyone invest in the stock market?” Hamilton “Tony” James looked up from his notes and peered out at the audience over the rims of his glasses. The investors seated in the chandelier-adorned meeting room of New York’s Waldorf-Astoria hotel had been in their chairs for hours. Yet James paused to let his point sink in. Someone laughed. James, president since 2005 of Blackstone Group LP (BX), was stone-faced. via Property Crushes Hedge Funds in Alternative Markets – Bloomberg.

  Bay Area Rally Sends Rents Soaring Strong Tech Sector Is Helping Fuel Rising Costs for Tenants; Investors Jump In By JIM CARLTON CONNECT SAN FRANCISCO—When Alexandra Goldman got notice of her rent increase—from $6,000 a month on a five-bedroom house she shared with roommates to $11,000—she says she was in disbelief. “We knew immediately we were not going to be able to pay that much money to live there,” said Ms. Goldman, a 28-year-old planning consultant whose share of the rent was about $1,000 a month. After receiving the notice in October, she said the house’s occupants ended up … Read more

We  are large owners of CCL , the largest cruise line operator. We initiated a position around $32.95 and have watched it rise to its present price of $36 where it seems to be building a base.  There have been several management changes recently, most notably, long time CEO and Founder Mickey Arison, passed the day to day operating duties to a new CEO.  This apparently is a good thing as he might have been diverted by being a billionaire and owner of NBA Champions Miami Heat.  Our thesis is that demographics are overwhelmingly supportive of cruising and that China … Read more

We will be hosting our 12th Investment Survival Workshop.  Each event highlights different ideas and in these two workshops, we’ll talk about finding the next big thing.  Where to look, how to evaluate it, is it for real, and finally does it work? Come join us at workshops.saxangle.com This Tuesday, July 16th at Noon in our Park City offices and Thursday, July 18th same time same place.  Quote of the day.  There is a lot of hedge fund bashing in the media these days now that advertising is about to be legal for the industry.  Try this one on  from the … Read more

  As the second quarter comes to a close Friday, Benzinga looks back on the best performing stocks of the quarter.  Click below to see the results. And now for the shocker, the best performing Dow stock of the quarter was Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) may have problems with slow PC sales and with Windows 8 being a disappointment, but it was the top DJIA performer of the second quarter. Its stock closed at $34.54 for a 21.57% gain. via SLIDESHOW: Top 10 Performing S&P 500 Stocks of the Second Quarter | Benzinga.

Feds Plosser Admits Fed Was Responsible For Last Housing Bubble, Doesnt Want To “Create Another”Submitted by Tyler Durden on 07/12/2013 12:00 -0400 The “mutinying” half of the Fed – that which the FOMC minutes indicated wanted an end to QE by the end of 2013 – is not going to take Bernankes Wednesday steamrolling lying down. Enter Charles Plosser, who becomes a voting member next year:PLOSSER SAYS FED SHOULD HALT QE BY END OF THIS YEARGood luck there. But here is the punchline:PLOSSER SAYS WE DONT WANT TO CREATE ANOTHER HOUSING BOOMFinally, someone from the Fed admits it was Greenspans … Read more

Complete 2013 Year To Date Hedge Fund Performance Submitted by Tyler Durden Bloomberg took hedge funds to task with a rather graphic cover, suggesting the hedge fund community doesnt actually provide value. We disagree: hedge funds certainly can provide value especially those who are too big to fail, syphon inside information, and whose army of lawyers makes them untouchable to government prosecution if only to their LPs and other investors, however not in an environment where none other than the central banks task is to manage risk. Which explains why for the fifth year in a row, or roughly since … Read more

Fed Affirms Easy-Money Stance Bernanke sought to reassure markets that while the Fed could start winding down bond buying later this year, officials aren’t abandoning their broader commitment to easy-money policies. via The Wall Street Journal – Breaking News, Business, Financial and Economic News, World News & Video – Wall Street Journal – Wsj.com.

We preach following insiders.  It’s no wonder why. What’s amazing is that many people including very smart people think they have a better idea of what’s going on than the very people inside running the business.   By SUSAN PULLIAMand ROB BARRYCONNECT One day in September 2011, Wall Street analysts trundled into the spacious lobby at the Livonia, Mich., plant of a company called A123 Systems Inc. to view a slide presentation describing a rosy outlook for the maker of lithium batteries. View Graphics”They stood up in front of investors and painted a very bullish picture,” said Andrea James, an … Read more

Why the entire U.S health insurance system is broken and the eventual likelihood of regulation of the health insurance industry. Don’t bet on it, though.  The outcome is inevitable but the timing is uncertain.  As the old saw goes, “What’s the difference between being wrong and early? None.” Americans are dying sooner and living with more illness than residents of Slovenia and other less prosperous countries, according to the latest study showing the U.S. is getting a poor return on money it spends on care. Americans lost more years of life to heart disease, lung cancer, preterm birth complications, diabetes … Read more

I’m staying pat on Apache even though the street seems to be pushing down the stock on Egypt anxiety.  Then again, maybe something else is afoot as the Egyptian stock market is rallying and credit default swaps on the sovereign debt is decreasing,  On Tuesday the cost of insuring against an Egyptian government debt default tumbled as news of the Gulf aid packages calmed fears that Egypt’s already fragile economy could be hit by a balance-of-payments crisis. Egyptian credit-default swaps, which investors use as insurance against defaults or to bet on creditworthiness of countries and companies, fell by 120 basis points to … Read more

Can Chesapeake really be a good value?  It sure seems so based on the large amount of recent insider buying.  This is all the more notable since insiders are not buying much of anything in this elevated market.  I’ve been doing this long enough to know that when insiders are buying and you can’t see the logic, don’t doubt it.  There is always something there. You might not be able to see it, but that doesn’t mean the catalyst isn’t there.  It also doesn’t mean that it will ever come to bear either so you can’t be stupid about blindly … Read more

Kudus to this fantastic piece of investigative journalism.  This is why the Times is still irreplaceable in a world of social media nonsense.  I never have invested in frontier markets but the Egyptian market may now be a worthy speculation.  There is only way to invest in it so the choices are simple.  Market Vectors Egypt Index,EGPT.  I AM NOT ALONE IN THIS VIEW.   The index rallied 13% this week.  Even with riots in the streets, Friday, the index was able to rise 3.28%. It is still down 50% from its 2011 high print of $82.52. This article from … Read more

This recent article from Monday July 8th Barron’s is  a good example why the average person is horrible at investing.  For example, read the small print or better yet look up the funds for yourself.  Most of them charge an average 4.7% upfront sales charge.  Basically a year or more worth of interest before you receive a dime from an income fund.   The author states that these funds in some cases produced double digit returns.  You don’t have to look further than their stock charts to see how dicey that proposition is. If you haven’t made money in a bond … Read more

I agree with the article but unlike the analyst I see the military takeover with broad popular support as a plus not a negative for price action.  Furthermore I expect APA to announce some kind of transaction in Egypt to validate the cost on their books.  Perhaps the Chinese will nibble.  Lost in the headlines today was 20 people killed in sectarian violence in Iraq and that hasn’t kept the Chinese from investing there.     Egypt Turmoil Creates Apache Buy Opportunity Apache (APA: NYSE) By Guggenheim Securities ($80.23, July 5, 2013) Apache’s stock price has been under pressure over … Read more

US bond yields soar on robust jobs growth Robust US employment figures sent bond yields soaring on Friday as the labour market showed it was healthy enough for the Federal Reserve to slow its $85bn a month in asset purchases later this year. The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose 22 basis points to 2.72 per cent – the highest since July 2011 – after payrolls rose by 195,000 in June, comfortably beating expectations. Revisions to recent data added another 70,000 jobs to the total.   The figures take average payrolls growth this year to 202,000 a month – meeting Fed … Read more

One of the things we talk about in the Investment Survival Workshop is developing the mindset to think ahead. The point being is that when you have a regular exercise routine, you have goals in mind.  When you are planning an investment strategy, it’s no different.  What’s your time period?  Are you a long-term investor or someone who is just trading week to week or even a day trader?  As part of a routine, find time to anticipate what’s going to happen for some period in the future.Everyone’s time frame will be different.   With that in mind, here are a few … Read more