Monday, January 26, 2015

Brokerage Inks Big Golf Sponsorship Deal

I think it's time to pause,said Charles Schwab,founder of the famous retail brokerage that bears his name.We've had nothing but three to four years of an improving market.My own view is,a core part of your portfolio should be in index funds,and then have a portion in active management.My favour is for small cap stocks.*
The Charles Schwab brokerage has signed a 20-year sponsorship deal with the PGA's Champions Tour,which affords professional golfers ages 50 and above a chance to continue their careers.What could be the motivation for signing such a long agreement?We love the content of golf,Mr.Schwab explained.There are 26 Champions Tour tournaments each year.It's an opportunity to take our clients to a tournament and even for them to play in a pro-am tournament.It's not only advertising,but establishing a relationship with our clients.*
Notable golfers such as Bernhard Langer,Fred Couples and Miguel Angel Jimenez currently participate in the Champions Tour.*
There are a lot of similarities between investing and golf,and we get to communicate that,Mr.Schwab added.*
Charles Schwab Inc(SCHW),iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF(IJR)

Monday, January 19, 2015

Industry on the March:Alcoa,Boeing and Airbus

Alcoa achieved a double beat in its Q4 earnings report,scoring a revenue beat of 6.38 billion versus an estimate of 6.04;and an earnings per share beat of 0.33 versus the 0.29 estimate.CEO Klaus Kleinfeld notes that Q4 is capping off a really wonderful transformation.We have three groups,and all are performing very,very well.Costs are coming down in our commodity business and improving our profitability there.We look at our end markets and what is happening regionally,and I think it has the potential o stay the same for 2015.
Low oil prices could offer a .4 to a .8 GDP gain.We are predicting another seven percent rise in demand for 2015.There is a lot of disconnect.For us,we can't control the outside world.We make sure we've had a very competitive commodity business.Thirty-one percent of our smelting business was closed or sold.There is the value-add energy;automotive innovation in the first all-aluminum vehicle.We are very confident in aerospace.Look at the order volumes that Boeing and Airbus have been generating in 2014,and look at the auto backlog:eight yers of an increased 2014 production.*
Boeing is sold out of 787 Dreamliners through 2020.*
David Zervos,a managing director at Jefferies&Co,adds that the dollar is a very aggressively owned asset right now.People are using the S&P 500 as a kind of hedge against declining oil prices.They'd better sell something.*
Alcoa(AA),Boeing(BA),Airbus Group NV ADR(EADSY),iShares Core S&P 500 ETF(IVV)

Monday, January 12, 2015

Is It Time To Invest In Energy?

I'm not ready to call a bottom in oil prices yet,said Richard Tallis,an energy analyst at Capital One,but it is a good time to focus on oil stocks.Currently I'd go with individual names rather than an etf.You want names with a strong balance sheet.Concho Resources works in the Permian basin.They have a long track record and a very strong balance sheet.They will add acreage over the next few years.*
The general consensus on the price of oil is,it may go down even to the upper 30s,but will rebound to the 60s 0r 70s in the second half of the year.*
Now is a good time to get in,says Chad Brownstein of Rocky Mountain Resource Holdings.It's time to hit the oil services sector.For the retail player,find oil services companies that are trading at one to two times cash flow,and with late-term debt at not more than two times leverage;prudent balance sheets;and long-term contracts.
The equity trades for mid-size companies are down 70%.They're at bottom,bargain basement prices.Start with your toe in the water here.Mid-40s is the bottom of oil prices.OPEC played their card in early November.They hurt the American companies,but they're not going to hurt themselves.I can see that in mid-summer the cards will be in place,Mr.Brownstein observed.*
Concho Resources(CXO),Market Vectors Oil Services Fund ETF(OIH)

Monday, January 5, 2015

Commentary:Minorities and America's Future

By all accounts,and especially that of the 2010 US Census,a dramatic demographic shift is underway in the United States.According to demographer William Frey,author of "Diversity Explosion:How New Racial Demographics Are Changing America,"the impact of rising minority groups will be similar in scope to the rise of the Baby Boomers.Couple surging Latino and Asian population growth with a declining white birth rate and you realize that these minorities will fill in and take the place of whites.Minorities were the largest component of newborns for the first time last year.
Pew Research projects that,by 2050,the three biggest minorities will together be the majority in America,with a 51% share of the population,and 47% of Americans being white.The breakdown of major minority percentages for 2050 is 29% Hispanic;13% African American;and 9% Asian.Native American/Native Alaskan was not quantified.
The 2010 Census was pivotal because of the number of white children being born.This is a bigger deal than I thought it was,Mr.Frey told noted talk show host Diane Rehm,together with the numbers of Hispanics and Asians being born.And 30% of suburbs are losing whites,either because they are dying and not being replaced,or moving to inner cities.The vibrancy of suburbs tomorrow depends on minorities moving into them,Mr.Frey points out.Witness the problem of fading suburban shopping malls.
Interracial marriage becoming more prevalent is an indication of greater diversity in the US population.Now 8% of all marriages and 15% of new marriages in America are interracial.Four in ten of Asian and Hispanic marriages are mixed marriages today.Who would have thought that Latinos would flock to Omaha,Nebraska 20 years ago?Yet that is just what is happening today.
What needs to be done?We need to educate minority youth so they will be able to fill the many jobs in fields such as medicine and technology,not shunt them off into a corner at the nation's peril.They need to be economically mainstreamed.Their aspirations are the same as their white compatriots'.The minority youth are a big part of the destiny of tomorrow's America.Embrace the change,because you cannot escape it even if you wanted to.As former President Bill Clinton says,make change your friend.