RPC Surges On Earnings But Necessitates A Deeper Look Into Natural Gas [View article]
Drewheyl,
Thank you for your comment. I am about to write another article, the main contents of which is below -
The prediction was definitely premature, and it was not fun watching the stock climb to $17 but I'm definitely glad I sold now that it is back under $13. It seems that in our current market it takes unusually long for the fundamental picture to trump speculation (and on a side note I this is a precursor to what is about to happen to the larger market in general).
As to your comments, I was initially attracted to RPC because unlike drillers it is not necessarily directly tied to the price of natural gas, and is in a far superior cash position.
In RPC's case lower natural gas prices only affects earnings growth, while in the case of a driller (i.e. CHK or XCO) lower natgas can quickly make the driller bankrupt.
RPC's relationship to the commodity is indirect because while their business might decline due to lower drilling resulting from lower natural gas prices, RPC can offset that through pre-arranged contractual agreements and therefore remain profitable even amidst low natural gas prices. Furthermore RPC can reduce its workforce and activity in this area accordingly as to save costs until prices rise.
That being said, the majority of RPC's servicing contracts just expired at the end of 2012 and were not renewed, which is what caused the stock to drop almost 12% in one day. Accordingly, RPC is now more tied to the price of natural gas because they do not have work until the drillers decide the spot price is high enough to resume drilling, and then RPC has to beat out the competition on pricing.
However I think the price of natural gas will steadily rise. We are now at a 14yr low in rig count, and by most accounts everyone who is looking to take rigs offline has done so. Furthermore, there remains a large demand for natural gas (i.e. DOW chem., fertilizers).
Going forward, I expect basic economics to take over soon where stable demand and lower drilling pushes the price of natgas back into the driller's profitable range. When that happens the situation will reverse and there will be a rush to bring rigs back online and RPC will be able to get good pricing on future contracts and plenty of work in the spot market.
Accordingly, I am holding off on buying now but I plan to start buying should RPC fall into the low 12's and then really increase purchases as natgas nears or passes $4.50+ (the level at which most producers can drill profitably).
The bottom line is that if your a long-term investor this weakness should be temporary (I would say less than a year), you will get paid a good dividend to wait, and you don't have to worry about the company going bankrupt (at least is much less of a risk as compared to drillers). But if your looking to buy for the short term now is not a good time becasue the price will most likely fall in the short term and at the very least be very volitile.
A perfect scenario would be natgas climbing towards $5 and RES remaining below $13 - at which time I'll be "backing the truck up" so to speak.
Tuesday's SEC Presentation: Regulation Of High Frequency Trading Is Coming [View article]
Bob,
Thank you for your comment.
I respectfully disagree.
Based on your argument, you have the "big players" and then smaller "technology firms" that use their tech to even the playing field. Not included in those two is the retail investor.
Both the big firms and small HFT firms can take advantage of the retail investor in different ways, and getting rid of the HFT might be a win for "the big players" but its also a win for the retail investor.
Tuesday's SEC Presentation: Regulation Of High Frequency Trading Is Coming [View article]
Vermontistan,
Thank you for your comment,
I haven't seen the article you posted yet, it was very interesting.
A move into other assets would probably be a good move for HFT's because retail investor involvement is much lower in bonds and currencies, and those retail investors in bonds usually hold them to maturity.
Tuesday's SEC Presentation: Regulation Of High Frequency Trading Is Coming [View article]
Jason,
Thank you for your comment, I am glad you enjoyed the article.
I also think HFT affects market prices more than expected due to our current low volume environment.
In reference to the liquidity, I don't think the SEC will find it increases liquidity either - Unless "increasing liquidity" for half a second during the trade counts. . .
3 Fundamental Negatives Investors Can't Ignore [View article]
Thank you for your comment.
There will always be certain individual stocks that are a good buy in any economic backdrop for reasons of valuation or expected future trends.
For me one example is natural gas and accordingly I am long OKE, SEP, PWR and others and don't plan on selling for 5yrs or more.
However, individual stocks are much different than the general stock market as a whole. This article states that the market in general is overvalued, which is why I shorted the SPY.
3 Fundamental Negatives Investors Can't Ignore [View article]
Cranky,
I believe buying individual stocks such as Heinz or other value investments is much different than exposure to an index in general (i.e. through a ETF such as SPY or QQQ)
There will always be undervalued stocks in any enviroment, and Buffett is a master at finding them. Buffett is a value investor with a time horizon 10yrs+. The fact that he bought Heinz recently cannot be analogized with whether the market in general is a good buy now.
I always hold individual stocks that I think represent value or unrecognized growth potential regardless of the economic backdrop (right now GNW, ONFC, SEP, PWR, OKE to name a few)
This article states that the market in general is overvalued, which is why I shorted the SPY. There will always be individual bargains.
3 Fundamental Negatives Investors Can't Ignore [View article]
I agree with you points as to diversification and choosing high quality stocks (and I think almost anyone would).
I was simply saying that I decrease net long exposure to stock in general as the market nears yearly highs when that occurs in an enviroment of a negative economic outlook.
I also stay diversified and always hold 5 or more core positions in individual stocks (right now GNW, OKE, PWR, SEP & ONFC, etc).
This article relates to the stock market in general - which is what I shorted.
3 Fundamental Negatives Investors Can't Ignore [View article]
Yeah I think we all at some point have questioned whether this will ever end. But looking at a long-term chart always helps with those worries - http://scharts.co/YiO5dM
3 Fundamental Negatives Investors Can't Ignore [View article]
Yes they could do it until 2020 but the point is we already have extraordinarily low interest rates so (as we are seeing now) QE would no longer be effective.
I agree on the point on longterm bonds. I wrote about that on my blog back on 1/22 in the article titled "The trade of the decade." http://on.fb.me/YcjBs2
3 Fundamental Negatives Investors Can't Ignore [View article]
Thank you for your comment. I'll be blunt and get to the point as you did in your post:
1. You portray me as a young investor who has not yet learned that it is impossible to generate better returns than just buying and holding - you are absolutely correct.
I still believe that it is possible to generate higher returns by reducing stock exposure when prices surge admits poor fundamentals and then buying when lower prices come. Most investors give up or don't even try because everyone says its impossible - I am not one of them. If it wasn't hard it wouldn't be worth doing.
2. I am short because the market is back at all-time highs coupled with the fundamentals above. I was invested in stock throughout 2012, which I extensively posted about on my blog. The post from 1/29/13 summarizes 2012 and provides the reference to when I bought the stock. (http://on.fb.me/XCKHss)
3. The fact that people are willing to ignore all of the negative fundamentals and buy stock solely on the basis of Fed QE is exactly why shorting the market now is so attractive. There are so many on the other side of the that trade putting their faith in an entity (the Fed) which they have no control over.
Finally, I wish you luck in your investments as well.
The great thing about the stock market is we'll have a answer one way or the other in the next few months.
3 Fundamental Negatives Investors Can't Ignore [View article]
Thank you for the encouragement. And yes as soon as I started posting financial related articles I learned pretty quick that you must have thick skin in this game.
3 Fundamental Negatives Investors Can't Ignore [View article]
JS,
I agree with all of your points. Unemployment is especially interesting considering the labor force participation rate has also been steadily declining, and when people quit looking for work they aren't count as unemployed.
The fundamentals always prevail, it's just a matter of how long it takes.
3 Fundamental Negatives Investors Can't Ignore [View article]
The total cuts come out to $1.2T, $85B is just what is to take place in March.
And I agree less debt will be good for the economy in the long run. However, keeping an eye on the underlying fundamentals and selling when negative fundamentals occur at the same time as record high stock prices is much more attractive to me - this chart does a pretty good job of explaining the point on its own: (http://scharts.co/YiO5dM)
For example, an investor who chose to ignore the unsustainable P/E ratios of tech stocks throughout the late 90's into 2000 would eventually make their money back, but not until a decade later in 2007. The same is true for the housing bubble which formed in '06 and '07.
The counter argument to that is those that bought the market dips or bought in the early '90's are up huge. My reply to that is that if we were at those levels now (or even under say 1350) I would add stock exposure. But we're not. We're back at all-time high stock prices.
RPC Surges On Earnings But Necessitates A Deeper Look Into Natural Gas [View article]
Thank you for your comment. I am about to write another article, the main contents of which is below -
The prediction was definitely premature, and it was not fun watching the stock climb to $17 but I'm definitely glad I sold now that it is back under $13. It seems that in our current market it takes unusually long for the fundamental picture to trump speculation (and on a side note I this is a precursor to what is about to happen to the larger market in general).
As to your comments, I was initially attracted to RPC because unlike drillers it is not necessarily directly tied to the price of natural gas, and is in a far superior cash position.
In RPC's case lower natural gas prices only affects earnings growth, while in the case of a driller (i.e. CHK or XCO) lower natgas can quickly make the driller bankrupt.
RPC's relationship to the commodity is indirect because while their business might decline due to lower drilling resulting from lower natural gas prices, RPC can offset that through pre-arranged contractual agreements and therefore remain profitable even amidst low natural gas prices. Furthermore RPC can reduce its workforce and activity in this area accordingly as to save costs until prices rise.
That being said, the majority of RPC's servicing contracts just expired at the end of 2012 and were not renewed, which is what caused the stock to drop almost 12% in one day. Accordingly, RPC is now more tied to the price of natural gas because they do not have work until the drillers decide the spot price is high enough to resume drilling, and then RPC has to beat out the competition on pricing.
However I think the price of natural gas will steadily rise. We are now at a 14yr low in rig count, and by most accounts everyone who is looking to take rigs offline has done so. Furthermore, there remains a large demand for natural gas (i.e. DOW chem., fertilizers).
Going forward, I expect basic economics to take over soon where stable demand and lower drilling pushes the price of natgas back into the driller's profitable range. When that happens the situation will reverse and there will be a rush to bring rigs back online and RPC will be able to get good pricing on future contracts and plenty of work in the spot market.
Accordingly, I am holding off on buying now but I plan to start buying should RPC fall into the low 12's and then really increase purchases as natgas nears or passes $4.50+ (the level at which most producers can drill profitably).
The bottom line is that if your a long-term investor this weakness should be temporary (I would say less than a year), you will get paid a good dividend to wait, and you don't have to worry about the company going bankrupt (at least is much less of a risk as compared to drillers). But if your looking to buy for the short term now is not a good time becasue the price will most likely fall in the short term and at the very least be very volitile.
A perfect scenario would be natgas climbing towards $5 and RES remaining below $13 - at which time I'll be "backing the truck up" so to speak.
John
Tuesday's SEC Presentation: Regulation Of High Frequency Trading Is Coming [View article]
Thank you for your comment.
I respectfully disagree.
Based on your argument, you have the "big players" and then smaller "technology firms" that use their tech to even the playing field. Not included in those two is the retail investor.
Both the big firms and small HFT firms can take advantage of the retail investor in different ways, and getting rid of the HFT might be a win for "the big players" but its also a win for the retail investor.
John
Tuesday's SEC Presentation: Regulation Of High Frequency Trading Is Coming [View article]
Thank you for your comment,
I haven't seen the article you posted yet, it was very interesting.
A move into other assets would probably be a good move for HFT's because retail investor involvement is much lower in bonds and currencies, and those retail investors in bonds usually hold them to maturity.
Tuesday's SEC Presentation: Regulation Of High Frequency Trading Is Coming [View article]
Thank you for your comment, I am glad you enjoyed the article.
I also think HFT affects market prices more than expected due to our current low volume environment.
In reference to the liquidity, I don't think the SEC will find it increases liquidity either - Unless "increasing liquidity" for half a second during the trade counts. . .
3 Fundamental Negatives Investors Can't Ignore [View article]
3 Fundamental Negatives Investors Can't Ignore [View article]
The chart you posted shows that both marginal tax rates and corporate tax rates have dropped over the past 90 years.
The chart I posted is of overall federal corporate tax revenue, which is exponentially higher.
Therefore the data we both presented demonstrates that lower tax rates have significantly increased federal tax revenue.
Furthermore throughout the same time period U.S. net worth per household also exponentially increased (http://bit.ly/XeyH2Y).
3 Fundamental Negatives Investors Can't Ignore [View article]
There will always be certain individual stocks that are a good buy in any economic backdrop for reasons of valuation or expected future trends.
For me one example is natural gas and accordingly I am long OKE, SEP, PWR and others and don't plan on selling for 5yrs or more.
However, individual stocks are much different than the general stock market as a whole. This article states that the market in general is overvalued, which is why I shorted the SPY.
3 Fundamental Negatives Investors Can't Ignore [View article]
I believe buying individual stocks such as Heinz or other value investments is much different than exposure to an index in general (i.e. through a ETF such as SPY or QQQ)
There will always be undervalued stocks in any enviroment, and Buffett is a master at finding them. Buffett is a value investor with a time horizon 10yrs+. The fact that he bought Heinz recently cannot be analogized with whether the market in general is a good buy now.
I always hold individual stocks that I think represent value or unrecognized growth potential regardless of the economic backdrop (right now GNW, ONFC, SEP, PWR, OKE to name a few)
This article states that the market in general is overvalued, which is why I shorted the SPY. There will always be individual bargains.
3 Fundamental Negatives Investors Can't Ignore [View article]
I was simply saying that I decrease net long exposure to stock in general as the market nears yearly highs when that occurs in an enviroment of a negative economic outlook.
I also stay diversified and always hold 5 or more core positions in individual stocks (right now GNW, OKE, PWR, SEP & ONFC, etc).
This article relates to the stock market in general - which is what I shorted.
3 Fundamental Negatives Investors Can't Ignore [View article]
3 Fundamental Negatives Investors Can't Ignore [View article]
I agree on the point on longterm bonds. I wrote about that on my blog back on 1/22 in the article titled "The trade of the decade." http://on.fb.me/YcjBs2
3 Fundamental Negatives Investors Can't Ignore [View article]
1. You portray me as a young investor who has not yet learned that it is impossible to generate better returns than just buying and holding - you are absolutely correct.
I still believe that it is possible to generate higher returns by reducing stock exposure when prices surge admits poor fundamentals and then buying when lower prices come. Most investors give up or don't even try because everyone says its impossible - I am not one of them. If it wasn't hard it wouldn't be worth doing.
2. I am short because the market is back at all-time highs coupled with the fundamentals above. I was invested in stock throughout 2012, which I extensively posted about on my blog. The post from 1/29/13 summarizes 2012 and provides the reference to when I bought the stock. (http://on.fb.me/XCKHss)
3. The fact that people are willing to ignore all of the negative fundamentals and buy stock solely on the basis of Fed QE is exactly why shorting the market now is so attractive. There are so many on the other side of the that trade putting their faith in an entity (the Fed) which they have no control over.
Finally, I wish you luck in your investments as well.
The great thing about the stock market is we'll have a answer one way or the other in the next few months.
3 Fundamental Negatives Investors Can't Ignore [View article]
3 Fundamental Negatives Investors Can't Ignore [View article]
I agree with all of your points. Unemployment is especially interesting considering the labor force participation rate has also been steadily declining, and when people quit looking for work they aren't count as unemployed.
The fundamentals always prevail, it's just a matter of how long it takes.
3 Fundamental Negatives Investors Can't Ignore [View article]
And I agree less debt will be good for the economy in the long run. However, keeping an eye on the underlying fundamentals and selling when negative fundamentals occur at the same time as record high stock prices is much more attractive to me - this chart does a pretty good job of explaining the point on its own: (http://scharts.co/YiO5dM)
For example, an investor who chose to ignore the unsustainable P/E ratios of tech stocks throughout the late 90's into 2000 would eventually make their money back, but not until a decade later in 2007. The same is true for the housing bubble which formed in '06 and '07.
The counter argument to that is those that bought the market dips or bought in the early '90's are up huge. My reply to that is that if we were at those levels now (or even under say 1350) I would add stock exposure. But we're not. We're back at all-time high stock prices.